33rd Battalion, Machine Gun Corps

A Machine Gun Battalion of the Machine Gun Corps was attached to each Infantry Division and was formed of four MG Companies.

The 33rd Bn, MGC was formed between 9 and 19 February 1918. It is perhaps one of the most written about Battalions of the Machine Gun Corps due to the propensity of its commanding officer – Lieutenant Colonel Graham Seton Hutchison – to include its exploits and activities his own work and it is the only Machine Gun Corps (Infantry) unit to have a history specifically about it. This history, and the water-colours from it, have been reprinted by the Vickers MG Collection & Research Association.

Division attached to:33rd Division
Formed from the:19th Machine Gun Company
98th Machine Gun Company
100th Machine Gun Company
248th Machine Gun Company

As a unit of the 33rd Division, it will have taken part in the following battles and engagements.

1918
BATTLES OF THE LYS
11 AprilBattle of Messines (100th Bde., in reserve to 25th Div.) [IX. Corps, Second Army].
12 to 15 AprilBattle of Hazebrouck [IX. Corps, Second Army].
13 to 15 AprilBattle of Bailleul (1ooth Bde., under 25th Div.) [IX. Corps, Second Army].
14 AprilDefence of Neuve Eglise (100th Bde.).
17 to 19 AprilFirst Battle of Kemmel Ridge [IX. Corps, Second Army].
8 MayFighting for and recapture of Ridge Wood (with Comp. Bde., 30th Div., attached) [XXII Corps, Second Army].
THE ADVANCE TO VICTORY
BATTLES OF THE HINDENBURG LINE
18 SeptemberBattle of Epehy [V Corps, Third Army].
29 September to 2 OctoberBattle of the St. Quentin Canal [V Corps, Third Army].
3 to 5 OctoberBattle of the Beaurevoir Line [V Corps, Third Army].
9 OctoberBattle of Cambrai [V Corps, Third Army].
9 to 12 OctoberPursuit to the Selle [V Corps, Third Army].
THE FINAL ADVANCE IN PICARDY
23 to 25 OctoberBattle of the Selle [V Corps, Third Army].

On the 26th October the attack was continued and the Division captured the village of Englefontaine. During the night of the 26th/27th the Division was relieved in the front line by the 38th (Welsh) Division, and the 33rd Division then concentrated around Troisvilles. On the 5th November the Division advanced through the Forest of Mormal heading for the Sambre; during the afternoon the leading battalions crossed the river and established bridgeheads along the line of the St. Quentin – Mauberge railway. On the 6th Leval was captured, and by 9 p.m. on the 7th November the advanced troops were on a line to the west of the Avesnes – Mauberge road; the Division was then again relieved in the front line by the 28th Division, and drew back into the Sambre Valley near Leval. On the 11th November it was still in the same position when the Armistice brought hostilities to a close.

On the 12th the Division concentrated around Berlaimont, on the 15th November it moved back to Montigny (S.W. of le Cateau); and on the 4th December H.M. the King passed through the divisional area. On the 6th December the Division began to march back to the Hornay area (W. of Amiens and S. of the Somme) and the move was completed by the 17th.

In 1919 demobilization proceeded rapidly, and divisional headquarters moved to the coast at Quiberville (13th January), then to Varengeville (31st January), and lastly to Etretat in the le Havre area (28th February). Gradually units dwindled to cadre, and on the 15th May the first cadres embarked for England. On the 18th June divisional headquarters was reduced to Equipment Guard and on the 30th June the war history of the 33rd Division came to an end. During the Great War the 33rd Division lost 37,404 killed, wounded and missing.


To trace the locations and actions of the 33rd Battalion, as part of the VMGCRA reprint of its history, we have visualised and plotted the locations mentioned in the chapters on Google Maps.

Machine Gun Battalion of the Machine Gun Corps (Infantry).

MGC Database

Click HERE to search Graham Sacker’s MGC database for related records.

War Diaries

  • WO 95/2417/2 – February 1918 to August 1919 (France and Flanders).

Sources

  • Becke, A.F. (1934) History of the Great War: Order of Battle of Division Part 3a New Army Divisions (9-26). London: His Majesty’s Stationery Office.

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