Motorcycles ?

German Heer 1935-1945.

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dahiot daniel
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Motorcycles ?

Post by dahiot daniel »

Hello,



A question may be stupid, but having no knowledge on the subject.

In a garrison, a unit of the Wermarth present in a small town in Brittany between 1943 and August 44.
Who was attributed motorcycles, what was the soldier, his specialty, which could have a motorcycle.
A felgendarme for example.

Thank you
Dan
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Christoph Awender
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Re: Motorcycles ?

Post by Christoph Awender »

Hello

There are too many possibilities which duties a solider on a motorcycle did.... field police as you said as well as Adjutanten, messengers, medical officers, medical NCO´s, administration soldiers, supply soldiers etc...etc..

\Christoph
phylo_roadking
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Re: Motorcycles ?

Post by phylo_roadking »

Although it should be noted that after small cheap utility vehicles like the Jeep and the Kubelwagen appeared, the biggest role for motorcycles is convoy and vehicle escort; motorcycle outriders are used to zip ahead and close side roads, keeping back civilian traffic etc. (That's why ex-military spec motorcycles are low geared with a low top speed - they ONLY have to go slightly quicker than the armed forces' official convoy speeds LOL)
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sniper1shot
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Re: Motorcycles ?

Post by sniper1shot »

I thought the biggest role for the motorcycle riders was Dispatch Rider (Messenger).
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Re: Motorcycles ?

Post by phylo_roadking »

Dan, less than you might think. That certainly died a death rapidly in the British Army at least as being "non-essential"...tho' it WAS certainly kept on in quiet garrisons etc. for carrying hard copy of telephoned orders etc.. at home in England, or safe billets like Cyprus.

But

1/ you can't carry mail in bulk;

2/ you're intensely vulnerable to attack; period motorcycles were noisy. An endemic Don-R problem in North Africa was travelling at speed and simply being unable to HEAR the LW or italian aircraft that strafed and plugged you...and just imagine a despatch rider trying to push it through Russia's wide open "back of the lines" rear areas - complete with optional Red Partisans...Steve McQueen's twist of pianowire is no joke, I've seen what that can do and it's not pretty...both at "point-of-contact" and down the road where the head stops rolling and comes to rest...

3/ Nor were they overly reliable - the small utility vehicles, with low compression cast iron motors etc. brought "automotive" levels of reliability to armies for runarounds, whereas bikes were...um "tempremental" LOL

So - when it came to carrying despatches - basically ALL they could do was rush around urgent hardcopy of orders, they certainly couldn't carry mail or admin stuff in bulk. (You just wouldn't believe just how heavy a sidebag of PAPER can actually be... :shock: )

Also, there was the often-forgotten aspect of the VERY rapid advances in telecommunications made during the war; this meant that paper confirmation of conversations wasn't needed quite as much - except to close the paper-chain loop LOL At the start of the war despatch riders were NEEDED...but in a couple of years decent portable radios, and the first VHF sets, made them "non-essential", not just the whole aspect of the four-wheeled runabouts.
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Simon Orchard
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Re: Motorcycles ?

Post by Simon Orchard »

sniper1shot, you're quite right. Their main use in most units, save actual motorcycle units, were as dispatch riders or kradmelder. just browse through some of the KStN's to get a feel for how they were issued and used http://www.wwiidaybyday.com/
WT
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Re: Motorcycles ?

Post by WT »

A US Army observer who accompanied the German Army on its march to Warsaw made the following comments about the efficacy of German motorcycles.

_________________

An interesting item, however, which I discovered, was that the German motorcycle and sidecar, as a troop carrier, did not prove satisfactory. In the motorized reconnaissance battalion Eight which made the march with the 14th Army to Lanburg and was the first unit to make contact with the Russians, they found this motorcycle, with its three-man load, ammunition and light machine gun, was not a strong enough vehicle to withstand the daily combat and the tough going. By the time this battalion reached Lemburg it had no motorcycles left and were mounted in any sort of vehicle they were able to commandeer, largely American cars taken from the Poles. 'The motorcycle, however, for messenger service was extensively used and did prove satisfactory. Only as a troop carrier was it found too light. In that connection, I don't know whether you know it or not, but in the German mechanized units there is no mechanized unit of the German army that doesn't have as part of it, infantry, either in motorcycles or trucks to furnish support for the mechanized units.

In the reconnaissance battalions they have a motorcycle company and whenever they encounter anti-tank resistance, which the armored cars could not penetrate, these troops were brought up and attacked on foot, supported by their 75mm infantry cannon, them and their heavy machine guns and mortars.

Lecture by Major Percy Black given at the US Army War College.
December 6, 1939
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