A Machine Gun Company was attached to each Infantry Brigade and their subsequent Division.
| Brigade attached to: | 82nd Brigade |
| Division attached to: | 27th Division |
| Formed from the: | Machine Gun Section of 1st Bn. Royal Irish Regiment |
| Machine Gun Section of 2nd Bn. Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry | |
| Machine Gun Section of 2nd Bn. Royal Irish Fusiliers | |
| Machine Gun Section of 1st Bn. Leinster Regiment |
The 82nd Bde. M.G. Coy. was formed by the 16 May 1916. It was formed from the Machine Gun Sections of the listed infantry battalions.
Unlike most other Machine Gun Companies, it was not formed into a Machine Gun Battalion, yet continued to serve attached to the Brigade.
As a unit of the 27th Infantry Division, it will have taken part in the following battles and engagements.
| 1916 | |
| 30 September to 02 October | Capture of the Karajakots [XVI. Corps]. |
| 03 and 04 October | Capture of Yenikoi [XVI. Corps]. |
| 17 November and 06 and 07 December | Tumbitza Farm (82nd Bde.). |
| 1917 | |
| 14 October | Capture of Homondos [XVI. Corps]. |
| 1918 | |
| 01 to 30 September | THE OFFENSIVE |
| 01 and 02 September | Capture of the Roche Noure Salient [XII. Corps]. |
| 22 to 30 September | Passage of the Vardar, and Pursuit to the Strumica Valley [XII. Corps, until 25/9; Army Reserve until 27/09; then XVI. Corps]. |
| At noon on 30th September, Bulgaria concluded an armistice, and hostilities ceased. The 27th Division had then reached the area Kosturino-Rabrovo-Cestovo. The advance was continued, and Krupnik was passed by the end of October. On the 2nd November the division was ordered to move back down the Struma to the Orlyak area (W. of L. Tahinos), and it remained there until it embarked in December for the Black Sea. Constantinople was reached on the 19th, and the 80th Bde., with I. Bde., R.F.A., 17th Fd. Coy. R.E., and 82nd Fd. Amb., reached Batum on the 22nd December. Detachments were sent to Poti (N. of Batum), and Tiflis ; and on the 19th January, 1919, Divisional H.Q. opened at Tiflis. By the 31st January the last shipload of the division disembarked at Batum. By May, 1919, detachments had been sent to the following places in Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Armenia:- Baku, Krasnovodsk (in Trans-caspia), Petrovsk, Shusha, Julfa, Erivan, Kars, Tiflis, Batum, and Gagri; Divisional H.Q. were in Tiflis.On the 15th August, 1919, the withdrawal of the British Troops began from Trans-Caucasia, and on the 7th December, Divisional H.Q. opened at Batum. On the 14th and 15th September, the 81st and 82nd Bdes. were disbanded. The division was disbanded on the 24th September, 1919, and the divisional commander and the general staff left for Constantinople, after handing over to the military governor of Batum (Br.-Gen. W. J. N. Cooke-Collis, Comdg. 80th Infantry Brigade). On the 4th March, 1920, Br.-Gen. Cooke-Collis was appointed to command the Inter-Allied Force at Batum. This force was withdrawn from Batum by the 14th July, 1920. | |
Related material
One of the items in the VMGCRA collection is a Christmas card produced by the 82nd MG Company for its members to send in 1917 whilst serving in Salonica (Salonika).
