The Gordon Highlanders 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:
The 1st Battalion was part of the 8th Brigade and transferred to the 76th Brigade on 19 October 1915, both Brigades attached to the 3rd Division. It's MG Section was transferred by 13 April 1916 to form the 76th 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]. |
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]. |
The 8th 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 Agusut Field-Marshall Earl Kitchener of Khartoum was appointed Secretary of Strate 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 dibisions (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 |
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. The Gordons was one of the Regiments originally selected for this role but only the 4th Battalion was actually converted.
The 4th Battalion was organised as a Divisional MG Battalion but attached to General Headquarters, British Expeditionary Force, available to Corps Troops as required. It took part in the Campaign in France and Belgium, May 1940.
Upon the disbandment of Divisional Machine Gun Battalions in the post-WW2 restructure of the British Army, the Vickers Machine Gun assets reverted to individual Battalions as part of the Support Company as a Machine Gun Platoon.