The Vickers machine gun or Vickers gun is a water-cooled .303 British (7.7 mm) machine gun produced by Vickers Limited, originally for the British Army. The gun was operated by a three-man crew, but typically required more men to move and operate it: one fired, one fed the ammunition, the others helped to carry the weapon, its ammunition, and spare parts. It was in service from before the First World War until the 1960s, with air-cooled versions of it on many Allied World War I fighter aircraft.

The weapon had a reputation for great solidity and reliability. Ian V. Hogg, in Weapons & War Machines, describes an action that took place in August 1916, during which the British 100th Company of the Machine Gun Corps fired their ten Vickers guns to deliver sustained fire for twelve hours. Using 100 barrels, they fired a million rounds without breakdowns. "It was this absolute foolproof reliability which endeared the Vickers to every British soldier who ever fired one. It never broke down; it just kept on firing and came back for more."

History

thumb|left|A Vickers machine gun crew in action at the [[Battle of the Menin Road Ridge, September 1917]]

The Vickers machine gun was based on the successful Maxim gun of the late 19th century. After purchasing the Maxim company outright in 1896, Vickers took the design of the Maxim gun and improved it, inverting the mechanism as well as reducing its weight by lightening and simplifying the action and using high strength alloys for certain components. A muzzle booster was also added.

The British Army formally adopted the Vickers gun as its standard machine gun under the name Gun, Machine, Mark I, Vickers, .303-inch on 26 November 1912. There were shortages when the First World War began, and the British Expeditionary Force was still equipped with Maxims when sent to France in 1914. Vickers was threatened with prosecution for war profiteering due to the exorbitant price demanded for each gun.

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!1914 (Aug.–Dec.) !! 1915 !! 1916 !! 1917 !! 1918 !! Total

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| 266 || 2,405 || 7,429 || 21,782 || 39,473 || 71,355

|}

When the Lewis Gun was adopted as a light machine gun and issued to infantry units, the Vickers guns were redefined as heavy machine guns, withdrawn from infantry units, and grouped in the hands of the new Machine Gun Corps. When heavier calibre machine guns appeared, the tripod-mounted, rifle-calibre machine guns such as the Vickers were further re-classified as "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 the Vickers gun as part of a widescale change from rimmed to rimless rounds; one of the contenders was the 7.92mm Besa machine gun (British-built Czech ZB-53 design), which eventually became the British Army's standard tank-mounted machine gun. However, the Vickers remained in service with the British Army until 30 March 1968. Its last operational use was in the Radfan during the Aden Emergency.

During World War I, the Vickers gun became a standard weapon on British and French military aircraft, especially after 1916, initially in a single gun configuration (Nieuport 17, SPAD VII, Sopwith Triplane), increased to a twin-gun standard in later war fighters (Nieuport 28, SPAD XIII, Sopwith Camel), with exceptions such as the S.E.5, which had a single synchronized Vickers and a Lewis gun mounted above the upper wing. Although heavier than the Lewis, its closed bolt firing cycle made it much easier to synchronise to allow it to fire through aircraft propellers. The belt feed was enclosed right up to the gun's feed-way to inhibit the effect of wind. Steel disintegrating-link ammunition belts were perfected in the UK by William de Courcy Prideaux in mid-war and became standard for aircraft guns thereafter. From 1917 to 1919, French Manufacture d'armes de Châtellerault produced under license .303 Vickers machine guns (240 were delivered before the Armistice) but most of the French aircraft Vickers machine guns were British-made.

The famous Sopwith Camel and the SPAD XIII types used twin synchronized Vickers, as did most British and French fighters between 1918 and the mid-1930s. In the air, the weighty water-cooling system was rendered redundant by low temperatures at high altitude and the constant stream of air passing over the gun (and lack of any need for sustained fire such as employed by ground troops); but because the weapon relied on boosted barrel recoil, the (empty) water-holding barrel jacket or casing was retained. Several sets of louvered slots were cut into the barrel jacket to aid air cooling, a better solution than that which had initially been attempted with the 1915-vintage lMG 08 German aircraft ordnance.

thumb|left|Vickers Mk. II* or III in naval anti-aircraft service during WWII in the Mediterranean

In 1918 the slotted modified original barrel jacket was replaced with a slimmer jacket on the Mk. II version, and in 1927 a muzzle flash suppressor was added on the Mk. II*.

As the machine gun armament of US and UK fighter aircraft moved from the fuselage to the wings in the years before World War II, the Vickers was generally replaced by the faster-firing and more reliable Browning Model 1919 using metal-linked cartridges. The Gloster Gladiator was the last RAF fighter to be armed with the Vickers, later replaced by Brownings. The Fairey Swordfish was fitted with the weapon until production ended in August 1944.

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

Vickers machine guns, designated as models E (pilot's) and F (observer's, fed from a pan magazine) were also used among others in Poland, where 777 of them were converted to 7.92×57mm Mauser cartridge in 1933–1937.

Use in armored vehicles

The water-cooled Vickers Mark VI, Mark VI* and Mark VII were versions of the Mark I for use in tanks. They were introduced in 1936 and declared obsolete in 1944 (though they and the vehicles they were installed in were still in reserve use until the 1960s). They could be installed with either a left-hand or right-hand feed block. The Mark VI and VI* Tank Patterns were conversions of old stock Mark Is while the Mark VII Tank Pattern was new production.

Variants

thumb|right|A .5-inch Mk. III, four-gun anti-aircraft mount and its crew on the cruiser in 1941

The larger calibre (half-inch) version of the Vickers was used on armoured fighting vehicles and naval vessels. The Gun, Machine, Vickers, .5-inch, Mk. II was used in tanks, the earlier Mark I having been the development model. This entered service in 1933 and was obsolete in 1944. Firing either single shot or automatic, it had a pistol type trigger grip rather than the spades of the weapon.

The Gun, Machine, Vickers, .5-inch, Mk. III was used as an anti-aircraft gun on British ships. This variation was typically four guns mounted on a 360° rotating and (+80° to −10°) elevating housing. The belts were rolled into a spiral and placed in hoppers beside each gun. The heavy plain bullet weighed and was effective for the range. The maximum rate of fire for the Mark III was about 700 rpm from a 200-round belt carried in a drum.

They were fitted from the 1920s onwards, but in practical terms, they proved of little use.

During the Second World War, the naval version was also mounted 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 on mounts on trucks by the Long Range Desert Group in the North Africa Campaign.

  • 7.5×55mm Swiss
  • 7.62×51mm NATO and Belgium.
  • 7.7×58mm Arisaka — Licensed as the Type 89 "fixed type" machine gun
  • 8×50mmR Lebel — 2,000 ordered by France in 1914, but only 52 delivered.

Service after World War II

thumb|right|Australian soldiers of the [[3rd Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment operate a Vickers gun during fighting near Chipyong-ni during the Korean War, February 1951]]

The Union of South Africa retained a large inventory of surplus Vickers machine guns after World War II. Many of these were donated to the National Liberation Front of Angola (FNLA) and National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) during the Angolan Civil War. Angolan militants were usually trained in their use by South African advisers.

In the mid-1960s, the Vickers machine gun remained in service in countries such as India, Israel and Egypt. It saw action with the Ceylon Army in the 1971 JVP insurrection.

In the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine the Vickers machine gun has repeatedly been used by the Ukrainian National Guard to destroy Russian HESA Shahed 136 drones.

Colt–Vickers M1915

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 superior automatic weapon. One of the weapons considered was the British Vickers machine gun.

Field tests were conducted of the Vickers in 1914, and the gun was unanimously approved by the board for the army under the designation "Vickers Machine Gun Model of 1915, Caliber .30, Water-Cooled". One hundred twenty-five guns were ordered from Colt's Manufacturing Company in 1915, with an additional 4,000 ordered the next year, all chambered for .30-06. Design complexities, design modifications, and focus on producing previously ordered weapons meant that when the U.S. entered World War I in April 1917, Colt had not manufactured a single M1915. In 1940 and 1941, a total of 7,071 M1915 guns were purchased by the United Kingdom to re-equip their forces after the Dunkirk evacuation, which depleted the weapon from the U.S. inventory before their entry into the war. Because the M1915 Colt–Vickers was not chambered for the standard British .303, it was painted with a red band to differentiate it and restricted it to Home Guard use. It was sometimes claimed that crews would fire off a few rounds simply to heat their gun's cooling water to make tea, despite the resulting brew tasting of machine-oil. In extremely cold weather, the cooling water could freeze and damage the gun. This problem was addressed using an insulating water jacket cover, introduced in 1918 but still in use during the Korean War. To further combat freezing, some crews added vehicle antifreeze, drained the water jacket, or simply fired a few rounds periodically.

The loader would sit to the gunner's right, and would feed in cloth ammunition belts. The weapon would draw in the belt 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 out of the receiver while the cloth belt would continue out the left side. During sustained fire, the barrel would heat up which heated the water in the jacket until hot enough for the water to evaporate or boil thereby cooling the barrel releasing the heat through steam. It took the Mk I approximately 600 rounds of continuous fire to boil the water in the jacket, evaporating at a rate of per 1,000 rounds. This plunging fire was used to great effect against road junctions, trench systems, forming up points, and other locations that might be observed by a forward observer, or zeroed in at one time for future attacks, or guessed at by men using maps and experience. Sometimes a location might be zeroed in during the day, and then attacked at night, to the surprise and confusion of the enemy. New Zealand units were known to be especially fond of this tactic. A white disc would be set up on a pole near the gun, and the gunner would aim 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 only similar weapon of the time to use indirect fire was the German MG 08, which had a separate attachment sight with range calculator.

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

Vehicle use

The Vickers machine gun was used mounted in tanks and armoured cars.

List of vehicles using Vickers machine gun

  • Rolls-Royce armoured car
  • Female tank
  • Mark I tank
  • Delaunay-Belleville armoured car
  • Lanchester armoured car
  • Seabrook armoured lorry
  • Pierce-Arrow armoured AA lorry
  • Tank, Light, Mk I
  • Tank, Light, Mk II
  • Tank, Light, Mk III
  • Tank, Light, Mk IV
  • Mk VI light tank
  • Vickers 6-ton
  • Cruiser Mk I
  • Cruiser Mk II
  • Cruiser Mk III
  • Cruiser Mk IV
  • Sentinel tank
  • Matilda I (tank)
  • Vickers Medium Mark I
  • Vickers Medium Mark II
  • Vickers Mk. D tank
  • Universal Carrier
  • Standard Beaverette
  • Guy armoured car
  • Lanchester 6×4 armoured car
  • Marmon-Herrington armoured car
  • Rhino heavy armoured car
  • Rover light armoured car
  • Ford Mk VI armoured car
  • Dodge Mark VIII armoured car

Operating mechanism

right|thumb|Animation of the Vickers muzzle booster operation, showing the expanding gases pushing the barrel to the rear relative to the cooling jacket|200px

The Vickers is a fully automatic belt-fed firearm which is fired from a closed bolt. When ready to fire, a round is in the chamber and the breechblock assembly and working parts are forward. It has a recoil operated, floating action with a toggle lock similar to a Luger pistol. However, unlike the Luger, the mechanism is totally contained within the receiver or body of the Vickers. When operated, the floating action, which consists of the barrel, breechblock assembly and toggle mechanism, reciprocate as a unit within the body of the gun. The mechanism is held together by recoiling plates, that connect the breech end of the barrel to the rear of the toggle mechanism. The breech is locked closed when the toggle is straight. The crank cocking handle is part of the floating action. It acts through the rear pivot of the toggle lock. Pulling the cocking handle causes the toggle to rise. This unlocks the breech and then draws the breechblock assembly rearward. While firing, the opposite end of the crank handle cams on a round lug fixed to the body. Rearward movement of the floating action tips the cocking handle and unlocks the toggle. The recoil that unlocks the toggle is gas assisted. Propellent gases leaving the muzzle are partly contained within the muzzle cap and act on the muzzle cup (attached to the barrel) to assist in propelling the floating action rearward to the point where the toggle mechanism is unlocked. The breechblock assembly then opens fully while opposed by a spring which ultimately returns it to the closed position. The spring under tension acts on a crank mounted on the opposite side of the body to the cocking handle.

The feed block assembly sits directly above the breech. It accepts the canvas belt loaded with ammunition. With each firing cycle, it advances the belt by one round so that a fresh cartridge is presented ready for loading. The belt is advanced by pawls which move from side to side. The pawls are operated by a linkage that engages with the floating action. A second set of spring-loaded pawls tilt up and down as the belt passes over them. These hold the belt during the return cycle of the feed pawls.

  • — Used during the Chaco War.
  • — Bermuda Volunteer Rifle Corps
  • — Hong Kong Volunteer Defence Corps
  • — Somaliland Camel Corps
  • British Malaya
  • Gold Coast
  • — Used by Ceylonese army in the 1971 JVP insurrection.
  • — Possibly used during the Cypriot intercommunal violence and supplied from Greece or Turkey.
  • — Single Class C purchased in 1911, several more purchased in 1925 and 1933
  • — 2,000 ordered in 1914
  • — Vickers from various sources (chambered in 7.62×54mmR and .303 British) were acquired from 1920 and 100 were also delivered by United Kingdom during Winter war.
  • — In 1918, Schutztruppe used 17 Vickers guns captured during the South West Africa campaign.
  • but only 609 delivered due to the outbreak of the war, since 1917 Italy received also Vickers MK. I* in .303 British for aircraft use (designated as Vickers cal. 7,7). In the mid '20s the Vickers cal. 7,7 were upgrated becoming the Vickers cal. 7,7 modificate.
  • — Arab Legion
  • — Vickers Mk I and Mk II (611 and 120 by April 1936) used by pre-1940 Latvian Army and by Nazi-allied Latvian Police Battalions.
  • — More than 1,000 were purchased from the British in December 1918, designated as Vickers M.18 No.1. In 1935, 800 units were rechambered to 7.92×57mmR and designated as Vickers M.18 No.2. The East Indies colonial army variant designated as M.23 machine gun, chambered in 6.5×53mmR. Used some Australian or British-made .303 Vickers during the Indonesian National Revolution.
  • — Used by Pakistan army in the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947–1948.
  • — Owned 10 units before the Chaco War, and later captured an unknown number from Bolivia
  • — Vickers manufactured by Colt in 7.62×54mmR.
  • — Supplied by the Soviet Union, Bolivia, and Paraguay during the Spanish Civil War.
  • — 12,125 Vickers were issued to the US Army in France
  • — Used by Viet Minh.

Conflicts

  • World War I
  • Irish Civil War
  • Chaco War
  • Indo-Pakistan War of 1947
  • 1948 Arab–Israeli War
  • Malayan Emergency
  • Korean War
  • Algerian War
  • Cypriot intercommunal violence
  • 1971 JVP insurrection
  • Congo Crisis
  • South African Border War
  • Syrian civil war

<gallery widths="190px" heights="190px">

File:Vickers_machine_gun_crew_with_gas_masks.jpg|British Vickers gun team in action at the Battle of the Somme. Both are wearing gas masks.

File:Vickers_machine_gun_crew_with_gas_masks_rear_view.jpg|Rear view of Vickers gun team in action at the Battle of the Somme.

File:British_Machine_Gun_LOC_ggbain_24930.jpg|Vickers gun set up for anti-aircraft purposes during the First World War.

File:Vickers_machine-gun_of_the_1st_Manchester_Regiment.jpg|Vickers machine-gun of the 1st Manchester Regiment in Malaya, 1941.

File:Vickers machine-guns fire in support of troops crossing the Maas-Schelde Canal.jpg|British Vickers gunners in action in the Netherlands during Operation Market Garden. All are wearing the Mk III Turtle helmet.

File:British commandos in the shattered outskirts of Wesel.jpg|British commandos on the outskirts of Wesel during Operation Plunder in 1945.

File:Vickersgun1.jpg|View of the breech of a Vickers gun showing brass feed ramp.

File:Vickersgun2.jpg|Dorsal view of a Vickers gun showing fluted water-cooling tank.

File:Ckm Vickers 1909.jpg|Vickers machine gun from Polish Army Museum's collection.

</gallery>

See also

  • Vickers .50 machine gun

Weapons of comparable role, performance and era

  • Hotchkiss Mle 1914 machine gun – French
  • Marlin M1917/1918 machine gun
  • M1917 Browning machine gun – United States
  • Maxim gun - British
  • MG 08 – German Maxim machine gun
  • Parabellum MG 14 – aircraft version of MG 08 which copied the upwards toggle from Vickers
  • PM M1910 – Russian Maxim machine gun
  • Schwarzlose machine gun – Austro-Hungarian

References

Citations

Main sources

Secondary sources

Further reading

  • (Plates showing the mechanism of the forerunner of the Vickers gun, the Vickers Maxim gun, as well 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 1917
  • British Vickers Gun tactics during the Great War
  • Spartacus Educational - Vickers machine gun
  • YouTube animation showing mechanism of Vickers machine gun