MG Employment in the Defense Flashcards
MG Defensive Considerations
Final Protective Fires
* Final protective fires provide an immediately available, prearranged barrier of fire that is designed to impede enemy movement across defensive lines or areas. For machinegun crews, the FPF involves firing either an FPL or a PDF.
Principal Direction of Fire
* Principal Direction of Fire, or PDF, is a predetermined line of machinegun fire that covers the most dangerous avenue of approach to a defensive position with either plunging or grazing fire, when possible, to produce front enfilade fire. Now, the weapon will also have a left and right lateral limit that will allow the gunner to engage targets of opportunity within that sector of fire, but unless that situation arises, that weapon is laid on that PDF, ready to engage on at that point.
Final Protective Line
* A predetermined line of grazing fire designed to stop an enemy assault. It is fired across the frontage of a defensive line and is optimally as close and as parallel to the defensive lines as possible, usually producing flanking enfilade grazing fire. This weapon will also have a left and right lateral limit that will allow the gunner to engage targets of opportunity within that sector of fire. But again, the primary mission of that gun is to be laid on that designated FPL when the commander deems necessary.
MG Defensive Fire Control Measures
Trigger Lines: When are these established/how are they communicated?
* Incorporated with target precedence and engagement criteria
Target Precedence: What do I shoot?
* When presented with multiple targets, what takes priority?
Engagement Criteria: When do I shoot it?
* In regards to friendly sequencing/enemy actions/terrain
* Trigger Lines tied to specific engagement criteria
Engagement Criteria: When do I shoot it?
* Unmasking machine guns for a target better suited for small arms could result in the machine gun squad being targeted unnecessarily
* If machine guns are required to unmask, be prepared to move the weapon to an alternate position to increase survivability
Target Reference Points: Features easily recongizable and facilitate the initiation, distribution, and control of fires as well as rapid target acquisition
FPL/PDF: When do they fire?
Displacement criteria: MORT
Ammo Allocation: Staging additional ammunition at the alternate position. Reserving ammunition in case the FPF is fired.
Example of Defensive MG Tasking Statement
“Machinegun Squad 1 - upon enemy crossing TL White, fix the enemy in Engagement Area Havoc IOT prevent the enemy from crossing Hidalgo Bridge. Upon occupation establish a PDF. O/S fire the PDF.”
“Machinegun Squad 2 - upon enemy crossing TL White, fix the enemy in Engagement Area Havoc IOT prevent the enemy from crossing Hidalgo Bridge. Upon occupation establish a FPL. O/S fire the FPL.”
Roles of Machine Guns in the Defense
Long Range Fires
* Delivered against enemy units for the purpose of interdicting and disrupting those units before they are deployed in the attack. Long-range fires can be employed to harass the enemy in their assembly area, preempt the enemy’s attack, disrupt enemy formations, or interrupt their timing and sequencing.
Close Defensive Fires
* Close defensive fires are delivered against targets that present an immediate threat to the defense. They are employed in conjunction with other direct and indirect fires in the defense to create an impenetrable network of fires in a unit’s defensive engagement area. They are the main effort of the defense.
Final Protective Fires
* Immediately available, prearranged barrier of fire that is designed to impede enemy movement across defensive lines or areas (An FPL or PDF)
