This article was published on this blog last year, but Joe asked me to publish it again. It’s slightly modified (small corrections) and maybe some new members will read it now for the first time. Sorry for any mistakes, English is not my native language 
THE BELGIAN EXPEDITIONARY CORPS OF ARMORED CARS IN RUSSIA
On December 1, 1914 in Paris (almost whole territory of Belgium was occupied by the Germans) the Belgians established the Corps des Autos-Canons-Mitrailleuses (The Corps of Cars Armed with Cannons and Machine Guns, simply: The Corps of Armored Cars). Major Auguste Collon, the Belgian military attaché, became its commander. The volunteers lived in Paris barracks La Nouvelle France and La Pépinière. Most of them had battle experience. Major Collon ordered to make special uniforms for them, so they would stand out from other soldiers. Originally the Corps was destined to fight on the Western Front during the spring offensive of 1915. The soldiers were eager to fight for their homeland and the Corps almost had the baptism of fire in Belgium. On April 21, 1915 the Corps left Paris and arrived in Flanders. It was intended to take part in the counterattack near Lizerne in the morning of April 28, but it soon turned out that its help wasn’t necessary – the Germans were beaten by other units and left Lizerne. But generally it became obvious that on the Western Front, in a period of trench warfare, armored cars, unable to operate outside roads and vulnerable to artillery fire, were almost useless.
In the end of May 1915 Andrei Prezhbyano, Russian representative to the Belgian army staff, made a bold proposal to the Belgians. He suggested that it would be a good idea to send Belgian armored cars to the Eastern Front, where there were periods of trench warfare, but also long periods of the war of movement and first Russian armored cars often succeeded. King of the Belgians Albert I, and Belgian Grand Quartier Général, agreed. The negotiations were finished on August 10. It was decided that only volunteers were going to go to Russia. The members of the Corps were given a choice – to stay in the trenches on the Yser Front or fight on the Eastern Front. Most of them chose the latter. That’s how Corps Expéditionnaire Belge des Autos-Canons-Mitrailleuses en Russie (Belgian Expeditionary Corps of Armored Cars in Russia) came into existence. Because Belgium and Russia formally were not allies, members of the Corps were regarded as volunteers to the Russian army. The most famous of them was Henri Herd, known as “Constant le Marin”, who was the Greco-Roman Wrestling World Champion.
On September 22, 1915 most of the Corps members (2 officers and 355 soldiers) sailed from Brest in a British steamer “Wray Castle” (the rest of the officers rode to Russia by train). On October 13, “Wray Castle” reached Arkhangelsk. On December 6, Belgian soldiers were officially greeted by the Tsat in Tsarskoye Selo.
The Corps had 13 cars armored in Kellner Works in Billancourt, including 10 “battle” vehicles and 3 partly armored vehicles (for a Corps commander and two commanders of armored car batteries). Command cars were soon deemed not useful, so they were used for cannibalisation.
10 armored cars were built on Mors chassis:
6 were armed with a 37 mm cannon and a “Hotchkissette” (smaller version of a Hotchkiss machine gun);
2 were armed with standard Hotchkiss machine guns;
2 were unarmed, partly armored vehicles for commanders.
3 armored cars were built on Peugeot chassis:
2 were armed with standard Hotchkiss machine guns;
1 was an unarmed, partly armored vehicle for a commander.
Every armored car had double rear wheels. They weighted around 4 tonnes (including a crew) and had crews of 4. First they had two layers of 3 mm armor, and between them around 50 mm od wood or material, but it didn’t work well – it turned out that it was easy to pierce such armor. That’s why later it was changed to simple 7,5 mm armor. It was quite thick comparing to other WW1 armored cars, but there was also a flaw – the vehicles had no roofs.
The ACM Corps was organised in the following way:
13 officers, 2 doctors, 1 chaplain, 359 NCOs and soldiers.
1st Battery: 53 men.
1st Section: 2 armored machine gun cars and 1 partly armored car of the Battery commander;
2nd Section: 3 armored cannon cars;
3rd Section: 7 passenger cars and 1 truck (additionally to 3rd Section 1 partly armored car of the Corps commander was attached).
2nd Battery: 46 men.
1st Section: 2 armored machine gun cars and 1 partly armored car of the Battery commander;
2nd Section: 3 armored cannon cars;
3rd Section: 5 passenger cars and 1 truck.
3rd Battery: 96 men and 26 passenger cars and trucks (Peugeot, Mors, Renault, Bellanger, Pierce-Arrow, White) in 3 sections.
4th Battery: 138 men – a motorcycle section (25 Indian and Harley-Davidson motorcycles, with and without sidecars) and a company of cyclists (they had 130 Peugeot bikes).
5th Battery (attached Russians): 3 officers and 30 NCOs and soldiers, 4 passenger cars (Pierce-Arrow) and 2 trucks (Renault and Peerless).
In total: 59 cars, 25 motorcycles and 130 bikes.
On January 10, 1916 the Corps went by rail to the Galician Front – 10 days later it arrived in Volochysk. The Belgians spent the winter and the spring in Zbarazh. In Ferbruary 1916 Major Collon was dismissed. The temporary substitute was captain Delpotre, and the new commander of the Corps – Major Hippolyte Semet – arrived in Zbarazh on April 12.
On May 31, the Corps had a first loss. When the 2nd Battery were on a recon, captain Roze was severely wounded as a result of artillery fire. He was evacuated to a hospital in Tarnopol. He came back to service in fall 1917.
On June 4, Brusilov Offensive started and it was Corps’ baptism of fire. The Corps was attached to Russian 11th Army. On June 9, the first Belgian soldier was KIA on the Eastern Front. He was Jacques de Becker of the 1st Battery, killed in Vorobyevka during a fight between 3 Belgian armored cars and Austro-Hungarian machine guns.
August 11, 1916 was the most tragic day in the history of the Corps – in Tsebrov village 4 cyclists were KIA. On the next day Belgian armored cars had an interesting encounter with an Austro-Hungarian armored train, but it escaped and both sides (at least the Belgians) suffered no losses. Armored train was a very serious threat and the Belgians, deciding to attack it, showed a lot of courage.
On September 1, 1916 three Belgian armored cars saved a few dozen Russian infantry – they were crucial in repelling Austro-Hungarian counterattack aimed at the Zborov railway station.
On September 4, 104 Belgian NCOs and soldiers were awarded Russian St. George Crosses. Since then the Corps was attached to Russian 7th Army fighting in the Carpathian Mountains. On September 8, the Belgians departed to Buchach, 120 km south from Tarnopol. This was a time of the last phase of the Brusilov Offensive. In this area the enemy were the Germans. There were also Turks nearby, but there were no encounters with them.
On September 16, the Belgians lost one KIA (Maurice Van Esch) and Lieutenant Edgard Van der Donckt was wounded. On the same day two Belgian armored cars operated near Svistelniki. They scattered German infantry, but soon German artillery started to shoot and one armored car (Henri Herd’s Peugeot no 70011) was damaged. The crew decided to leave the vehicle. In the following nights the Germans from 46th Reserve Infantry Regiment were able to evaluate the damage, repair the wheel and tow away the car. Later it was used in two German armored car platoons and, after the war, with the name “Raudi”, by Freikorps in Munich in 1919.
In the end of September 1916 Major Semet, during a meeting with the Tsar, mentioned that Henri Herd’s armored car was captured by the Germans. The Tsar promised to give the Belgians a replacement and he fulfilled the promise – soon a Russian Armstrong-Whitworth-Fiat armored car was delivered.
Since October 21, the Belgians were (again) under command of general Gutor, who commanded Russian Sixth Army Corps. They came to Ozerna – a large village west from Tarnopol, which they captured in the middle of August. They spent winter there.
In November 80 new Belgian soldiers arrived to replace those who were killed, ill, severely wounded and dismissed. They all went to the cyclist battery.
A second winter far away from home resulted in low morale. Around 50 NCOs and soldiers requested to come back to Belgium, but none of them was allowed to.
As a result of the February Revolution, Tsar Nicholas II abdicated on March 15 and the Provisional Government came into existence. The socialist Alexander Kerensky became a Minister of War. It was decided to continue the war till the final victory.
In the spring of 1917 the Corps was reorganised – this time armored cars were spread among three batteries. Each of them had a unit of cyclists and motorcyclists. The motorcycles had sidecars with Lewis machine guns. 1st and 4th batteries had two cannon-armed cars and one machine gun-armed car each. 2nd Battery had two cannon-armed cars, one machine gun-armed car and Henri Herd’s Armstrong-Whitworth-Fiat.
On July 1, 1917 the Kerensky Offensive commenced. Next day 4th Battery entered the village of Konyukhy and it turned out that the Russians left it. The Belgians (3 armored cars and cyclists) were in danger, because numerous Austro-Hungarian infantry was nearby. To make matters worse, soon enemy reconnaissance plane started to circle above the village. The Belgians tried, but were unable to shoot it down and Austro-Hungarian artillery started to shell Konyukhy from nearby hills. All three Belgian armored cars were hit – the first one was severely damaged, the second had armor pierced by shrapnel fragments and the third was destroyed as a result of a direct hit and was on fire. From the armored car crews two Belgians were KIA and nine were WIA, so only one soldier wasn’t hit. Two cars were lost.
On July 6, 2nd Battery took part in an attack on Austro-Hungarian positions in a forest north from Konyukhy. Henri Herd wasn’t lucky again. The armor and radiator of his Armstrong-Whitworth-Fiat was pierced by machine gun bullets shot from a close distance. What’s worse, driver Auguste Godefroid was fatally wounded. Herd barely managed to leave the car. It turned out he was wounded in five places. This way Herd lost his second armored car. It was destroyed by Russian artillery to prevent its capture, and became a steel coffin for Godefroid…
The Kerensky Offensive ended in disaster. The Corps was withdrawn to Tarnopol. On July 21 suddenly news came, that the enemy is approaching the town. The Corps left it, but the battery of Lieutenant Van der Donckt was ordered to join Russian forces south-west from Tarnopol. But the Russians were nowhere to be found. Suddenly the Belgians saw numerous German infantry coming from a nearby slope. Three Belgian armored cars opened fire, but in one of them the machine gun quickly jammed. One of the Belgians was KIA. Due to the threat of encirclement, a retreat was necessary.
In the morning of July 25, Van der Donckt’s battery patrolled Sereth River area. Armored cars were shot at by enemy machine gun located in a forest. One of the motorcyclists, Leopold Siersaeck, was severely wounded in the head. He died on November 20 in Kiev hospital.
In August 1917 the Corps settled in Volochysk and its area. Armored cars and other vehicles were in bad condition. Major Semet expressed opinion, that the Corps can’t be used in battle and third winter in Russia will be very bad for soldiers’ morale and health. Accused of defeatism by General Baron Louis de Ryckel, Belgian representative to the Russian army staff, Semet was dismissed, and Captain Roze became a new Corps commander (as we remember, he was the first member of the Corps to be wounded – on May 31, 1916).
After the October Revolution, Belgian presence in Russia was pointless. In the end of 1917 King Albert I decided that it’s time the Corps should come back to Belgium. All healthy soldiers gathered in Volochysk. On December 10 they set off to Kiev, where they arrived 3 days later. There was intense fighting in Kiev at the time, between Ukrainian and Bolshevik forces, and it was almost a miracle that none of the Belgians was hurt.
In Kiev local Bolsheviks demanded that the Belgians gave up their vehicles. At the time they had 7 armored cars, a truck, a mobile workshop and an ambulance. In exchange, the Bolsheviks promised to give the Belgians a train for a further journey. Eventually, on February 16, 1918 Captain Roze ordered to dismantle the armored cars and destroy cannons and machine guns. The Belgians kept one 37 mm cannon and a few Hotchkiss and Lewis machine guns – they hid them in boxes with clothes and blankets. The trucks and motorcycles (Indian and Harley-Davidson) were left behind in exchange for the train.
On February 17 the train (40 wagons) started a five weeks’ journey. After several stops in Russian cities and three weeks spent in Harbin, on April 20 the Belgians arrived in Vladivostok, where they visited two cruisers – American “USS Brooklyn” and British “Suffolk”. According to an agreement between Belgian and American governments it was decided that before coming back to Europe, the Corps will go to the USA.
On April 25, Belgian soldiers set sail on the US transport ship “USAT Sheridan”. After 17 days spent in the Pacific Ocean, they arrived in San Francisco on May 12. The ACM Corps visit to the USA was beneficial for both sides. The United States joined the war in April 1917, and Belgian performances in numerous and popular parades, heavily publicized in the press, were to publicize its subject in American society, which in turn would have resulted in greater enlistment in the army and more eager to buy war bonds. So the Americans used Belgian soldiers in their propaganda. It was also beneficial for Belgian propaganda, because it was publicizing the case of this country, which already wanted to break with the image of “poor little Belgium” (related to the fact that the Germans seized almost all its territory and committed war crimes) for the benefit of “brave little Belgium” – a country strong and able to successfully fight a powerful enemy. The Belgians traveled the entire United States from west to east and on June 15, 1918 sailed from New York, crossing the Atlantic Ocean with the French ship “La Lorraine”. Nine days later, they arrived in Bordeaux, where the Corps performed in its last parade, and on June 27 they arrived in Paris, the Corps’ birthplace. However, for many unexpectedly, on July 15 it was disbanded. The reason was the fear that soldiers could be influenced by revolutionary moods. The members of the Corps received two-month leaves and most of them probably took an active part in the Belgian offensive on the Western Front, but were already dispersed by various units.
In total there were 475 Belgians in the Corps. The losses were 16 KIA/DOW and 40 WIA. Four armored cars were lost in battle – one (Peugeot) was captured by the Germans and three (two Mors and one Armstrong-Whitworth-Fiat) were destroyed. Apart from Henri Herd’s Armstrong-Whitworth-Fiat, the Russians probably gave the Belgians one more Armstrong-Whitworth-Fiat and one Renault-Mgebrov armored car, at least that’s what can be seen on the photographs.
After WW1 a society gathering ex-members of the Corps existed and between 1927 and 1976 a Bulletin of the Society was being published. In 1976 thirty veterans were still alive. The last one of them – Fernand Houbiers, Henri Herd’s nephew – died in 1990.
The story of the Corps is quite popular in Belgium and much better researched than the story of WW1 Belgian armored cars on the Western Front. Apart from a dozen or so books and numerous articles, written during more than 100 years since the Corps was established, it is worth to mention that since 2014 in the Royal Museum of the Armed Forces and Military History in Brussels there is a very good replica of Mors armored car. In 2015 animated film “Cafard” was released and the main character is clearly based on Henri Herd. Also there are at least two documentaries on the Corps.
