Opposing them, the Nationalists had one company of Requetes, two infantry battalions, one machine-gun section and an artillery battery in Villareal.

The few French army troops in the area (barely a company and a half of infantry, four machine-gun sections and two or three 75-mm guns) were also placed under his command.

Nimy Bridge was being defended by a single company of Royal Fusiliers and a machine-gun section with Dease in command.

The lieutenant commanding the machine-gun section of 2nd Dragoon Guards was awarded the Distinguished Service Order, with two of his men receiving the Distinguished Conduct Medal.

In May, the 3rd Light Horse Brigade began moving, without horses, to Gallipoli, preceded by the machine-gun sections, which embarked at Alexandria on 8 May 1915.

Berrima subsequently landed reinforcements, including a half-battalion commanded by Lieutenant Commander Charles Elwell, as well as a machine-gun section and medical detachment.

With a minimum of preparation, he and other ill-assorted British volunteers were thrown into the defence of Madrid as a machine-gun section with the German Thaelmann Battalion.

German infantry units had been reorganised on similar lines to the British, with a rifle section, assault troop section, a grenade-launcher section and a light machine-gun section.

During this fighting, the 12th Light Horse Regiment was not directly engaged, except for its machine-gun section, although it was employed to provide flank protection carrying out patrols.

Might as well wish for a machine-gun section - it was just as unlikely a possibility.