Vickers Platoon

The Vickers platoon is an organizational unit equipped with a Vickers machine gun, one of the most recognizable British weapons throughout the World Wars. It was very popular among British infantrymen for its reliability and ruggedness.

IRL

The Vickers was actually created as an improvement to the infamous Maxim Machine gun, only the difference between the two was the Vickers was made of lighter materials and was equipped with a Muzzel booster, which the tl;dr of that means it made the recoil operation of the firearm even more reliable.

The Vickers first entered service on the eve of the First World War, and did not fully replace the Maxim gun until halfway through the conflict, once Industrial manufacturing had caught up. The Vickers was so valuable to the war effort that Vickers figured they could jack the prices way up to make more money, though this scheme ended after Parliament suggested they might be war profiteering.

Despite the accusations of it being overpriced, what cannot be contested is the reliability of these weapons. Historian Ian V. Hogg records an instance in which the 100th company fired their 10 Vickers machine guns almost nonstop for 12 hours straight. The only times they did stop were to reload or change out the barrel.

the Vickers was later officially designated a Heavy MG following the introduction of the Lewis Gun, and later was designated a Medium MG after the Americans decided to roll up with their absurd Browning .50 caliber machine guns. Due to the general reliability of the Vickers, the weapon was only just beginning to be prepared for replacement right before World War II. While the B.E.S.A. was considered for this role, it was ultimately decided that the Vickers would stay on for the war, while the rather unwieldy B.E.S.A would stay on British tanks as a coaxial/hull mounted weapon.

The Vickers performed adequately with the British army throughout the war, and was even the Primary weapon on their aircraft in World War One and early World War Two on the Fairey Swordfish and Gloster Gladiator, though both Aircraft were rapidly obsolete or had their weapons replaced by Browning weapons. In the Infantry support role, a Vickers Machine Gun platoon would be equipped with four of the things, operated by 29 privates, 5 NCOs, and 1 officer. Similar to the yanks, machine gun platoons were highly mechanized and had a dedicated driver, as well as the section leader, gunner, loader, and ammo carriers.

Awesomely, there was a minor line of production for Vickers MGs that were chambered for 50 caliber, though they mostly saw service on the Royal Navy ships, likely because the Navy didn't want the sheer awesomeness to be in anyone else's hands save their own.