Abandon squad/section levels of organization?

[David I Evans]

And if the GPMG crews in the fire support team each need 2 guys to carry 2 belts of ammo, they better send their unfit carcasses to the rear and bring the physically fit forward. I carried the GPMG (my pet name for it was the "G-Pig") and not less than two belts of ammo on my person (only about twice did I carry more - one time was out of newbie stupidity [4 belts], the other time was against my will). A couple other guys were to carry three belts each (and this was as a Platoon-level weapon). At Section level, 2 belts of ammo carried by each individual GPMG gunner (so long as they are not assigned SF tasks as well, just the Light Role) is enough to start.

If you are using GPMGs as heavy weapons, and especially in the SF role, you need at least 4 men per gun, preferably 6. Each GPMG gunner (at platoon or company level in commonwealth Armies) is issued with 8 boxes of ammo (1,760 rounds); an SF Kit with Tripod (weighs more than the GPMG), spare barrel, two Tritium aiming lamps, aiming stakes, mortar dial-sight, tool and cleaning kit, spare parts, etc.; spade; plus his own and the team's personal weapons and kit. In addition, the Gun Commander has binoculars, range-finder, and a 1:50,000 scale map. And I'm not even adding a Gun Controller here to coordinate the fires of the guns.

GPMG in the light role is normally scaled for between 600 to 800 rds per man in the pair, that's about 24 to 32 minutes fire at the normal rate of fire, half that at rapid. Weight between 32 to 43kg for 1200 to 1600 rounds. You'd normally drop 400 round per gun and break them into belts of 100 and dump them onto the platoon for them to carry.

The ammo scale for GPMG(SF) is 5,000 rounds per gun with 3 guns per section. That's 135kgs of belt per gun, 405kgs per section. That's 50 minutes at the normal rate of fire, half that at rapid.

WFE gave you a 3 man gun team, of gunner, controller and ammo bearer.

You just can not carry 405kgs between 11 bods for a WFE gun section with 3 guns so once upon a time a section would have 3 LR with trailers or the CSM of the Company you're attached gets a big pile of ammo or the OC gets told by the Guns Section Commander "My rate of advance is about 2km a hour"

In the SF role you'd be looking for a flank position to give the maximum beaten zone area over enemy positions so that the bulk of targets are between 800 to 1100m from your gun line.

I've carried 1,000 rounds of link and it's slow movement time, I think my heaviest load on the GPMG (SF) section Commanders course was about 54kgs and took us about 2 hours to cover 5km cross country as a Guns platoon.

The GPMG is heading back into Support Company holdings post Herrick and post FSG but it would be interesting to see what happens next.

BTW. The beaten zone of the GPMG is, in part, created by the nature of the kinetic energy upon the weight of the gun. A relativity tight beaten zone where a 20 round burst will impact in an area with a maximum length of 100m and a maximum width of 9m. Repeated bursts will keep landing in the same area, if the gunner keeps his point of aim consistent. Make the gun too light and the trade off is that the beaten zone for a burst will grow in size for less effect.