The Irish Guards were an Infantry Battalion that would have had an MG Section as part of its Battalion Headquarters.
The Great War
These weapons would have been brigaded when the Machine Gun Corps was formed in 1915. The guns, and crews, would have been formed into a Machine Gun Company.
During the Great War, the dispositions of Battalions were as follows:
1st
At the outbreak of War, the 1st Battalion was part of the 4th (Guards) Brigade, attached 2nd Division.
As part of the 2nd Division, it will have taken part in the following operations:-
On the outbreak of War the 2nd Division (less the 4th (Guards) Brigade) in the London District) was quartered at Aldershot, and mobilized there (4th (Guards) Brigade mobilizing at Windsor and in London).The division crossed to France between the 11th and 16th August, concentrated around Wassigny, Etreux, etc., and began to moved forward on the 21st August. | |
1914 | |
23 and 24 August | Battle of Mons [I. Corps]. |
24 August to 05 September | RETREAT FROM MONS [I. Corps]. |
01 September | Villers Cotterets. |
06 to 09 September | Battle of the Marnes [I. Corps]. |
13 to 26 September | BATTLE OF THE AISNES [I. Corps]. |
13 September | Passage of the Aisne. |
20 September | Actions on the Aisne Heights. |
19 October to 20 November | BATTLES OF YPRES [I. Corps]. |
21 to 24 October | Battle of Langemarck [I. Corps]. |
29 to 21 October | Battle of Gheluvet [I. Corps]. |
11 November | Battle of Nonne Bosschen [I. Corps]. |
1915 | |
01 February | Cuinchy |
06 February | Cuinchy |
15 to 20 May | Battle of Festubert [I. Corps, First Army]. |
25 September to 04 October | Battle of Loos [I. Corps, First Army]. |
13 to 19 October | Hohenzollern Redoubt [I. Corps, First Army]. |
On 19 August, 1915, the 4th (Guards) Brigade was transferred to the Guards Division and renumbered 1st Guards Brigade on 20 August, 1915. It’s MG Section was transferred between 01 September and 19 September, 1915, to form the 1st Guards Bde. MG Coy..
In July, 1915, His Majesty approved the formation of a Guards Division, and in August, 1915, the Guards Division was formed in France, the units, on arrival, being concentrated around Lumbres (near St. Omer). |
2nd
The 2nd Battalion joined, from England on 19 August, 1915, the 2nd Guards Brigade, Guards Division. It’s MG Section was transferred between 01 September and 19 September, 1915, to form the 2nd Guards Bde. MG Coy.
In July, 1915, His Majesty approved the formation of a Guards Division, and in August, 1915, the Guards Division was formed in France, the units, on arrival, being concentrated around Lumbres (near St. Omer). |
Inter-war Period
In 1922, the Machine Gun Corps and Guards MG Regiment were disbanded and the guns returned to the Infantry Battalion as a Machine Gun Platoon and then formed as a Machine Gun Company in the early 1930s.
Second World War
This remained until the formation of Divisional Machine Gun Battalions in 1936 where guns were brigaded once again.
Post-Second World War
After the Second World War, the MG assets reverted to MG Platoons within support companies of Infantry Battalions.