It is unfortunate that the New Zealand Machine Gun Sections heroic service at Gallipoli is not included in the Official History of the New Zealand Machine Gun Corps (With the Machine Gunners in France and Palestine, by Major J. H. Luxford)
http://www.nzetc.org/tm/scholarly/tei-WH1-Mach.html
Instead the history of the New Zealand Machine Gun Sections actions at Gallipoli is fragmented within a number of NZ Regimental and Gallipoli Official History books.
(If there is enough interest, I will post a short history of the NZ Machine gunners 1889 – 1915)
It may be of interest that the NZ Machine gunners that served in the Gallipoli campaign were frequently referred to as the “Suicide Club” due to their heavy losses. (Reinforcements who volunteered for the NZMGS Specialist Company were sometimes referred to as joining the “Suicide Corps.”)
It is also worth mentioning that when the NZ Machine gunners landed at Gallipoli, they were at the time, the best-trained machine gunners in the British Empire and were commanded by unquestionably the greatest machine gun expert in the world.
The New Zealand Machine Gun Sections of the Main Body NZEF embarked from New Zealand with their Regiments on the 16th October 1914, disembarking at Suez on the 3rd December 1914. Shortly after their arrival in Egypt the NZ Machine Gun Sections in January 1915 were brigaded together under the command of Captain Jesse Albert Wallingford of the NZ Staff Corps (Embarked as Assistant Adjutant, Headquarters, Auckland Infantry Battalion) who was appointed NZ Brigade Machine Gun Officer.
Captain J. M. Rose NZ Staff Corps (Assistant Adjutant, Headquarters, Wellington Infantry Battalion) was appointed Assistant NZ Brigade Machine Gun Officer.
Captain P. B. Henderson NZ Staff Corps (Assistant Adjutant, Headquarters, Canterbury Infantry Battalion) was appointed Mounted Brigade Machine Gun Officer.
(When the 4th Australian Infantry Brigade under Colonel John Monash arrived in Egypt, Captain Rose was appointed Machine Gun Officer of the 4th Australian Infantry Brigade)
The New Zealand Machine Gun Brigade was instrumental in holding the ANZAC line, and stopping the Turks from pushing the Anzac’s into the sea. One of its greatest successes that would make the British newspapers was the repulsing of a massed Turkish counter attack on the morning of the 10th August 1915 where their well-sited guns killed an estimated 5000 Turks in 30 minutes.
A New Zealand staff officer, describing the fight, said the Turks came down in thousands and went back in hundreds
It is quite possible that the New Zealand Machine Gun Brigade was the biggest inspiration behind the proposal put to the British War Office on the 2nd September 1915 for the formation of a single specialist Machine Gun Company.
The King approved the Machine Gun Corps on the 6th October 1915. (Royal Warrant dated 14th October 1915 and also included in Army Orders Number 413 & 414 also dated 14th October 1915)
What can be said for certain is that the Machine Gun Corps and the NZ Machine Gun Corps later adopted the tactics employed by Captain Wallingford at Gallipoli. (Such as the massed overhead machine gun barrage)
Captain J. A. Wallingford (JAW) was six times the rifle champion of the British Empire, twice revolver champion, and five times he was second in the revolver championship. He represented Britain in two international rifle matches, and was invariably the highest individual scorer of all nations.
In 1912 a vote was taken by the National Rifle Association Journal, London, on the question, “Who are the twelve most famous marksmen of our time.” Captain Wallingford was voted No.1.
It is well known that during the Gallipoli campaign when a Turkish sniper proved to be difficult for the ordinary shot to locate or dislodge, it was the custom to send for Captain Wallingford, who would arrive in the trench nearest to the sniper. He would expose himself over the parapet to obtain the snipers exact position, charge his magazine and engage in a rapid fire duel with the sniper (He was able to fire 3 shots to a snipers one)
What is not so commonly known is that every morning at dawn he would steal away from camp with a rifle and a supply of ammunition and was off to “kill his Ottoman before breakfast.” By Wallingford’s own admission he was successful. — “This is the twenty-second day of the fighting and to-day is the first day I have not killed a Turk.”
Without taking the machine gun into account, it was estimated by the end of June 1915 that the number of kills “accounted for no fewer than 700 Turks.”
While 700 sounds like a bit of an exaggeration, it is also mentioned that. — “the Turkish authorities have, it is stated, now offered a substantial reward to the man who can bring back his identity disc.”