The South staffordshire 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:
The 1st Battalion was part of the 22nd Brigade of the 7th Division at the outbreak of war.
On 20 December 1915, it became part of the 91st Brigade, attached to the 7th Division. It's MG Section was transferred on 14 March 1916 to form the 91st 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 2nd Battalion was part of the 6th Brigade, attached to the 2nd Division. It's MG Section was transferred on 04 January 1916 to form the 6th Bde. MG Coy..
As a unit of the 2nd Infantry Division, it will have taken part in the following battles and engagements.
| 1914 | |
| 23 and 24 August | Battle of Mons [I. Corps]. |
| 24 August to 05 September | RETREAT FROM MONS [I. Corps]. |
| 01 September | Villers Cotterets. |
| 06 to 09 September | Battle of the Marnes [I. Corps]. |
| 13 to 26 September | BATTLE OF THE AISNES [I. Corps]. |
| 13 September | Passage of the Aisne. |
| 20 September | Actions on the Aisne Heights. |
| 19 October to 20 November | BATTLES OF YPRES [I. Corps]. |
| 21 to 24 October | Battle of Langemarck [I. Corps]. |
| 29 to 21 October | Battle of Gheluvet [I. Corps]. |
| 11 November | Battle of Nonne Bosschen [I. Corps]. |
| 1915 | |
| 01 February | Cuinchy |
| 06 February | Cuinchy |
| 15 to 20 May | Battle of Festubert [I. Corps, First Army]. |
| 25 September to 04 October | Battle of Loos [I. Corps, First Army]. |
| 13 to 19 October | Hohenzollern Redoubt [I. Corps, First Army]. |
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.
However during the Second World War, the 2nd (Airborne) Battalion of the South Staffordshire 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:
The Officer Commanding the MMG Group at the time of Operation Market Garden (September 1944) was Capt. B.W.H. Hingston.
After the Second World War, the MG assets reverted to MG Platoons within support companies of Infantry Battalions.