Canadian Corps Cyclist Battalion Rimless Brodie

By matthewsq ( August 27, 2016 at 10:59 pm) · Filed under History forum

Hey gents,

I recently purchased this salty lid from an ebay seller in the states, it was listed in a lot with 5 other lids. I made an offer for just this lid, thinking that it would likely be a 29th Brit Div brodie helmet from the somme. I normally collect CEF, but I didn’t want to pass on a rimless!

Thus, you can imagine my surprise when I had it in my hands and realized that there was more to the insignia than just a red triangle :shok_yikes: ! I researched further, looking through Australian and British ww1 formation patch references and found nothing.

Finally, I decided to compare to CEF formation patch references, and discovered that the helmet belonged to a member of the Canadian Cyclist Battalion! The helmet itself is in near relic condition. It has the early small rectangular chinstrap bales, but was fitted at some point with the second pattern liner. The CEF divisional cyclists were amalgamated into a Cyclist Battalion in 1916, so the helmet must have been issued then. The paint is early lighter green with visible brush strokes. The Red triangle and French blue triangle still have plenty of colour, but the dark blue triangle is beginning to flak away, with white underneath. Enjoy! :p

Now, I consider myself to be decently well versed on the CEF in the first world war, but I must admit that I knew nothing about the cyclist battalion. So, more research was done! Information posted here was taken from this thread: Canadian "Cyclist Battalion" in The Great War. - Canada at War Forums

"As the 1st Canadian Division was forming and training at Valcartier Camp, Quebec it was decided that a cyclist unit should be formed to carry out Intelligence work with the Canadian Expeditionary Force. The first Canadian Cyclist Company sailed for England with the 1st Canadian Division on October 14, 1914 with all ranks which had volunteered for the Cyclist unit from most of the battalions. As it had been decided that all further divisions must carry a Cyclist Battalion on their establishments, the recruiting was handed over and carried out by the Corps of Guides of the N.P.A.M. (Matrix: Non Permanent Active Militia), whose duties were commensurate with the training needs of the Cyclists.

In addition to the training the Cyclists had received under the direction of the Guides in Canada, a much more intensive course was started in England which consisted of musketry, bombing, and bayonet fighting coupled with the highly specialized role of learning signalling and topography techniques, range-finding, tactics and the use of Lewis guns.

Due to the more static nature of the war in the early years, the Corps duties were not those for which they had been trained. They carried out traffic control, sapping and mining, trench guide, listening posts, battalion runners and despatch riding duties.

Owing to the diverse nature of the Corps duties the Cyclists had undertaken, it had become almost impossible to keep track of them, and to that end the various companies were reorganized into Canadian Corps Cyclist Battalions by May of 1916. For the most part the Cyclists spent from four to six weeks in the lines under intense fire which gave rise to an increase in casualties.

During the last 100 days of the war, the Corps cane into its own. The value of the work they had been initially trained for came into constant use in forming the vital links between the Infantry and Cavalry and keeping in constant touch with the retreating enemy. One unit was attached to the Independent Brigade under the command of Brutinel. All the above duties coupled with reconnaissance duties, proved more dangerous than the early work they had undertaken. 23% of the Cyclists had been killed and the men soon placed "Suicide Battalions" as their nickname.

Five divisional Cyclist Battalions were formed and It is of interest to note that a Canadian Cyclist was the first allied soldier to cross the Bonn bridge into Germany."