Cyclist Cavalry
Cyclist Cavalry is an article written anonymously by En Avant published in the magazine Cycling on 2 march 1910.
Cyclist Cavalry
In Camp.
AN EXTRAORDINARY DIVING FEAT. The diver, as the outcome of a wager, rode his machine into the sea, in full kit, and then swam back to shore with it, successfully bringing it to land.
An Important Consideration of the Remarkable Scheme Suggested by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
The production of a few facts concerning military cyclists will enable us to look into the future with sympathetic eyes and delineate the role which cyclists may be expected to play in home defence—when we have sufficient of them. First of all comes the question of distance. It must be remembered that, whilst the pace of a cycling club is the pace suitable to the majority of the members of the club, i.e., the fastest, the speed of a military cyclist column is the pace suitable to the minority, i.e., the slowest riders. A club is satisfied with the results of a run if 75 per cent. of the starters finish in good time. A column commander is not content with a day's march if he leaves even one per cent. of his amen behind him. Add to this the additional weight in rifle, ammunition, etc., that the soldier has to carry, and it will be found in practice that a company of cyclists, the slowest rider of which is a 12-mile-an-hour man when in mufti, will not average more than nine miles an hour when on trek.
Then comes the difficulty of road space. If cyclists have teen well trained in route marching and are individually good men and well disciplined, a battalion of 525 men will occupy half-a-mile of road space when on time march. Badly-trained cyclists will occupy a phenomenal distance. In the 1906 manoeuvres composite brigades of cyclist companies averaged nearly 10 yds. per man, i.e., a battalion would have occupied 5,250 yds. of road — about three miles! An infantry battalion of 1,000 men only occupies 400 yds. of road.
Thirdly, we have the difficulty of control. The faster individuals move, the more difficult is it to direct their movement. A mere tyro on a horse could control the movement of 1,000 infantrymen on the march occupying less than a quarter of a mile from front to rear, but it would need a cross between Napoleon and Mercury to control a column of a hundred 60 h.p. motorcars. The deduction to be drawn from this line of reasoning is that a force of 500 cyclists is about as much as can be well controlled on one road by one man.
Modern warfare can be divided into two stages: (1) Reconnaissance (in small bodies or in force); (2) the musketry-fire fight. Success in reconnaissance depends upon rapidity of action and movement. Success in the musketry-fire fight can only be attained by concentrating
OVERWHELMING SUPERIORITY.
of fire upon the most critical point. As shown above, it will be difficult to concentrate large numbers of cyclists at any given point; therefore, so far as the second stage is concerned, cyclists are not likely to play an important role in the fire fight. But, so far as reconnaissance is concerned, they will prove invaluable. Large masses of troops are not usually involved in reconnaissance. The presence of 500 men at any place will usually turn the scale.
England is a network of roads, lanes and paths. all perfectly practicable to cyclists. With the exception of Salisbury Plain, Dartmoor and Exmoor, there is no terrain in England where 500 cyclists, covering a frontage of, say, five miles, would not be able to concentrate at any given point far more speedily than 300 horsemen. Once concentrated, they are not handicapped, as are cavalry, by the following circumstances:—
- Being obliged to leave 25 per cent. of their men to hold the horses.
- Having to find shelter from view and from fire for their horses.
- Any fear of their horses being stampeded or disabled by rifle fire.
Taking all these circumstances into consideration, the admitted uses of the cyclist are as follow:—
- As regards individuals, patrols or sections : (a) Scouting, (b) rapid transmission of intelligence, (c) despatch riding, (d) guarding the flanks, advance and rear of slower-moving units.
- As regards formed bodies of one company (60 men): (a) Afford protection to an infantry column on the march, (b) night outpost reconnaissance work, (c) contact squadron work.
- As regards battalions (525 men) if trained cyclists: (a) Coast defence (patrolling and protection of a 50-mile coastal line), (b) to lend fighting power (500 rifle to a mounted brigade, (c) as strategic "cavalry" to a cavalry division, (d) to seize and temporarily hold points of vantage, (e) to harrass the enemy's communications and small columns, à la De Wet, (f) to perform the duties of mounted infantry when the latter's horses are worn out by the fatigues of campaigning, (g) to garrison an area liable to incursion from small raiding parties of the enemy.
- As regards large columns of cyclists (three or more battalions): (a) To effect a flank attack unexpectedly, (b) to succour a besieged town, (c) to sweep a stretch of country clear of all small bodies of the enemy, (d) to swoop down à la De Wet on isolated columns of the enemy.
All these duties can he efficiently performed by well-trained cyclists, and can be better performed (so far as England is concerned) by them than by men mounted on horseback. But it does not follow that they can entirely replace the mounted man. We must have both. It would be just as futile to argue that, because, for certain purposes, artillery are superior to infantry, we should turn all our foot soldiers into gunners. We must have both; and we must have more cyclists than toss have at present. We have 10 battalions, all assigned to coast defence. We require another 11 battalions for this duty in order to guard all the vulnerable portions of our coast line. When we can afford the money we shall have them.
Each Territorial battalion of infantry is also supposed to have a section (15 men) of cyclists. All these sections are not formed, and few of them are complete. It is hoped that, in time, not only will these sections be increased to companies, but that each Yeomanry regiment and brigade of artillery will also have a company of cyclists on their establishments.
The only other prospect which enters into the realm of practical ad-ministration is the formation of a cyclist brigade, which would form a flying column and which would consist of three, or perhaps tour, battalions, ready "to go anywhere and do anything" required of then.
It would be unseemly to terminate this article without sounding a note of 'yarning. It will be. noticed that, throughout, great emphasis has been laid upon the term " trained cyclist." It cannot be too firmly impressed upon the public mind that the partially-trained cyclist is absolutely useless for the purposes described abuse. Discipline, knowledge, experience are absolutely essential. Given a smart, intelligent man, who is a good cyclist, it takes two years to taint him into a " trained cyclist " in the military sense of the term.
There are hundreds of thousands of good cyclists in this country. A large proportion of these suffer under the delusion that, in the event of a national emergency, they would be able to enlist. in a cyclist battalion, and at once become useful members of the home-defence force. Once and for all, definitely and categorically, speaking with the authority of intimate knowledge, I desire to dispel this delusion. The officers commanding our 10 cyclist battalions are amongst the keenest and most far-seeing of our Territorial officers: they thoroughly realize the difference between the "trained" and the "partially-trained" cyclist for the intricate duties he will be called upon to perform. They would one and all prefer to lead 250 trained men to a mixed mob of 500. They have not the least intention of leaving behind them in the hour of trial some of their best men in order to train the new recruits. To put the matter in a nutshell, when the hour of danger comes, civilian cyclists sill find on the doors of the headquarters of all Territorial cyclist battalions the ominous words:—
"No recruits need apply. Only trained men wanted."
I am not appealing to cyclists to come forward now and learn their duties — as a matter of fact, most cyclist battalions are almost full up; the question of some defence is one that must be fought out by each citizen with his conscience. Those of my readers who, fancy they will be content to enlist in a foot-slogging regiment at the last minute can continue to calm their inmost conscience with sophistries and excuses for their lack of patriotism. I will only say, however, that, when the trouble comes, the first shot fired in defence of old England will be fired by a cyclist from his coastguard look-out, and, therefore, the cyclists are likely to win ',heir fair share of honour and glory. Many thrilling stories will be told. The exploits of De Wet will be rivalled, if not out-done, by our cyclist cavalry. Even Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's own hero, Brigadier Gerard, Will envy the exploits which the wheelmen twill accomplish. Readers of this article will perhaps look back with sorrow and regret, feeling that, but for their own callousness, they, too, might have shared in those exploits; they, too, plight have helped to prove to the world, to posterity and especially to the invader the great possibilities of well-trained military cyclists for the defence of Great Britain.
EN AVANT.
