Canada. A Lot of Three First War Battalion Cap Badges

5th Infantry Battalion "Western Canadian Cavalry" Cap Badge (in browning copper, red felt insert highlighting the voided area, maker marked "THE G&S Co 112 REGENT St LONDON" on the reverse, measuring 34.2 mm (w) x 43.5 mm, both lugs bent back but intact); Canadian Machine Gun Corps General Service Cap Badge, Canadian Issue, Style B (in browning copper, maker marked "J & CO" on the reverse, measuring 40.3 mm (w) x 39 mm (h), all four lugs intact, two of which are pinched); and George V Royal Canadian Horse Artillery General Service Cap Badge (in browning copper, maker marked "J.R. GAUNT MONTREAL" on the reverse, measuring 43 mm (w) x 50 mm (h), one of two prongs intact). Ranging from very fine to near extremely fine.

Footnote: The 5th Infantry Battalion "Western Canadian Cavalry" was raised in Western Canada with mobilization headquarters at Camp Valcartier, Quebec under the authority of P.C.O. 2067, August 6, 1914. The Battalion sailed October 3, 1914, with a strength of 45 officers and 1,095 other ranks under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel G.S. Tuxford. The Battalion served in France and Belgium with the 2nd Infantry Brigade, 1st Canadian Division. It was disbanded on September 15, 1920. In regards to the Canadian Machine Gun Corps, when war came in 1914, millionaire Raymond Brutinel, a French army reserve officer who was living in Montreal, in collaboration with a prominent lawyer, Clifford Sifton, hit upon the idea of mounting machine guns on armoured cars, thus providing the double threat of firepower and mobility. Sifton took the idea to the Minister of Militia, Colonel (later Sir) Sam Hughes, who enthusiastically endorsed the plans and authorized the organization of the 1st Canadian Automobile Machine Gun Brigade. The Royal Canadian Horse Artillery was organized on August 6, 1914. Lieutenant-Colonel Andrew McNaughton, D.S.O., advanced the science of artillery through the development of the "rolling barrage", whereby advancing infantry would follow as close as thirty yards behind their own exploding shells, thus diminishing the ability of the enemy to identify non-protected areas of the assault. He also devised a system of "indirect fire" which allowed protection to the flanks of the advancing infantry by means of a protective web of bursting shells. The total strength of the RCHA was 37,714 all ranks, with casualties numbering 9,984 by the end of the conflict. It was disbanded on November 1, 1920.