CHAPTER V
EMPLOYMENT IN THE FIELD WITH INFANTRY
The employment of machine guns with infantry
seems at first sight to be obvious, for they fire
the same ammunition and have the same range
and kinetic effect. Nevertheless the first machine
gun was used by the French in 1870 as artillery,
and its name "mitrailleuse" indicates "grape
shot" rather than rifle bullets. This initial
error in its tactical employment, together with
its crude mechanism, artillery carriage, and
short range (about 500 yards), enabled the
artillery to silence it early in the battle, so that
it rarely proved of any use.
On the few occasions when it was concealed from the artillery and used at short range against the infantry, its effect was as astonishing as it was decisive. At Gravelotte several batteries of mitrailleuses concealed near St. Hubert's Farm reserved their fire until the attacking infantry was on the glacis within close range. The result was decisive, and the German attack was repulsed with terrific loss. Again at Mars la Tour, the German official account describes the repulse of the 38th Prussian Brigade by
