WW1 British Officer's Tunic. Motor Machine Gun Corps

An exceptionally nice example of a WW1 Tunic to a Lieutenant in the Motor Machine Gun Service with MMG collar badges and Machine Gun Corps brass buttons.

Tailored in gabardine the Tunic is a later war example with shoulder straps bearing the rank pips. There are two lower bellows pockets and two pleated and flapped breast pockets. At the hip are two belt support hooks for the Sam Browne Belt. The lining is rayon.

Overall condition is very good.

At the outbreak of World War I in August 1914 the tactical potential of machine guns was not appreciated by the British Military. The Army therefore went to war with each infantry battalion and cavalry regiment containing a machine gun section of just two guns each. This was supplemented in November 1914 by the formation of the Motor Machine Gun Service (MMGS), administered by the Royal Artillery, consisting of motor-cycle mounted machine gun batteries. A machine gun school was also opened in France. A year of warfare on the Western Front proved that, to be fully effective, machine guns must be used in larger units and crewed by specially trained men. To achieve this, the Machine Gun Corps was formed in October 1915 with Infantry, Cavalry and Motor branches, followed in 1916 by the Heavy Branch.