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Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Bicycle infantry are infantry soldiers who
maneuver on (or, more often, between) battlefields using military bicycles. The term dates from
the late 19th century, when the "safety bicycle" became popular
in Europe, the United States and Australia. Historically, bicycles lessened the
need for horses, fuel and vehicle maintenance. Though their use has waned over
the years in many armies, they continue to be used in unconventional armies
such as militias.
Origins
Numerous experiments were carried out to
determine the possible role of bicycles and cycling within military
establishments because bicycles can carry more equipment and travel longer than
walking soldiers until in 1894 a turning point occurred due to improved
resilience of pneumatics and the shorter
sturdier construction of the frame.[1] To some extent,
bicyclists took over the functions of dragoons, especially as
messengers and scouts, substituting for horses in warfare.[2] Bicycle units or
detachments were formed at the end of the 19th century by all European armies
and the US armed forces.
The United Kingdom employed bicycle
troops in militia or territorial units, but not in regular units. In France, several
experimental units were created, starting in 1886.[3] They attempted to
adopt folding bicycles early on. In the
United States, the most extensive experimentation on bicycle units was carried
out by a 1st Lieutenant Moss, of the 25th United States Infantry (Colored) (an African American infantry regiment
with white officers). Using a
variety of cycle models, Lt. Moss and his troops carried out extensive bicycle
journeys covering between 500 and 1,000 miles (800 to 1,600 km). Late in
the 19th century, the United States Army tested the bicycle's suitability for
cross-country troop transport. Buffalo Soldiers stationed in Montana rode bicycles across
roadless landscapes for hundreds of miles at high speed.
The first known use of the bicycle in
combat occurred during the Jameson Raid, in which cyclists
carried messages. In the Second Boer War, military cyclists
were used primarily as scouts and messengers. One unit patrolled railroad lines
on specially constructed tandem bicycles that were fixed to
the rails. Several raids were conducted by cycle-mounted infantry on both
sides; the most famous unit was the Theron se Verkenningskorps (Theron
Reconnaissance Corps) or TVK, a Boer unit led by the scout Daniel Theron, whom British
commander Lord Roberts described as "the hardest thorn
in the flesh of the British advance." Roberts placed a reward of £1,000 on
Theron's head—dead or alive—and dispatched 4,000 soldiers to find and eliminate
the TVK.[4]
World Wars
During World War I, cycle-mounted infantry,
scouts, messengers and ambulance carriers were extensively used by all
combatants. Italy used bicycles with the Bersaglieri (light infantry
units) until the end of the war. German Army Jäger (light infantry)
battalions each had a bicycle company (Radfahr-Kompanie) at the outbreak
of the war, and additional companies were raised during the war bringing the
total to 80 companies, a number of which were formed into eight Radfahr-Bataillonen
(bicycle battalions). In its aftermath, the German Army conducted a study on
the use of the cycle and published its findings in a report entitled Die
Radfahrertruppe[citation needed]. The British Army had cyclist companies in its
divisions, and later a whole division became The Cyclist Division.
Photo showing Italian Bersaglieri during World
War I with folding bicycles strapped to their backs. 1917
In its 1937 invasion of China, Japan employed some 50,000 bicycle troops. Early in World War II their southern campaign through Malaya en route to capturing Singapore in 1941 was largely dependent on bicycle-riding soldiers. In both efforts bicycles allowed quiet and flexible transport of thousands of troops who were then able to surprise and confuse the defenders. Bicycles also made few demands on the Japanese war machine, needing neither trucks, nor ships to transport them, nor precious petroleum. Although the Japanese were under orders not to embark for Malaya with bicycles, for fear of slowing up amphibious landings, they knew from intelligence that bicycles were plentiful in Malaya and moved to systematically confiscate bicycles from civilians and retailers as soon as they landed. Using bicycles, the Japanese troops were able to move faster than the withdrawing Allied Forces, often successfully cutting off their retreat. The speed of Japanese advance, usually along plantation roads, native paths and over improvised bridges, also caught Allied Forces defending the main roads and river crossings by surprise, by attacking them from the rear. However there were one or two cases of Australian troops turning the tables on the Japanese by isolating cycle troops from their accompanying motorized forces after blowing up bridges over rivers.
During the Polish Defensive War of 1939, each Polish
Infantry Division (nearly all of them, if not all; all standing units and most
likely all reserve divisions) was assigned a squadron of mounted scouts,
cavalry, as well as a company of bicycle-riding scouts. In spite of late
mobilization due to the pressure from France and Great Britain not to mobilize,
except for one bicycle scouts' company, all companies received all their
equipment before engaging the enemies (Germans, Soviets, Slovaks, Soviet
proxies, ethnic Germans, Ukrainian nationalists). The equipment of each company
included 196 bicycles, 1 motorcycle with the sidecar as well as some horses
pulling 9 supply carts and 3 to 6 anti--tank rifles besides standard
infantry equipment such as MG's, rifles, pistols, and hand grenades.[5]
Most common bicycle used by the Polish companies of scouts assigned to Infantry Divisions during the Polish Campaign
The Finnish Army utilized bicycles
extensively during the Continuation War and Lapland War. Bicycles were used
as a means of transportation in Jaeger Battalions, divisional Light Detachments
and regimental organic Jaeger Companies. Bicycle units spearheaded the advances
of 1941 against Soviet Union. Especially successful was the 1st Jaeger Brigade which was reinforced
with a tank battalion and an anti-tank battalion, providing rapid movement
through limited road network. During winter time these units, like the rest of
the infantry, switched to skis.
Within 1942-1944 bicycles were also
added to regimental equipment pools. During the Summer 1944 battles against the
Soviet Union, bicycles provided quick mobility for reserves and
counter-attacks. In Autumn 1944 bicycle troops of the Jaeger Brigade
spearheaded the Finnish advance through Lapland against the Germans; tanks had
to be left behind due to the German destruction of the Finnish road network.
The hastily assembled German Volksgrenadier divisions had a
battalion of bicycle infantry, to have some mobile reserve.
Allied use of the bicycle in World War
II was limited, but included supplying folding bicycles to paratroopers and to
messengers behind friendly lines. The term, "bomber bikes" came into
use during this period, as US forces dropped bicycles out of planes to reach
troops behind enemy lines.
By
1939, the Swedish army
operated six bicycle infantry regiments. They were equipped with domestically produced
Swedish military bicycles.
Most common was the m/42,
an upright, one-speed roadster produced by several
large Swedish bicycle manufacturers. These regiments were decommissioned
between 1948 and 1952, and the bicycles remained for general use in the Army,
or transferred to the Home Guard. Beginning in the
1970s, the Army began to sell these as military surplus. They became very
popular as cheap and low-maintenance transportation, especially among students.
Responding to its popularity and limited supply, an unrelated company, Kronan,
began to produce a modernized version of the m/42 in 1997.
Danish
soldiers cycling to the front to fight the Germans during the German invasion of Denmark (1940)
Later uses
Although much used in World War I,
bicycles were largely superseded by motorized transport in more modern armies.
In the past few decades, however, they have taken on a new life as a
"weapon of the people" in guerrilla conflicts and unconventional
warfare,
where the cycle's ability to carry large, about 400 lb (180 kg),
loads of supplies at the speed of a pedestrian make it vastly
useful for lightly equipped forces. For many years the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese
Army
used bicycles to ferry supplies down the "Ho Chi Minh trail", avoiding the
repeated attacks of United States and Allied bombing raids. When heavily loaded
with supplies such as sacks of rice, these bicycles were seldom rideable, but
were pushed by a tender walking alongside. With especially bulky cargo,
tenders sometimes attached bamboo poles to the bike for tiller-like steering
(this method can still be seen practiced in China today). Vietnamese "cargo
bikes" were rebuilt in jungle workshops with reinforced frames to carry
heavy loads over all terrain.
Modern times
Bicycles continue in military use
today, primarily as an easy alternative for transport on long flightlines. The
use of the cycle as an infantry transport tool continued into the 21st century
with the Swiss Army's Bicycle
Regiment, which maintained drills for infantry movement and attack until 2001,
when the decision was made to phase the unit out.[6]
Finnish defence forces still train all
conscripts to use bicycle and skis.
The LTTE Tamil Tigers made use of bicycle mobility in the
fighting in Sri Lanka. The Sri Lankan army also has a bicycle unit. They are
mainly stationed and deployed in high security zones in the capital city
Colombo. The theory and the basis of their usage is still not well known.
Although in the United States, bicycles
are not used any more for combat, the long tradition of mixed terrain bicycle
travel championed by the military has been transformed into civilian adventure
travel. Mixed
Terrain Cycle-Touring
has seen a resurgence in popularity often adopting a military style ultralight
and flexible approach to long variable terrain routes.
-
^ Leiser 10
- ^ Leiser 11-16
- ^ Leiser 11
- ^ "Danie Theron". Retrieved 2007-10-07.
- ^ pl:Kompania kolarzy w 1939
- ^ Doole, Claire (2001-05-11). End of road for Swiss army cyclists. BBC News. Retrieved 2008-02-05
