The Machine Gun Corps
(The Tank Corps 1917)

' It was not a famous regiment with glamour and whatnot, but a great fighting corps, born for war only and not for parades. From the moment of its formation it was kicking. It was with much sadness that I recall its disbandment in 1922; like old soldiers it simply faded away.' George Coppard, _{Machine Gunner at Cambrai.}

Out of 170,500 men and officers who fought in the MCG, there were 62,049 losses.
The machine gunners were always targets from enemy fire, and were nick-named the Suicide Club. An inscription on the Memorial to the MCG at Hyde Park recalls the power of the machine guns:

'Saul has slain his thousands; But David his tens of thousands'

 

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