A Machine Gun Company was attached to each Infantry Brigade and their subsequent Division.
Brigade attached to: | 32nd Brigade |
Division attached to: | 11th (Northern) Division |
Formed from the Machine Gun Sections of: | 9th Bn. West Yorkshire Regiment 6th Bn. Green Howards (Alexandra, Princess of Wales’s Own Yorkshire Regiment) 8th Bn. Duke of Wellington’s (West Riding Regiment) 6th Bn. York & Lancaster Regiment |
The 32nd Bde. M.G. Coy. was formed in Egypt in March 1916 from the Machine Gun Sections of the listed infantry battalions.
As a unit of the 11th (Northern) Division during this period, it will have taken part in the following battles and engagements.
1916
On the 12th January the Dardanelles Army was broken up, and on the 26th the 11th Division reached Alexandria, and completed concentration at Sidi Bishr by the 8th. On the 9th February the Division was posted to XV Corps, and on the 19th the 11th Division took over A Section, Suez Canal Defences, with divisional headquarters at el Ferdan. Until June the Division remained in the Suez Canal Defences. On the 17th the advanced party left to embark at Alexandria, on the 25th the Division handed over A Section, Suez Canal Defences, to the 42nd Division, and on the 30th the advanced party reached St. Pol. Embarkation at Alexandria was completed on the 3rd July, and on the 7th divisional headquarters arrived at Flers (S.S.W. of St. Pol). The concentration around Flers was completed on the 15th July; and by the 27th July the Division had taken over part of VI Corps front line (in Third Army). During the remainder of the Great War the 11th Division took part in the following operations on the Western Front:
BATTLES OF THE SOMME | |
14 September | Capture of the Wonder Work (32nd Bde.) [II Corps, Reserve Army]. |
15 to 22 September | Battle of Flers-Courcelette [II Corps, Reserve Army]. |
26 to 28 September | Battle of Thiepval Ridge [II Corps, Reserve Army]. |
1917 | |
11 to 19 January | Operations on the Ancre [IV Corps, Fifth Army]. |
09 to 14 June | Battle of Messines [IX Corps, Second Army]. |
BATTLES OF YPRES | |
16 to 18 August | Battle of Langemarck [XVIII Corps, Fifth Army]. |
19; 22; and 27 August | Fighting around St. Julien [XVIII Corps, Fifth Army]. |
26 September to 03 October | Battle of Polygon Wood [XVIII Corps, Fifth Army]. |
04 October | Battle of Broodseinde [XVIII Corps, Fifth Army]. |
09 October | Battle of Poelcapelle [XVIII Corps, Fifth Army]. |
On 28 February 1918, it was amalgamated with the 33rd, 34th, and 250th Machine Gun Companies to form No. 11 Battalion, Machine Gun Corps.