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- 5th Battalion, Machine Gun Corps during the Great War -


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World War 1 One ww1 wwII greatwar great 1914 1918 first battalion regiment

5th Battalion, Machine Gun Corps



   The 5th Machine Gun Battalion was formed in Italy on the 26th of February 1918 from the 205th Machine Gun Company and continued to serve with 5th Division. The Division was recalled to France to assist with countering the German Advance in late March 1918 On the 26th of April 1918 they absorbed the 15th, 16th and 95th Machine Gun Companies and were in action during the Battles of the Lys. On the 14th of August 1918 the 5th Division was withdrawn for two weeks rest. Then moved to The Somme where they were more or less in continuous action over the old battlegrounds until late October 1918 and saw action in the Battles of the Hindenburg Line and the Final Advance in Picardy. At the Armistice they were in the area of Le Quesnoy and moved to Belgium to the area around Namur and Wavre in December and demobilization began.

17th April 1915 5th Division Attack  location map

24th Dec 1917 Reorganisation

21st Jan 1918 Course

5th Feb 1918 Course Ends

13th Feb 1918 Personnel

21st Feb 1918 Reorganisation

25th Mar 1918 Reorganisation

25th Mar 1918 Appointments

9th of April 1918 Orders

10th of April 1918  Relief Postponed

23rd of April 1918 Constant Shelling  location map

25th of April 1918  Division Attacks  location map

26th Apr 1918 Dispositions of Machine Guns  location map

28th of April 1918 Artillery Quieter  location map

3rd of May 1918 Enemy Artillery Active   location map

4th of May 1918 Situation Quiet  location map

10th of May 1918 Gas Shells Used   location map

15th of May 1918 Our Heavies Busy   location map

17th of May 1918 Active Artillery  location map

22nd of May 1918 Enemy Active  location map

23rd of May 1918 Quiet Night  location map

30th of May 1918 A Relief  location map

5th of June 1918  Brigade Relief  location map

13th of June 1918  Brigade Relief Completed  location map

15th of June 1918  Operation Proposed  location map

20th of June 1918 Situation Unchanged  location map

22nd of June 1918  Slight Activity  location map

25th of June 1918 WO95/1510/4  location map

29th of June 1918 Enemy Guns Active  location map

1st of July 1918  Situation Unchanged  location map

7th of July 1918  Gas Shelling  location map

12th of July 1918 Back Areas Bombed  location map

18th of July 1918  Our Guns Active  location map

24th of July 1918  Relief Completed  location map

28th of July 1918 Quiet   location map

31st of July 1918 Relief Completed  location map

9th of August 1918  Training  location map

10th of August 1918  Training

13th of August 1918 Entraining Commenced

15th of August 1918  Training

23rd of August 1918  Division Attacks  location map

24th of August 1918  5th Division Co-operates  location map

25th of August 1918 Brigades Move  location map

26th of August 1918  Enemy Retreats  location map

27th of August 1918 Quiet  location map

28th of August 1918   Situation Unchanged  location map

30th of August 1918  Advance Continues  location map

31st of August 1918  Counter-Attack  location map

1st of September 1918  Attack Sucessful  location map

2nd of September 1918 Strongly Defended

3rd of September 1918  Enemy Withdraws  location map

4th of September 1918 Divisional Relief

5th of September 1918 Rest and Training

8th of September 1918  Rest and Training  location map

13th of September 1918 On the Move  location map

17th of September 1918 Back Areas Bombed  location map

18th of September 1918 Attack Commences  location map

19th of September 1918 Enemy Guns Quiet  location map

20th of September 1918  Quiet Time  location map

22nd of September 1918 Field Guns Active  location map

25th of September 1918  Advance Resumed  location map

26th of September 1918 Preparing to Attack  location map

30th of September 1918  Divisional Relief  location map

8th of October 1918 New Area  location map

9th of October 1918  On the Move   location map

10th of October 1918 On the Move  location map

12th of October 1918 New Divisional Area

18th of October 1918  Gas Shelling   location map

20th of October 1918   location map

22nd of October 1918 Advance to Resume  location map

2nd of November 1918   Warning of Advance  location map

4th of November 1918 Attack Continued   location map

10th of November 1918  Operations Continue  location map

13th of November 1918 Resting

4th of December 1918 Orders Issued  location map

11th of December 1918 Order for March

3rd of January 1919 Additional Areas Allotted

24th of January 1919 5th Signals Rejoining

If you can provide any additional information, please add it here.





Want to know more about 5th Battalion, Machine Gun Corps?


There are:5308 items tagged 5th Battalion, Machine Gun Corps available in our Library

  These include information on officers, regimental histories, letters, diary entries, personal accounts and information about actions during the Great War.


Those known to have served with

5th Battalion, Machine Gun Corps

during the Great War 1914-1918.

All names on this list have been submitted by relatives, friends, neighbours and others who wish to remember them, if you have any names to add or any recollections or photos of those listed, please Add a Name to this List

Records of 5th Battalion, Machine Gun Corps from other sources.


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      World War 1 One ww1 wwII greatwar great battalion regiment artillery
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240250

Pte. James Wilde 205th Coy. 5th Battalion

My father James Wilde was called up April 1918 and joined the Border Regiment but transferred to the Machine Gun Corps. In the Borders he had done some training at Altcar Range. I was there 39 years later with the REME. After training he went to France. On their first day they walked 11 miles in the sunshine but on the second they did 26 miles because it was raining. He was 29 years old. In the trenches they were nearly always in water and sometimes slept in more than a foot of water. They had very little food and once their daily amount was half a loaf and a jar of jam between 6 of them. They broke the bread up added water and the jam and boiled it up like soup. It was too sweet to eat.

Some time in the middle of Oct. He was working his way through the tranches, he fell back and trying to rise he thought he had sat in water and then knew it was his blood. A slinter shell had exploded near him and removed 4 inches of his femur. In Grantham Hospital he was 11 months on his back with pulleys and sand bags waiting for his bones to grow together.

They needed money to spend so 200 of them lined up for 10s. My father wanted to read what they were signing for but the quarter master would not give them time and later they all found they had signed for a pound. Most of the men also found out that they had all been charged for loosing their uniforms in France. He did not get out of the army until 1920. He had constant medicals on his leg which was as thick as my wrist in his thigh and it would not be any different so he refused to take further medicals so they reduced his pension from 100% to 60%. He was qualified unfit for work. At 65 he applied for the OAP. He was told because he had no stamps on his card he did not qualify. He died in Dec. 1963

James Colin Wilde




234835

Henry Alfred Green Attchd 5th Btn. Machine Gun Corps King's Royal Rifle Corps

Henry Green is my great grandfather. On 27th June 1917 he was called up to join the King's Royal Rifles. However, because he was over 30 years old (born in 1886), he was attached to the Machine Gun Corps, 5th Battalion. He was discharged from the MGC on 20th August 1919, but Henry remained as battalion cook until 18th November 1919. He recieved his official Army discharge on 20th December 1919. Henry died on 30th March 1960 and is buried in Eltham Cemetery in London.

Michelle Bowen






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