Editing Armored car (military) (section)

=== World War I ===
A great variety of armored cars appeared on both sides during [[World War I]] and these were used in various ways. Generally, armored cars were used by more or less independent car commanders. However, sometimes they were used in larger units up to [[Squadron (army)|squadron]] size. The cars were primarily armed with light machine guns, but larger units usually employed a few cars with heavier guns. As air power became a factor, armored cars offered a mobile platform for antiaircraft guns.<ref>Crow, ''Encyclopedia of Armored Cars'', pg. 25</ref>
[[File:Minerva armored car, model 1914 near Antwerp WW1..jpg|thumb|left|Belgium Minerva Armored car 1914]]

The first effective use of an armored vehicle in combat was achieved by the [[Belgian Army]] in August–September 1914. They had placed [[John Cockerill (company)|Cockerill]] armour plating and a [[Hotchkiss machine gun]] on [[Minerva (automobile)|Minerva]] touring cars, creating the [[Minerva Armored Car]]. Their successes in the early days of the war convinced the Belgian GHQ to create a [[Belgian Expeditionary Corps in Russia|Corps of Armoured Cars]], who would be sent to fight on the Eastern front once the western front immobilized after the [[Battle of the Yser]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.philatelicdatabase.com/postal-history/wwi-belgium-armoured-car-division-in-russia/|title=WWI - Belgium Armoured Car Division in Russia|date=16 April 2011|url-status = live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131002191808/http://www.philatelicdatabase.com/postal-history/wwi-belgium-armoured-car-division-in-russia/|archive-date=2013-10-02}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.wio.ru/tank/for-rus.htm|title=Foreign armoured units at Russian front during WWI|website=www.wio.ru|url-status = live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120612102602/http://wio.ru/tank/for-rus.htm|archive-date=2012-06-12}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.greatwardifferent.com/Great_War/Russia/Russia_00.htm |title=Belgian Armoured Cars in Russia |access-date=2011-02-17 |url-status = live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110519025726/http://www.greatwardifferent.com/Great_War/Russia/Russia_00.htm |archive-date=2011-05-19 }}</ref>

The British [[Royal Naval Air Service]] dispatched aircraft to Dunkirk to defend the UK from Zeppelins. The officers' cars followed them and these began to be used to rescue downed reconnaissance pilots in the battle areas. They mounted machine guns on them<ref>''Band of Brigands'' p 59</ref> and as these excursions became increasingly dangerous, they improvised boiler plate armoring on the vehicles provided by a local shipbuilder. In London [[Murray Sueter]] ordered "fighting cars" based on Rolls-Royce, [[Clément-Talbot|Talbot]] and [[Wolseley Motors|Wolseley]] chassis. By the time [[Rolls-Royce Armoured Car]]s arrived in December 1914, the mobile period on the Western Front was already over.<ref>''First World War'' - Willmott, H.P., [[Dorling Kindersley]], 2003, Pg. 59</ref>

More tactically important was the development of formed units of armored cars, such as the [[Canadian Automobile Machine Gun Brigade]], which was the first fully mechanized unit in the history. The brigade was established on September 2, 1914, in [[Ottawa]], as Automobile Machine Gun Brigade No. 1 by [[Raymond Brutinel|Brigadier-General Raymond Brutinel]]. The brigade was originally equipped with eight [[Armoured Autocar]]s mounting two machine guns. By 1918 Brutinel's force consisted of two motor machine gun brigades (each of five gun batteries containing eight weapons apiece).<ref>P. Griffith p 129 "Battle Tactics on the Western Front - The British Army's art of attack 1916–18 Yale university Press quoting the Official History 1918 vol.4, p42</ref> The brigade, and its armored cars, provided yeoman service in many battles, notably at Amiens.<ref>Cameron Pulsifer (2007). ' 'The Armoured Autocar in Canadian Service' ', [[Service Publications]]</ref> The RNAS section became the [[Royal Naval Armoured Car Division]] reaching a strength of 20 squadrons before disbanded in 1915. and the armoured cars passing to the army as part of the Machine Gun Corps. Only NO.1 Squadron was retained; it was sent to Russia. As the Western Front turned to trench warfare unsuitable to wheeled vehicles, the armoured cars were moved to other areas.

The [[Hugh Grosvenor, 2nd Duke of Westminster|2nd Duke of Westminster]] took No. 2 Squadron of the RNAS to France in March 1915 in time to make a noted contribution to the [[Second Battle of Ypres]], and thereafter the cars with their master were sent to the Middle East to play a part in the British campaign in [[Sinai and Palestine Campaign|Palestine]] and elsewhere<ref>{{cite book |last=Verdin |first=Lt.-Col. Sir Richard |title=The Cheshire (Earl of Chester's) Yeomanry |publisher=Willmer Bros. Ltd |year=1971 |location=Birkenhead |pages=50–51}}</ref>  The Duke led a motorised convoy including nine armoured cars across the Western Desert in North Africa to rescue the survivors of the sinking of the SS Tara which had been kidnapped and taken to Bir Hakiem. 

In Africa, Rolls Royce armoured cars were active in [[German South West Africa]] and [[Lanchester armoured car|Lanchester Armoured Cars]] in [[East Africa Protectorate|British East Africa]] against German forces to the south.

Armored cars also saw action on the Eastern Front.  From 18 February - 26 March 1915, the German army under General [[Max von Gallwitz]] attempted to break through the Russian lines in and around the town of [[Przasnysz]], Poland, (about 110&nbsp;km / 68 miles north of Warsaw) during the Battle of Przasnysz (Polish: [[:pl: Bitwa przasnyska|''Bitwa przasnyska'']]). Near the end of the battle, the Russians used four [[Russo-Balt]] armored cars and a {{Interlanguage link|Mannesmann-MULAG|de}} armored car to break through the Germans' lines and force the Germans to retreat.<ref>[http://przasnysz1915.dobroni.pl/media/grh,14-pulk-strzelcow-syberyjskich,1503,1519,429.html ''Do broni : Bitwa Przasnyska (luty 1915)'' (To arms: the Battle of Przasnysz (February 1915))] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180107120041/http://przasnysz1915.dobroni.pl/media/grh,14-pulk-strzelcow-syberyjskich,1503,1519,429.html |date=2018-01-07 }} (in Polish)</ref>