i just resently read some things on a canadian dispatch rider and iw as wondering what kind of machines they used. i know they used the Harley Davidson WLC and the Norton 16H motor cycles but i was also wondering about there Triumph and Indian motor cycles. Also was there offensive biker units and what kind of bikes did the germans use (you know the one with the side car) all help is a appreciated.
I guess the Russians had them to cause these men have DP-28s
I’m not a motorcycle junky, but I know Indian made a military bike as well as a lot of police bikes before, during, and after WWII…
http://www.cycletownusa.com/841.html
The Indian 741 was the standard bike they made for the Army, the 841 was an experimental larger model that nixed in favor of the Jeep…
So no one could find any info on any German or allied tactics cause i know they were used to send messages from armoured units to armoured units and i know they were Command posts main way of quick package delivery. But i once saw a propoganda poster of a man doing a wheelie on one and he had a M1 in the Rifle Holister and in the background was a knight on a horse with it on its hind legs and it kinda showed they used them offensivly and u also always see germans with there side cars and MG 34s so they obviously attacked with them and i know the germans had bicycle unit that carried MG 34s under the frame of the bike for offensive action. so i am wondering about the offensive actions of these fine machines or just waht kind of bikes they were other then the three we already got. Pictures would help to!
THANKS!!!
Within the Wehrmacht you got to differentiate between Dispatch Riders (“Krad-Melder”) and regular motorbike troops (“Krad-Schützen”, usually Battalion strength).
It’s unlikely that a Dispatch Runner uses a bike with sidecar (and mounted MG) since he’s acting all on his own, hence the “Solo-Krad”.
Well How did they use the Motor cycle soldat
I would use them as a light recon vehicle. I wonder what they were actually used for…
well no shit i asked if they fought hence why i said offensivly how were they used
As Churchill wrote, primarily they were supposed to do recce tasks. However with the Wehrmacht forced more and more onto the defensive they were basically used for everything (filling front gaps, motorized infantry etc. pp.)
With my limited knowledge on the subject (resulting from some research I did on the “One Percenters” motorcycle gangs that arose in the US and Canada largely sprung from War Vets that were trained in the War), I think the US use of motorcyclists as dispatch riders was rather limited due to the success of the Jeep and other smaller four wheel vehicles. They were certainly used and motorcycles saw action in all theaters, but they were limited and really didn’t play that big of a part despite the romantic aspects…
The “trick” you saw with the rider using an M-1 was more likely a demonstration unlikely to be useful in combat. And motorcyclists were never useful as any sort of neo-cavalry any more than horsemen were. They were however extensively trained and from what I saw had to undergo a rigorous training program riding over rough terrain. Some were used as perhaps pickets or for recon, but they had limited usefulness in combat, even as runners. The resources allocated for bikes were better spent in Jeeps and other four wheel vehicles which could carry more people and cargo…
No need to be snippy!
i asked if they fought hence why i said offensivly how were they used
How effective do you think a single guy riding on a bike is going to be as an offensive weapon? I’m not sure, but I think the Heer ditched the motorcycle sidecars with the MG34s as a waste or resources…
Achtung-Panzer! says pretty much the same thing - motorcycle troops to provide light, fast recce (essentially the same task the British Army currently carries out with the CVR-T family of vehicles).
Well What Types or Bikes were used? all i know is the harley davidsion WLC and Norton 16H bikes were used though the 16H was a small 1 cylinder bike. could any one give me info german bikes. and the allied use of indian and triumph motor cycles
Wehrmacht:
Light motorbikes:
Medium motorbikes:
Heavy motorbikes:
Heavy motorbikes with powered sidecar:
WOW thanks!!! do u think u could hook me up with some pictures to?
Zundapp 750(?) I think from the Bastogne museum.Funnily enough I went with my father and he told me these motorbikes were in use in the French army after the war notably in Algeria.
I’ll add some more as I find them.
From La Gleize museum.Not sure which motorbike it is though.This museum is quite small and stuffed with too many things so I couldn’t get a better picture.
The next ones are from the “guerre et paix” museum:
I think these two are DKW 350 typ N2
BMW side-car R 12
Zundapp KS 600 with a nice Kfz 15 behind it.
Finally the last one from Prague.BMW for sure but like Nick I am no expert in motorbike.
Nice pics. What I’d like to know is specifically how big a part the motorcycle played in the War from someone whose a bit more obsessed than I. The biker has certainly played a big part in both the Americas and European postwar popular culture. But you really don’t see them all that often in War films other than that famous fictional scene with Steve McQueen in the “The Great Escape.”.
From what I have read so far about the German army,I would imagine Motorcycle bataillons were more a recon force but also one to be used for “coup de main” kind of attack due to the flexibility and speed of the bataillon.
Not sure about the allied side.
Theoretically, but I’d like to see something of their record of use…
The coup de main of Belgrade is one of the most known.
http://www.dasreich.ca/belgrade.html
Also in “grenadiers” by Kurt Meyer, there is a lot of description of Motorcycle bataillon during Operation Marita with the Leibstandarte.
