machine gun corps 1918

[andrew pugh]

Hi everyone

I need some help on trying to find out the area where the 30th BN Machine Gun Corps(Infantry) were fighting on Thursday 21 March 1918.Any help would be greatfully received

regards to you all

Andy Pugh

[Steven Broomfield]

According to the OH, the 30th Division was part of XVIII Coprs, , in the centre of the Corps front, on the forward slopes of the high ground west of St Quentin, holding 4,000 yards of the Forward Zone, and 5,000 in the Battle Zone. The 89th bde was in reserve with the Pioneer Battn, the other 2 bdes held the Forward and battle Zones.

Middlebrook's "Kaiser's Battle" (page 247) quotes the divisional war diary: "24 machine guns were posted in the Battle Zone. Teams were provided with deep dugouts, or they fired from shafts. The guns came into action with great effect, breaking attack after attack. The Germans came to a standstill in the evening and the majority broke and ran to the cover of slopes in the rear. A quarry to the north east of Poupt proved a fatal attraction. At one time, 1,000 men were in and around it. The machine guns ripped through them with fatal effect, all guns firing at full rate. Two guns here fired 35,000 rounds, another 12,000 and a fourth a little less."