Page:Tactics (Balck 1915).djvu/321



under splinter proof roofs. According to Lieutenant-Colonel , good results were obtained against skirmishers up to 1050 m., against closed bodies of infantry and against troops of cavalry (Eskadrons) up to 1400 m.; against batteries of artillery, halted in the open, staffs, and columns, the fire was sufficiently effective up to 1960 m.

8. THE EMPLOYMENT OF MACHINE GUN BATTERIES.

Machine guns will never be able to replace artillery at long ranges; on the other hand, they will often find an opportunity to support other arms with their fire at medium and short ranges.

It has been asserted that machine guns do not always follow the movements of the firing lines in action, that the commander of a force is not always able to find a good position for them; and the question raised whether the space taken up by the machine guns and their ammunition wagons in a column could not be more profitably filled by companies of infantry or by a portion of an ammunition column of corresponding length. To be sure, machine guns are a special arm; the justification of their existence lies in the combination of constant readiness for firing with highly developed mobility, so that, held back under direct control of the commander of a force, they give him the means wherewith to produce within a short time a sudden effect, in the nature of a surprise. This is the very purpose for which machine guns were created. They are not intended for prolonged fire action, not for accompanying an infantry skirmish line in an advance by rushes, and, least of all, for fighting well covered firing lines. In addition, the fact that machine guns make it possible to concentrate fire quickly on any space, whereby the moral effect is considerably increased, ought not to be underestimated. It would seem to be advisable to employ machine guns in conjunction with infantry when it is impossible to develop a powerful fire on account of the conformation of the ground, but when such fire is desirable for commanding approaches or defiles; further,