TRAJNING LEWIS GUNNERS.

Auckland Star, Volume XLVIII, Issue 89, 14 April 1917, Page 9

TRAJNING LEWIS GUNNERS.

■WOMDERFTJX, AJTD B.APID ORGAMSATION. BRITISH FORESIGHT. One of the interesting developments of the war has been tiie establishment of the Machine-gun Corps, due to the importance which the machine-gun took very early in hostilities. Huge contracts for Vickers-Maxim guns were placed with all speed, and in 1915 headquarters in France asked that every cavalry regiment and infantry battalion should be equipped with, a, large number of machine-guns. Thanks to foresight at home, it became possible to meet these demands. At the same time a newer type of machine-gun, called the Lewis gun, became available in large quantities. These guns are lighter and more portable than the Vickers-Maxim, and can be fired from the shoulder. Battalions at the front were largely equipped with these in the summer of 1915. The Machine-gun Corps was brought into being hv Army Order on October 22, 1915. On October IS, 1915, the Commanding Officer arrived at tho site, and things progressed so much that on November 18 1,010 men arrived from 101 units, 2,000 more following in three days. The quartermaster could not get to bed for 75 hours. By January 22, 1916, there were in the corps OR3 officers, 70,772 N.C.O.'s and men, 5015 gune, 582 carts, wagons, and linrbers. and 1300 horses and mules. On February 7 ami 8 the flrat 12 machine pun companies left for overseas. The training through •which ail officers and men pass is comprehensive and thorough. They are all carefully selected, for a machine gunner's duties are arduous to a degree. To carry a gun down a water-logged trench in no easy matter; to transport it and all its appurtenances across a "No Man's Land," which is slippery with mud and pitted with shell holes, and then to dig or otherwise manufacture an emplacement for it in a newly-captured trench, demands considerable agility and strength. An Army Council instruction of 14th August, 1916, laid down the physical standard for a machine gunner. Twentvfive was regarded as the most suitable age, but men between 19 and 35 are eligible. Their height tnuet be at least iift Sin, with chest measurement and weight in proportion. Their range of chest expansion must not be less than 3£in. Among the many details taught is the use of the gas helmet, and the signalling school is the largest in the kingdom. The corpe also has its own bombing school, and special courees have recently been instituted in the tactical handling of the Lewie gun. The men for this are specially detailed by the various commands, and are not drawn from the Machine Gun Corps. Oreat attention is paid to riding and driving; every day there is an average of 400 officers and 1000 men at riding and driving instruction.