| During the Canadian occupation
of Bonn, Germany, a Canadian Machine Gun Corps Historical Section was established,
in charge of Major Harry Logan, M.C. Capt. Mark Levey was added and
with a staff of three or four undertook the task of gathering the necessary
data. Moving with Corps Headquarters, the section finally crossed
to England and then eventually found itself in Ottawa. Major Logan
shortly after resumed his civil occupation and the work was carried on
by Capt. Levey until February, 1920. The result of these labors found
their way into typewritten script, which, in three volumes, was bound and
distributed to six persons. Afterwards another set was subscribed
for by other Machine Gunners interested and again only a few copies were
available.
A great many Machine Gunners
who continued on in the militia after the war were not aware of the existence
of this history, but as the discussion of the necessity of getting a history
written arose from time to time at Canadian M. G. Association meetings,
only to be tabled, it was more widely recognized that the History already
gathered would be the basis; of any further work undertaken.
Upon the disbandment of the
C.M.G.C. in 1936, upon reorganization of the Canadian Militia, it seemed
more urgent than ever that something regarding a History should be done.
When the writer first looked
over the material collected (it dealt only with battles from Vimy Ridge,
where the C.M.G.C. was first authorized) it was recognized that, because
of its length, reprinting would run to a sum totally out of reach of available
financial resources. The writer, however, believed that the History
as it existed could be condensed, given different continuity and narrative
structure and as a History could be given abridged form. He therefore volunteered
to undertake the task.
Later it seemed only proper
that it should be written with a view, to having some value to a new generation
of machine gunners and so it was necessary to provide a high-lighted background
of Machine Gun History.
"The Book of the Machine
Gun," by Major F.V. Longstaff and Capt. A.H. Atteridge, was taken,
with the kind permission of the holder of the copyright, Major Longstaff,
as the basis of the Introductory Chapter. Many machine gunners of
the Great War era were ignorant of the fact that quite an extensive library
on machine gunnery of all nations had been written prior to 1914.
"The Book of the Machine Gun" may have been followed by many later
works, but its general coverage of the Machine Gun's historical background
up until 1917, when it was published, still seemed to be adequate today
and the tactical principles advocated still as sound as they proved to
be daring the Great War.
The writer is also indebted
to the Historical Section, Department of National Defence, for aid in filling
in data from M.G. Company reports dating from the formation of these units
down to the Battles of the Somme and including some reports of Hill 70,
which latter were missing in the original History.
He recognizes that from a
purely History point of view the book will be considered inadequate, but
to follow the fortunes, in minute detail, of at least 16 Infantry M.G.
Companies from their Battalion Section beginnings and on into their absorption
into M. G. Battalions would have required many volumes. Briefly,
it seemed more vital that some record should exist, no matter how inadequate
than that the C.M.G.C. should disappear without a trace.
It is hoped, therefore, that
this History will be judged by the limitations of finances and space imposed
and that if the historical could not be preserved in full detail at least
some flavor of the Canadian Machine Gun Corps, its triumphs and vicissitudes,
has been retained for those who served and that future machine gunners
may derive some value from this account of the Corps' phenomenal growth
during the war and from incidents in battle, illustrative of the role of
the Emma Gees.
July 15th 1938.
|
