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38-540: The Vickers–Berthier (VB) is a light machine gun that was produced by the British company Vickers-Armstrong . It was adopted by the British Indian Army and saw combat during World War II . The Vickers–Berthier was based on a French design of just before World War I . It was proposed for use with infantry as Fusil Mitrailleur Berthier Modèle 1910 , Modèle 1911 , Modèle 1912 , Modèle 1916 and Modèle 1920 . It

76-491: A container attached to the gun) or from a detachable high-capacity drum magazine , but some, such as the FN Minimi , will also accept standard rifle magazine feeding as an auxiliary measure when belted ammunition has been exhausted. In 1903, French military theorists noticed that the heavy machine guns of the day were of little use in infantry assaults. They determined that "the machine gun must learn to walk". They researched

114-420: A battle zone (the latter is called a "hot extraction"). Suppressive fire is typically used as covering fire against the enemy in the close combat zone. However, suppressive fire delivered by artillery and other indirect fire means can be used to suppress targets of any type, most notably as counter-battery fire against indirect fire units. NATO also defines ' suppression of enemy air defenses ' (SEAD), which has

152-450: A bipod stand, and is sometimes mistaken for the Bren as both used a similar curved magazine to accommodate the rimmed .303 British cartridge. It was slightly heavier, at 24 pounds (11 kg), than the Bren's 22 lb (10.0 kg). It was also slightly longer, and harder to stow away. The Vickers–Berthier also had a slower cyclic rate of 500 rpm. The only major advantage the weapon had over

190-511: A broader definition and includes materiel damage. An important consideration in the application of suppressive fire from indirect fire systems (e.g. mortars, artillery and ships) and aircraft is the safety of the attacking troops. Fragmenting munitions are indiscriminate and potentially lethal in all directions around the point of burst although the pattern and extent of the lethal area depends on several variable factors, some specific to each situation. The primary intended effect of suppressive fire

228-399: A light machine gun or a medium machine gun. Deployed on a tripod and used for sustained fire, it is a medium machine gun; if deployed with a bipod with the operator in a prone position and firing short bursts, it is a light machine gun. Light machine guns are also designed to be fired from the hip or on the move as a form of suppressive fire intended to pin down the enemy. Marching fire

266-566: A moving barrage was the normal method; shrapnel shells were fired to place their bullet cone ahead of the advancing infantry with their aimpoints moved 100 yard further forward every few minutes on a front of several kilometres to support an attack by several divisions or corps. High Explosive (HE) barrages were also used in World War II, including to cover the advance of tanks by suppressing anti-tank gunners. However, HE concentrations against specific targets became more common and gradually replaced

304-402: A platoon or company attack on a single or succession of objectives. For larger operations many batteries may be involved against many targets and move their fire to different targets as the operation progresses. While HE is most used for suppression, smoke screens can also be used to suppress by obscuring the enemy's view, this is effective against an enemy with direct fire weapons. Modern smoke

342-400: A position where it can observe the terrain ahead, especially likely enemy positions. This allows it to provide effective covering fire for advancing friendly units. An ideal overwatch position provides cover for the unit, and unobstructed lines of fire . It may be on a height of ground or at the top of a ridge, where a vehicle may be able to adopt a hull-down position. If the overwatching unit

380-618: A replacement for the Lewis gun . It was an alternative to the water-cooled Vickers machine gun made by the same company. The weapon used a gas and tipping bolt mechanism similar to the Bren light machine gun , was air-cooled like the Bren and also like the Bren had a removable barrel. It was adopted by the Indian Army in 1933. During the British Army trials of several light machine guns which began in 1932,

418-498: A rifle or machine gun bullet may only have a suppressive effect within about one metre of its trajectory, whereas a single artillery shell may suppress a few thousand square metres around its burst. Furthermore, sustained suppression over more than a few minutes may be difficult to achieve with small arms fire for logistic reasons, air delivered suppression is similarly affected by payload limits. In contrast, artillery can suppress an area for an extended period. The purpose of suppression

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456-419: A suppressed target will be unable to engage vulnerable forces that are moving without cover. This enables forces to advance to new positions or close with the enemy. For example, a US Marines article notes that "communication and suppressive fire are what enables movement on the battlefield, giving Marines the upper hand." Suppressive fire may be used to enable a helicopter or boat to land or extract soldiers from

494-529: A target temporarily ineffective or unusable". Suppressive fire usually achieves its effect by threatening casualties to individuals who expose themselves to it, forcing them to inactivity and ineffectiveness by keeping their heads down, 'or else take a bullet'. Willingness to expose themselves varies depending on the morale, motivation and leadership of the target troops. Suppressive fire is often used as covering fire, defined by NATO as "Fire used to protect troops when they are within range of enemy small arms." This

532-412: Is a form of non-lethal suppression and at night illuminating flares may be used to suppress enemy activities by denying them the cover of darkness. Suppression can be delivered by any weapon or group of weapons capable of delivering the required intensity of fire for the required period of suppression. Suppressive fire capabilities vary widely because the suppressive effect area varies widely. For example,

570-639: Is a specific tactic that relies on this capability. Lighter modern LMGs have enabled them to be issued down at the fireteam level, with two or three at the section/squad level. Many light machine guns (such as the Bren gun or the M1918 Browning Automatic Rifle ) were magazine -fed. Others, such as the Hotchkiss M1922 , could be fed either from a belt / strip or from a box magazine . Modern light machine guns are designed to fire smaller caliber rounds and, as such, tend to be belt-fed (from

608-537: Is impenetrable to modern thermal imaging sights. In peace support operations, illuminating with parachute flares has been used to thwart activities by a warring party. For artillery batteries, the last-ditch mission that a forward observer can call up is "immediate suppression". This orders every gun in any concerned battery to immediately fire whatever round and fuse is loaded, possibly from someone else's, or more than one callsign's mission. The FO may end up getting white phosphorus illumination, DPICM, and VT-HE rounds on

646-472: Is in a position to fire over advancing friendly units, great care must be taken not to let fire fall short. The friendly units should be within tracer burnout (the range at which tracer rounds are visible). World War I marked a steep change because of the development of artillery techniques and the protection provided by trenches. By late 1915, the British Expeditionary Force realised that

684-493: Is psychological. Rather than directly trying to kill enemy soldiers, it makes the enemy soldiers feel unable to safely perform any actions other than seeking cover. Colloquially, this goal is expressed as "it makes them keep their heads down" or "it keeps them pinned down". However, depending on factors including the type of ammunition and the target's protection, suppressive fire may cause casualties and/or damage to enemy equipment. Suppressive fire requires sufficient intensity over

722-415: Is sometimes called "winning the firefight" in an infantry-only action. However, suppressive fire may be used against indirect firers, enemy air defenses or other military activities such as construction work or logistic activities, or to deny an area to the enemy for a short period of time (it is unsuitable for prolonged area denial due to ammunition supply constraints). Using smoke to 'blind' enemy observation

760-437: Is to stop or prevent the enemy from observing, shooting, moving or carrying out other military tasks that interfere (or could interfere) with the activities of friendly forces. An important feature of suppressive fire is that it is only effective while it lasts and while it has sufficient intensity. Suppressive fire is a tactic to reduce casualties to friendly forces and enable them to conduct their immediate mission. For example,

798-521: The Boer Wars . A moving barrage could suppress a line of front providing covering fire for an attack several miles wide. Shrapnel was the usual ammunition used by the British Army in its barrages. Suppressive fire was used against enemy artillery that attacked the assaulting troops with indirect fire. Infantry minor tactics also evolved and suppression became a key element in 'winning the fire fight'. This

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836-542: The Bren was the far simpler design; it could be produced more efficiently. It existed in five versions : Mk I, Mk II, Mk II light, Mk III and Mk IIIB. Mark 1 was introduced in 1928, Mark 2 in 1931 and Mark 3 in 1933. Apart from India, it was sold only to Latvia and Bolivia , but the design was modified into the Vickers K machine gun , for aircraft use called the Vickers Gas Operated (VGO). In Indian service, it

874-496: The Russian RPK , are modifications of existing designs and designed to share the same ammunition. Adaptations to the original rifle generally include a larger magazine, a heavier barrel to resist overheating, a more robust mechanism to support sustained fire and a bipod. A light machine gun is also defined by its usage as well as its specifications: some machine guns – notably general-purpose machine guns – may be deployed either as

912-657: The Vickers–Berthier was in direct competition with the ZB vz. 26 . The British Army adopted the latter, modified and known as the Bren light machine gun, and the Vickers–Berthier was adopted by the British Indian Army . A production line for the Vickers–Berthier Light Machine-Gun Mk 3 was established at the Rifle Factory Ishapore . The Vickers–Berthier Light Machine Gun has a 30-round box magazine and

950-415: The barrage. With a concentration the fire starts when attacking forces become vulnerable to the target and lifts off the target when the attacking forces reach an agreed distance from it. The suppressive effect lingers for a short period, about 2 minutes, after the artillery fire stops. A suppressive concentration by a single battery can suppress a position of around 250x250 metres and may be used to support

988-524: The commonplace implementation of napalm furthered this concept. Suppressive fire can be delivered by any weapon or group of weapons capable of delivering the required intensity for the required period of suppression. Suppressive fire may be direct or indirect. However, suppressive fire capabilities of different weapons vary, most notably in the size of the area of their suppressive effect. There are several variations for applying artillery (and mortar and naval gun) fire for suppressive effect. In World War I

1026-469: The duration of the fire. It is one of three types of fire support , which is defined by NATO as "the application of fire, coordinated with the maneuver of forces, to destroy, neutralise or suppress the enemy". Before NATO defined the term, the British and Commonwealth armies generally used "neutralisation" with the same definition as suppression. NATO now defines neutralisation as "fire delivered to render

1064-496: The effects of artillery fire could not smash an opening in German trench lines or reliably destroy enemy artillery at critical times. They therefore developed artillery techniques to suppress the enemy in trenches to allow their infantry to approach them and to suppress the enemy artillery at critical stages to protect attacking infantry. Thereafter, suppression became the defining British artillery tactic, although it had been first used in

1102-446: The firepower of advancing infantry. By the end of World War II , light machine guns were usually being issued on a scale of one per fire team or squad , and the modern infantry squad had emerged with tactics that were built around the use of the LMG to provide suppressive fire . The following were either exclusively light machine guns, had a light machine gun variant or were employed in

1140-582: The landing beaches, to suppress enemy fire from these positions which could be directed against the landing troops. The rise of mass usage of aircraft and aerial assaults also gave rise to bombing runs and strafing runs, serving as oft-used means of suppressing enemy forces, disrupting enemy lines, and inflicting heavy damage on the enemy all at once, using concentrated fire from machine guns and/or carried-on explosives to pin down entire swathes of territory. Firebombs were also used for suppression, area denial, and extensive psychological effect. The Vietnam War and

1178-405: The light machine gun role with certain adaptations. RPK-16 (17 Ib) Suppressive fire In military science , suppressive fire is "fire that degrades the performance of an enemy force below the level needed to fulfill its mission" . When used to protect exposed friendly troops advancing on the battlefield, it is commonly called covering fire . Suppression is usually only effective for

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1216-436: The possibility of a light machine gun which could be carried by troops. A marching fire tactic was theorised, using incidental suppressive fire, with the advancing troops considered a deadlier threat than the un-aimed bullets, causing the enemy to fall back. The prototype guns were not approved for production, and none were in service when World War I began. The French quickly brought the prototypes to mass production to boost

1254-599: The required suppression time period is short. In Afghanistan, the Mujahideen often modified RPG-7 rocket launchers for use against Russian helicopters by adding a curved pipe to the end of the blast tube, which diverted the backblast, allowing the RPG to be fired upward at aircraft from a prone position. At the time, Soviet helicopters countered the threat from RPGs at landing zones by first clearing them with saturation anti-personnel suppression fire from machine guns. The Russians used

1292-495: The target area, intensity being the suppressive effect per unit of target area per unit of suppression time. Weapons vary widely in their suppressive capabilities, which are the threat signaled by the noise of projectiles in flight and their impact. In modern warfare , overwatch is a force protection tactic: the state of one small unit or military vehicle supporting another unit, while they are executing fire and movement tactics. An overwatching , or supporting unit has taken

1330-659: The target in the same shot. A rifle or machine gun bullet only has a suppressive effect within about one metre of its trajectory. However, both can be used to suppress an enemy within a small area, often called "winning the fire fight". Machine gun fire is also available from armoured fighting vehicles and aircraft, notably helicopters and perhaps fixed wing aircraft such as AC-130 . Automatic cannon (20–40 mm) or grenade fire may also be available and fire from larger direct fire systems such as tanks. However, limited ammunition loads mean that such systems are better suited to destructive fire against precisely identified targets unless

1368-775: Was also proposed in 1918 to US Army which finally refused it. A later version, the Fusil Mitrailleur Berthier Modèle 1922 from Manufacture d'armes de Châtellerault , competed for the replacement of the Chauchat LMG in the French army but the Fusil Mitrailleur modèle 1924 was adopted. In 1925 Vickers in Britain purchased the licence rights of the Berthier Model 1922 for production in their Crayford factory, and as

1406-541: Was greatly facilitated by the increase in the availability of machine guns, from before World War I and later. However, suppression by infantry direct fire weapons is generally only tactically useful against targets that do not have mutual support from adjacent positions and ammunition stocks may only be available for several minutes of sustained firing. In World War II amphibious assaults, naval warships would open fire with their main armaments at known or suspected enemy artillery, mortar, or machine gun positions, on or behind

1444-517: Was replaced from 1942 by Brens but continued to serve with reserve units of the Indian Army into the 1980s. Light machine gun While early light machine guns fired full-powered rifle cartridges , modern light machine guns often fire smaller-caliber rifle cartridges than medium machine guns – generally the same intermediate cartridge fired by a service's standard assault rifle – and are usually lighter and more compact. Some LMGs, such as

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