Unlike on modern roads, in World War II, cyclists hit you. In all seriousness,
bicycles were employed in many theatres throughout the war, by both Allied and Axis infantry units,
and to varying effect. The Japanese, however, managed to make bicycles terrifying, riding upon
their enemies with bare, metal rims and scaring them half to death before they had even started
firing their guns. Slap on your spandex and get ready to flip off the car behind you, because
in this video, we're peddling alongside Japanese bicycle infantry units into the Second World War.
Before we get into Japan's use of bicycles in the war, why would a military choose a bicycle
over two legs, something with four legs, or something that runs on combustible fuel?
Well, bicycles are relatively cheap to produce, maintain, and propel, relatively easy to transport
before deployment, and suited to a wide variety of terrains. Due to their size, bicycles don't
need the clearance that, say, a Jeep might need, making them decent on narrow and unpaved tracks.
They can be lifted over difficult terrain, such as through a shallow waterbody,
and cyclists can also take a break by walking alongside their two-wheeled companion.
In his book Japanese Army in World War II: The South Pacific and New Guinea, 1942–43,
Gordon L. Rottman wrote, "[Japanese] troops would walk beside their bicycles for a short time
each hour to exercise different leg muscles to prolong their endurance."
Bikes are also decent at lugging equipment. In the jungle theatres of the Second World War,
for instance, each Japanese infantry cyclist carried some 36 kilograms of gear, including
five days rations. Each British infantryman, on the other hand, carried only 18 kilos of gear.
Lastly, bicycles are relatively quiet and fast, with early Japanese infantry units being capable
of maintain a speed of 16 to 24 kilometres per hour when necessary. Unlike horses and Jeeps,
bicycles are incapable of experiencing fear and psychological trauma as well.
Of course, bicycles have their limitations too. While it might be cheaper to maintain a bicycle
than a car, bicycles are still prone to damage and wear, and upkeep still takes resources and time.
They also suck without inflated tyres or, worse, without any tyres at all.
Firing a gun to any actual effect is difficult on a bike as well,
and they offer just about zero protection, as opposed to a truck, tank, or dragon square
shield. Lastly, I can feel my butt aching just thinking about sitting on a bike,
let alone riding it for days or weeks or months through the jungles of the Second World War.
So to what extent did the Japanese use bicycles during the war,
and why were Japanese bicycle infantry units so terrifying?
While Japan's use of bikes in its 1941 invasion of Malaya gets most of the spotlight, the Japanese
were on two wheels long before the Second World War, including as far back as in the mid-1920s
and also in the Second Sino-Japanese War. During Japan's 1937 invasion of China, for instance,
it's estimated the nation deployed as many as 50,000 bicycle infantrymen. Back to World War
II, they were deployed elsewhere in the South-East Asian theatre,
including in French Indochina, the Dutch East Indies, and the Philippines.
As per Japanese Colonel Maobu Tsuji's book Japan's Greatest Victory, Britain's Worst Defeat:
Capture and Fall of Singapore, 1942, "The horses of the 5th and 18th Divisions [of the 25th Army],
which had been fighting [in] China [...], had become as well trained as their masters.
When it was decided to use these [units] in the south, however, motor vehicles and bicycles were
substituted for the horses. [...] All [...] who did not ride with the trucks [rode] bicycles.
[...] A division was equipped with roughly five hundred motor vehicles and six thousand bicycles."
As a sort of sidenote, this quote basically dispels the myth that the Japanese commandeered
bicycles from local populations, at least to any significant degree. They were, evidently,
equipped with them prior to deployment, and the confusion may have come from the fact that — also
according to Tsuji — the Japanese cyclists had Malayan, Chinese, and Indian locals carry their
dismounted bicycles up to the front lines when they were ready to remount them and advance.
And it was exactly the Japanese 5th and 18th Divisions which fought in the December 1941
Japanese invasion of Malaya and subsequent Malayan campaign, which was a disaster for
the Allies — ultimately costing them Singapore — and a massive victory for Imperial Japan.
As written in US Navy Reserve Lieutenant Commander Alan C.
Headrick's paper Bicycle Blitzkrieg: The Malayan Campaign and the Fall of Singapore, "Influenced
by the intense heat and impassable jungle, [the] Japanese [...] [used] bicycles rather
than horses [...]. This [...] allowed [them] to travel farther, faster, and with less fatigue.
Due to the vast number of rivers on the Malay peninsula,
and the British [...] [destroying] [...] more than 250 bridges [...] during their retreat,
bicycles allowed [them] to continue their advance, wading across the rivers carrying their bicycles
on their shoulders [...]. The British could not escape [them]. They were overtaken, driven off
the paved roads into the jungle, and forced to surrender. The constant pressure and relentless
pursuit was psychologically devastating to the defenders; a true blitzkrieg — Japanese-style."
he aforementioned Colonel Masanobu Tsuji supported Headrick's claim,
stating, "Even the long legged Englishmen could not escape our troops on bicycles."
Headrick also argued, however, that the success of Japanese in Malaya
was largely the result of British unpreparedness and inexperience,
with their forces comprised primarily of Indian infantrymen under British officers
incapable of communicating with their men and thus unable to inspire and command them. Either way,
and despite their success, the campaign wasn't entirely a ride in the park for the Japanese.
To abuse our buddy Tsuji, he wrote, "The greatest difficulty
encountered [...] was the excessive heat, owing to which the tires punctured easily.
A bicycle repair squad [...] was attached to every company, [repairing] about twenty machines
a day. [...] When [...] time was pressing [...], the bicycles [were] ridden on the rims. [...] When
[they were] passing along a road, [they] made a noise resembling that of tanks."
Tsuji also went on to say that, under the veil of night, British troops would
often flee upon hearing this rattling, rolling cacophony advancing towards them.
Beyond punctured tyres, Japanese bicycle infantrymen were also just straight-up
outplayed by their opponents on more occasions than one. In the Battle of Gamas, on the 14th
of January 1942, for instance, the Australian 2/30th Battalion of 27th
Brigade blew up a bridge while a column of Japanese troops were crossing it,
sending as many as 150 troops, and many of their bicycles, into the gorge below, before opening
fire on the rest of the unit and killing hundreds of them in this stage of the battle alone.
While not in Malaya, some 300 Japanese bicycle infantrymen were riding the Central Luzon Plain
in the Philippines near the end of 1941, when they were hit by American armour and Filipino infantry.
Taking heavy fire while they tried to turn their bikes flee,
250 Japanese became casualties, with deaths accounting for all but a few of that number.
But what do you think? Would you soil your jocks at the sound a thousand naked bicycle rims
rattling down the street towards you? Can you think of any other examples in which the Japanese
used bicycle infantrymen to effect? Would you like to learn about the bicycle infantry units of any
other World War II belligerent nation? Please share your thoughts in the comments.