Re: Question about bicycle troops
Some countries fielded folding bicycles that could be backpacked across difficult terrain. Some mainly used them for scouting or communication duty while some had a bicycle unit attached to Light Infantry formations to move ahead and seize a position and wait for the other companies to arrive. Once in a defense they could be pulled back as a mobile reserve.
In an attack situation, Belgian and Italian doctrine roughly had one man per 9-10 bicycles stay with the cycles so it was about a 90% effective attack force when dismounted.
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