Canadian Automobile Machine Gun Brigade

Canadian Automobile Machine Gun Brigade
Canadian Automobile Machine Gun Brigade
	Cleaning armoured cars
Active	1914–1919
Country	Canada
Branch	Canadian Expeditionary Force
Type	Motorized infantry
Part of	Canadian Independent Force

The Canadian Automobile Machine Gun Brigade, also known as Brutinel's Brigade or the Brutinel Brigade, was the first fully motorized unit of the Canadian Expeditionary Force (CEF) during the First World War.^[1] It was established on August 24, 1914, in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, as Automobile Machine Gun Brigade No. 1 by Canadian Brigadier-General Raymond Brutinel, who initiated the program and was the unit's first commander.^[2] The unit played a significant part in halting the major German spring offensive of March 1918, and in the final Hundred Days Offensive when it was part of the Canadian Independent Force (CIF) commanded by Brutinel.

History

The brigade was originally equipped with eight Armoured Autocars mounting two Colt Model 1914 machine guns (later replaced with the standard British Vickers MG) manufactured by Autocar in Ardmore, Pennsylvania. Autocar also supplied six unarmoured support vehicles, four "roadsters" for the brigade's officers, and an ambulance.

Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig wrote that the "work of the 1st CMMG Brigade in recent operations has proved the value that can be obtained from such units, and recommends the formation of a 2nd Brigade be undertaken forthwith."^[3] So in May 1918 the 2nd Canadian Motor MG Brigade was added. With the new unit Brutinel's CIF consisted of the 1st and 2nd Motor Machine Gun Brigade (each of 5x8 gun batteries), Canadian Corps Cyclist Battalion, one section of medium trench-mortars mounted on lorries (plus an assumed wireless and medical support).^[4] This totaled 80 machine guns and about 300 bicycle infantry. Canadian historian John A. English points out that this "was the first mechanized formation in the Commonwealth armies and the forerunner of the armoured division."^[5]

Structure

By June 1916 there were five batteries in the brigade:^[6]

A Battery (Armoured Autocar)
B Battery (Armoured Autocar)
C Battery (Machine Gunners)
D Battery (Machine Gunners)
E Battery (Machine Gunners)

Bibliography

Notes

^ "Formation of the Canadian Automobile Machine Gun Brigade No. 1: Sept. 1914". The Loyal Edmonton Regiment Military Museum. The Loyal Edmonton Regiment Museum. Archived from the original on 13 February 2015. Retrieved 13 February 2015.
^ Pulsifer 2001, p. 46
^ Pulsifer 2001, p. 51
^ Griffith 1994, p. 129 – quoting the Official History 1918 vol. 4, p. 42
^ English 2009, p. 6
^ Pulsifer 2001, p. 49

References

Cameron Pulsifer (2007). The Armoured Autocar in Canadian Service, Service Publications ^{[ISBN missing]}
Dominique and Jacques Baylaucq (2014), 1882–1964 Brutinel, The extraordinary story of a French citizen, Brigadier-general in the Canadian Army ^{[ISBN missing]}
Griffith, Paddy (1994). Battle Tactics of the Western Front: The British Army's Art of Attack, 1916–18. Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0300160611. –Total pages: 304
English, John A. (2009). The Canadian Army & Normandy Campaign. Stackpole Books. ISBN 978-1461751854. – Total pages: 352
Pulsifer, Cameron (2001). "Canada's First Armoured Unit: Raymond Brutinel and the Canadian Motor Machine Gun Brigades of the First World War". Canadian Military History. 10 (1): 44–57. ISSN 1195-8472. Retrieved 5 December 2014.