49th Brigade Machine Gun Company

A Machine Gun Company was attached to each Infantry Brigade and their subsequent Division.

Brigade attached to:49th Brigade
Division attached to:16th (Irish) Division
Formed from the Machine Gun Sections of:7th Bn. Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers
8th Bn. Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers
7th Bn. Royal Irish Fusiliers
8th Bn. Royal Irish Fusiliers

The 49th M.G. Coy. disembarked at le Havre on 26 April 1916 and joined the 49th Brigade on 29 April 1916. It may have absorbed machine gunners from the Machine Gun Sections of the listed infantry battalions.

As a unit of the 16th (Irish) Division during this period, it may have taken part in the following battles and engagements.

1916
27 and 29 AprilGerman Gas Attacks, Hulloch Front [I Corps, First Army].
BATTLES OF THE SOMME
03 to 06 SeptemberBattle of Guillemont (On 03 September, 47th Bde; on 04 September, 47th and 48th Bdes; and on 05 September, 16th Div.) [XIV Corps, Fourth Army].
09 SeptemberBattle of Ginchy [XIV Corps, Fourth Army].
1917
07 to 09 JuneBattle of Messines [IX Corps, Second Army].
07 JuneCapture of Wytschaete.
BATTLES OF YPRES
31 July to 02 AugustBattle of Pilckem Ridges [In Reserve, XIX Corps, Fifth Army].
16 to 18 AugustBattle of Langemarck [XIX Corps, Fifth Army].
20 NovemberAttack north of Bullecourt [VI Corps, Third Army].

By 09 March 1918, it was amalgamated with the 47th, 48th, and 269th Machine Gun Companies to form No. 16 Battalion, Machine Gun Corps.


Sources

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