Cycle as to War

Continuing its commemoration of the Great War of 1914-18, Tradition of London is pleased to field these cyclists of Belgium’s 1st Carabinier Regiment, sculpted by Andrew Stadden.

The first personal transport of the common people, the bicycle opened up new horizons for a swath of social classes, whose only prior experience of travelling at speed had been the railways. From the late 1880s, there was an explosion of cycling clubs across Europe and the United States, with friends and colleagues taking to the road in droves for long outings and excursions. This exponential growth was made possible by the introduction of the mass-produced Safety Bicycle and the pneumatic tyre, offering increased speed and comfort at an affordable price.

The civilian passion for the open road fuelled the creation of cycle units within the armies of the Great Powers, especially amongst the reservists and territorials, who would be only be called upon in time of war. One attraction for economically minded authorities was that cyclist battalions offered lower overheads than conventional mounted units, whose soldiers may have been part time, but whose horses required feeding all year round.

Promoters of pedal-power were quick to push the other advantages of these steel steads, as outlined in these exerts from ‘Cycling Weekly Magazine’, October 1914:

‘The reasons of the success of the soldier-cyclist are not far to seek. In the first place, it must be realised that his mount, unlike that of the cavalryman, is silent in progress. This gives him and enormous advantage over his noisy foe… But silence is by no means the cyclist’s sole advantage. He has a good turn of speed, which is a factor useful alike in attack and retreat.’

Readers contemplating the impact of the Maxim gun on the cycling soldier might have found comfort in the following:

‘…the ability to take cover often spells the difference between victory and defeat, and here the cyclist scores distinctly. He has but to lay his mount down flat upon the ground and it is practically invisible’.

Invisible or not, cyclist detachments did see action in the opening months of the Great War, where the flat terrain of the Belgium battlefields aided their rapid deployment. Britain had entered the war with some 14,000 cyclists under arms, and John Henry Parr of the 4th Battalion, Middlesex Regiment, became the first man of the BEF to be killed in action, when he was shot dead during a cycle reconnaissance on the 21st August 1914.

Belgian cyclists had had a more auspicious start to their campaign on 12th August, when the Belgian Cavalry Division (including 450 cyclists) confronted the advancing Germans at the Battle of Halen. Although outnumbered almost two to one, the Belgian decision to fight dismounted proved decisive, and massed rifle fire decimated the mounted German Cavalry. The defeated German cuirassiers left so many of their imposing polished helms on the field that the encounter is also known as ‘The Battle of the Silver Helmets’.

Though active at the front, the number of British Army cyclists was dwarfed by the estimated 150,000 troops of the French and Belgian armies thought to have used military bicycles in the course of the war. Each of the four battalions of Belgium’s 1st Regiment of Carabiniers included a company of cyclists, who were equipped with a patriotically named pattern of folding bicycle called the ’Belgica’. The ability to rapidly fold and carry their bicycles like a pack gave the men greater freedom of movement, by allowing them to negotiate obstacles on foot. The bicycle also helped share the soldier’s heavy burden, meaning they arrived in action far fresher than their foot-slogging comrades, forced to march through the hot summer of 1914 in full equipment.

Despite the ascendency of the motorcycle, tank and armoured car, bicycles remained on establishment of many armies well into the Second World War, and were used with great success by Japanese forces during their rapid advance through Malaya. Even the German Army, famed for its technical prowess in armoured warfare, was obliged to equip battalions of the hastily formed Volksgrenadiers with bicycles in 1944.

The dubious honour of being the last frontline unit of bicycle-mounted infantry falls to Swiss Army’s Bicycle Regiment, who remained ready to pedal into action until phased out in 2003. The mountainous nature of the Swiss terrain makes the survival of military cycling into the 21st century all the more remarkable…

A colourful escort for Tradition’s new Minerva armoured car, the cyclists of the 1st Carabinier Regiment join an expanding range of sets that record the foundations of modern, mechanised warfare.

Text: Paul Cattermole for Tradition of London