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Description
Early in World War I, as the Canadian Expeditionary Force (later Canadian Corps) was being organized to fight for Britain and the Allies, the wealthy French-born Major Raymond Brutinel proposed deploying armored cars as mobile machine gun units. The Minister of Militia approved and Brutinel covered an Autocar truck chassis with 9.5mm steel plating to produce the Armoured Autocar, which was armed with two Colt or Vickers machine guns (plus an optional Lewis machine gun facing forward). The Armoured Autocars were organized into the Canadian Automobile Machine Gun Brigade, an pioneering mechanized (or at least motorized) infantry unit in a war generally associated with static trenches rather than mobility. However, the western European front did move and the Armoured Autocars were tested in combat, showing that they were vulnerable on the top and better as mobile defense units than offense units ... all important lessons applied to future AFVs in future wars. Only one Armoured Autocar has survived, appropriately in the LeBreton Gallery of the Canadian War Museum (Ottawa).

Description
Early in World War I, as the Canadian Expeditionary Force (later Canadian Corps) was being organized to fight for Britain and the Allies, the wealthy French-born Major Raymond Brutinel proposed deploying armored cars as mobile machine gun units. The Minister of Militia approved and Brutinel covered an Autocar truck chassis with 9.5mm steel plating to produce the Armoured Autocar, which was armed with two Colt or Vickers machine guns (plus an optional Lewis machine gun facing forward). The Armoured Autocars were organized into the Canadian Automobile Machine Gun Brigade, an pioneering mechanized (or at least motorized) infantry unit in a war generally associated with static trenches rather than mobility. However, the western European front did move and the Armoured Autocars were tested in combat, showing that they were vulnerable on the top and better as mobile defense units than offense units ... all important lessons applied to future AFVs in future wars. Only one Armoured Autocar has survived, appropriately in the LeBreton Gallery of the Canadian War Museum (Ottawa).