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The Machine Gun Corps (Infantry)

No. 14 Battalion, MGC

A Machine Gun Battalion was attached to each Infantry Division and was formed of three MG Companies.

Division attached to:	14th (Light) Division
Formed from the:	41st Machine Gun Company
	42nd Machine Gun Company
	43rd Machine Gun Company
	224th Machine Gun Company

These Companies became A, B, C and D Companies respectively.

The 14th Bn, MGC was formed in March, 1918.

As a unit of the 14th (Light) Infantry Division during this period, it will have taken part in the following battles and engagements.

1918

FIRST BATTLES OF THE SOMME

21 to 23 March Battle of St. Quentin [III Corps, Fifth Army].

04 April Battle of the Avre [XIX Corps, Fourth Army].

Between 21st March and 5th April the 14th Division has 5,781 casualties, and by the 6th April the last unit of the Division had been withdrawn from the Line (Except the Artillery). The Division was then moved back between Lillers and Aire and was employed on the construction of the Army Line.

The Battalion was disbanded on 11 April 1918 and all personnel were sent to Abbeville for drafting.

A reformed Battalion was formed at Grantham on 14 June 1918, with Companies lettered A, B, C, and D. It left for France between 03 and 05 July 1918 with the reformed 14th (Light) Division. It was the first full Battalion to leave England.

... in July (between the 2nd and 6th) the reconstituted 14th Division crossed back to France and assembled around Wiette Effroy (N.E. of Boulogne) in the Second Army area. On the 29th August the 14th Division took over the left divisional sector of II Corps front line in the Second Army (north-east of Ypres) and before the end of the Great War the reconstituted Division took part in the following operations:

THE ADVANCE TO VICTORY
THE FINAL ADVANCE IN FLANDERS

28 September to 02 October Battle of Ypres [XIX Corps, until 10 a.m. 02 October 1918; then XV Corps, Second Army].

14 to 19 October Battle of Courtrai [XV Corps, Second Army].

The 14th Division remained in the line and gradually advanced towards the Schelde. On the 4th November divisional headquarters opened at Toucoing, and on the 5th the 41st Brigade crossed the Schelde (near Helchin) and constructed three footbridges across the river. Pushing on, the Division reached a line between Chemin Vert and Celles by 10.30 a.m. on the 9th November. XV Corps was then ordered to stand fast, and the 29th Division (X Corps) from the north and 59th Division (XI Corps) from the south joined hands in front of XV Corps and XV was then withdrawn into Army Reserve, with the 14th Division in billets atride the Schelde from Helchin to Herseaux (east of Tourcoing). When the Armistice with Germany came into force at 11 a.m. on the 11th November the 14th Division still occupied the same position.
At first the Division was employed on filling in craters, repairing roads, etc., and in carrying on training and education. Demobilization began in December and the first party left on the 11th. Before the end of the month the Division lost 843 men. In January, 1919 demobilization continued at a steadily increasing rate, on the 28th January 12 officers and 465 other ranks left for England, and on the 24th March the 14th Division ceased to exist. (Cadres left for England on 4th June, equipment guards by 27th June, and the divisional office at Herseaux closed at 9.30 a.m. on Sunday the 29th June, 1919). During the Great War the 14th (Light) Division lost 37,100 killed, wounded, and missing.

Sources

Becke, 1934

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1918
FIRST BATTLES OF THE SOMME
21 to 23 March	Battle of St. Quentin [III Corps, Fifth Army].
04 April	Battle of the Avre [XIX Corps, Fourth Army].
Between 21st March and 5th April the 14th Division has 5,781 casualties, and by the 6th April the last unit of the Division had been withdrawn from the Line (Except the Artillery). The Division was then moved back between Lillers and Aire and was employed on the construction of the Army Line.

... in July (between the 2nd and 6th) the reconstituted 14th Division crossed back to France and assembled around Wiette Effroy (N.E. of Boulogne) in the Second Army area. On the 29th August the 14th Division took over the left divisional sector of II Corps front line in the Second Army (north-east of Ypres) and before the end of the Great War the reconstituted Division took part in the following operations:
THE ADVANCE TO VICTORY THE FINAL ADVANCE IN FLANDERS
28 September to 02 October	Battle of Ypres [XIX Corps, until 10 a.m. 02 October 1918; then XV Corps, Second Army].
14 to 19 October	Battle of Courtrai [XV Corps, Second Army].
The 14th Division remained in the line and gradually advanced towards the Schelde. On the 4th November divisional headquarters opened at Toucoing, and on the 5th the 41st Brigade crossed the Schelde (near Helchin) and constructed three footbridges across the river. Pushing on, the Division reached a line between Chemin Vert and Celles by 10.30 a.m. on the 9th November. XV Corps was then ordered to stand fast, and the 29th Division (X Corps) from the north and 59th Division (XI Corps) from the south joined hands in front of XV Corps and XV was then withdrawn into Army Reserve, with the 14th Division in billets atride the Schelde from Helchin to Herseaux (east of Tourcoing). When the Armistice with Germany came into force at 11 a.m. on the 11th November the 14th Division still occupied the same position. At first the Division was employed on filling in craters, repairing roads, etc., and in carrying on training and education. Demobilization began in December and the first party left on the 11th. Before the end of the month the Division lost 843 men. In January, 1919 demobilization continued at a steadily increasing rate, on the 28th January 12 officers and 465 other ranks left for England, and on the 24th March the 14th Division ceased to exist. (Cadres left for England on 4th June, equipment guards by 27th June, and the divisional office at Herseaux closed at 9.30 a.m. on Sunday the 29th June, 1919). During the Great War the 14th (Light) Division lost 37,100 killed, wounded, and missing.