Bicycles of war

24
War is a dirty business in which one succeeds who moves faster and shoots. And until they were invented and built Tanks with airplanes, military people used bicycles. For decades, they have been experimenting with machine guns on bicycles, military quadricycles and bicycle infantry regiments. Let's take a look and remember the brightest moments of the military stories bicycles.

Perhaps the first military bike was the Premier 1888 of the year:

Bicycles of war


In 1892, Pope Manufacturing Co. (“The oldest and largest bicycle manufacturer in the United States,” read the flyer) released a model with the straightforward name Soldier's Standard Bicycle.



And here is the whole military unit - 25-th bicycle corps of the US infantry army. Photos taken in 1896 year. Scenic view behind the backs of military bikers - Minerva Terrace in Yellowstone Park:





A tricycle for two, equipped with two Maxim machine guns and large ammo bags. Manufactured by Gregory & Co. 1898:



The first combat bicycle machine! The quadricycle is still with the same maxim, but now also with a shield. Created by FR Simms in 1899:





Fighters from the Lancashire bikers regiment (1910 year):



Another military bike produced by Pope Manufacturing Co. with a gun on the steering wheel. Year of production unknown, the beginning of the XX century:



And here is the German cycling on the western front at the very beginning of the First World War (1914 year):



"Iron horses" dead tired. And the soldiers from the Italian rifle battalion gave them some rest (1915 year):



And once again, our favorite Pope Manufacturing Co., this time with a tandem bike:



And this is the “continuation” of the very first military bike, “Premier”. Model №11 1915 year of manufacture:



German bike rifle either hides in the forest, or trains (1915 year):



The evolution of military bicycles according to The Illustrated War News magazine, issue for February 21 1917 of the year:



Hungarian troops enter Ipelstag (Czechoslovakia; now Steps, Slovakia) to occupy the city of October 11 1938. This is quite a symbolic occupation, which was preceded by a meeting of Czech and Hungarian ministers, who discussed the conditions for the Hungarian annexation of Czech territory:



20 April 1939, Hitler turned 50 years. Of course, no parade was done. It is unlikely that cyclists were his main highlight, and yet, all the same:



The Finnish Military Cycle Patrol transports spare bikes during exercises at the border with the USSR (1939 year):



"Military bike" (Truppenfahrrad), Third Reich, five modifications:











Columbia's Compax folding bike for paratroopers (1941 year). There was also a model with a motor. And, yes, the paratroopers jumped out of the plane with the bikes and, safely landed, laid out the "horses" and went to fight. When folded:



A paratrooper with his "iron friend":



Another paratrooper - also with a folding bike, but from the UK:



The Belgian Congo Cycling in Tevfik (Egypt, 1943 year):



5 May 1964. After completing the 40 mile march from a camp in southern Cyprus, the Finnish UN peacekeeping forces in Cyprus lined up for inspection at Camp Elizabeth, near Nicosia. These troops used bicycles to patrol. At that time, the UN was still trying to preserve peace between the Cypriot Greeks and the Turks ...

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24 comments
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  1. wanderer_032
    +7
    April 11 2014 08: 00
    Great and in our time has not lost its relevance as a compact, lightweight, maneuverable, noiseless vehicle for which you do not need fuel, and you need to carry a ration only for the cyclist himself.
    So thanks for the article, put +.

    1. 0
      April 11 2014 21: 48
      Great and in our time has not lost its relevance as a compact, lightweight, maneuverable, noiseless vehicle for which you do not need fuel, and you need to carry a ration only for the cyclist himself.


      I completely agree! You go to any of our military airfields, there are bicycles everywhere, including on airplanes (transport) during training flights! Otherwise, run through such open spaces, for example, if the takeoff is 3-3,5 km., Plus rockades, etc ...!
  2. +4
    April 11 2014 08: 11
    In Siberia, not much will be cool in the winter. laughing
    1. +2
      April 11 2014 09: 55
      Quote: Siberia 9444
      In Siberia, not much will be cool in the winter. laughing

      So nobody rides bicycles, skis!
    2. +5
      April 11 2014 10: 43
      Quote: Siberia 9444
      In Siberia, not much will be cool in winter

      Not for Russians. The Pskov "bike tourist" Gleb Travin traveled in 1928-1931 around the land borders of the USSR.

      http://ddvt.narod.ru/ArticlesMy/GlebTravin.html

    3. 0
      April 11 2014 17: 03
      You can ride in the snow perfectly. So he did in his youth in the North. And on modern cross \ mountain bicycles - easily.
    4. 0
      April 11 2014 17: 03
      You can ride in the snow perfectly. So he did in his youth in the North. And on modern cross \ mountain bicycles - easily.
  3. +3
    April 11 2014 08: 39
    A lot of friends in the photo. For example, a Wehrmacht bicycle of Gruppenfahrad, 39 years old, like a copy of it was produced in the Soviet Union, I had one. A copy of Columbia’s collapsible Compax was called Kama’s by my cousin (inherited from his mother). Funny :)
    1. +1
      April 11 2014 10: 47
      Quote: RPG_
      A copy of Columbia's collapsible Compax was called Kama

      The photo shows a folding bike with tubular triangular frame, take a closer look. "Kama" (like "Salyut", "Perm", "Desna") had a frame of the same type as that of a fighter allegedly of the British landing (only on the plane it says "US Navy"), only "Kama" and "Desna" are smaller ...
      1. +1
        April 11 2014 14: 13
        - US Marine Corps, Navy is designated NAVY!
        1. +1
          April 11 2014 14: 25
          - And in the modern version: "HAMMER", folding, 24 speeds ...
  4. avt
    +3
    April 11 2014 08: 56
    good Good article ! Here is even timely - to the question of the mobility of individual groups. The Germans, in order to increase mobility, in spite of all their motorization, even took away horses and carts for their infantry divisions. Hundreds of thousands of heads. So a bicycle is not a heroic thing, not a "Tiger", but it is not necessary to write off it, like beasts of burden in mountainous parts. A kind of mechanical Humpbacked Horse.
  5. +1
    April 11 2014 10: 27
    Hmmm .... Village watchdogs would have thought 10 times if I would have passed them on TruppenFahrrade! winked
  6. +2
    April 11 2014 10: 37
    The use of bicycles in the Wehrmacht is well known. Interesting photo
  7. +6
    April 11 2014 10: 39
    Ours also used great.
    1. 0
      April 11 2014 17: 20
      Is there data and details on the use of these parts?
      1. 0
        April 11 2014 19: 01
        Unfortunately, there is no data. It is known that even then there was an opinion about this type of troops as a relic of the past and they did not receive a large introduction into the troops. By the way, this is May 1, 1938 ("khasanki"). Who will determine the type of troops (it is clear that the units NKVD, but who?) Border guards with schnauzers? - unlikely.
    2. -1
      April 11 2014 17: 20
      Is there data and details on the use of these parts?
    3. The comment was deleted.
  8. The comment was deleted.
    1. 0
      April 11 2014 15: 01
      Quote: stix99
      NOW AND IN UKRAINE THERE IS A PERSONAL BATTALION

      Correctly write "fox" laughing
      1. The comment was deleted.
      2. 0
        April 11 2014 17: 15
        No and never will!
        1. The only and remarkable Soviet bicycle factory in Kharkov (KhVZ) is destroyed.
        2. There is no money for western or high-quality Chinese bicycles - everything is stolen. If the people foolishly throw themselves off, then again they will steal everything.
        3. There are no healthy military men to pedal in present-day Ukraine (teacher / doctor’s salary = two dozen visits to the pool or section), and the generals and oXXX officer of the Ukrainian army have become fat from drunkenness and idleness.
        However, now in Ukraine no one will have money for fuel - neither the army nor the people. Only the junta has to flee from "grateful" compatriots, who used to be poor, now - beggars.
  9. +3
    April 11 2014 12: 41
    Apparently the lisap has not yet lost its military purpose ... smile
  10. +4
    April 11 2014 13: 26
    The bike does not require fuel and a lot of time for maintenance, while driving it is almost silent, in the army with such parameters it will always be in demand, there are options with an auxiliary electric motor
  11. +2
    April 11 2014 14: 24
    -Bicycle "Duks combat" adopted by the Russian army in 1916.
  12. alexandrow
    +1
    April 11 2014 14: 25
    Sounds like tomfoolery nonetheless ...
  13. rezident
    0
    April 11 2014 15: 18
    A bicycle is a good thing, but riding off-road in it, still in a full military outfit, is a tiring thing, although it may come down somewhere to patrol the track. I'd rather take an enduro or a quadric. At the last dofiga, what else can be transported and on cross-country ability he will surpass any jeep getting close to the tracked vehicle. Although I do not pretend to be true.
  14. +1
    April 11 2014 17: 01
    Such a cheap and convenient vehicle as a bicycle, for some reason, did not take root in the army, and in vain. There will always be applications for it. At the beginning of the 20th century, the bicycle was in fashion, and its use, including for army needs, was more active. Nowadays, these machines are very cheap and nothing prevents their widespread distribution across all branches of the armed forces. The military must go down from heaven to earth and look carefully at this land, it may turn out that it is necessary to move around it somehow and it’s not always convenient to do it on the tank.
    1. 0
      April 11 2014 18: 39
      Come on, do you --- in the 21st century on the bike? --- DO LAUGH! Next you need to move on
  15. 0
    April 11 2014 17: 06
    Bicycle parts - an analogue of the Dragoons: movement in the saddle, fighting - on foot.
    For parting, it’s best, but the three of us, like the outfit of an ordinary commandant patrol.
    1. rezident
      +1
      April 11 2014 17: 21
      Well, unlike cyclists, the horse is quite frisky on the road and on a bicycle in the autumn you can’t get a lot of dirt in the mud.
  16. +1
    April 11 2014 17: 27
    I will add to the author: Soviet bicycles "Sputnik" produced by the Kharkov Bicycle Plant in an improved (tropical) design were successfully used throughout the Vietnam War to supply South Vietnamese red partisans along the "Ho Chi Minh Path".
    On this wonderful semi-sports bike luggage bags were hung up.
    From Wikipedia: The Ho Chi Minh trail (Vietnamese Đường Trường Sơn) is the name of a series of land and water transport routes with a total length of over 20 thousand km [1] in Laos and Cambodia during the war during Vietnam used by the Democratic Republic of Vietnam for the transfer of military materials and troops to South Vietnam. It is one of the key factors that ensured the military victory of North Vietnam. - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%A2%D1%80%D0%BE%D0%BF%D0%B0_%D0%A5%D0%BE_%D0%A8%
    D0%B8_%D0%9C%D0%B8%D0%BD%D0%B0

    My friend has such a bike - the third generation rides it.
  17. rezident
    0
    April 11 2014 19: 03
    I don’t know how in Laos and Vietnam, but in a Russian village where timber trucks roll the road there you will carry it on yourself. I tell you the enduro drives.
  18. bayonet
    0
    April 23 2014 09: 58
    Quote: Den 11
    The use of bicycles in the Wehrmacht is well known. Interesting photo

    Holland is a country of cyclists, as it was during the occupation. The Germans immediately requisitioned all the greats in favor of the Wehrmacht. The Dutch were shocked and very offended by the Germans. This resentment is still manifest. For example, an old Dutchman, seeing an old German tourist, says to him: Give me my bike!

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