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BARBAROSSA ON A BIKE(or: how not to partlcipate in a global

waf with industrial superpowers)

by

Clrts Prrr.glc

INTRODUCTION

PART I: THE HISTORY

There is soinething particuldly glmorous abour rhe mounred soldier.b it the ho6ed cavalrymd cairying our a heroic charge or the tanlcomander in his awesome steel chmiot. But for some reason thsgimour d@s not db off on the thousands of soldies who went to waron thar most unmilirnry sreed - the bicycle.

In this anicle I hope ro give tbe bicycle its proper place in the dnalsof we. I slan wirh a brief oveNiew of rhe history of bicycle trcps frcmOe 1880s up ro 1945. The s*ond pan of rhe arricle looks in some detaila1 the bicycle forces of the Hungdian aJmy. It finishes with a historicalscen{io for a banle foughl by Hungarinn cyclisls in the Lkraine duringOperation Btrbffosa in 1941.

instead that in time of need, my available lroops could be mounted onrequisitioned bicycles for a panicular nission (von Caemere. & vonAJdenne, l9ll)- By comrar! tne French ar this time were raisingbicycle compaies which could be cohbined lo fom bicycle battalions.

Nonetheless, by the outbreak of wa. in 1914, the Gemans t@ badincorponled bicycle conpanies into their force structurcs.

The Grert Warwith millions of men mobilised in AugDst 1914, ir ; no sur?rise rbatwithin a monlh the French, Belgians. and Brilish had morc tban250,000 bicycles at lhe ftont, facing similar numbeB of cemanmachines (Caidin & Barbree. 1974). In the battles of mmoeuvre of theopening nonfts, la.ge bicycle forces scouted and Eided actively.However, the movenenr rale of bicycles through waist dep mud mdshell craten is very limited. The role of the cylist was therefore soonreduced to despatch nding, pat.oiling wherc the terain allowed, and

Butcyclistsdid still play an inponant role on the Home Front in theUnited Kingdom. He.e, where there were plenty of cleicben s 'good

rcads . where the conditions rhat bothered von C&nntrrcr d vonArdenne we.e relatively favourable, and where the terain wasunscathed by trench warfe md oased anillery fte bicycle offeredcheap mobility on a ldge scale. The $ftats to the Home Front weretbreefold: a Gemd ldding, Irish bellion, or civil disturbances. By1918, the B.itish forces deployed in lreland included 8 brigades (35battauono of yeomanry cyclisrs, as well as 7 battalions of n6r Irccyclists. A nrnher 30 bicycle bartalions defended England includin8one cyclisl division of 3 cyclist brigades (Oe Knt Independent Force)(Millmm. 1998).

The Second World WarBy 1939, industrial development md mechdisation had prcgressedgreatll Neilher Britain nor Fmce nade any significant military use ofbicyclesr nor did the olher industrial gianrs. the USA and the USSR.

Instead, it was orher nations - those a stage behind ininduslrialisalion - which found rhey needed ro use bicycles as a half,measure towdds haline nodem, nobile amies. Tle cyclisK role wasnormally reconnaissdce (dunngoffedsives) or as local resefles (o. thedefensive).ln the Iralid amy, Bersaglieri bicycle battalions seryed in'Celere' divisions, helping Musolini to believe he could emdateblilzkrieg on the cheap. Polish bicycle companies served in infdrydivisions and alongside lanceB in cavalry brigades. The Japanese useof bicycles dunn8 the invasion of Malaya n well-known (lhough theyfright have been more etrective if they had nor routi.ely lashed theirrifles ro their handlebes on the treh Spencer Cbapfran, 1953).Sone Finnish skj trcops rook to two wh@ls in summer The case ofHungary is exmined in dolail belov

Gemdy desenes special mention as the grcatest bicycle power ofthe Second World war Unlike lhe other industrial gidrs, Gerndny'sreamment was rcstricted after WWI by the Treary of VeBailles. whenthe Wehmachr was expanded, geat etrorts were lavished on Iullymotorising the amoured speehead the Panter Divisions dd soneother mororised divisions - but it snll relied heavily on dimaltrdspori This was supplenenled by (you euessed ii) bicycles.

Initially. cyclisc were foDnd in company strength as palr of tiereconnaissuce battalion of Gerinnn infanq divisions- DDring thecou6e of the we, while fte Allied dmies b@ame nore and moremechanised, ihe Gemd forces actually regre$ed, fi6t as they foundthey needed more dd more nobility 10 cover the vdt expanses of theSoviel Union. nd lale. s Allied airpower rook its toll on motorvehicles dd fDel. Bicycle rcce conpanies were soon followed bybicycle battalions in cavalry jaeger, and mountain divisions. By 1944.Volksgrenadier divisions included a bicycle tusilier compary d well asa bicycle regimenf' (albeit underequipped onry one of its lwobaMlions actually had bicycles). One of tle nost glorious episodes ofmilitary bicycling war performed by a very effective delachment ofVolkssom rmkhunren, who pedaued dound East Prusia in 1945wilh PMerfaDsrs knocldng out Soviet tanks.

OriginsFor n pre-mechoised amy considering how to tEnsporl its t@ps, thebicycle has a nnmbe. of advantages over the hose. It is qDicker ddeaier to train a cyclist than a cavalrynan: bicycles have les need fo.forage or shelter: $ey fall sick less often and de easier 1o repniri rheyde not pdicked by shellfirc- And if you re nghfng disDounted, acavalry unit need! to detach hoseholders bul you dont need ro detach

Then tbere is the question of speed ud distace. YoD fral be $surp.ised a I war lo read that, according ro a Gemd mihary nanual.in good condidoqs the followin8 houdy movemenr rates dre nomal:

Mounted troops, allematinS walk dd lroriMounled t.oops ar the trot:

7.5 km/hlokm/h

Furthemore, a nom.l day\ mdh fo. cyclists is 60,80 kfr. wherescavalry cm only expecr lo cover 5G60 kn (creiner& Degener, 1936).

Bicycle lroops theGforc fi^t begd to apped on a large scale &ound1880 when good bicycles becme widely nvailable. First to use tlem{ere the Italians after 1870. whose successtul field Daneuvres ofI E75 led many olher counlries to follow !uir.

ConEnporary military obseneB were sceptical of their introductionin fte Brifth Amy: "Corps of Cyclists. chiefly volunteer, have Iatelyb@n staited. bur it sems very quesriomble whefter rhey would ever beof dy use in a hostile country except to carry mesages io and iio alonggood roads" (Gleichen. 1890). Nonelhele$. Brilish cycle unirsproliferated. Tne pholograph accoDpanying ftis anicle shows Britishcyclists, surondded by a zarcba' of their discdded nachines. fomingsqude to repel cavalry ,.. it was British cyclisls who fiBr saw ncrion ona siSnificmt scale. during the B@r Wd of t899,190t {Caidin &Babree, 1974).

The scepdcs were strong in cemdy. After repeared experimentswith bicycle conpanies at lhe drual KaiseFmanoeuvres around thetum of the century it was decided rhar there wa no poinr inmainraining such fomations on a pemanenl basis: "our view is that lheuse of bictcle troops. however valuable they may be in certaincircumslances. is too dependent on the condirions of remin. weatherand line of veu for it to be worthwhile". The Gemans reckoned

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Also worth mtrKng is fte action of 7l llh Infant.y Divjsion. Thisqas^ bo.lenttdendis. lsraric gdison) dilision, refomed after debatin France, and had been gdisoning the Netherldds: it had beenbrou8hl up lo slrengrh with naval pe6o.ne1. nan], sdll in fteir bluenalal unifoms. In Jdualy I 945, ir *ds \enl to Hungar) to lake pan inOperation Konrad (fte relief oi Budapest) alongside 2nd SS PanzerCorps. On 6th January: Amazingly. they managed ro effect abreatthrough at the last weak spot in the Ru$ian fronr.In view offtetact that no one had expecred any achievemenls fron rhis unn ftn caneas quile a suArise ... Seleral unirs of the 7 I I L D. had Dutch biclcleswith them on which. slipping and sliding o\ er rhe sno$ and ice co\ ered.oads, rhey were ablc ro proceed flsrer rhan rhe roops mo\ing on ibor.Tlus n was thal Eszlcrgom (Gran) ... fell inro Gernan heds (Pie.it.1996).

(In 19,r4 the Germans reqDisilio.ed Dutchbicyclesin large nnmbers.A Dutch hend reliably infoms me thal il is stiu cuslondy to greetGeman tourisrs in Holland wirh a frlendly cry oi give back our

PART II: HUNGARY'S BICYCLE FORCES

HunBaJ_a was perhaps the najo. user of bicycle roops during fteSecond Wodd Wd ' not in absolute numbed (surely Gemdy nDsihave had the oosi), but in fte sense that fte ldEest independent bicyclefodations were those used by the Hungdians. and also in the sensethat b'cycle tr@ps were a ldge propodion of Hungary\ best equipped

Like Germd). Hungaq, aas on fte losing side in rhe Gieat Wd. and.like Cernan) s. Hung4\ lm! ras severely liniled by feary (rheTrear: ofT.ianon). Ii \as only able m begin reming in 1938. wharsas eNisa_eed ar rhar time. under rhe Huba Pld , was an amy of 25infanq divisions. t calalry dilision, 2 mounrain brigades. I fronrierrifles b.i8ade, ad 2 dmoured divisions (Adonyi Ndedy. 1970).

Wllar was .ctually rchieved by fte tine Hungdy enleed fte wd inJune 1941 was rather les: innead of 1 calalry dd 2 moureddivisions, Hungary poslessed 2 cdldlrl bngades and 2 mobnsedbngades. Of rhese. I cavalry and ? motonsed brjgades invaded the

G.nnan bidcle co,npan\'. 1902

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USSR- They fomred the GMfflzdrerr. or "Fa$ Corps', the elire of fte

Each of fte 8 other corps of fte Hungdian dmy posessed onebicycle barlalion. The cyoBhadre$ wa! much Dore lavishly eqnipped.Each motonsed bngade po$esed 6 conbal banalions: 3 moronsedintdrf, I tank. I reconnaissdce, and I bicycle. The cavalry brigndehdd ?: ,1 calalry I moured reconnaksance. and 2 bicycle. Thus 4 outof 19 battalions were cyclists.Also. intheinilial siages of the invdion.the Fast Corps was supported by attached lroops from other Co.ps.including the l5th and the (Dnde6treng$) VIrh and VtIIth Bicycle

The bicycle infantry battalion (kerekpdor zaszloalj) comprised:Motorised F