Military Vehicles, July 1996,: Re: Military Bikes

Re: Military Bikes

Gerry Davison (gerry@login.dknet.dk)
Tue, 23 Jul 1996 07:24:26 +0100 (MET)

In message Mon, 22 Jul 1996 22:47:25 +0100,
Colin Brookes <Colin@h-bplan.demon.co.uk> writes:

> Of course you could look at it another way ! Both the Japanese and
> the Germans lost !! possibly just those sort of antiquated ideas being
> the cause.
> I for one wouldn't want the disadvantage, of the physical depravation
> caused by having to endure a cycle ride in off road or inclement weather
> conditions, before confrontation. The days are long gone when squads of
> soldiers tramped the roads in heavy boots.

Colin - you've lost your sense of adventure. War is by its very nature a
matter of physical deprevation. And as for tramping the roads
in heavy boots , I am a combat platoon commander at this very moment here
in Denmark (also in -200C and snow storms in winter). You'de probably be
amazed at how many kilometers we tramp around here. There have been many
times when I would have loved to have a bike....As for losing the
war because of bikes, well that's a theory I haven't heard before. Maybe
you're right, but it seems to me that a people who invented the kind of
war machinery the Germans did certainly could not be accused of being
antiquated at the time - We Brits and the Americans were no different
in our technological platform..... Sorry I have to disagree, the military
bike (looks a bit like a mountain bike these days), has made and still
makes a lot of good patrol sense. Notice I said patrol.

Gerry