Driftless
Donor
Isn't there a two-step doctrinal change needed to goose this idea along? First, weren't the HMG's functionally viewed almost as a branch of artillery - set pieces with limited mobility, only to be moved by middle-level commanders? Second, you need to overcome command level aversion to giving the poor bloody infantry lots of ammunition to be used at the squad and individual level. Get those mindsets changed, and other operational possibilities open up. I'd have thought the British and French especially would have found a LMG very useful in colonial warfare, particularly with a changeable barrel. Or, the British cypher that same idea out during the Boer War. In those cases, you frequently had smaller mobile forces operating far from permanent arsenals, so the ability of local units to keep their firepower in the fight would have been critical.