Vickers Medium Machine Gun

A Vickers Machine Gun mounted on a Tripod.This particular model resides at the York Castle

Museum.

Type Medium machine gun

Place of origin United Kingdom

Service historyIn service 1912–1968

Used by Widely used, SeeUsers

Wars World War I[1] Irish Civil War[2] Chaco War[3] Spanish Civil War[4] World War II[5] First Indochina War[6] Indo-Pakistan War of1947 1948 Arab–IsraeliWar MalayanEmergency[5] Korean War[5] Algerian War[7] Congo Crisis[8] Aden Emergency[9] South African BorderWar

Production historyDesigned 1912

Manufacturer Vickers

Vickers machine gunThe Vickers machine gun or Vickers gun is a name primarily used torefer to the water-cooled .303 British (7.7 mm) machine gun producedby Vickers Limited, originally for the British Army. The machine guntypically required a six to eight-man team to operate: one fired, one fedthe ammunition, the rest helped to carry the weapon, its ammunition,and spare parts.[10] It was in service from before the First World Waruntil the 1960s, with air-cooled versions of it on many Allied WorldWar I fighter aircraft.

The weapon had a reputation for great solidity and reliability. Ian V.Hogg, in Weapons & War Machines, describes an action that tookplace in August 1916, during which the British 100th Company of theMachine Gun Corps fired their ten Vickers guns continuously fortwelve hours. Using 100 barrels, they fired a million rounds without afailure. "It was this absolute foolproof reliability which endeared theVickers to every British soldier who ever fired one."[11]

HistoryUse in aircraftVariantsForeign service

Service after World War IIColt–Vickers M1915

Specifications

Use

Users

Gallery of images

See alsoWeapons of comparable role, performance and era

References

Further reading

External links

The Vickers machine gun was based on the successful Maxim gun ofthe late 19th century. After purchasing the Maxim company outright in1896, Vickers took the design of the Maxim gun and improved it,inverting the mechanism as well as reducing its weight by lighteningand simplifying the action and using high strength alloys for certaincomponents. A muzzle booster was also added.

Contents

History

SpecificationsMass 33–51 lb (15–23 kg)

all-up

Length 3 ft 8 in (1.12 m)

Barrel length 28 in (720 mm)

Crew three man crew

Cartridge .303 British .30-06 Springfield 11mm Vickers others

Action recoil with gas boost

Rate of fire 450 to 500 round/min

Muzzle velocity 2,440 ft/s (744 m/s)(.303 Mk. VII ball) 2,525 ft/s (770 m/s)(.303 Mk. VIIIz ball)

Effective firing range 2,187 yd (2,000 m)

Maximum firing range 4,500 yd (4,115 m)indirect fire (.303 Mk.VIIIz ball)

Feed system 250-round canvasbelt

The British Army formally adopted the Vickers gun as its standardmachine gun under the name Gun, Machine, Mark I, Vickers, .303-inchon 26 November 1912.[12] There were still great shortages when theFirst World War began, and the British Expeditionary Force was stillequipped with Maxims when sent to France in 1914.[13] Vickers was,in fact, threatened with prosecution for war profiteering, due to theexorbitant price it was demanding for each gun. As a result, the pricewas slashed. As the war progressed, and numbers increased, it becamethe British Army's primary machine gun, and served on all frontsduring the conflict. When the Lewis Gun was adopted as a lightmachine gun and issued to infantry units, the Vickers guns wereredefined as heavy machine guns, withdrawn from infantry units, andgrouped in the hands of the new Machine Gun Corps (when heavier0.5 in/12.7 mm calibre machine guns appeared, the tripod-mounted,rifle-calibre machine guns like the Vickers became medium machine guns). After the First World War, the Machine Gun Corps(MGC) was disbanded and the Vickers returned to infantry units. Before the Second World War, there were plans to replace theVickers gun; one of the contenders was the 7.92×57mm Mauser Besa machine gun (a Czech design), which eventually became theBritish Army's standard tank-mounted machine gun. However, the Vickers remained in service with the British Army until 30 March1968. Its last operational use was in the Radfan during the Aden Emergency. Its successor in UK service is the L7 GPMG.

In 1913, a Vickers machine gun was mounted on the experimental Vickers E.F.B.1biplane, which was probably the world's first purpose-built combat aeroplane.However, by the time the production version, the Vickers F.B.5, had entered servicethe following year, the armament had been changed to a Lewis gun.[14]

During World War I, the Vickers gun became a standard weapon on British andFrench military aircraft, especially after 1916. Although heavier than the Lewis, itsclosed bolt firing cycle made it much easier to synchronize to allow it to fire throughaircraft propellers. The belt feed was enclosed right up to the gun's feed-way toinhibit effects from wind. Steel disintegrating-link ammunition belts were perfectedin the UK by William de Courcy Prideaux in mid-war and became standard foraircraft guns thereafter.[15] By 1917 it had been determined that standard rifle calibrecartridges were less satisfactory for shooting down observation balloons than larger

A Vickers machine gun crew in actionat the Battle of the Menin RoadRidge, September 1917

Use in aircraft

The cockpit of a Bristol Scout biplanein 1916, showing a Vickers machinegun synchronised to fire through thepropeller by an early Vickers-Challenger interrupter gear.

calibres carrying incendiary or tracer bullets, the Vickers machine gun was chambered in the 11mm Vickers round, known as theVickers aircraft machine gun and sometimes the "Balloon Buster", was adopted by the allies as a standard anti-balloon armament andused by both the British and French in this role until the end of the war.[16][17]

The famous Sopwith Camel and the SPAD XIII types used twin synchronized Vickers, as did most British and French fightersbetween 1918 and the mid-1930s. In the air, the weighty water cooling system was rendered redundant by the chilly temperatures athigh altitude and the constant stream of air passing over the gun as the plane flew; but because the weapon relied on barrel recoil, the(empty) water-holding barrel jacket or casing needed to be retained. Several sets of louvred slots were cut into the barrel jacket to aidair cooling, a better solution than what had initially been attempted with the 1915-vintage lMG 08 German aircraft ordnance.

As the machine gun armament of fighter aircraft moved from the fuselage to the wings in the years before the Second World War, theVickers was generally replaced by the faster-firing and more reliable[18] Browning Model 1919 using metal-linked cartridges. TheGloster Gladiator was the last RAF fighter to be armed with the Vickers, although they were later replaced by Brownings.[19] TheFairey Swordfish continued to be fitted with the weapon until production ended in August 1944.[20]

Several British bombers and attack aircraft of the Second World War mounted the Vickers K machine gun or VGO, a completelydifferent design, resembling the Lewis gun in external appearance.

Vickers machine guns, designated as models E (pilot's) and F (observer's) were also used among others in Poland, where 777 of themwere converted to 7.92×57mm Mauser cartridge in 1933-1937.[21]

The larger calibre (half-inch) version of the Vickers was used on armoured fightingvehicles and naval vessels.

The Gun, Machine, Vickers, .5-inch, Mk. II was used in tanks, the earlier Mark Ihaving been the development model. This entered service in 1933 and was obsoletein 1944. Firing either single shot or automatic it had a pistol type trigger grip ratherthan the spades of the 0.303 in (7.7 mm) cartridge.

The Gun, Machine, Vickers, .5-inch, Mk. III was used as an anti-aircraft gun onBritish ships.[22] This variation was typically four guns mounted on a 360° rotatingand (+80° to −10°) elevating housing. The belts were rolled into a spiral and placedin hoppers beside each gun. The heavy plain bullet weighed 1.3 oz (37 g) and wasgood for 1,500 yd (1,400 m) range. Maximum rate of fire for the Mark III was about700 rpm from a 200-round belt carried in a drum. They were fitted from the 1920sonwards, but in practical terms, proved of little use. During the Second World War, the naval 0.5 in (12.7 mm) version was alsomounted on power-operated turrets in smaller watercraft, such as Motor Gun Boats and Motor Torpedo Boats.

The Mark IV and V guns were improvements on the Mark II. Intended for British light tanks, some were used during the war onmounts on trucks by the Long Range Desert Group in the North Africa Campaign.[22]

The Vickers machine gun was produced, between the wars, as the vz.09 machine gun.

The Vickers was widely sold commercially and saw service with many nations and their own particular ammunition. It was alsomodified for each country and served as a base for many other weapons. For example:

6.5×52mm Mannlicher–Carcano[23]

6.5×50mmSR Arisaka

6.5×53mmR[24]

Variants

A .5-inch Mk. III, four-gun anti-aircraftmount and its crew on the cruiserHMS London in 1941

Foreign service

7×57mm Mauser

.280 British[5]

7.5×55mm Swiss

7.62×51mm NATO[25]

.30-06 Springfield[26]

7.62×54mmR[27]

7.65×53mm Argentine8mm Lebel

The Union of South Africa retained a large inventory of surplus Vickers machine guns after World War II. Many of these weredonated to the National Liberation Front of Angola (FNLA) and National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA)during the Angolan Civil War.[25] Angolan militants were usually trained in their use by South African advisers.[25] Small quantitiesre-chambered for 7.62mm NATO ammunition remained in active service with the South African Defence Force until the mid 1980s,when they were all relegated to reserve storage.[25] Six were withdrawn from storage and reused by a South African liaison teamoperating with UNITA during the Battle of Cuito Cuanavale, after which the weapons were finally retired.[28]

The Vickers MG remains in service with the Indian, Pakistani, and Nepalese armed forces, as a reserve weapon, intended foremergency use in the event of a major conflict.

By the early 1900s, the U.S. military had a mixed collection of automatic machine guns in use that included M1895 "potato diggers",287 M1904 Maxims, 670 M1909 Benét–Mercié guns, and 353 Lewis machine guns. In 1913, the U.S. began to search for a superiorautomatic weapon. One of the weapons considered was the British Vickers machine gun.

The Board of Ordnance & Fortifications held a meeting on March 15, 1913 to consider the adoption of a new type ofmachine gun… The Board convened for the competitive test of automatic machine guns at Springfield Armory onSeptember 15, 1913. Seven makes of automatic machine guns were considered and tried out. The Lewis gun duringthe endurance test had 206 jams and malfunctions, 35 broken parts, 15 parts not broken but requiring replacement asagainst respectively 23, 0, 0, for the Vickers gun and 59, 7, 0 for the Automatic Machine Rifle .30, Model of 1909,Benét–Mercié. The Board is of the opinion that, with the exception of the Vickers gun, none of the other gunssubmitted showed sufficiently marked superiority for the military service, in comparison with the service AutomaticMachine Rifle to warrant further consideration of them in the field test. The Board is of the unanimous opinion thatthe Vickers rifle caliber gun, light model, stood the most satisfactory test. As to the merits of the Vickers gun there isno question – it stood in a class by itself. Not a single part was broken nor replaced. Nor was there a jam worthy ofthe name during the entire series of tests. A better performance could not be desired.

— Captain John S. Butler, Office of the Chief of Ordnance[27]

Field tests were conducted of the Vickers in 1914, and the gun was unanimously approved by the board for the army under thedesignation "Vickers Machine Gun Model of 1915, Caliber .30, Water-Cooled". One hundred twenty-five guns were ordered fromColt's Manufacturing Company in 1915, with an additional 4,000 ordered the next year, all chambered for .30-06. Designcomplexities, design modifications, and focus on producing previously ordered weapons meant that when the U.S. entered World WarI in April 1917, Colt had not manufactured a single M1915.[27]

Production began in late 1917 with shipments to the Western Front in mid-1918. The first twelve divisions to reach France weregiven French Hotchkiss M1914 machine guns, and the next ten had M1915s. The next twelve divisions were to have BrowningM1917 machine guns, but there was a shortage of parts. By August 1918, thirteen U.S. divisions were armed with the Colt–Vickersmachine gun. 7,653 guns were issued during the war out of 12,125 produced in total. War damage losses reduced the number ofM1915s in the U.S. inventory to about 8,000 total.[27]

Service after World War II

Colt–Vickers M1915

After World War I, the Colt–Vickers machine guns were kept in reserve until World War II. Several hundred were sent to the DutchEast Indies and the Philippines, and were all eventually lost to enemy action. Seven thousand guns were sent to Britain under Lend-Lease to re-equip their forces after the Dunkirk evacuation, which depleted the weapon from the U.S. inventory before their entryinto the war. Because the M1915 Colt–Vickers was not chambered for the standard British .303, it was painted to differentiate it andrelegated to Home Guard use. After the end of the war, the British had enough domestic Vickers guns to retire the M1915 from theHome Guard, after which they were disposed of.[27]

The weight of the gun itself varied based on the gear attached, but was generally 25to 30 pounds (11 to 14 kg) with a 40-to-50-pound (18 to 23 kg) tripod. Theammunition boxes for the 250-round ammunition belts weighed 22 pounds (10.0 kg)each. In addition, it required about 7.5 imperial pints (4.3 l) of water in itsevaporative cooling system to prevent overheating. The heat of the barrel boiled thewater in the jacket surrounding it. The resulting steam was taken off by a flexibletube to a condenser container—this had the dual benefits of avoiding giving awaythe gun's location, and also enabling re-use of the water, which was very importantin arid environments.

In British service, the Vickers gun fired the standard .303 inch cartridges used in theLee–Enfield rifle, which generally had to be hand-loaded into the cloth ammunitionbelts. There was also a 0.5 in calibre version used as an anti-aircraft weapon and various other calibres produced for foreign buyers.

The gun was 3 feet 8 inches (112 cm) long and its cyclic rate of fire was between 450 and 600 rounds per minute. In practice, it wasexpected that 10,000 rounds would be fired per hour, and that the barrel would be changed every hour—a two-minute job for atrained team. The Vickers gun could sustain fire for long durations of time exceeding the recommended 10,000 rounds an hour due tothe water-cooled barrel and hourly barrel swaps. One account states a Vickers fired just under 5 million rounds in a week as a test in1963 at Strensall Barracks and was still operable.[29] The muzzle velocity was 2,440 ft/s (744 m/s) ±40 feet per second (12 m/s) withMark VII(z) ammunition and 2,525 ft/s (770 m/s) with Mark VIIIz ammunition. The Mark VIIIz cartridge, which had a boat-tailedspitzer 'steamlined' bullet, could be used against targets at a range of approximately 4,500 yd (4,115 m). The bullet jackets weregenerally made of an alloy of cupro-nickel, and gilding metal. Ammunition for the Vickers used colour-coded annuli. Tracerammunition was marked with a red annulus; armouring-piercing ammunition a green annulus, and incendiary ammunition wasmarked with a blue annulus. Lastly, explosive ammunition was marked with an orange annulus before the Second World War and waschanged to black.

The gun and its tripod were carried separately and both were heavy. The Vickers Mk I was 30 lb (13.6 kg) without the water andtripod, and weighed 40 lb (18.1 kg) with the water. The original design did not anticipate it being carried up jungle-coveredmountains on men's backs, but such was the weapon's popularity that men were generally content to pack it to all manner of difficultlocations. The tripod would be set up to make a firm base, often dug into the ground a little and perhaps with the feet weighted downwith sandbags. The water jacket would be filled with about four litres of water from a small hole at the rear end, sealed by a cap. Theevaporative cooling system, though heavy, was very effective and enabled the gun to keep firing far longer than its air-cooled rivalweapons. If water was unavailable, soldiers were known to resort to using their urine.[30] It was sometimes claimed that crews wouldfire off a few rounds simply to heat their gun's cooling water to make tea, despite the resulting brew tasting of machine-oil.[31]

The loader sat to the gunner's right, and fed in belts of cloth, into which the rounds had been placed. The weapon would draw in thebelt from right to left, pull the next round out of the belt and into the chamber, fire it, then send the fired brass cartridge down and outof the receiver while the cloth belt would continue out the left side. During sustained fire, the barrel would heat up which heated thewater in the jacket until hot enough for the water to evaporate or boil thereby cooling the barrel releasing the heat through steam. Ittook the Mk I 600 rounds of continuous fire to boil the water in the jacket, evaporating at a rate of 1.5 pints (0.852 L) per 1,000

Specifications

Rimmed, centrefire Mk 7 .303 inchcartridge from World War II. The typeof ammunition is denoted by thecolour of the annulus, the narrow ringshown here surrounding thepercussion cap

Use

rounds.[22] The steam would reach the top of the jacket and enter a steam tube whichled to a port that was situated under the jacket near the muzzle. A hose wasconnected to this, which released the steam into a metal water can allowing it to bevented away from the rest of the gun hiding the steam cloud and the gun's position.This also allowed any condensate to be reclaimed from the steam. Before the can gottoo full, it would be emptied back into the jacket to replenish the water level whichwould have fallen as the water evaporated and boiled away. If the water jacketneeded to be emptied, a plug under the jacket could be unscrewed to drain the entirejacket.

The Vickers was used for indirect fire against enemy positions at ranges up to 4,500yards (4,115 m) with Mark VIIIz ammunition.[32] This plunging fire was used togreat effect against road junctions, trench systems, forming up points, and otherlocations that might be observed by a forward observer, or zeroed in at one time forfuture attacks, or guessed at by men using maps and experience. Sometimes alocation might be zeroed in during the day, and then attacked at night, much to thesurprise and confusion of the enemy. New Zealand units were especially fond of thisuse. A white disc would be set up on a pole near the MMG, and the gunner wouldaim at a mark on it, knowing that this corresponded to aiming at the distant target.There was a special back-sight with a tall extension on it for this purpose. The onlysimilar weapon of the time to use indirect fire was the German MG 08, which had aseparate attachment sight with range calculator.

A British, World War 2, Vickers medium machine gun platoon typically had oneofficer in command of four guns, in two sections of two, each with a crew and asmall team of riflemen whose job was to protect the gun and keep it supplied withammunition.

Algeria: Used by Armée de Libération Nationale guerrillas[7]

Australia[33][34]

Belgium[35]

Bolivia Used during the Chaco War[3]

British Empire

Bermuda: Bermuda Volunteer Rifle Corps[36]

British Somaliland: Somaliland Camel Corps[37]

Gold Coast[38]

Southern Rhodesia[39]

British Malaya[40]

Fiji[41]

Canada[42]

China[43]

Egypt[44][45]

France: 2,000 ordered in 1914[46]

Finland: Vickers from various sources were acquired from 1920 and 100 were also delivered by UnitedKingdom during Winter war.[47]

German Empire: in 1918, Schutztruppe used 17 Vickers guns captured during South West Africa campaign.[48]

Soldiers of Princess Patricia’sCanadian Light Infantry firing aVickers machine gun during atraining exercise, Eastbourne,England, 3 December 1942

Clinometer for Vickers .303 machinegunUsers

Greece[49]

India[50][51]

Indonesia[52]

Ireland[8]

Israel[44][53]

Italy chambered in 6.5×52mm Carcano for infantry and .303 British for aircraft.[23]

Jordan Arab Legion[54]

Latvia: used by pre-1940 Latvian Army and by Nazi-allied Latvian Police Battalions[55]

Mexico[56]

Nepal

Netherlands: M23 machine gun, in 6.5×53mmR[24]

Pakistan[50]

Paraguay: captured from Bolivia[3]

Philippines Poland aircraft version, later rechambered in 7.92×57 mm

Portugal produced locally as m/917[57]

Russian Empire: Vickers manufactured by Colt in 7.62×54mmR[27]

Sierra Leone[58]

South Africa[25]

Spanish Republic[4]

Tonga[59]

United Kingdom

United States: 12,125 Vickers were issued to the US Army in France[26]

Vietnam: Used by Viet Minh[6]

South Yemen[9]

New Zealand[60]

Gallery of images

British Vickers gun team

in action at the Battle of

the Somme. Both are

wearing gas masks.

Rear view of Vickers gun

team in action at the

Battle of the Somme.

Vickers gun set up for

anti-aircraft purposes

during the First World

War.

Vickers machine-gun of

the 1st Manchester

Regiment in Malaya,

1941.

British Vickers gunners in

action in the Netherlands

during Operation Market

Garden. All are wearing

the Mk III Turtle helmet.

British commandos on

the outskirts of Wesel

during Operation Plunder

in 1945.

View of the breech of a

Vickers gun showing

brass feed ramp.

Dorsal view of a Vickers

gun showing fluted

water-cooling tank.

An Australian soldier

manning a Vickers gun

during the Korean War.

Vickers machine gun

from Polish Army

Museum's collection.

Vickers .50 machine gun

Vickers K machine gunM1917 Browning machine gunMaschinengewehr 08Marlin M1917/1918 machine gunMaxim 1910

See also

Weapons of comparable role, performance and era

Schwarzlose MG M.07/12Hotchkiss M1914 machine gunLewis gun

Pegler, Martin (20 May 2013). The Vickers-Maxim Machine Gun. Weapon 25. Osprey Publishing.ISBN 9781780963822.Smith, Joseph E. (1969). Small Arms of the World (11 ed.). Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: The Stackpole Company.

1. Pegler 2013, p. 5.

2. Neeson, Eoin (Aug 22, 2003). "So, once and for all, who did shoot Michael Collins?" (https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/so-once-and-for-all-who-did-shoot-michael-collins-1.370519). The Irish Times.

3. Alejandro de Quesada (20 November 2011). The Chaco War 1932-35: South America's greatest modern conflict (https://books.google.fr/books/about/The_Chaco_War_1932_35.html?id=dTm3CwAAQBAJ). Osprey Publishing. p. 33.ISBN 978-1-84908-901-2.

4. de Quesada, Alejandro (20 Jan 2015). The Spanish Civil War 1936–39 (2): Republican Forces. Men-at-Arms 498.Osprey Publishing. p. 38. ISBN 9781782007852.

5. Pegler 2013, p. 49.

6. "Indochine 1945-1954: Le Viet-Minh". Militaria (in French). No. 180. Histoire & Collections. July 2000. p. 16.

7. Windrow, Martin (1997). The Algerian War, 1954-62. Men-at Arms 312. London: Osprey Publishing. p. 21. ISBN 978-1-85532-658-3.

8. Byrne, Ciaran (July 27, 2016). "The True Story of the Heroic Battle That Inspired the New Netflix Film The Siege ofJadotville" (http://time.com/4408017/the-siege-of-jadotville-the-true-story-netflix-film/). Time.com.

9. "WWII weapons in Yemen's civil war" (https://wwiiafterwwii.wordpress.com/2018/09/09/wwii-weapons-in-yemens-civil-war/). wwiiafterwwii.wordpress.com. September 9, 2018.

10. [1] (http://ww2armor.jexiste.fr/Files/Allies/Allies/4-Infos/UK/Guns/Light-Weapons.htm) Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20120401064809/http://ww2armor.jexiste.fr/Files/Allies/Allies/4-Infos/UK/Guns/Light-Weapons.htm) 1 April2012 at the Wayback Machine

11. Hogg, Ian V.; Batchelor, John (1976). Weapons & War Machines. London: Phoebus. p. 62. ISBN 978-0-7026-0008-1. "The Vickers gun accompanied the BEF to France in 1914, and in the years that followed, proved itself to be themost reliable weapon on the battlefield..."

12. Pegler 2013, p. 28.

13. Pegler 2013, p. 29.

14. Driver, Hugh (1997). The Birth of Military Aviation: Britain, 1903-1914 (https://books.google.com/books?id=cbrA5NJp2JMC&pg=PA128). Boydell & Brewer Ltd. p. 126. ISBN 978-0-86193-234-4. Retrieved 27 November 2014.

15. "Metal Belt Links For WW1 U.S. M1915 Vickers Aircraft Gun, Phosphate Finish" (https://web.archive.org/web/20150131141822/http://www.ima-usa.com/nation/u-s-militaria/u-s-machine-guns/metal-belt-links-for-ww-1-u-s-m1915-vickers-aircraft-gun-phosphate-finish.html). International Military Antiques. 2015. Archived from the original (http://www.ima-usa.com/nation/u-s-militaria/u-s-machine-guns/metal-belt-links-for-ww-1-u-s-m1915-vickers-aircraft-gun-phosphate-finish.html) on 31 January 2015. Retrieved 20 February 2015.

16. Frank C. Barnes, Cartridges of the World, 15th ed, Gun Digest Books, Iola, 2016, ISBN 978-1-4402-4642-5.

17. Imperial War Museums, "11x59R: 11mm Gras Machine Gun & 11mm Vickers", iwm.org.uk (https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/30027115), retrieved 4 June 2018.

18. Chorlton, Martyn (2012). Hawker Hurricane Mk I-V. Oxford: Osprey Publishing, 2012, Air Vanguard No. 6. ISBN 978-1-78096-603-8.

19. Rickard, J. (21 March 2007). "Gloster Gladiator" (http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/weapons_gloster_gladiator.html). Military History Encyclopedia on the Web. Retrieved 20 February 2015.

20. Bishop, Chris (2002). The Encyclopedia of Weapons of World War II (https://books.google.com/?id=MuGsf0psjvcC&pg=PA403&dq=Fairey+Swordfish+production+ended#v=onepage&q=Fairey%20Swordfish%20production%20ended&f=false). Metrobooks. p. 403. ISBN 978-1-58663-762-0.

21. Konstankiewicz, Andrzej (1986), Broń strzelecka Wojska Polskiego 1918-39, Warsaw ISBN 83-11-07266-3, p. 141(in Polish)

References

22. Fisher, Richard E. "The Vickers Machine Gun" (http://www.vickersmachinegun.org.uk/). Vickers Machine GunCollection & Research Association. Retrieved 27 November 2014.

23. di Difilippo, Max (2006). "Le mitragliatrici italiane della Grande Guerra" (http://www.cimeetrincee.it/mitra.htm) [Italianmachine guns of the Great War]. Peaks and Trenches Historical Association (in Italian). Retrieved 20 February 2015.

24. Lohnstein, Marc (23 Aug 2018). Royal Netherlands East Indies Army 1936–42 (https://books.google.fr/books?id=U2dkDwAAQBAJ&q=Schwarzlose&f=false#v=snippet&q=Vickers&f=false). Men-at-Arms 521. pp. 12, 21.ISBN 9781472833754.

25. Steenkamp, Willem (2006) [1985]. Borderstrike! South Africa Into Angola 1975-1980 (Third ed.). Durban: Just DoneProductions Publishing. pp. 52, 93. ISBN 978-1-920169-00-8.

26. Pegler 2013, p. 33.

27. Segel, Robert G. (6 January 2012). "U.S. Colt Vickers Model of 1915" (http://www.sadefensejournal.com/wp/?p=756). Small Arms Defense Journal. Retrieved 20 February 2015.

28. Steenkamp, Willem; Helmoed-Römer, Heitman (September 2016). Mobility Conquers: The Story Of 61 MechanisedBattalion Group 1978-2005. Solihull: Helion & Company. p. 731. ISBN 978-1-911096-52-8.

29. Goldsmith, Dolph L. (1994). The Grand Old Lady of No Man's Land. Collector Grade Publications. p. Part III, ChapterSeven, pp 188. ISBN 978-0889351479.

30. "Vickers Mk.I machine gun" (http://www.royalarmouries.org/what-we-do/research/nfc/single-object/172). RoyalArmouries. Retrieved 26 September 2012.

31. Weeks, Alan (2009). Tea, rum & fags: sustaining Tommy, 1914-18. History Press. p. 19. ISBN 978-0752450001.

32. The Vickers Machine Gun Range Tables (https://vickersmg.blog/manual/range-tables/)

33. Pegler 2013, pp. 48-49.

34. Smith 1969, p. 203.

35. Smith 1969, p. 212.

36. "British Empire/ Colonies and Protectorates" (http://digital.library.northwestern.edu/league/le0282ah.pdf) (PDF).Armaments year-book : general and statistical information. Series of League of Nations publications. IX,Disarmament. A.37.1924.IX. Geneva: League of Nations. 1924. p. 126.

37. League of Nations 1924, p. 156.

38. League of Nations 1924, p. 163.

39. League of Nations 1924, p. 173.

40. League of Nations 1924, p. 185.

41. League of Nations 1924, p. 196.

42. Chartrand, René (15 December 2001). Canadian Forces in World War II. Men-at-Arms 359. p. 14.ISBN 9781841763026.

43. Jowett, Philip (10 September 2010). Chinese Warlord Armies 1911–1930. Men-at-Arms 463. Osprey Publishing.pp. 22–23. ISBN 978-1-84908-402-4.

44. Tucker, Spencer C.; Roberts, Priscilla Mary, eds. (May 2008). "Machine guns" (https://books.google.fr/books?id=YAd8efHdVzIC). The Encyclopedia of the Arab-Israeli Conflict: A Political, Social, and Military History. ABC-CLIO. p. 653.ISBN 978-1-85109-841-5.

45. Smith 1969, p. 613.

46. Pegler 2013, pp. 32-33.

47. "Other machineguns: 7,62 mm and 7,70 mm Vickers Machineguns" (https://www.jaegerplatoon.net/MG2.htm).

48. Adams, Gregg (22 September 2016). King's African Rifles Soldier vs Schutztruppe Soldier: East Africa 1917–18 (https://books.google.fr/books?id=mbOhDAAAQBAJ). Combat 20. p. 61. ISBN 9781472813275.

49. Smith 1969, p. 450.

50. Chris Bishop (2002). "Vickers machine-guns" (https://books.google.com/books?id=MuGsf0psjvcC&pg=PA244). TheEncyclopedia of Weapons of World War II. Sterling Publishing Company. p. 244. ISBN 978-1-58663-762-0.

51. Smith 1969, p. 460.

52. Smith 1969, p. 461.

53. Smith 1969, pp. 464&467.

54. Young, Peter (1972). The Arab Legion. Men-at-Arms. Osprey Publishing. p. 24. ISBN 978-0-85045-084-2.

Richardson, A. (1902). "Vickers, Sons and Maxim Limited: Their Works and Manufactures". Engineering.OCLC 457878220. (Plates showing the mechanism of the forerunner of the Vickers gun, the Vickers Maxim gun aswell as numerous plates of the factories in which they and other arms were made.)

Handbook of the Vickers machine gun, model of 1915, with pack outfits and accessories ... 19 March 1917British Vickers Gun tactics during the Great WarSpartacus Educational - Vickers machine gun

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55. Thomas, Nigel; Caballero Jurado, Carlos (25 Jan 2002). Germany's Eastern Front Allies (2): Baltic Forces. Men-at-Arms 363. Osprey Publishing. pp. 46–47. ISBN 9781841761930.

56. Smith 1969, p. 147.

57. Smith 1969, p. 530.

58. "World Infantry Weapons: Sierra Leone" (https://web.archive.org/web/20161124203938/https://sites.google.com/site/worldinventory/wiw_af_sierraleone). 2013. Archived from the original (https://sites.google.com/site/worldinventory/wiw_af_sierraleone) on 24 November 2016.

59. Capie, David (2004). Under the Gun: The Small Arms Challenge in the Pacific. Wellington: Victoria University Press.pp. 66–69. ISBN 978-0864734532.

60. Stack, Wayne; O’Sullivan, Barry (20 Mar 2013). The New Zealand Expeditionary Force in World War II. Men-at-Arms486. Osprey Publishing. p. 44. ISBN 9781780961118.

Further reading

External links