|
Article Excerpt
"'Twas Mulga Bill from Eaglehawk, that caught the cycling craze." A.B. "Banjo" Patterson--"Mulga Bill's Bicycle"
In the New Year of 1916, the Australian units in Egypt, recently withdrawn from the chaos and horror of the Gallipoli Campaign, were reinforcing, rearming and re-equipping. At the same time, the AIF was undertaking an enormous process of reorganisation. At the request of the British high command, the AIF was more than doubling its size. The 1st and 2nd Divisions in Egypt were to be joined in due course by the 3rd Division forming in Australia. In the meantime 1st Division split to form the 13th, 14th and 15th Brigades. Of these, the 14th and 15th Brigades, along with the previously unattached 8th Brigade, formed the 5th Division. The 4th Brigade of the old NZ & A Division split to form the 12th Brigade and these two brigades were joined by the newly raised 13th Brigade (from 3rd Brigade, 1st Division) to form the 4th Division. (1)
In expanding the AIF, the Australian authorities were guided by the directions of the British high command's requirement that Dominion formations adhere to British Army orders of battle.
Much of the responsibility for forming the new divisions fell on the shoulders of that brilliant staff officer, Cyril Brudenell White. From White's Cairo office a veritable blizzard of paper cascaded as he showered the AIF with letters, minutes and memoranda covering all aspects of the minutiae of the reorganisation. Much of the direction was contained in a series of so-called "AIF Circular Memoranda", of which over 50 were issued. On 10 March 1916, "Circular Memorandum No. 32--Establishment of Cyclist Companies A.I.F., March, 1916" was issued. (2) Circularised to Divisions and Brigades, the memorandum stated:
1. Approval is given for the organization of a Cyclist Company in each Australian Division. The Company will be of the establishment laid down in Part VII War Establishments 1915.
2. The Company will form a distinct organisation, but Officers appointed to it will be seconded from units, and their promotion will be regulated accordingly." (3)
Background
At first glance, the military use of bicycles might appear odd, even ridiculous. Bear in mind, however, that at the time of the First World War, armies were at a technological cross road, caught between the eras of horse power and mechanical power. Although contemporary armies still clung stubbornly to horsed cavalry, most sensible observers recognised that the day of the horse in war was numbered. But mobility was still vital to warfare, mobility for transport, scouting, and communications.
By 1914, the bicycle had quite a long military history. As far back as 1872, the Italian Army had used high-wheelers for communications on military exercises. In 1885 the Brighton Rifles, a British volunteer unit, used high-wheelers during their annual training manoeuvres. The very first specific cyclist unit in the British Army, the 26th Middlesex (Cyclist) Volunteer Rifle Corps, was raised in 1888.
Two year later, the British Army carried out trials on an astonishing eight-wheeled monster contraption designed to carry supplies, machine guns or small cannon. Dubbed the "hernia horror," the eight-wheeled, eight man-cycled monster was a failure. In 1891, the Swiss Army Cycle Troops were established. (4) Peugeot of France produced a folding bicycle for the French Army in 1892. In the same year, the Japanese made wide use of cycles during annual military manoeuvres. The following year, 1893, saw the formal establishment of the German Army cyclist troops. In 1894, the Colorado Militia in the United States used bicycles for communications and liaison work during operations connected with the Cripple Creek Strike. Between 1896-1898, the US Army's all black 25th Infant' Regiment carried out a remarkable experiment to prove the utility of bicycle mounted troops. The experiment included a 1900 mile, 41 day bike ride from Missoula Montana to St Louis Missouri in 1897. Then, in 1898, the unit, now raised from 25 to 100 men, was taken to Cuba at the end of the Spanish-American War by its white commander, Lieutenant James A. Moss. In Cuba, the cyclists performed excellent work on riot control duty in Havana following the end of hostilities. (5)
The Anglo-Boer War from 1899-1902 saw widespread use of bicycles by both sides. The British Army fielded a cyclist battalion of the City Imperial Volunteers as well as two bicycle-mounted battalions of the Royal Dublin Fusiliers. In addition, local volunteer units fielded cyclist troops, including the Rand Rifles, Cape Cyclist Corps, Kimberley Cyclist Corps and "E" Troop Southern Rhodesia Volunteers. (6) Despite initial doubts, the cyclists performed well and surprised observers by their ability to maintain mobility on the veldt, even during the wet season. Maree records an incident (with no dates given unfortunately) near Hammanskraal in the Transvaal where a cycle mounted patrol of 11 New Zealanders encountered, pursued and captured ten horse mounted Boers. (7) On the Boer side, one of the most famous of Boer fighters was the scout Danie Theron. (8) Theron had been the driving force before the outbreak of the war in forming a bicycle mounted scouting unit, the Wielrijders Rapportgangers Corps. Theron managed to win over the sceptical President Kruger and Commandant-General Joubert by staging a cross-country race over a distance of 75 kilometres between champion cyclist "Koos" Jooste and a horse mounted man. Jooste won the race. During the war, Theron's cycle scouts performed excellent service and in fact were so successful that the British authorities confiscated or strictly controlled the use of bicycles in occupied territory. (9)
In 1900, Dursley Pedersen produced a folding bicycle for use by the British Army but it was not accepted. Bianchi of Italy produced a military bicycle for Alpine use in 1905 which is regarded as the forerunner as today's mountain bikes. The success of the bicycle in South Africa led to the development of a military bicycle for the British Army (see below) as well as the establishment of a number of specifically raised cyclist units. The latter occurred in 1908 when the Territorial Force was raised. Although there were approximately 8,000 cyclists in the British volunteer units in 1908, these troops were raised unofficially by their units. The new Territorial Army included, as from 1908: 7th (Cyclist) Battalion the Devonshire Regiment; Essex and Suffolk Cyclist Battalion; Highland Cyclist Battalion; 7th (Cyclist) Battalion the Welsh Regiment; 10th (Cyclist) Battalion the Royal Scots; 25th (City of London) Cyclist Battalion the London Regiment (formerly the 26th Middlesex VRC); 6th (Cyclist) Battalion the Norfolk Regiment; Northern Cyclist Battalion; and 5th (Cyclist) Battalion the East Yorkshire Regiment. (10)
During the First World War, France and Belgium would field over 150,000 cyclists; the British Army Cyclist Corps would eventually total 100,00 men; and the German Army would field 125,000 cyclists. Although the US Army was to bring 29,000 bicycles with it to France, these were used for communications and message carrying only and there were no cyclist units in the *AEF. (11)
Interestingly, there had been some military involvement with cycling in Australia before the war. Senior officers as Bridges were adamantly opposed to the idea of formed cyclists units, believing, with some cause, that the best way to employ cyclists was as individual scouts and guides. Nevertheless, in 1909 the Department of Defence agreed to stand as patron for the Dunlop Military Dispatch Cycle Ride. More a publicity exercise for Dunlop rather than anything else, the 1839 kilometre ride by 68 two-man relay teams in less than 80 hours was quite an achievement. At the start point in Adelaide, a military despatch was handed to the first rider by the Adelaide District Commandant. Just under 70 hours later the despatch was handed over to Captain Brand at Sydney's Victoria Barracks. The relay was repeated in 1912, again with military patronage. This time, however, the cyclists competed against teams of motorists and motorcyclists. This time, the cyclists bettered their 1909 time by three minutes and despite taking almost 24 hours longer than the motor car ten and 18 hours more than the motorcyclists, easily won the event on handicap. (12) From a military point of view, however, these events were little more than stunts.
Formation
Officers and men for the Australian cyclist companies were to be found from volunteers from existing units and from reinforcements. On 11 March, HQ 1st Australian Division called for a return showing the names of "Officers, Warrant Officers and Non-Commissioned Officers to fill the following positions" in 1st Div. Cyclist Coy.--8 officers, 1 warrant officer, 7 staff sergeants and sergeants, 2 artificers. The strength and organisation of the Cyclist Company was laid down in the British Army publication "War Establishments, Part VII., New Armies, 1915" the relevant table being "Cyclist Company, Divisional Mounted Troops." Total establishment strength of a cyclist company was 201 organised into a HQ and 6 platoons as shown in Table 1.
The two drivers were attached from the Divisional Train while the two medical orderlies were attached from the divisional medical units. Note that the table calls for an interpreter who, if not a member of the forces ranked as an officer. The drivers were responsible for the company transport that consisted of one Cooks Cart and one GS Wagon (SAA). In addition, two more GS Wagons with drivers were to be temporarily attached from the Divisional Train as required when the company undertook movements. The total strength of the company with attachments was 204. The total number of bicycles authorised was 202. The two drivers obviously did not need bikes. The actual final strength of the companies was about 230 as each newly raised company was to include a reinforcement element of 10%-20%.
The new Cyclist Companies began to form and organize at the end of March 1916. Volunteers were not hard to find. Among those volunteering were a draft of over 200 officers and men of the 4th Light Horse Regiment. This draft appears to have been made up of most of the 14th Reinforcements of the 4th Light Horse. (13) These were men who had arrived in the Middle East too late to take part in the Gallipoli campaign. Many of them obviously decided to transfer to the 2nd Divisional Cyclist Company in the belief that the Middle East was to be a sideshow and that if the only way of getting to the Western Front to see action was to swap their Walers for bicycles, then, so be it! It is quite likely, however, that many also elected to transfer to the Cyclists in the hope that once the squadrons of the 4th Light Horse which were earmarked for the Western...
|
