A Machine Gun Battalion of the Machine Gun Corps was attached to each Infantry Division and was formed of four MG Companies.
The 17th Bn, MGC was formed on 24 February 1918.
| Division attached to: | 17th (Northern) Division |
| Formed from the: | 50th Machine Gun Company 51st Machine Gun Company 52nd Machine Gun Company 236th Machine Gun Company |
As a unit of the 17th (Northern) Division, it will have taken part in the following battles and engagements.
| 1918 | |
| FIRST BATTLES OF THE SOMME | |
| 21 to 23 March | Battle of St. Quentin [V Corps, Third Army]. |
| 24 and 25 March | First Battle of Bapaume [V Corps, Third Army]. |
| THE ADVANCE TO VICTORY SECOND BATTLES OF THE SOMME | |
| 21 to 23 August | Battle of Albert [V Corps, Third Army]. |
| 31 August to 03 September | Second Battle of Bapaume [V Corps, Third Army]. |
| BATTLES OF THE HINDENBURG LINE | |
| 18 September | Battle of Epehy [V Corps, Third Army]. |
| 08 and 09 October | Battle of Cambrai [V Corps, Third Army]. |
| 09 to 12 October | Pursuit to the Selle [V Corps, Third Army]. |
| THE FINAL ADVANCE IN PICARDY | |
| 17 to 23 October | Battle of the Selle [V Corps, Third Army]. |
| 04 November | Battle of the Sambre [V Corps, Third Army]. |
The advance was continued steadily. On the 8th November the leading troops of the Division crossed the Avesnes-Maubeuge road and on the 9th Beaufort was occupied. When hostilities ceased at 11 a.m. on the 11th November the leading brigade (52nd) of the 17th Division had established outposts along the line of the R. Solre (south-east of Maubeuge).
On the 12th and 13th the Division was drawn back to Inchy-Troisvilles-Bertry-Esnes area (west of Le Cateau), and the rest of the month of November was spent in reorganization, salvage work, and recreational training. On the 6th December the 17th Division began to move back behind Amiens; the move was completed by the 15th, and the Division then settled down in billets in the Hallencourt area (south-east of Abbeville). Recreation and education were the principal activities, and a demobilization scheme was prepared.
Demobilization began in January 1919. In the first two months of the year the Division lost 6,006 all ranks, and during March the principal duty of the weakened division was to provide guards for the numerous supply trains which traversed the Third Army area. Gradually the Division disappeared. Battalions were reduced to no more than 50 all ranks, merely sufficient to act as equipment guards. Demobilization was completed in May, and at the end of the month the Division ceased to exist. During the Great War the 17th Division lost 40,258 killed, wounded, and missing.
