Not to be confused with Vickers–Berthier light machine gun or Vickers K machine gun.
Heavy machine gun
Vickers machine gun
A Vickers Machine Gun mounted on a tripod. This example is at York Castle Museum.
Type
Heavy machine gun
Place of origin
United Kingdom
Service history
In service
1912–1968
Used by
See Users
Wars
World War I[1] Irish Civil War[2] Chaco War[3] Spanish Civil War[4] Winter War World War II[5] Indonesian National Revolution Greek Civil War[6] First Indochina War[7] Bangladesh Liberation War[8] Indo-Pakistan War of 1947 1948 Arab–Israeli War Malayan Emergency[5] Korean War[5] Algerian War[9] Cypriot intercommunal violence[10] 1971 JVP insurrection[11] Congo Crisis[12] Aden Emergency[13] South African Border War Syrian Civil War[14]
Production history
Designed
1912
Manufacturer
Vickers
Unit cost
£175 in 1914,[15] £80 in 1918,[16] ~£50 in 1926[17]
Specifications
Mass
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
4,500 yd (4,115 m) indirect fire (.303 Mk. VIIIz ball)
Feed system
250-round canvas belt
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.[18] 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."[19]
^Pegler 2013, p. 5.
^Neeson, Eoin (22 August 2003). "So, once and for all, who did shoot Michael Collins?". The Irish Times.
^Cite error: The named reference Chaco was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^Cite error: The named reference Spain was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ abcPegler 2013, p. 49.
^Bloomfield & Leiss 1967, p. 769.
^Cite error: The named reference Viet Minh was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^"Arms for freedom". 29 December 2017. Archived from the original on 7 April 2018. Retrieved 31 August 2019.
^Windrow, Martin (1997). The Algerian War, 1954-62. Men-at Arms 312. London: Osprey Publishing. p. 21. ISBN 978-1-85532-658-3.
^Bloomfield & Leiss 1967, p. 854.
^ Somasundaram, Jayantha (6 April 2021). "The JVP's Military Battle for Power (The April 1971 Revolt – II)". The Island. Archived from the original on 29 January 2022. Retrieved 28 January 2022.
^Cite error: The named reference Congo was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ Suciu, Peter (4 May 2021). "The Vickers Gun - Britain's World War Warrior". The Armory Life. Archived from the original on 26 March 2023.
^Footage of weapons which were handed over by rebels to the Syrian Arab Army in Southern Damascus. SyrianCivilWarMap. 12 May 2018. Archived from the original on 1 May 2020. Retrieved 5 September 2021 – via YouTube.
^"Vickers Gun". spartacus-educational.com.
^"MR. KELLAWay's STATEMENT. (Hansard, 24 June 1919)".
^"SIR L. WORTHINGTON-EVANS' STATEMENT. (Hansard, 15 March 1926)".
^[1] Archived 1 April 2012 at the Wayback Machine
^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 the most reliable weapon on the battlefield..."
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