The Army That Rode Bicycles Into Battle (And Won)
Bikes had some serious tactical advantages
When people think of weapons of war, most do not think of the bicycle. Compared to things like artillery, main battle tanks, mortars, and halftracks, bicycles seem silly and dangerous. Would you ride a bike into battle when there is a chance your opponent could be riding on the back of a tank? Most people would say no, and for good reason. It feels incredibly flimsy to ride into battle on a bicycle. A single bullet could wreck you or the bike.
For these reasons, bicycles were mostly used as a way to patrol occupied territory or for light scouting rather than actual battles. Soldiers would ride bikes back and forth to the front or around the square of a recently captured town. However, there was one army that used bikes in battle to great effect. It may not come as a surprise to learn that this army was the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II.
The Japanese have a long history of beating the odds militarily, and they have used numerous strategies and gambits that other nations simply would not. Using bicycles in battle was one such gambit that paid huge dividends in late 1941 and early 1942 against a shell-shocked British military.
