Passage: Shooting between the two sides reached a peak between 12:00 and 12:30 pm, but at 12:50 smoke was seen coming from the building's chimneys and from the second floor windows; it has not been established how the fire was started, whether by accident or design. The fire slowly spread, and by 1:30 it had taken a firm hold and had spread to the other floors. A second detachment of Scots Guards arrived, bringing with them a Maxim machine gun, which was never used. Shortly afterwards Sokoloff put his head out of the window; he was shot by one of the soldiers and he fell back inside. The senior officer of the London Fire Brigade present on the scene sought permission to extinguish the blaze, but was refused. He approached Churchill in order to have the decision overturned, but the Home Secretary approved the police decision. Churchill later wrote:

Question: What did the Scots Guards bring with them?
Maxim machine gun