Ancient history

The British soldiers who parachuted with bicycles on D-Day

Throughout modern history, armies have used the most advanced technologies of the moment. Sometimes it is precisely wars that cause their development, and other times existing tools have been adapted to new military uses. Bicycles are a good example, used by the US 25th Infantry Cyclist Corps in 1890, and more recently by the Swiss Cyclist Regiment, which did so until at least 2001.

One of the most curious uses of bicycles in warfare occurred during World War II. On D-Day during Operation Overlord British paratroopers were dropped behind German lines carrying folding bicycles with them. . And they weren't exactly light, as they weighed around ten and a half kilos each.

About 60,000 units of that model, called the Airborne Folding Paratrooper Bicycle, were manufactured between 1942 and 1945 and were used by the British and Canadians throughout the conflict, including the aforementioned D-Day and also the Battle of Arnhem.

The reason for equipping paratroopers with bicycles was because this way they could cover long distances after touching down, while allowing them to remain undetected and move silently. Bikes were sometimes abandoned when they were more of a nuisance than a use, but there are photos showing some of these bikes loaded onto tanks and jeeps, just in case they had to be used again.

Once on the ground, the paratroopers had to unfold the bicycle and could attach their weapons to the brackets attached to the structure for this purpose, and even shoot without untying them.

But not only paratroopers carried bicycles on D-Day. Some soldiers, such as the 9th Canadian Infantry Brigade, landed directly on them. They had already done it before in the invasion of Sicily in 1943.

In 1942 the Japanese troops were able to advance long distances in Malaysia also transporting heavy loads, thanks to bicycles. And the Germans had already used them in the conquest of Poland in 1939. Of course, many German soldiers tied their bicycles with ropes to motor vehicles, so that they could be towed effortlessly.

Still, the invasion of Normandy was the operation in which bicycles were used on a massive and decisive scale.

Abandoned on the battlefields of France and Norway, where they were primarily used, many of these bikes are now in museums or private collections.