Bicycles in warfare

The bicycle is not suited for combat. Unlike the horse, it can not sustain the swing of a sword or the recoil of a gun. It has been used though for "mounted infantry", as a method of transport to the combat zone. Late in the 19th century, the United States Army tested the bicycle's suitability for cross-country troop transport. "Buffalo soldiers" stationed in Montana rode bicycles across roadless landscapes for hundreds of miles with impressive speed.

In 20th century wars, armies used bicycles for logistical support. In the Boer War, both sides used them for scouting. In World War I, France and Germany used bicycles as a supplementary way to move troops. In World War II, Germany used them to supplement mechanized transport. In the invasion of Poland, German forces relied on bicycles and horses for follow-up support needed to sustain the blitzkrieg. Later in the war, as German logistics broke down, some ad hoc units used commandeered bicycles in their retreat from the Netherlands.

In its 1937 invasion of China, Japan employed some 50,000 bicycle troops. Early in the Second World War their southern campaign through Malaya en route to capturing Singapore in 1941 was largely dependent on bicycle-riding soldiers. In both efforts bicycles allowed quiet and flexible transport of thousands of troops who were then able to surprise and confuse defenders. Bicycles also made few demands on the Japanese war machine, needing neither trucks, nor ships to transport them, nor precious petroleum. Allied use of the bicycle in World War II was limited, but included supplying folding bicycles to paratroopers and to messengers behind friendly lines. The successful British raid on a German radar installation at Ste. Bruneval, France in 1942 was conducted by airborne Cycle-commandos with the aid of such folding bikes.

In the Vietnam War, communist forces used bicycles extensively as cargo carriers along the Ho Chi Minh Trail. Heavily loaded with supplies, these bicycles were seldom rideable. Instead a tender would walk alongside, pushing the bike like a wheelbarrow. With especially bulky cargo, tenders sometimes attached bamboo poles to the bike for tiller-like steering (this method can still be seen practiced in China today). In Sweden bicycles (called Kronan ) were used at least into the 1980s, mainly for transportation by towing a large number of soldiers on bikes pulled by a truck or tractor. When the army stopped buying the bikes the company started selling them to the general public. They became quite popular among the persons who wanted a robust, no-frills bicycle. There are some reports of the use of mountain bicycles by U.S. Special Forces as a scouting vehicle in the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan and in subsequent battles against the Taliban. The only country to recently maintain a regiment of bicycle troops was Switzerland who disbanded the last unit in 2003.

Police force use of bicycles

Perhaps inspired by the military's use of bicycles, many municipalities have put some of their police force on bicycles, which can travel as quickly as cars in busy traffic, sometimes even more quickly, and operate more safely in pedestrian crowds.