My cousin just sent me this. It’s not necessarily armor, but a great reference shot of some soldiers on the move. Enjoy
Lotta German troops were issued a folding-type bicycle… Pretty cool piece of gear…
“Von Armstrong” in the lead? LOL!
Shortly after this picture was taken, a box of carpet tacks wiped out the entire company.
… which made the Germans so mad that all theywanted was to get a piece d’ resistance. [:I]
Don
GROOAaaaannnnnnnn…
“Hans won his first of 4 uncontested Tour De France”!
[#offtopic]Anyone wanna do a group build? I found a kit[:-^]
Bad news for French cycle-troops in May/ June 1940: the prevailing wind in Spring in Northern France blows you towards Germany!
Cheers,
Chris.
Shows how unprepared the Wehrmacht were for war. Would you see an American Platoon on bicycles ? I think not. Horsedrawn vehicles and soldiers on pushbikes ? Sounds more like WW1 than WW2. while Germany had certainly modernised since Versailles, clearly more needed to be done before planning for hostilities. One of Hitlers many blunders.
On the contrary, so prepared they taught everyone to ride a bike. Most American troops wouldn’t know how.
most of them didn’t fold.
And those hubs and bottombrackets designed by Hugi are still in production today.
Ridicule aside (have to admit that photo just asks for it though! [(-D]), but bicycle-equipped troops in May 1940 could cover some serious ground vs. regular foot road marching. It’s true we tend to think of the “blitzkrieg” as being 100% motorized but reality was far from the truth. Horse power and foot power were the norm vs. the exception and mechanized warfare was still largely a novelty which is why it had the “surprise” effect it did to the extent the Germans were able to use it…imagine if their units had been 100% mechanized? German industry never was able to provide all of the trucks, personnel carriers, vehicles, etc. that were needed which is why a lot of captured gear got pressed into service…but horse-drawn was still in use right up to the surrender in 1945.
It’s been argued that one of the key reasons for the Soviet Union’s ability to fight effectively on the Eastern Front was the enormous quantities of trucks and similar vehicles provided by Lend Lease from the US that allowed the Soviets to focus on tank and AFV production that allowed them to produce the quantities they did. The German forces didn’t have that advantage.
OT, but the Japanese were given them in at Malaysia. They pursued the British relentlessly and when the tires were shot they continued to ride them. Allegedly, according to a Brit General on The World At War, they sounded like tanks and scared the troops which didn’t possess any.
I’ve always wanted to do one of those… Yes, I am serious… I just never got the kit [:(]
[EDIT] And if we do a GB, I’m going for AM parts: 
On the contrary, so prepared they taught everyone to ride a bike.
Plus, remember, Northern Europe from northen France to way past the Polish/ Russian border is mostly flat. Bikes are a very practical method of transport, away from the front line. Pretty much every conscript in the Wehrmacht knew how to ride a bike. Many of them didn’t know how to drive a motor vehicle.
Cheers,
Chris.
[#ditto] [#ditto] [#ditto]
Plus, bicycles are cheap… Waaayy cheaper than a vehicle, and, bicycles are faster than walking.
I’ve got the perfect backround music
http://www.asklyrics.com/display/Queen/Bicycle_Race_Lyrics/15220.htm
look at the picture while this is playing in the background…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xUGuEy2cMGQ
Yeah it was perfect, panzerguy!! [:D]
Great photo! I’ve always been amazed at the high level of reliance that the Wermacht and Waffen SS had on horse transport. Some interesting “facts” on the use of horses by Germany in WWII:
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The Germans used more horses in WWII than they did in WWI.
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Approximately 80% of military transport was done with horses.
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The German forces used anywhere from 2.75 million to 3 million horses during the course of the war.
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At any given time, the armed forces were using between 800,000 and 1 million horses.
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The German armed forces employed 37,000 farriers.
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There were 236 companies of vets to care for horses - and they treated about 100,000 animals per day.
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In November of 1943, out of about 325 divisions, only 52 were armored or motorized.
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A typical division in 1944 employed about 4,600 horses, 1,400 horse drawn vehicle, 600 motor vehicles and 150 motorcycles.
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The amount of fodder that the armed forces needed to feed its horses is staggering. A horse typically need to eat about 20-25 pounds of food per day, mostly hay. At 1 million horses, that amounts to 25,000,000 pounds of fodder per day. If my math is right, that equals 12,500 tons per day of horse food. While I’m sure much of it was foraged in the area the horses were operating, they still had to devote a great deal of transport capacity for food, equipment and supplies to feed and maintain the transport!
Based on this, they probably saw bicycles as a practical alternative to the horse.
“hi-ho, hi-ho, it’s off to war we go…”