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AND SIEGEC RAFT . See also:French experiments are said to show that the See also:fire-See also:power of a See also:machine-See also:gun is equal to that of 150–200 rifles at exactly known range, and to 6o–8o rifles at ranges judged by the French " instantaneous range-finder." The See also:German See also:drill-See also:book gives it as equal approximately to that of 8o rifles on an See also:average. The distinction of known and unknown ranges is due to the fact that the " See also:cone of See also:dispersion " of a large number of bullets in collective See also:infantry fire is deeper than that of machine-gun fire. The latter therefore See also:groups its bullets much more closely about the See also:target if the latter is in the centre of the cone—viz. at known ranges—but if the distance Fire Effect. be misjudged not only the See also:close central See also:group of 50% of the shots, but even the outlying rounds may fall well away from the target. At 1500 yards range the " 50 per cent. See also:zone " with the See also:Maxim gun is only 34 yards deep as compared with the 6o yards of a See also:half-See also:company of rifles.' The accuracy of the gun is more marked when the breadth of the cone of dispersion is taken into See also:account. The " 75 per cent." zone is in the See also:case of the machine-gun about as broad at 2000 yards as that of collective See also:rifle. fire at 500. At the School of Musketry, See also:South See also:Africa, a trial between 42 picked marksmen and a Maxim at an unknown range at service targets resulted in 408 rounds from the rifles inflicting a loss of 54% on the enemy's firing See also:line represented by the targets; and 228 rounds from the Maxim inflicting one of 64%. Another See also:factor is rapidity of fire. It is doubtful if infantry can keep up a See also:rate of 12 rounds a See also:minute for more than two or three minutes at a See also:time without exhaustion and consequent See also:wild See also:shooting. The machine-gun, with all its limitations in this respect, can probably, taking a See also:period of twenty or See also:thirty minutes, deliver a greater See also:volume of fire than fifty rifles, and assuming that, by one See also:device or another (ranging by observing the Ranging. strike of the bullets, the use of a telemeter, or the employment of " combined See also:sights ") the 75% cone of bullets has been brought on to the target, that fire will be more effective. The serious limiting See also:condition is the need of accurate ranging. If this is unsatisfactory the whole (and not, as with infantry, a See also:part) of the fire effect may be lost, and if the safe expedient of " combined sights "' be too freely resorted to, the See also:consumption of See also:ammunition may be out of all proportion.
The vulnerability of machine-guns is quite as important as is their accuracy. At a minimum, that is when painted a " service " See also:colour, manoeuvred with skill, and mounted on a See also:low tripod—in several armies even the See also:shield has been vninera-
hi//ty.
rejected as tending to make guns more conspicuous
—the vulnerability of one gun should be that of one skirmisher lying down. At a maximum, vulnerability is that of a small See also:battery of guns and wagons limbered up.
Mobility comes next. The older patterns of See also:hand-operated guns weighed about 90 lb at least, without See also:carriage, the earlier patterns of See also:Maxims (such as that described in detail Mobility. above) about 6o lb. But the most See also:modern Maxims
weigh no more than 35 lb. Now, such weapons with tripods can be easily carried to and fro by one or two men over ground that is impracticable for wheeled carriages. Nevertheless,
' For See also:practical purposes in the See also: I,5oo yds. 2,000 yds. S.L.E. Rifle 220 yds. 120 yds. See also:loo yds. Maxim Gun 15o yds. 70 yds. 6o yds. 5o yds. " " Combined sights " implies firing with the sights set for two different ranges, the usual difference being 50 yds. With grouped machine guns, " progressive fire " with elevations increasing by 25 yds. is used. This artificially disperses the fire, and therefore lessens the See also:chance of losing the target through ranging errors. One ingenious inventor has produced a two-barrelled automatic, in which the barrels are permanently set to give combined elevations. The See also:British memorandum of See also:August 1909 seems to regard the facility of employing combined sights as the See also:principal See also:advantage of the battery over the See also:section. wheeled carriages are often used for the See also:ordinary transport of the gun and its equipment, especially with the heavier See also:models. The simplest machine-gun has a number of accessories—tools, spare parts, &c.—that must be conveyed with it, and at the least a See also:pack-See also:animal is indispensable. Reducing these conditions to a phrase—the fire effect that can be reasonably expected of machine-guns is that of fifty or sixty rifles, the space it takes up in the line can be made to equal that occupied by two men, and it possesses by turns the See also:speed of a mounted See also:man and the freedom of See also:movement of an infantry-man. The use of the machine-gun (apart from See also:savage warfare) that first commended itself in See also:Europe was its use as a See also:mobile reserve Machine- of fire. Now, the greatest difficulty attending the Guns as a employment of a reserve of any sort is the selection Reserve of of the right moment for its intervention in the Fes' struggle, and experience of manoeuvres of all arms in See also:Germany, where " machine-gun detachments " began to be formed in 1902, appears to have been that the machine-guns always came into See also:action too See also:late. On the other hand, the conditions of the See also:cavalry versus cavalry combat were more favourable. Here there was every inducement to See also:augment fire-power without dismounting whole regiments for the purpose. Moreover, vulnerability was not a fatal defect as against a battery or two of the enemy's See also:horse See also:artillery, whose See also:main task is to fire with effect into the closed squadrons of mounted men on the See also:verge of their See also:charge, and above all to avoid a meaningless See also:duel of projectiles. The use of wheeled carriages was therefore quite admissible (although in fact the equipment was detachable from the carriage) and, given the rapidity and sudden changes of cavalry fighting, both desirable and necessary. Thus, thanks Machine- to the machine-gun, the eternal problem of increasing Guns with the fire-power of mounted troops is at last partially cavalry. solved, and the See also:solution has appealed strongly both to armies exceptionally strong in cavalry, as for example the German, and to those exceptionally weak in that arm—Denmark, for instance, having two or three See also:light machine-guns per See also:squadron. The See also:object of the weaker cavalry may be to cause the onset of the stronger to dwindle away into a dismounted skirmish, and this is most effectually brought about by a fire concentrated enough and heavy enough to discourage mounted manoeuvres; on the other hand, the stronger party desires to avoid dismounting a single squadron that can be kept mounted; and this too may be effected by the machine-guns. What the result of such a policy on both sides may be, it would be hard to prophesy, but it is clear at any rate that, whether on the offensive or on the defensive, skilfully handled machine-guns may enable a cavalry See also:commander to achieve the difficult and longed-for result—to give the See also:law to his opponent. The principal difference between the See also:tactics of the stronger and those of the weaker cavalry in this See also:matter is, that it is generally advantageous for the former to See also:act by batteries and for the latter to disperse his machine guns irregularly in pairs. It is not merely in cavalry tactics that the question of " section or battery " arises. It deeply affects the machine-gun tactics in the See also:battle of all arms, and it is therefore decided in each service by the use to which the guns are intended to be put. One powerful current of See also:opinion is in favour of employing them as a mobile reserve of fire. This opinion was responsible for the creation of the German machine-gun batteries or " detachments "; and in the drill regulations issued in 1902 for their guidance it was stated that the proper use of machine-guns required a comprehensive and accurate knowledge of the See also:general situation, and that therefore only the See also:superior leaders could employ them to advantage. Manoeuvre experience, as mentioned above, has caused considerable modification in this matter, and while the large machine-gun " detachments " are now definitely told off to the cavalry, new and smaller See also:units have been formed, with the See also:title " companies " to indicate their See also:attachment to the infantry See also:arm. A See also:recent See also:official pronouncement as to the role of the " companies " (Amendments to Exerzierreglement See also:fur See also:die Infanterie, 1909) is to the effectthat the companies are an integral part of the infantry, that their See also:mission is to augment directly the fire of the infantry, and that their employment is in the hands of the infantry regimental commander, who keeps the guns at his own disposition or distributes them to the battalions as he See also:sees See also:fit. It must be remembered that the See also:regiment is a large unit, 3000 strong, and the See also:idea of a " mobile reserve of fire " is tacitly maintained, although it has been found necessary to depart from the extreme measure of massing the guns and holding them at the disposal of a general officer. The See also:Japanese regulations See also:state that in principle the machine-gun battery fights as a unit; that although it may be advantageously employed with the ad- Machinevanced guard to assure the See also:possession of support- Guns in See also:ing points, its true See also:function is to intervene with full combined effect in the decisive attack, its use in the delaying Tactics. action being " a serious See also:error." In See also:France, on the other hand, the See also:system of See also:independent sections is most rigidly maintained; when in See also:barracks, the three sections belonging to an infantry regiment are combined for drill, but in the field they seem to be used exclusively as sections. They are not, however, restricted to the positions of their own battalions; taught probably by the experiences of the British in South Africa, they co-operate with instead of following the infantry. In See also:Great See also:Britain, Field Service Regulations, part i., 1go9, See also:lay down that " machine-guns are best used in pairs' in support of the particular See also:body of troops to which they belong " (i.e. battalions). " The guns of two or more units may, if required,' be placed under a specially selected officer and employed as a See also:special reserve of fire in the hands of a See also:brigade commander " (corresponding to German regimental commander), but " if an overwhelming fire on a particular point is required, it can be obtained by concentrating the fire of dispersed pairs of guns." More explicitly still, " the movements and fire action of these weapons should be regulated so as to enable them to open fire immediately a favour-able opportunity arises." Contrasting the German system with the French and See also:English, we may observe that it is German tactics as a whole that impose a method of using machine-guns which the Germans themselves recognize as being in many respects disadvantageous. A German force in action possesses little See also:depth, i.e. reserves, except on the flanks where the enveloping attack is intended to be made. Consequently, a German commander needs a reserve of fire in a See also:mechanical, concentrated See also:form more than a British or a French commander, and, further, as regards the decisive attack on the flanks, it is intended not merely to be sudden but even more to be powerful and overwhelming. These considerations tend to impose both the massing and the holding in reserve of machine-guns. The French and British See also:doctrine (see TACTICS) is fundamentally different. Here, whether the guns be massed or not, there is rarely any question of using the machine-guns as a special reserve. In the decisive attack, and especially at the See also:culmination of the decisive attack, when concealment has ceased and power is everything, the machine-guns can render the greatest services when grouped and boldly handled. Above all, they must reach the captured See also:crest in a few minutes, so as to crush the inevitable offensive return of the enemy's reserves. The decisive attack, moreover, is not a prearranged affair, as in Germany, but the culmination, " at a selected point, of gradually increasing pressure relentlessly applied to the enemy at all points " (F. S. Regulations). The holding attack, as this " pressure " is called, is not a See also:mere feint. It is launched and See also:developed as a decisive attack, though not completed as such, as it lacks the necessary reserve strength. Here, then, the machine- ' The use of single guns facilitates concealment, but this is out-weighed by the objection that when a jam or other breakdown occurs the fire ceases altogether. The use of guns in pairs not only obviates this, but admits of each gun in turn ceasing fire to economize ammunition, to cool down, &c. This is the old artillery principle—" one gun is no gun." 2 In the instructions issued in August 1909 one of the principal advantages of grouped sections is stated to be the neutralization of ranging errors at ranges over woo yards. At a less range, it is laid down, grouped guns form too visible a target, unless the ground is very favourable. gun is best employed in enabling relatively small forces to advance—not to assault—without undue loss, that is, in economizing rifles along the non-decisive front.' Withal, there are certain principles, or rather details of principle, that find general See also:acceptance. One of these is the employment of machine-guns with the advanced guard. In this case the value of the weapon lies in its enabling the advanced guard both to seize favourable ground and points of support without undue effort and to hold the positions gained against the enemy's See also:counter-attack. This applies, further, to the preliminary stages of an action.2 Another point is that as a See also:rule the most favourable range for the machine-gun is " effective infantry," i.e. 600-1400 yards (which is, mutatis mutandis, the principle of Reffye's mitrailleuse). Its employment at close infantry range depends entirely on conditions of ground and circumstances—even supposing that the handiest and most inconspicuous type of weapon is employed. Thirdly—and this has a considerable bearing on the other points—the machine-gun both concentrates many rifles on a narrow front, and concentrates the bullets of many rifles on a narrow front. The first clause implies that it can be used where there is no See also:room (physically or tactically) for the fifty or eighty riflemen it represents (as, for instance, in some slight patch of See also:cover whence the gun can give effective See also:cross-fire in support of the infantry attack, or in front of an advanced See also:post, or can See also:watch an exposed flank), and, further, that it can be swung See also:round laterally on to a fresh target far more easily than a line of excited and extended infantry can be made to See also:change front. The second means that the exit of a See also:defile, an exposed turn in a See also:lane or on a See also:bridge, can be beaten by closely grouped fire at greater distances and with greater accuracy than is attainable with riflemen. Further, the See also:waste of ammunition and the See also:strain on the weapon caused by unnecessarily prolonged firing at the rate for which its mechanism is set—varying between 35o and 700 rounds a minute—have caused it to be laid down as an See also:axiom in all armies that machine-guns shall deliver their fire by " bursts " and only on favourable targets. Lastly, the reports, both of observers and combatants, are unanimous as to the immense moral effect produced on the combatants by the unmistakable drumming See also:sound of the machine-guns, an effect comparable even at certain stages of the fight to the See also:boom of the artillery itself. Equipments in Use.—Practically all nations have abandoned the See also:simple wheeled carriage for machine-guns, or rather have adopted the See also:tripod or table mounting, reserving the wheeled vehicle for the mere transport of the equipment. Since the Russo-Japanese See also:War the tendency has been to See also:sacrifice the slight See also:protection afforded by the shield in See also:order to reduce visibility. The Japanese, who had unprotected field guns and protected machine-guns in the war, found it advisable to See also:reverse this See also:procedure, for reasons that can easily be guessed in the cases of both weapons. Great Britain.—The service machine-gun is the Maxim .303 in., adjusted to a rate of 450 rounds per minute and sighted (except in a few weapons) to 2900 yards. The See also:original patterns weighed 6o lb, and were mounted on wheeled carriages. In the latest See also:pattern, however, the See also:weight of the gun has been reduced to 36 lb. The old See also:Mark I. cavalry Maxim carriage, See also:complete with gun, ammunition, &c., weighed 13 cwt. behind the traces, and the gun was 5 ft. above the ground. It had no See also:limber. The Mark III. cavalry carriage is much See also:lower (3' 6" from the ground to the gun), and the gun carriage and limber together only weigh 13 cwt. Of infantry carriages there were various marks, one of which is shown in fig. 6. Now, however, all mountings for infantry are of the tripod type, transported on wheels or on pack animals, but entirely detachable from the travelling mounting, and in action practically never used except on the tripod. The Mark IV. tripod mounting, of which a ' The British instructions of August 1909 See also:direct the grouping of guns in the decisive attack (if circumstances and ground favour this course) and their use by sections " if the brigade is deployed on a wide front," i.e. on the non-decisive front; further, that it is often advisable to disperse the sections of the leading battalions and to group those of units in reserve. In any case, while the 2, 4 or 8 guns must be ready to act independently as a special " arm," their normal See also:work is to give the closest support to the neighbouring infantry (See also:battalion in the holding, brigade in the decisive, attack). 2 In Germany, however, the tendency is not to make holding attacks but to keep the troops out of harm's way (i.e. too far away for the enemy to counter-attack) until they can strike effectively.See also:sketch is given in fig. 21, weighs 48 lb. The See also:total weight of the fighting equipment is thus 84 1b only—an important See also:consideration now that in action the gun is man-carried. The gun can be adjusted to fire at heights varying from 2' 6" to I' 22" only from the ground; in its lowest position, then, it is a little lower than the See also:head of a man firing lying. All the later infantry machine-gun equipments are for pack transport and have no See also:shields. The organization of the machine-gun arm is regimental. Each cavalry regiment and each infantry battalion has a section of 2 guns under an officer. France.—The guns in use are the See also:Puteaux and the Hotchkiss. The unit is the regimental 2-gun section. Four-horsed carriages with limbers are used with cavalry, tripods with the infantry sections. No shields. Weight of the Hotchkiss in use, 5o lb; of the tripod, 7o lb. The Puteaux was lightened and improved in 1909. already mentioned the German machine-gun units are classed as cavalry " detachments " and infantry " companies." The " detachment " or battery consists of 6 guns and 4 wagons, the vehicles being of a light artillery pattern and See also:drawn by four horses. The gun (Maxim) weighs 61 lb, and its fighting carriage See also:Ito lb. The " companies " have also 6 guns and 4 wagons, but the equipment is lighter (two-horse), and is not constructed on artillery principles, nor are the guns fired from their carriages as are those of the " detachments." The weight of the gun is 38 lb, and that of the fighting carriage 75 (some accounts give 53 for the latter), the difference between these weights and those of the mounted equipments, affording a See also:good See also:illustration of the difference in the See also:tactical requirements of the cavalry and of the infantry types of gun. The fighting carriage is a sort of sledge, which is provided with four legs for fire in the highest position, but can of course be placed on the ground; the height of the gun, therefore, can be varied from 3' 6" to 1' 6". The sledges can be dragged across See also:country or carried by men stretcher See also:fashion, and sometimes several sledges are coupled and drawn by a horse. See also:Japan.—The Japanese Hotchkiss, as modified since the war with See also:Russia, is said to weigh 7o lb, and its tripod mounting 40. Each regiment of infantry has a six-gun battery and each cavalry brigade one of eight guns. Pack transport is used. Russia.—Since the war eight-gun companies have been formed in the infantry regiments, and each cavalry regiment has been provided with two guns. The See also:var organization is, however, unknown. Both See also:wheel and pack transport are employed for travelling, but the guns are fought from tripods. See also:Early and somewhat heavy patterns of Maxim (with shield) are chiefly used, but a great number of very light guns of the Madsen type have been issued. The See also:Austrian gun is the Schwarzlose, of which some details are given above. Pack transport is used, one See also:mule taking the whole equipment with moo rounds. Weight of the gun 37.9 lb, of the tripod 41 lb. The height of the tripod can be varied from 91 in. to 2 ft. above the ground. It is proposed that each cavalry regiment should have four guns, and each infantry regiment two. See also:Switzerland adopted the Maxim in 1902. It is used principally as a substitute for horse artillery. See also:Denmark and other small states have adopted the Madsen or Rexer light-type guns in relatively large See also:numbers, especially for cavalry. In the See also:United States the British organization was after many trials adopted, and each infantry and cavalry regiment has a two-gun section of Maxims, with tripod mounting and pack transport. See P. See also:Azan, See also:Les premieres mitrailleuses (" Revue d' Histoire de l'Arm6e," See also:July 1907) ; Le See also:Canon a balles, z87o–1871 (" Revue d'Hist. de 1'Arm6e, 1909) ; Lieut-See also:Colonel E. See also:Rogers in " See also:Journal R. United Service Institution " of 1905; Capt. R. V. K. Applin, Machine-gun Tactics (See also:London, 191u) and See also:paper in " J. R. United Service Inst." (1910); War See also:Office Handbook to the Maxim gun (1907); Capt. Cesbron Lavau, Mitrailleuses de cavalerie; Lieut. Buttin, L'emploi See also:des mitrailleuses d'i'nfanterie; See also:Major J. Coots, Les Mitrailleuses (See also:Brussels, 19o8); and Merkatz, Unterrichtsbuch fur die Masch.-Gewehrabteilungen (See also:Berlin, 1906) ; Korzen & See also:Kuhn, Waffenlehre, &c. (C. F. A.) MACf AS [0 NAMORODO] (ft. 1360-1390), Galician trovador, held some position in the See also:household of Enrique de See also:Villena. He is represented by five poems in the Cancianero de See also:Baena, and is the reputed author of sixteen others. Macias lives by virtue of the romantic legends which have accumulated round his name. The most popular version of his See also:story is related by Hernan See also:Nunez. According to this tradition, Macias was enamoured of a great See also:lady, was imprisoned at Arjonilla, and was murdered by the jealous See also:husband while singing the lady's praises. There may be some basis of fact for this narrative, which became a favourite subject with contemporary See also:Spanish poets and later writers. Macias is mentioned in Rocaberti's Gloria de amor as the Castilian See also:equivalent of Cabestaah; he afforded a theme to Lope de See also:Vega in Porfiar hasta morir; in the 19th See also:century, at the outset of the romantic movement in See also:Spain, he inspired See also:Larra (q.v.) in the See also:play Macias and in the See also:historical novel entitled El doncel de See also:Don Enrique el doliente. See H. A. Rennert, Macias, o namorado; a Galician trobador (See also:Philadelphia, 1900); See also:Theodore J. de Puymaigre, Les vieux auteurs castillans (1889–189o), i. 54–74; Cancioneiro Gallego-Castelhano (New See also:York and London, 1902), ed. H. R. See also:Lang; See also:Christian F. Bellermann, Die See also:alien Liederbitcher der Portugiesen (Berlin, 1840). Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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