I was watching WWII documentary the other day on the advances of
allied soldier in France...there was a scene
where aillies soldiers advance themselve with
bicycles...sort of remind me of how the Japanese made their
advances in MY.
anyway was just wondering if bicycle is still relevant for
individual mobility in todays environment ? ever being
considered ? Bicycle is not a military hardware but
it was used in WWII...the Viet cong used it in HCM
trail.
below the quotes....
The second reason was that the Japanese had issued their
soldiers thousands of bicycles. Western Malaya had good hard
surfaced roads, and the Japanese soldiers rode down them, as much
as twenty hours at a stretch. The Japanese had sold many bicycles
in Malaya before the war, so they were able to find parts and
repairs in most towns and villages. When they could no longer
repair the tires, they rode on the rims. If the Japanese soldiers
came to an unbridged stream, they slung their bikes over their
shoulders and waded through. When larger bridges were blown, the
Japanese engineers performed prodigies of quick repair, so that not
only bicycles, but tanks and lorries as well could pass over in a
surprisingly short time. "Even the long-legged Englishmen could not
escape our bicycles", says Tsuji, "This is the reason they were
continually driven off the roads and into the jungle where, with
their retreat cut off, they were forced to surrender