Many of our downloads and online manuals are provided free-of-charge for the benefit of anyone that wants to know more about the use of the Vickers Machine Gun and read what the Machine Gunners would have known. We also have a vast amount of archival documents, photographs, postcards and other resources. To help us fund the Charity and the management of this archive we host it on Patreon. This is a subscription service like Ancestry, FindMyPast and other repositories. We have thousands of military history items that may contain information you’re interested in.
It can be accessed from as little as £3 per month.
If you’d prefer to only give on a one-off basis, then go to PayPal or BuyMeACoffee and make a donation there but we are unable to provide access to the archive through those sites.
1920-1938:
Armoured Car Training, Volume I – Training
1930, United Kingdom
This pocket-sized book is 173 pages long and covers all aspects of training a crewman for an armoured car during their initial training period. It details the organisation and system of training, squad drill, dismounted and mounted drill, crew drill, training in map reading and reconnaissance – eye training, training in field operations, training in marching and movements by land and sea, saluting, weapon exercises, guard duties and military funeral exercises, and ceremonial drills. It also includes appendices on distinguishing marks, intercommunication, road traffic signals and the two-letter code.
Not yet available.
Armoured Car Training, Volume II – War
1931, United Kingdom
An interesting manual covering the tactics and training for Armoured Cars in 1930. They were being used for policing and reconnaissance operations around the world. Armed with a Vickers machine gun, with perhaps a light automatic for anti-aircraft use, they presented a mobile force similar to that at the start of the Great War.
JPGs and PDF available on Patreon – subscribe to access and support the VMGCRA
Tank Training, Volume II, Part III, Weapons – Sequence of Instruction
1932, United Kingdom
Tank Training, Volume II, Part III, Pamphlet No. 2, .303-in. Vickers Machine Gun, Marks VI, IVA, IVB, and I
1936, United Kingdom
Tank Training, Volume II, Part III, Pamphlet No. 3, .5-in. Vickers Machine Guns Marks IV and II
1936, United Kingdom
Tank Training, Volume II, Part III, Pamphlet No. 4, Machine Gun Mountings and Appurtenances for Use in Armoured Fighting Vehicles
1936, United Kingdom
Tank Training, Volume II, Part III, Pamphlet No. 4, Machine Gun Mountings and Appurtenances for Use in Armoured Fighting Vehicles
1936, Amendments (No. 1), 1937, United Kingdom
Tank Training, Volume II, Part III, Pamphlet No. 5, .5-in. Vickers Machine Gun, Mark V
1937, United Kingdom
Mobile Division Training Pamphlet No. 1, Notes on the Tactical Employment of a Cavalry Light Tank Regiment
1938, United Kingdom
This is a typed variant of the manual but it is unclear whether printed versions were produced or if this is a locally-produced copy. It includes an Amendment sheet for Amendments (No. 1).
Mobile Division Training Pamphlet No. 2, Notes on the Employment of the Tank Brigade
1938, United Kingdom
A manual that covers the establishment and organisation of the pre-War Tank Brigade as well as the typical tactics and methods employed.
Mobile Division Training Pamphlet No. 3, Notes on the Tactical Employment of A Royal Horse Artillery Regiment
1938, United Kingdom
A manual that covers the establishment and organisation of the pre-War Royal Horse Artillery Regiment, which was the main artillery capability of the Tank Brigade.
Army Council Instruction 389, 28 June 1939, identified a reprinted edition of Tank Training, Volume II, Part III, Pamphlet No. 2, .303-in. Vickers Machine Gun, Marks VI, IVA, IVB, and I was issued, incorporating Amendments Nos. 1 to 4.
Amendment No. 5 was issued on 1 November 1939 by Army Council Instruction 740 of 1939.
1939-1975:
Military Training Pamphlet No. 51, Troop Training for Cruiser Tank Troops
1941, United Kingdom
For the first few years of the Second World War, the Cruiser Tanks of the British Army were armed with Vickers Machine Guns, including the .303-inch Mk VII. This manual gives and insight into how the men were trained.
.303 Vickers machine gun (in Marmon-Herrington Mark III Armoured Car)
Unknown, Union of South Africa
Many of our downloads and online manuals are provided free-of-charge for the benefit of anyone that wants to know more about the use of the Vickers Machine Gun and read what the Machine Gunners would have known. We also have a vast amount of archival documents, photographs, postcards and other resources. To help us fund the Charity and the management of this archive we host it on Patreon. This is a subscription service like Ancestry, FindMyPast and other repositories. We have thousands of military history items that may contain information you’re interested in.
It can be accessed from as little as £3 per month.
If you’d prefer to only give on a one-off basis, then go to PayPal or BuyMeACoffee and make a donation there but we are unable to provide access to the archive through those sites.
Sources
- The National Archives, WO 243/24 Army Council Instructions 1939.
