25th Motor Machine Gun Battery (Calcutta Volunteers)

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Charles Nida, in his autobiography Chota Sahib... You've Had a Busy Day provides an account of the establishment and training the Battery received, but no details of its subsequent deployments.[1]

The 25th Motor Machine Gun Battery (Calcutta Volunteers) was raised in Calcutta c 1916, due to the efforts of the commandant Captain Heilgers, head of a well-known Calcutta merchant house, with a compliment of sixty six officers and men.

It took some time for the numbers to be reached and there was more publicity, via the Calcutta papers and larger businesses.

There were engineers, planters, banking and insurance men, shipping clerks, and to make up the numbers, three time-serving privates from the regular Army.

There was a week’s initial training at Rawalpindi followed by training at the newly established Machine Gun School at Campbellpur. It was here that their guns were changed from Maxims, weighing 60 pounds, and water- cooled, to Vickers, weighing 45 pound, and air-cooled. They trained at Campbellpur until the commandant of the Gunnery School deemed them fit for posting to a battle zone.

Subsequently

25 Battery, Machine Gun Corps (Motors), was established in India, in May 1917. Moved to Egypt July 1917. Disbanded January 1918.[2] Note , this was a British Army regiment.

A booklet by Major F W Heilgers, the CO, was published in 1919, giving details of its service and giving a list of personnel (with addresses but no army numbers). The battery was formed in October 1916 from personnel of the Calcutta Presidency Battalion and other Indian volunteer units and was mobilized on 1 May 1917 and sent to Egypt on 13 June 1917. It was issued with 18 sidecar outfits (presumably Clynos) and 10 solo machines in August 1917. The Clynos proved unsuitable for desert work and the battery was disbanded in December 1917. Some of the personnel were posted to other MGC units, others were sent back to India and a few were commissioned (including quite a few into the RFC/RAF). It appears the personnel were issued with numbers in the 96300 to 96380 range. [3]

There is one Medal Index Card reference where the regiment is "25th Calcutta Motor Machine Gun Battery" [4] and five seen where the regiment is "Volunteer Machine Gun Corps", including that of Charles Nida, some of which indicate Indian Army.[5]The available information is therefore sometimes indicating British Army, and sometimes Indian Army.

References