The Leicestershire Regiment consisted of Infantry Battalions that would have had an MG Section as part of its Battalion Headquarters.
The Great War
The MG Section 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 Battalions were distributed as follows:
1st
At the commencement of the war, the 1st Battalion was part of the 16th Brigade, 6th Division.
On 17 November 1915, it transferred to the 71st Brigade, within the 6th Division. Its MG Section was transferred on 14 March 1916 to form the 71st Bde. MG Coy..
As a unit of the 6th Division, its MG Section will have taken part in the following battles and engagements.
| 1914 | |
| 19 and 20 September | BATTLE OF THE AISNE [I. Corps]. |
| 20 September | Actions on the Aisne Heights. |
| 13 October to 02 November | Battle of Armentieres [III. Corps]. |
| 1915 | |
| 09 August | Hooge [VI. Corps, Second Army]. |
4th
5th
6th
Inter-war Period
In 1922, the Machine Gun Corps was 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 when the majority of Battalions had their Machine Gun assets centralised into those Battalions.
2nd
The 2nd Battalion was a ‘Chindits‘ Battalion, where it was formed into Columns each having an MG Section of two guns, the Battalion’s MG Platoon being spread across the Columns and supplemented with additional guns and machine gunners where required.
7th
The 7th Battalion was a ‘Chindits‘ Battalion, where it was formed into Columns each having an MG Section of two guns, the Battalion’s MG Platoon being spread across the Columns and supplemented with additional guns and machine gunners where required.
Post-Second World War
Upon the disbandment of Divisional Machine Gun Battalions in the post-WW2 restructure of the British Army, the Vickers Machine Gun assets reverted to individual Battalions as part of the Support Company as a Machine Gun Platoon.
