Editing Canadian Automobile Machine Gun Brigade

{{Short description|Part of the Canadian Expeditionary Force (1914 to 1919)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox military unit
| unit_name                     = Canadian Automobile Machine Gun Brigade
| image                         = Cleaning armoured cars, Canadian Motor Machine Gun Brigade April 1918 LAC 3395367.jpg
| image_size                    = 300px
| caption                       = Cleaning [[Armoured Autocar|armoured cars]]
| dates                         = 1914–1919
| country                       = Canada
| branch                        = [[Canadian Expeditionary Force]]
| type                          = [[Motorized infantry]]
| role                          = 
| size                          = 
| nickname                      = Brutinel's Brigade
| battles                       = [[World War I]]
| command_structure             = [[Canadian Independent Force]]
| current_commander             = 
| notable_commanders            = Brigadier-General [[Raymond Brutinel]]
| garrison                      = 
}}

The '''Canadian Automobile Machine Gun Brigade''', also known as '''Brutinel's Brigade''' or the '''Brutinel Brigade''', was the first fully [[motorized infantry|motorized]] unit of the [[Canadian Expeditionary Force]] (CEF) during the [[First World War]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Formation of the Canadian Automobile Machine Gun Brigade No. 1: Sept. 1914|url=http://www.lermuseum.org/en/chronology/first-world-war-1914-18/1914/formation-of-the-canadian-automobile-machine-gun-brigade-no-1-sept-1914/|website=The Loyal Edmonton Regiment Military Museum|publisher=The Loyal Edmonton Regiment Museum|access-date=13 February 2015|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150213061724/http://www.lermuseum.org/en/chronology/first-world-war-1914-18/1914/formation-of-the-canadian-automobile-machine-gun-brigade-no-1-sept-1914/|archive-date=13 February 2015}}</ref> It was established on August 24, 1914, in [[Ottawa]], Ontario, Canada, as Automobile Machine Gun Brigade No.&nbsp;1 by Canadian Brigadier-General [[Raymond Brutinel]], who initiated the program and was the unit's first commander.<ref>{{harvnb|Pulsifer|2001|p=46}}</ref> 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 Autocar]]s mounting two [[M1895 Colt-Browning machine gun|Colt Model 1914]] machine guns (later replaced with the standard British [[Vickers machine gun|Vickers MG]]) manufactured by [[Autocar Company|Autocar]] in [[Ardmore, Pennsylvania]]. Autocar also supplied six unarmoured support vehicles, four "[[Roadster (automobile)|roadsters]]" for the brigade's officers, and an ambulance.

[[Douglas Haig, 1st Earl Haig|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."<ref>{{harvnb|Pulsifer|2001|p=51}}</ref> 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-mortar]]s mounted on lorries (plus an assumed wireless and medical support).<ref name= "Griffith p. 129">{{harvnb|Griffith|1994|p=129}} – quoting the Official History 1918 vol. 4, p. 42</ref> 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."<ref name= "English p. 6">{{harvnb|English|2009|p=6}}</ref>

"In early 1918 the brigade saw heavy defensive action during the German spring offensives. It played an important role in the [[Battle of Amiens (1918)|Battle of Amiens]] in the second half of 1918.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://encyclopedia.1914-1918-online.net/article/science_and_technology_canada|title = Science and Technology (Canada) &#124; International Encyclopedia of the First World War (WW1)}}</ref>
Later that year, the Canadians formed the 2nd Canadian Motor Machine Gun Brigade and the two brigades, along with cavalry, cyclists, trench mortar sections and an artillery battery, comprised the Canadian Independent Force."

==Structure==
By June 1916 there were five batteries in the brigade:<ref>{{harvnb|Pulsifer|2001|p=49}}</ref>
* A Battery ([[Armoured Autocar]])
* B Battery (Armoured Autocar)
* C Battery (Machine Gunners)
* D Battery (Machine Gunners)
* E Battery (Machine Gunners)

==Bibliography==
;Notes
{{reflist|30em}}

;References
*Cameron Pulsifer (2007). ''The Armoured Autocar in Canadian Service'', Service Publications {{ISBN?}}
*Dominique and Jacques Baylaucq (2014), ''1882–1964 Brutinel, The extraordinary story of a French citizen, Brigadier-general in the Canadian Army'' {{ISBN?}}
*{{cite book |last=Griffith|first=Paddy | author-link = Paddy Griffith| title = Battle Tactics of the Western Front: The British Army's Art of Attack, 1916–18|year=1994| publisher = [[Yale University Press]]| isbn= 978-0300160611 }} <small>–Total pages: 304 </small>
*{{cite book |last=English|first=John A. | author-link = John A. English| title = The Canadian Army & Normandy Campaign|year=2009| publisher = [[Stackpole Books]]| isbn= 978-1461751854 }} <small>– Total pages: 352 </small> 
*{{cite journal |last=Pulsifer |first=Cameron|date=2001 |title=Canada's First Armoured Unit: Raymond Brutinel and the Canadian Motor Machine Gun Brigades of the First World War |journal=Canadian Military History |issn=1195-8472 |volume=10 |number=1 |pages=44–57 |url=http://scholars.wlu.ca/cmh/vol10/iss1/5 |access-date= December 5, 2014}}

{{Commons category|Canadian Automobile Machine Gun Brigade}}

[[Category:Canadian World War I brigades]]
[[Category:Infantry units and formations of Canada]]
[[Category:Military units and formations established in 1914]]
[[Category:1914 establishments in Canada]]
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{{UK-mil-unit-stub}}