Bicycles in War

200 Pages·1974·25.527 MB·English

by  Caidin, Martin, Barbree, Jay

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Illustrated with 24 pages of
photographs and drawings
Military cyclists have gone into battle from
en
rubber rafts paddled silently to enemy shorelines
from airplanes that have dropped them by
. . .
parachute behind enemy lines and from
. . .
on-the-ground attack points. Bicyclists formed
military units in the armies of many nations.
They rode on bicycles, tricycles, and quadri-
cycles, carrying everything from pistols to heavy
machine guns and cannon.
They have transported food and weapons;
carried out patrol, convoy, and escort duty;
conducted secret missions of demolition and
sabotage; and launched surprise attacks on
enemy installations.
With the aid of many human-interest anec-
dotes, the authors of this unique book about a
little-known aspect of war trace the evolution of
the bicycle and describe the role cyclist troops
have played in conflicts ranging from the
Franco-Prussian War of 1870 to the jungles of
Vietnam.
There are graphic accounts of the Belgian
underground operating via bicycles against the
Germans in both world wars; the successful use
of cyclist transport by Vietminh guerrillas in
overwhelming the French at Dien Bien Phu; the
significant part played by bicycles in the Japa-
nese victory against the British in Malaya and
Singapore; and the unstoppable resupply of
Vietcong and North Vietnamese military units
by bicycle coolies (despite massive U.S. aerial
bombing) in the abortive Vietnam war.

BICYCLES
WAR
IN
Military Histories and Studies
by MARTIN CAIDIN
The Tigers Are Burning
The Fork-Tailed Devil
Zero!
Samurai!
The Ragged, Rugged Warriors
Black Thursday
The Long Arm of America
Air Force
Thunderbolt!
Golden Wings
The Zero Fighter
A Torch to the Enemy
The Night Hamburg Died
Flying Forts
Messerschmitt ME-109
The Mission
The Long Night
When War Comes
BICYCLES
WAR
IN
Martin Caidin
and
Jay Barbree
HAWTHORN BOOKS, INC.
PUBLISHERS/NEW YORK
for
our friend
GEORGE WILSON
BICYCLES IX WAR
Copyright © 1974 by Martin Caidin and Jay Barbree. Copyright
under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. All
rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or
portions thereof in any form, except for the inclusion of brief
quotations in a review. All inquiries should be addressed to
Hawthorn Books, Inc., 260 Madison Avenue, New York, New York
10016. This book was manufactured in the United States of America
and published simultaneously in Canada by Prentice-Hall of Canada,
Limited, 1870 Birchmount Road, Scarborough, Ontario.
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 73-21310
ISBN: 0-8015-0614-X
123456789
10
Contents
Acknowledgments
vii
1 Death Ride 3
2 The First One Hundred and Five Years 10
3 The Oddballs 32
4 The Biscuit-and-Bean March 43
5 The Bicycle Goes to War 60
6 Along the Trenches 69
7 Between Wars 86
8 TVze Bijfce and the Blitzkrieg 98
9 77ze Great Bicycle Commando Raid 111
10 The Other Side of the World 124
11 History Relearned 137
12 And Now, Tomorrow 147
Bibliography and References 151
Index 155