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Home Articles Articles by Issue Volume 16 V16N1 (1st Quarter 2012)

MACHINE GUN FIRE CONTROL

SAR Staff by SAR Staff
September 11, 2022
in V16N1 (1st Quarter 2012), Articles, Articles by Issue, Guns & Parts, Search by Issue, Volume 16
MACHINE GUN FIRE CONTROL
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By Robert G. Segel

Collectors and shooters of classic tripod mounted belt fed machine guns enjoy firing their weapons at a variety of stationary targets that are in direct line of sight. The enjoyment comes from the actual operation of the gun and the visual confirmation of the results of a hit target. But these guns were rarely used this way in the muck and mire of the battlefield. The use of these weapons and the efficient results in combat depended on an understanding of fire control rules that few think about today, and, in fact, even fewer actually understand.

Machine gun tactics were literally developed under fire. The original thought was that it was used the same as a rifle, fired directly at the enemy in direct line of sight. At the time before World War I, the British Army had the finest marksmen in the world. They trained religiously to provide extremely effective volley fire with the soldier capable of firing 15 aimed and accurate shots per minute. A battalion of 600 men along a front facing an advancing frontal force of infantry and cavalry could put up 9,000 rounds per minute and this could last for 3-4 minutes – a devastating effect that could, and did, provide victorious results that served the Empire well.

Lining up and advancing forward was how armies fought for millennia. However, World War I was a whole new ball game, where instead of a battalion being grouped together in a 500 yard line, they were now spread out over a line that could be a mile or two long, seriously weakening the fire power of the individual solder. Massive frontal assaults were met with colossal casualties due to the Germans figuring out how to provide support from artillery and interlocking fire from their machine guns. The experienced British sharpshooters were decimated in the first year of the war leaving a gigantic hole in the effectiveness of their army and a whole new generation of green soldiers had to be raised and trained in Kitchener’s Army. New tactics had to be learned and employed – often as “on the job training.”

Machine gunners were elite troops and their weapons were the result of the Industrial Revolution where machines were capable of making machines and machine guns were the weapons of mass destruction of the time. The skill of the machine gunner went far beyond knowing how the gun worked mechanically and being able to diagnose and correct various stoppages to keep the gun in action. Any idiot can pull a trigger. But to use the gun intelligently and effectively, maximizing results by proper use of lessons learned, required a lot of training and a particular skill was needed in understanding the mathematics of geometry and algebra as well as terrain awareness and map reading. “Spray and pray” never was, and never is, the best method of employing a machine gun. Aimed, well placed shots, whether at a target seen or not seen, gets the results.

As can be seen from the terms and definitions provided elsewhere in this article, officers and squad leaders need an array of tools to assist them in working out firing solutions that maximized damage to the enemy while providing protection to their own troops and positions.

Various optical devices were employed as were plotters, quadrants, protractors, clinometers, elevation quadrants and slide rules – all used to provide the gunner with the information needed to effectively employ their weapons. Some devices were attached directly to the gun as either a direct firing device or as an aiming circle. Others were set up on an independent tripod sometimes nowhere near the actual gun emplacement but also serving as an aiming circle or fire director. Angles, heights, depressions, terrain, distances, triangulation, maps – all were necessary tools and skills needed to efficiently and safely engage targets.

There is no need to bore you with the actual mathematics involved in achieving various firing solutions as it varies depending on the firing problem. But there are terms we have all heard such as cone of fire, enfilade, defilade, searching fire, direct fire and indirect fire, etc. What do these terms mean in relation to the use of machine guns? Hopefully, it will provide some clarity to the problems that confront machine gunners.

DIRECT FIRE – is the term used when the target is visible and the gun’s sight can be trained directly on the target. This is what is used for rifle fire.

INDIRECT FIRE – is the term used when fire is directed at a target which is usually invisible without directing the line of sight at the target. An example of this is when the target is behind a hill.

CONE OF FIRE – is the figure formed in space by the trajectories of a machine gun burst directed at a single objective without altering direction of the bore. Due to natural vibrations of the gun, each shot has a slightly different trajectory and over a large distance those trajectories increase in dispersion.

SAFETY ZONES – are that portion of the ground covered by the high part of the trajectory curve.

The angle of safety is the angle between the line of sight to the target and a line short of the target beyond which the point the falling branch of the trajectory curve renders the ground unsafe for friendly troops. The DANGER SPACE is the portion of terrain adjacent to the rising and falling branches of the trajectory curve.

BEATEN ZONE – is the intersection of the Cone of Fire with the surface on which the objective stands. The farther away the target, the larger the Beaten Zone. The 100% zone where the bullets fall, due to the mechanical action of the gun, cannot be greatly altered in size or shape. It can, however, be readily displaced in any direction. Think of a stream of water from a hose. Once set, the size or shape of the stream cannot be altered, but the direction of the stream can be changed.

There is a relation between the ground and the effect of fire as to whether the target is higher or lower than the gun. For instance, the Beaten Zone is greatest on a slope whose surface falls away parallel to the trajectory.

DEFILADE – is an obstacle, either natural or artificial of sufficient thickness to intercept projectiles and afford shelter from fire delivered from a given point. DEAD SPACE are portions of the terrain such as fold in the ground or the reverse slope of a hill which cannot be covered with fire delivered from a given point. DEAD SPACE is also called DEFILADED SPACE.

GRAZING FIRE – is fire delivered over the crest of a hill with an angle of fall conforming to the slope of the ground.

PLUNGING FIRE – is fire delivered from a height at a target situated on a horizontal plane beneath.

FIXED FIRE – is delivered at a single point. The direction and elevation of the gun is not intentionally altered.

DISTRIBUTED FIRE – is fire whose direction only is altered continually by successively taking aim at a series of lineal points.

SWEEPING FIRE – is fire whose direction is shifted rapidly without aim by swinging the gun loosely on its traversing mechanism. This is the method used in trench warfare at close ranges for stopping assaults.

SEARCHING FIRE – is fire whose elevation, only, is altered continually by elevating and depressing the bore of the gun by means of the elevating mechanism. This is the most effective fire that can be delivered from a machine gun, providing the target is suitable – like a column target or an enfiladed line target.

ENFILADE FIRE – is fire delivered from a point in prolongation of the target itself. For instance, the flank of a line of trenches or in prolongation of an advancing line. Machine guns using searching fire while enfilading a charging line is an example of the most effective manner of firing under the most desirable conditions.

OVERHEAD FIRE – is delivered from a vantage point in the second line over the heads of friendly troops or trenches at the enemy target.

LONG RANGE SEARCHING OR BARRAGE FIRE – is fire delivered at extremely long ranges over the front line trenches to search enemy lines of communication or supply or to form a curtain of fire called a barrage.

The barrage may be laid down between the friendly trenches and the hostile trenches or laid in the rear of the enemy trenches in order to cut off the supports, etc.

A creeping barrage is one which moves forward by time table or at a stated distance in advance of the leading elements of an attack. A barrage is usually formed by the combined fire of many guns and the firing data secured from accurately contoured maps and forward observers.

Two Turkish interwar aiming circles used in conjunction with indirect fire. It has an optical sight used to pinpoint aiming stakes or known distance objects, a level, and a magnifying glass to read the small numbers around the aiming circle. A compass and another leveling bubble are at the top. Made in Germany by Emil Busch for the Turkish army.
Two Turkish interwar aiming circles used in conjunction with indirect fire. It has an optical sight used to pinpoint aiming stakes or known distance objects, a level, and a magnifying glass to read the small numbers around the aiming circle. A compass and another leveling bubble are at the top. Made in Germany by Emil Busch for the Turkish army.
Swedish direct fire optical sight for mounting on the k36 Swedish Browning M1917A1 pattern machine gun. Mfd. By NIFE, it is a 5×25 scope made in 1941. This sight has the traverse and elevation mechanisms and leveling bubble to be used as an aiming circle as well.
Japanese direct fire optical sight for the Type 92 heavy machine gun. Mfd. by Nikko, it is a 4×10 sight and mounts directly to the top of the Type 92 machine gun.
Prior to World War II, the machine gunners were equipped with range finders to find range, a director to calculate angles of elevation and direction, the plotter for use at Observation Posts, range tables and/or slide rules to calculate angles of sight, safety angles, wind, etc., as well as clinometers, deflection bar fire sights, aiming posts and aiming lamps for use by the gun crew. Most all of these pieces of equipment were no longer needed with the advent of the Vickers Dial Sight in 1939.
German MG Z 34 (MG Zieleinrichtung 34) optical sight mfd. by Franz Kuhlmann of Wilhelmshaven.
German MG 08 Z.F. 12 (Zielfernrohr – direct fire) optical sight (2.5 power) made by Emil Busch A.G., Rathenow. The Z.F. 12 was used for direct fire and mounted directly to the Maxim MG 08 machine gun and used throughout World War I.
Optical 2×12 sight for the Swiss Maxim MG 11 machine gun mfd. by Carl Zeiss, Jena. This direct fire sight mounted directly to the Swiss Maxim MG 11 machine gun. This sight will also fit the bracket on the Argentine Model 1895 brass Maxim.
A long range direct fire telescope sight for the Swiss Maxim MG 11 machine gun. Designed for use in mountain fortresses in conjunction with a suspended mount, it was used for very accurate long range interdicting fire against ground troops.
British and Australian clinometers for the .303 Vickers machine gun. The British one (left) is made by A. Kershaw & Son Ltd. and is dated 1918 and the Australian (right) is made by F. Tough in 1943. The early commercial angle of sight instruments had no provision to sit properly on Maxims or Vickers thus no uniformity of accuracy. In 1917, Mark III artillery clinometers were set into a special base that would fit on the sideplates of the guns with the top cover raised. When officially accepted in 1918, normally, the ìIIIî would be crossed out and a ìIî would be stamped next to it to denote it as a Vickers Clinometer Mark I. Later made models that had a dovetail mount were denoted as the Mark II.
French clinometer for the Hotchkiss M1914 machine gun dated 1918.
Very early French leveling device for the Hotchkiss M1900 and the St. Etienne M1907 machine guns.
German protractor used to lay off angles on a map to be used with panoramic sights.
Fire directors and controllers need facts to accurately lay their weapons. Pocket fire and control rules and slide rules became an important part in having all the information facts close at hand and easily available. These aids combined in generally one or two tools the useful information that would be found in a variety of sources that include tables of fire, tables of ordinates, tables of wind correction, a slope board, a protractor, adding machine, set of map scales, Firing Manual depth of beaten zones, Firing Manual data on combined sights, Field Manual on vertical dispersions, Field Manual on percentage of expected hits, chart or table to show mask clearance, chart or table to show troop safety, etc.
U.S. Machine Gun Panoramic Sight Model 1918. Mfd. by Atwater Kent, Philadelphia, PA. Appearing very late in 1919 it was too late to be actually used in World War I. This unit could be mounted directly to the gun as a direct fire sight, or mounted on a tripod for use by a Platoon Commander as an aiming circle.
U.S. Sight, Telescopic, M1. Manufactured by Perfex Corp, Milwaukee, Wis. in 1942. (Though the data plate says M1, the sight pictured is an M3.) A prismatic optical sight originally intended for use on the .30 caliber Brownings in the 1930s, the M1 sight proved to be not completely satisfactory and further development was set forth. Later, an improved M3 sight was developed and used exclusively on the .50 caliber Browning.
World War I era German aiming circle sight for mounting on a tripod. Made by Carl Zeiss, Jena. A low power optical sight with leveling bubble and magnifying glass to read numbers on the aiming circle.
Japanese direct fire optical sight for the Type 92 heavy machine gun. Mfd. by Nikko, it is a 4×10 sight and mounts directly to the top of the Type 92 machine gun.
British Vickers Dial Sight (1939) Mk III.
German MG Z 34 (MG Zieleinrichtung 34) optical sight mfd. by Franz Kuhlmann of Wilhelmshaven. These precision optical sights were meant to be used by the machine gunner but were not attached to the weapon (MG 34), unlike the earlier MG 08 Z.F. 12 optics for the MG 08 Maxim gun, which was mounted directly to the gun. The MG Z 34 instead was mounted to the MG Lafettes. Typical of these kinds of sights, it had both longitudinal and cross bubble levels, azimuth micrometer and index, azimuth scale, collimator, elevation drum (for direct fire) and a light window. While seemingly complicated, in trained hands the machine gunner could put out a hailstorm of bullets out to almost 2.5 miles.
U.S. Telescopic Musket Sight Model of 1908 made by the Warner & Swasey Company of Cleveland, Ohio. Originally made to be used as a direct fire sniper scope to be used by marksmen fitted to Springfield Model of 1903 rifles, this telescopic sight was also fitted to the Automatic Machine Rifle Model of 1909 (Benet-Mercie). The sight is 6-power and has a field of 4 1/2 degrees. The glass reticule is etched with vertical and horizontal cross lines and a stadia line, the latter being so placed that it spans the height (5 feet 8 inches) of an average man standing at a distance of 1,000 yards. Located on the top of the telescopic sight is a brass placard with wind and range tables and a drift table.
Japanese direct fire optical sight for the Type 99 light machine gun. This sight is 2.5×13 and mfd. by J.E.S. Affixed directly on top of the Type 99, is uses a prism system as the sight has to be offset to look around the top mounted magazine.
British Angle of Sight Instrument (Mark II) made by Troughton & Simms, London, circa 1912 and another British Angle of Sight Instrument, also circa 1912. Commercial leveling instruments such as these were used and taught in Instruction in the Machine Gun at the School of Musketry, Hythe, and shown in very early manuals until a proper dedicated clinometer was approved in 1917.
Machine Gun Fire Control
U.S. Clinometer Machine Gun M1918. An artillery type clinometer designed for the Browning M1917 machine gun. As is typical of all clinomteres, it is a leveling instrument used when elevating or depressing the weapon to measure the elevation or depression angle.
urkish plotter for calculating angles and distances for Turkish Maxims for use with the fire director to plot a line of fire from the gun position to the target based upon a line taken to the target by the director, situated at an observation point some distance from the gun.
British Mk VI elevation plotter.
This article first appeared in Small Arms Review V16N1 (March 2012)
Tags: 2012MACHINE GUN FIRE CONTROLMARCH 2012Robert G. SegelV16N1
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