WITH THE MACHINE GUNNERS IN FRANCE AND PALESTINE

Among all the various British regimental or Corps histories of the Great War there is not one of the Machine Gun Corps, formed in October 1915, apart from G.S Hutchison’s Machine Guns which is rather a history of machine guns and their tactical employment, especially during the Great War. This publication, however, is first and foremost a history of the NZ MG Corps on the Western Front, its formation, its organization, its employment and its personnel and similarly of the NZ MG Squadron in Palestine. It concludes, like many regimental histories, with the list of Honours and Awards followed by the Roll of Honour which lists thirty officers and nearly 350 other ranks, giving date of death and place of burial.
The book is arranged in two parts, the first deals with the formation of the NZ MG Corps in Egypt at the beginning of 1916, its move to France in April 1916 with the NZ Division of which it was part, and its subsequent fortunes on and off the battlefield. The second part tells the story of the MG Squadron in the Palestine campaign. It was formed in July 1916 for service with the NZ Mounted Brigade and fought in support of it in numerous actions. This is a good history, based on official records though the author notes that while the War Diaries of the Squadron were excellently kept he couldn’t say the same of all the companies or of the battalion in France. However, it is full of action with plenty of individuals named. An excellent feature is the number of clear, interesting, contemporary photos.