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#Post#: 170--------------------------------------------------
Machine Gun
DIR By: allmanav
Date: February 6, 2021, 6:51 am
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[b]A machine gun crew weighs many environmental and scientific
factors to deliver maximum effective use of the platform in
combat, as can be seen above with these Soldiers laying down
suppressive fire with an M60 while fighting in Southeast Asia.
Life in the beaten zone is apt to be uncertain, but
understanding this old military term is essential to fully
appreciating one of the most effective types of firearm ever
made. The machine gun has been with us since the
turn-of-the-century era (19th to 20th). That’s more than 120
years of reliable service. Made in factories over all the world,
in a great variety of sizes, shapes, calibers and operating
systems, the machine gun has long been a source of impactful
firepower for the infantry of the world. Before we get to the
beaten zone, we have to look at the cone of fire.
Machine guns don’t fire a bunch of a shots at a time, but they
do fire single shots in rapid succession. As long as the gunner
presses the trigger, the gun obediently delivers another shot.
Depending on many factors like the ground, stability of the
mount and other things, the trajectories of a group of shots
form a cone—literally, a cone of fire. All those bullets start
at the same spot in the barrel of a machine gun, but the paths
vary a bit when they leave the muzzle. Eventually, gravity calls
all those shots back to the ground. Their pattern of strikes on
the ground is known as the beaten zone. It has been designated
thus as least as far back as the late 1950s when this writer was
a weapons platoon leader in the 3rd Marines. Actually, “beaten
zone” was heard well before World War I.
When a machine gun puts a stream of bullets into the air, the
effect sort of resembles a garden hose spraying a stream of
water. The pattern of water striking the lawn is somewhat
elliptical and becomes longer or wider depending on how you tilt
the hose. Essentially, the machine gun does the same thing. When
these guns were first introduced to the battlefield, they were
often used almost like artillery. Massed machine guns were set
up to fire parallel to each other. The cone of fire of each gun
was close to its neighbor. If you had enough guns, you could
cover a vast expanse of ground with bullets—one massive beaten
zone. The organization of infantry units in the Great War
included entire battalions of infantry soldiers armed primarily
with machine guns. In time, we came to understand that mortars
and artillery were a more efficient way to do the same thing.
If the ground on which the fight is taking place is relatively
flat, certain aspects of the beaten zone can be used to even
greater advantage. When the machine gun is placed so that the
cone of fire is nearly parallel with the ground, the beaten zone
stretches out in length. If you are shooting over level or
uniformly sloping ground, the bullet’s trajectory will not rise
above the height of an enemy soldier. This is called grazing
fire, and it can extend out to as far as 750 yards. It is an
often-sought, seldom-realized condition that maximizes the
potential of the machine gun. Infantry tacticians always try to
get their machine guns placed to maximize their ability to
produce grazing fire. But, in either offensive or defensive
fighting, they also try to do something else.
They try to get the long axis of the beaten zone to coincide
with the long axis of the target. We already know what the
beaten zone is, so the long axis is simply an imaginary line
that divides it in half. The target is a group of enemy troops.
Invariably, they are going to be in some kind of formation. Draw
the same imaginary line and divide the formation in half. If
it’s at all possible, get the long axis of the beaten zone right
on the long axis of the target. This ideal type of engagement is
called enfilade fire.
Consider an incident that was at least rumored and perhaps
actually happened in Vietnam. A Marine rifle squad with an M60
machine-gun team attached was on a patrol well into a disputed
area of Vietnamese countryside. They stopped along the banks of
a shallow river and hunkered down in the undergrowth. In time, a
lone North Vietnamese soldier emerged from the trees on the far
bank and looked cautiously about. He signaled, and the remainder
of his platoon stepped quickly into the river and made ready to
cross. Apparently, whoever was in charge wanted to get across as
quickly as possible.
He put his troops in a column and hastened to get across. The
machine gunner pulled the butt of the M60 into his shoulder and
lined up his sights on the closest. He waited until the oncoming
column of enemy soldiers was about halfway across before he
pressed the trigger. It was over in two or three long bursts.
Now, I think you should understand cone of fire, beaten zone,
grazing fire and enfilade fire. It is the essence of the machine
gun as fightin’ iron.[/b]
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