There’s been some good answers here that has pretty much covered it …but right… here’s the full gen!…..after edits and a whole bottle of rum this is a long post ….but if you want to know and learn….read on
A mg on a rifle team is there for fire support, and suppression reaching out “effectively” to about 800m
Where this game come up short is on the tripod mounted units, a 3 gun gun line using map predicted fire can be used to deny a large area, suppress a whole company or more or cause massive casualties out to …3k? If memory serves me right, in 25 round bursts…forgive my memory it was a long time ago and wasn’t my preferred role (may have even been out to 5k) What would be interesting to see is mg’s on tripods (what we call the sustained fire role) having a fire on position option like mortars and arty get
Edit to add. A mg even in the light role (bipod or just supported) is considered an “area weapon” not super accurate but for covering a specific “patch” shall we say, using bursts of 3-5 rounds every 8 seconds (8 seconds if memory serves) For context…on the range the targets we use at 300m+ are triple figure 11’s ….essentially 3 people wide and that’s what you’re graded on However….however….a good MG gunner will regulate his fire to suit the situation….if I’m suppressing an area I’ll extend that burst and have a shorter time between bursts ( certainly when the assault goes in) ….if i really wanted to focus a specific target I’ll drop the burst to 2-3 rounds and fire with only a second between bursts and hit a man sized target in the chest with at least 2 rounds from that burst out to 600 …maybe 800
It’s all about desired effect
I was a fully qualified light role gunner and did it plenty of times I was also a fully qualified sustained fire gunner and fire controller….but never did it in a combat situation, it was more so if the platoon needed that capability we had it
But again….guns wasn’t really my bag Same as sniping (fully badged and toured sniper) ….always wanted to be a sniper….but found I was much more happy and more suited to door kicking and posting grenades
Additional edit, I see a lot of comments on what level guns were used at….right
In the UK at section level (8 man team) we could have upto 2 mmg’s on the section “golf bagging” weapon systems to suit the task so may only have one or none and take a m249 ( minimi ), sharpshooter rifle or assault rifles in their place…again, situation and effect
At the platoon level (3 and a half to 4 sections) we would have a separate “fires” section or fire team (4 man) that would deal with mg’s on tripod’s for that sustained fire with the option to pull the qualified troops from the assault sections if we wanted more guns …again situation and effect
Then at company level (4 platoons) we would have a support weapon’s platoon that dealt with mortars and dedicated sustained fire MG teams….sniper section could also be on this platoon (making it platoon level plus strength) but more often than not they were part of company HQ ( the fifth and final platoon on a company) as they were considered what’s called a “company commanders asset” because of their intelligence gathering capabilities
To clarify on that….a company commander doesn’t on the most part plan or allocate tasks to the platoons, that’s the job of either the 2nd or 3rd in command of the company…a guy called the operations officer (ops O) the company commander gives the ops o his objectives and limits and will have input but he deals with bigger responsibilities
The best explanation is this, the company commander is the daddy, the 2nd in command the mum, the dad runs the show, the mum makes it run …but sniper’s belong to the company commander!
This was my units approach and was mirrored by many, but different units had different approaches, there is no “set” doctrine that everyone keeps to
Gen’d it, no sh**, You can’t bend it