The Queen's Own Cameron 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 dispositions of Battalions were distributed as follows:
The 1st Battalion was part of the 1st Brigade, attached to the 1st Division. It's MG Section was transferred on 26 January 1916 to form the 1st Bde. MG Coy..
As a unit of the 1st Infantry Division, it will have taken part in the following battles and engagements.
| On the outbreak of War the 1st Division was quartered at Aldershot, and it mobilized there. The division crossed to France between the 11th and 15th August, concentrated around le Nouvion, and began to move forward on the 21st August. | |
| 1914 | |
| 23 and 24 August | Battle of Mons [I Corps] |
| 24 August to 5 September | RETREAT FROM MONS [I Corps] |
| 27 August | Etreux (1st Guards Bde) |
| 6 to 9 September | Battle of the Marne [I Corps] |
| 13 to 26 September | BATTLE OF THE AISNE [I Corps] |
| 13 September | Passage of the Aisne |
| 20 September | Actions on the Aisne Heights |
| 26 September | Action of Chivy |
| 19 October to 15 November | BATTLE OF YPRES [I Corps] |
| 21 to 24 October | Battle of Langemark [I Corps] |
| 29 to 31 October | Battle of Gheluvelt [I Corps] |
| 11 November | Battle of Nonne Bosschen [I Corps] |
| 20 to 21 December | Defence of Givenchy |
| 1915 | |
| 25 January | Givenchy |
| 29 January | Cuinchy |
| 9 May | BATTLE OF AUBERS RIDGE [I Corps, First Army] |
| Attack at Rue du Bois | |
| 25 September to 1 October | Battle of Loos [IV Corps, First Army] |
| 5 to 8 October | |
| 13 October | Hohenzollern Redoubt [IV Corps, First Army] |
The 2nd Battalion was part of the 81st Brigade, attached to the 27th Division.
As a unit of the 27th Infantry Division, its MG Section will have taken part in the following battles and engagements.
| The division had no existence before the outbreak of the Great War.
The division assmebled and mobilized at Magdalen Hill Camp (2 miles east of Winchester) during November and December, 1914. The 13 infantry battalions of which was composed came from India (10 from ten different stations), Hong Kong, Tientsin and Canada (P.P.C.L.I.); the infantry brigades were formed at Winchester. The mounted troops included a cavalry squadron from an existing yeomanry unit and a cyclist company, which was formed at Winchester. Of the field artillery brigades: I. was originally at Edinburgh, whilst XIX. and XX. came from India; but all three were extensively reorganized and re-formed at Winchester. The field companies, signal company, field ambulances, and train came from territorial force divisions. The 27th Division embarked at Southampton on the 19th - 21st December, disembarked at le Havre between the 20th - 23rd December, and concentrated between Aire and Arques by the evening of the 25th December. The 17th Division served on the Western Front in France and Belgium until November, 1915. In the following month it embarked for the Macedonian Front, on which it served for the remainder of the War. | |
| 1914 | |
| 1915 | |
| 14 and 15 March | St. Eloi [V. Corps, Second Army]. |
| BATTLES OF YPRES | |
| 22 and 23 April | Battle of Gravenstafel Ridge [V. Corps, Second Army]. |
| 24 April to 04 May | Battle of St. Julien [V. Corps, Second Army, until 28 April; then Plumer's Force]. |
| 08 to 13 May | Battle of Frezenberg Ridge [V. Corps, Second Army]. |
| 24 and 25 May | Battle of Bellewaarde Ridge [V. Corps, Second Army]. |
| On the 1st November the division was warned to be ready to entrain for Marseille on the 10th November. Entrainment began on the 15th, and embarkation for the Macedonian Front on the 17th; but it was not until the 13th February, 1916, that the last of the division disembarked at Salonika. | |
Its MG Section was transferred on the 16 May 1916 to form the 81st Bde. MG Coy..
The 4th Battalion was a unit of the 24th Brigade, 8th Division.
The 4th Battalion joined the 21st Brigade, 7th Division, on 08 April, 1915. As a unit of the 7th Division, it will have taken part in the following engagements.
| 1915 | |
| 25 April to 25 May | BATTLES OF YPRES [V. Corps, Second Army]. |
| 25 April to 04 May | Battle of St. Julien [V. Corps, Second Army, and from 28 April to 07 May in Plumer's Force]. |
| 08 to 13 May | Battle of Frezenberg Ridge [V. Corps, Second Army]. |
| 24 and 25 May | Battle of Bellewaarde Ridge [V. Corps, Second Army]. |
It was transferred to the 91st Brigade on 20 December, 1915, and left to join the 154th Brigade, 51st Division, on 26 February, 1916, and was sent to the Base to be drafted.
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.
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.