UNITS THAT USED THE VICKERS

The Connaught Rangers:


The Great War

The Connaught Rangers 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 dispositions of Battalions were distributed as follows:

2nd

At the start of the War, the 2nd Battalion was part of the 5th Brigade, attached to the 2nd Division.

As a unit of the 2nd Infantry Division, it will have taken part in the following battles and engagements.
On the outbreak of War the 2nd Division (less the 4th (Guards) Brigade) in the London District) was quartered at Aldershot, and mobilized there (4th (Guards) Brigade mobilizing at Windsor and in London).

The division crossed to France between the 11th and 16th August, concentrated around Wassigny, Etreux, etc., and began to moved forward on the 21st August.

1914
23 and 24 AugustBattle of Mons [I. Corps].
24 August to 05 SeptemberRETREAT FROM MONS [I. Corps].
01 SeptemberVillers Cotterets.
06 to 09 SeptemberBattle of the Marnes [I. Corps].
13 to 26 SeptemberBATTLE OF THE AISNES [I. Corps].
13 SeptemberPassage of the Aisne.
20 SeptemberActions on the Aisne Heights.
19 October to 20 NovemberBATTLES OF YPRES [I. Corps].
21 to 24 OctoberBattle of Langemarck [I. Corps].
29 to 21 OctoberBattle of Gheluvet [I. Corps].
11 NovemberBattle of Nonne Bosschen [I. Corps].

On 26 November, 1914, it transferred to the Ferozepore Brigade, Lahore Division.


Inter-war Period

As part of the Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1922, this regiment was disbanded.


Sources

  • Becke, 1934
    This page is published by the Vickers MG Collection & Research Association - www.vickersmachinegun.org.uk