UNITS THAT USED THE VICKERS

The Border Regiment:

The Great War

The Border Regiment was an Infantry Battalion that would have had an MG Section as part of its Battalion Headquarters. These weapons 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 87th Brigade, attached to the 29th Division. It's MG Section was likely to have been transferred into the 87th MG Coy. which was was formed on the 16 February 1916, at Suez.

As a unit of the 29th Infantry Division, it will have taken part in the following battles and engagements.

The division had no existence before the outbreak of the Great War. Between January and March, 1915, the division assembled and mobilized in the Midlands, in the area Nuneaton-Rugby-Banbury-Stratford, with headquarters at Leamington. The 12 infantry battalions of which the division was composed were collected from Asia (10), Africa (1), and Europe (1). Of these 12 battalions, one came from China, three from different stations in Burma, six from six different stations in India, one from Mauritius, and the remaining battalion was an existing T.F. battalion from Edinburgh. The brigades were formed in the mobilization area. The mounted troops included a cavalry squadron from an existing yeomanry unit, and a cyclist company which was formed in the mobilization area. Of the artillery brigades, XV. R.H.A. was formed at Leamington, in January, 1915, two of its batteries came from India, and it was completed by a battery which had returned to England from the Western Front to be re-formed; XVII. R.F.A. was in India in August, 1914, and CXLVII. R.F.A. was formed at Leamington, in January, 1915. During mobilization, both field artillery brigades were extensively reorganised. The Highland Mountain Bde. was an existing T.F. formation, the 90th Heavy Bty. came from Nowgong (C.I.); and 14 Siege Battery and 460 (H.) Battery were new formations. The field companies, signal company, field ambulances, and train, were territorial force units. The division embarked at AVonmouth on the 16th-22nd March, and proceeded via Malta (22nd March) to Alexandria, where the first transport arrived on the 28th March. The division disembarked at Alexandria, and on the 7th April re-embarkation began for Mudros (actually before the disembarkation of the whole division had been completed). On the evening of the 23rd April the ships of the covering force sailed from Lemnos and spent the following day anchored off Tenedos. The landing on the Gallipoli Peninsula began at about 7 a.m. on the 25th April. For the rest of the year the 29th Division served on the Gallipoli Peninsula and took part in the following operations:-
1915
THE BATTLES OF HELLES
25 and 26 April	The Landing at Cape Helles.
26 April	Capture of Sedd el Bahr.
28 April	First Battle of Krithia.
01 and 02 May	Eski Hissarlik.
06 to 08 May	Second Battle of Krithia.
12 May	Gurkha Bluff (29th Ind. Inf. Bde.).
04 June	Third Battle of Krithia [VIII. Corps].
28 June to 02 July	Gully Ravine [VIII. Corps].
06 to 13 August	Krithia Vineyard [VIII. Corps].
Between 16-21 August, 29th Divisional H.Q.; 86th, 87th, 88th Inf. Bdes.; 2/London, 2/Lowland, 1/W.Riding Fd. Cos.; 1/London Sig. Coy.; 87th, 88th and 89th Fd. Ambces moved to Suvla and came under IX. Corps. The 29th Divnl. Artillery remained at Helles under VIII. Corps.
THE BATTLES OF SUVLA
21 August	Battle of Scimitar Hill [IX. Corps].
Night 19/20 December	Evacuation of Suvla (88th Inf. Bde.) [IX. Corps].
The 87th Inf. Bde. returned to Helles on 01 October, 1915, and 2/Lond. Fd. Coy. on 02 November, 1915. After the Evacuation of Suvla, Divnl. H.Q., with 86th and 88th Inf. Bdes., and the two Fd. Cos. returned to Helles between 16-22 December, and came again under VIII. Corps. (The three field ambulances were left at Mudros and Imbros).
1916
Night of 07/08 January	Evacuation of Helles [VIII. Corps].
After the Evacuation of Helles, the 29th Division moved to Egypt and was concentrated at Suez. On 25th February orders were received for the early move of the division to France. Embarking in March, the division disembarked at Marseille, and between 15-29 March it effected its concentration on the Somme, east of Pont Remy. For the rest of the Great War the 29th Division served on the Western Front in France and Belgium.

2nd

The 2nd Battalion was part of the 20th Brigade, attached to the 7th Division. Its MG Section was transferred on 10 February 1916 to form the 20th Bde. MG Coy..

As a unit of the 7th Infantry Division, its MG Section will have taken part in the following battles and 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 unalloted regular battalions left in England, as well as nine battalions brought back from various overseas stations, viz. - Guernsey (1), Gibralter (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 Gibralter, 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
09 and 10 October	Antwerp Operations [IV. Corps].
19 October to 05 November	BATTLES OF YPRES
21 to 24 October	Battle of Langemarck [IV. Corps].
29 to 31 October	Battle of Gheluvelt [I. Corps].
18 December	Rouges Banes - Well Farm Attack [IV. Corps].
1915
10 to 13 March	Battle of Neuve Chappelle [IV. Corps, First Army].
09 May	Battle of Aubers Ridge [In reserve, IV. Corps, First Army].
15 to 19 May	Battle of Festubert [I. Corps, First Army].
15 and 16 June	Givenchy [IV. Corps].
25 September and 08 October	Battle of Loos [I. Corps, First Army].

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.

This remained until the formation of Divisional Machine Gun Battalions in 1936 where guns were brigaded once again.

Second World War

However during the Second World War, the 1st (Airborne) Battalion of the Border Regiment became Airlanding Battalion of the 1st Airlanding Brigade of the 1st Airborne Division. This Battalion therefore retained an Machine Gun Platoon within its support company. These guns were transport using 'Man Carry' and with Jeeps.

The 1st Airborne Division was formed in November 1941. It saw action at the following battles: