 These companies had fought through the early battles following the Australians' arrival in Europe, including Fromelles, Bullecourt, Polygon Wood and Ypres.The 25th Machine Gun Company, however, had been formed in England in February 1917 after the decision was made to assign an extra company at divisional level so that each division had four companies, and in September 1917, the company was assigned to the 5th Division, arriving in France at the end of the month.The battalion was equipped with a total of 64 Vickers medium machine guns – assigned at a scale of 16 per company – and took part in the final stages of the war, seeing action during the Allied defensive operations during the German Spring Offensive and then the Allied Hundred Days Offensive, which finally brought an end to the war.