The British Armoured Car Expeditionary Force (ACEF) was a British military unit sent to Russia during the First World War. It fought alongside the Russian Empire on the Eastern Front between June 1916 and 1918. The unit consisted of 566 men.
| British Armoured Car Expeditionary Forces | |
|---|---|
| Active | 1916-1918 |
| Country | British Empire |
History
By the end of 1915, trench warfare on the Western Front meant that there was no scope for armoured cars to be stationed there. Three squadrons of armoured cars built by the Royal Naval Air Service were supposed to be sent by ship to Archangel in Russia to fight on the Eastern Front alongside Russia. However, sea ice prevented them from reaching Archangel, so the unit ended up at Alexandrovsk instead. The ACEF fought alongside the Imperial Russian Army in Galicia, Romania and the Caucasus Mountains until the Bolshevik coup of 1917, when the ACEF was withdrawn from Russia.
Notable personnel
- Oliver Locker-Lampson - commander of the unit
- Walter Smiles
References
- "THE RNAS ARMOURED CAR DIVISION ON THE EASTERN FRONT 1915-1918". Imperial War Museums. Retrieved 2021-07-21.
- Bartholomew, E. Early Armoured Cars. Shire Publications. p. 21.
- Stibbons, B. (2018). The Baker Brothers: Diaries from the East Front 1914-1919. Lowestoft: Poppyland Publishing.
- Perrett, Bryan; Lord, Anthony (1981). The Czar’s British Squadron. William Kimber.
- Fletcher, David. War Cars: British Armoured Cars in the First World War. HSMO.