New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1897-05-08
CYCLING IN WARFARE.
EXPERIMENTS BEING CARRIED ON BY THE
FRENCH ARMY.


FRENCH ARMY.
Paris correspondence Of The London Standard.
1t is evident that the cycle Is now In course o.
and customs OF men and women, and 1t may be
Interesting to all cyclists to hear about the new
From a military point of view cycling is. as yet IN
it's infancy Up to the present time in the French
NIT orders and carry messages, but 1t is now pro,
posed to form cyclst corps of combatants.a KihS no
ponies An experimental company of sixty men
has been formed by Captain Gerard VINO mas bich
can fold in two by means OF hinge on the cross,
bar, so that xhen folded the front wheel ana ira
become readily portable on the mems shoulders
The cycs as at eommsDd
ed by sergeant and two corporals: thus maklis
sarsea t9t and Gr eight The folding by
Gle is provided with leather braces, to enable me
blue blue flannel belt loose on cloth Sd d@sSs!
JACKET red trousers cIose-fitting from the knee.
iegglngs and ankle boots These latter are the
worst part Of the n Snd yery b snS n Eu
rope. The equipment consists OF the regulatlon
belt with three pouches each n .SFy
the back there is room provided for the pump ana
hod ua spare Jersey The consists Of
Lebe rifle and bayonet Two cycle smiths are
bicycle and carry spare nuts, tires air chambers,
files, hammers, and other articles to repair tne
a
tanning portable forge. a box of ammunition and
spare wheels. together with the mems knapsacks
This company was tested at the last +. autumn n
manoeuvres near Laon. and was used for recon
Thus when 1t was thought necessary TO occupy. at
some distance from the main body, q, given stra-
take possession of It. and thanks to the rapidly
Of its movements for scouting and reconnoltrng
duties il Is said to have been very serviceable.
When the ground is impractcable, then the men
fold their machines, strap them to their backs clam
n,V
Ing level ground rig up Their orn In Rss are
ay writer tn the General the bsce
is the ideal mount for mounted infantry. as the
nnrfered with by the necessity Of providing forage
and water 1t is. however Obvious that the expert,
out on a far larger scale According to this Rus
sian authority the military cyclists ought to be
an hour-the is l.l61 yards. This seems to me
rather exaggeration. But It is clear that In
roads trained bodies OF crack shots and expert
even surpass tho exploits Of the dashing Uhlans
during the Franco-Prussian war and be pushed on
of their army For this service the cycle seems ex
tremely well nttod. But that bodies of cyclists
of cavar AIRY 1'i seems TO me- little premature to
claim one Of the advantages for the scouting ser
can move. But Il requires good roads What would
become of a body OF cyclists having to go over a
heavy rains. 1t is easy enough to imaglne-and once
off the road they would be practically worse than
useless Still, the experiment Is very interesting
one and it is to be hoped that Captain Gerard will
be allowed TO work Ii out more eXhaustlvely than
he has been able to do yet.
one Of the last notions hear. Is 10 provide au-
tomobic cycles to carry light machine guns Of the
Maxim o. Hotchkiss pattern. But have not heard
that this design has been actually tried 1t Is obvi
Gus, however. that mechanical traction must. In
of time be adapted to military purposes,
and for the purpose OF transporting artillery at
rapd rate II would have some very obvious advan-
tages over traction by horses. bullocks, or ele-
plants. As to the idea put forth by NJ de Kero-
haut and other writer's, that the cycle can ever
take the place of cavalry and become an arm of
the future" It IS dangerous delusion or rather
would be so II It were possible TO imagine any Min
lister of War so demented as TO organic cyclist
army corps. AS an auxiliary branch or the recon-
NOTHING service of the Intelligence Department IN
the field. cyclists are likely to be OF material ser
vice But as a lighting unit the claim put forth
on behalf OF tho cyclists does not seem consistent
with the guiding principle OF warfare-common-