Royal Scots Fusiliers

The Royal Scots Fusiliers was an Infantry Battalion that would have had an MG Section as part of its Battalion Headquarters.

The Great War

The MG Section would have been brigaded when the Machine Gun Corps was formed in 1915. The guns, and crews, would have been formed into a Machine Gun Company.

During the Great War, the Battalions were distributed as follows:

1st

The 1st Battalion was part of the 9th Brigade, attached to the 3rd Division. It’s MG Section was transferred on by 08 February 1916 to form the 9th Bde. MG Coy..

As a unit of the 3rd Infantry Division, it will have taken part in the following battles and engagements.

1914
23 and 24 August	Battle of Mons [II. Corps].
24 August to 05 September	RETREAT FROM MONS [II. Corps].
26 August	Battle of le Cateau [II. Corps].
06 to 09 September	Battle of the Marne [II. Corps].
13 to 20 September	BATTLE OF THE AISNE [II. Corps].
13 September	Passage of the Aisne.
20 September	Actions on the Aisne Heights.
10 October to 02 November	Battle of La Bassee [II. Corps] (3rd Division (less 8th Brigade, left under Indian Corps) was relieved on 29 October)
05 to 21 November	BATTLES OF YPRES [I. Corps].
11 November	Battle of Nonne Bosschen [I. Corps]. (In this battle the 3rd Division was formed of 7th, 9th, and 15th Brigades).
14 December	Attack on Wytschaete.
1915
16 June	First Attack on Bellewaarde [V. Corps, Second Army].
19 July	Hooge [V. Corps, Second Army].
25 September	Second Attack on Bellewaarde [V. Corps, Second Army].

2nd

At the outbreak of war, the 2nd Battalion was part of 21st Brigade, 7th Division. As a unit of the 7th Division, it will have taken part in the following engagements.

The division had no existence before the outbreak of War; it was gradually assembled at Lyndhurst between the 31st August and the 4th October, 1914. The 12 infantry battalions included the three remaining unallotted regular battalions left in England, as well as nine battalions brought back from various overseas stations, viz. – Guernsey (1), Gibraltar (2), Malta (2), Cairo (1), Natal (1), and the Transvaal (2). The mounted troops included an existing yeomanry regiment as well as a cyclist company, formed on mobilization. The Field Artillery was made up by one R.H.A. Brigade (XIV., of two batteries), and one R.F.A. Brigade (XXXV.) still left at home, together with one R.F.A. Brigade (XXII.) from the Transvaal. The two heavy batteries were new units formed at Woolwich after the outbreak of War, and the field companies came from Chatham and Pretoria. Three of the A.S.C. companies (30, 40 and 42) came from Gibraltar, Malta, and Pretoria, but the remaining company (86) was a new formation.		The 7th Division embarked at Southampton on the 4th and 5th October, and began disembarkation at Zeebrugge on the 6th October. The division moved to Bruges on the 7th October, and reached Ghent on the 9th October. During the night of 11/12 October, a retirement on Ypres was begun and the place was reached on the 14th. The 7th Division served on the Western Front in France and Belgium until the 17th November, 1917, when it began entraining for the Italian Front, on which it served for the remainder of the War. The 7th Division was engaged in the following operations:-
1914
25 August to 05 September	RETREAT FROM MONS [II. Corps, 26 to 30 August 1914, and III. Corps from 31 August 1914.]
26 August	Battle of le Cateau [under II. Corps].
01 September	Nery (1/R. War. R. and 2/R.D.F., 10th Bde.)
06 to 09 September	Battle of the Marne [III. Corps].
13 to 20 September	BATTLE OF THE AISNE [III. Corps].
13 October to 02 November	Battle of Armentieres [III. Corps].
13 October	Capture of Meteren
1915
25 April to 25 May	BATTLES OF YPRES [V. Corps, Second Army].
25 April to 04 May	Battle of St. Julien [V. Corps, Second Army, and from 28 April to 07 May in Plumer’s Force].
08 to 13 May	Battle of Frezenberg Ridge [V. Corps, Second Army].
24 and 25 May	Battle of Bellewaarde Ridge [V. Corps, Second Army].

The 21st Brigade was transferred to the 30th Division on 19 December, 1915.

6th

The 6th Battalion was part of the 26th Brigade, attached to the 9th Division. It’s MG Section was transferred on 29 January 1916 to form the 26th Bde. MG Coy..

As a unit of the 9th Infantry Division, it will have taken part in the following battles and engagements.

FORMATION, BATTLES, AND ENGAGEMENTS
This New Army Division had no existence before the outbreak of the Great War.Great Britain declared war on Germany at 11 p.m. on Tuesday, the 4th August 1914, and on the 5th August Field-Marshall Earl Kitchener of Khartoum was appointed Secretary of State for War. On the 6th August Parliament sanctioned an increase of 500,000 men for the Regular Army, and a proclamation headed: “Your King and Country need you. A Call to Arms,” was published on the 11th August. This proclamation asked for an immediate addition of a hundred thousand men to the Regular Army, and issued on the 21st August 1914, and amended by Army Order No. 382 of the 11th September authorised the addition of six divisions (9th to 14th) and Army Troops to the Regular Army. This augmentation became the First New Army, and the 9th (Scottish) Division was formed towards the end of August, 1914.		After enlistment the men went to their depots; they were then sent on to training camps in the Salisbury Training Centre, and in September the 9th Division assembled around Bordon. At first the scarcity of arms, munitions, and equipment added to the difficulties of training; but as the deficiencies were overcome intensive training for war began and in due course unit training was followed by divisional field manoeuvres. On the 5th May 1915, Field-Marshall Earl Kitchener inspected the 9th Division on Ludshott Common, and on the 7th May embarkation orders were received. The Division crossed to France between Sunday the 9th and Wednesday the 12th May, and by noon on Saturday the 15th May the Division was concentrated in billets to the south-west of St. Omer.	Throughout the remainder of the Great War the 9th Division served on the Western Front in France and Belgium and was engaged in the following operations:-
1915
25 to 29 September	Battle of Loos

7th

The 7th Battalion was part of the 45th Brigade, attached to the 15th (Scottish) Division.

As a unit of the 15th (Scottish) Division, its MG Section may have taken part in the following battles and engagements.

FORMATION, BATTLES, AND ENGAGEMENTS
This New Army Division had no existence before the outbreak of the Great War.On the 6th August 1914 Parliament sanctioned an increased of 500,000 all ranks to the Regular Army. The first hundred thousand men for this purpose were used to form the First New Army. The formation of the divisions of the Second New Army from the section augmentation of a hundred thousand men was authorized by Army Order No. 382 of the 11th September 1914 (see Appendix I). Six more divisions (15th – 20th) and Army Troops were now added to the Regular Army, and during September 1914 the 15th (Scottish) Division, the senior division of the Second New Army, began to assemble at Aldershot.		Whilst it was at Aldershot H.M. the King inspected the Division on the 26th September. This was the first time the Division paraded as a formed unit and, with the exception of the staff, the Division paraded in plain clothes. The Division remained at Aldershot until the 18th-22nd November when it moved to Salisbury Plain.	On the 22nd January 1915 the Division paraded in the most inclement weather for another inspection, this time by Field-Marshal Earl Kitchener and M. Millerand (French Minister of War). On this occasion all ranks paraded in uniform, and sufficient obsolete drill rifles were available to arm the front ranks of battalions; but many essentials were still lacking. Horses arrived soon after the assembly of the Division. At first, however, not much use could be made of them as only a headstall was available for each animal; some time elapsed before harness and saddlery reached the Division. In the artillery in the early days the only equipment was an improvised gun made from a log of wood mounted on the Bordon funeral gun-carriage; somewhat later the artillery armament was doubled bu annexing a 9-pdr. brass muzzle-loading gun from the Ordnance Officers’ Mess. Later on the divisional artillery received some early 15-pdr. B.L. equipments and some French 90 mm. B.L.s; neither equipment was more than 20 years out of date. Modern Q.F. field guns and 4.5″ howitzers only arrived much later, and it was nearing mid-June, 1915 before gun-sights were received. Nevertheless on the 21st June it was a division ready to take the field which paraded for the second time before H.M. the King on Sidbury Hill. On the 3rd July the Division received the warning that it was to move to France; entrainment began on the 7th, and by the 13th July the Division completed its concentration around Tilques (near St. Omer). On the 15th July the Division began moving south towards Bethune, and on the 17th July the Division joined IV Corps, First Army. For the remainder of the Great War the 15th Division served on the Western Front in France and Belgium and was engaged in the following operations:-
1915
25 and 26 September	Battle of Loos [IV Corps, First Army].

It’s Vickers machine gunners of the MG Section will have transferred on 12 February 1916 to the 45th MG Coy when this took over the Vickers MG role in the Division.

Inter-war Period

In 1922, the Machine Gun Corps was disbanded and the guns returned to the Infantry Battalion as a Machine Gun Platoon and then formed as a Machine Gun Company in the early 1930s.