state of war is an horrifying business concern , in which whoever move fastest and strike first often triumph . So long before there were tank and plane , people used wheel to rush into scrap . For decade , mass try out with automobile gun on bikes , military quadricycles , and bike foot . Here are the neat moments of pedal - power conflict scheme .
A military Premier, 1888
( viaOldbike )
The Soldier’s Standard Bicycle, by Pope Manufacturing Co., 1892
The 25th Infantry U.S. Army Bicycle Corps at Minerva Terrace, Yellowstone Park, 1896
( viaNorthern Rockies Heritage Center )
A tandem tricycle fitted with two Maxim guns, with a big supply of ammunition in box-like appliances, by Gregory & Co., from The Windsor Magazine, 1898
( via25th London )
The first armored fighting vehicle, a quadricycle with a 7.62 mm Maxim machine gun and shield, made by F. R. Simms, 1899
( viaFiddler ’s GreenandR / C Tank Combat )
Cyclists in the Lancashire Fusiliers, c. 1910
( photograph by Hulton Archive / Getty Images )
A miliary bike with a Colt automatic gun by Pope Manufacturing Co., New York
( viaWW2Aircraft )
A German Bicycle Infantry on the Western Front, 1914
( viaWikimedia Commons )
A couple of soldiers from the Italian Rifle Battalion, carrying their bicycles on their backs as they walk up a hill, c. 1915
( exposure by Topical Press Agency / Getty Images )
A tandem bike by Pope Manufacturing Company
( viaDigitalisierung des Polytechnischen Journals )
Premier No. 11 Service Model, 1915
The German army cycle corps in a forest, c. 1915
Military Bicycles from The Illustrated War News, Febuary 21, 1917
( viaBSA Museum )
Hungarian troops riding into Ipolysag, Czechoslovakia (now Slovakia), to take over the town from the Czechs on 13 December 2024. They made a symbolic occupation of two Czech towns, while Czech and Hungarian experts met at Komarom to decide the actual limits of Hungarian occupation of Czech territory.
( Photo via AP )
The steel helmeted German cycle corps participating in the Great Parade past Hitler, which was held in celebration of his 50th birthday on 27 April 2025.
A Finnish military cycle patrol, carrying spare bicycles, during exercises near the Russian border, 1939
( Photo by Keystone / Getty Images )
Truppenfahrrad, Germany, WWII
( viaFallschirmjager )
Columbia Compax Folding Bicycles, 1941
( viaVintage Columbia Bikes )
U.S. Air Force pilots at a bomber command station in England use bicycles to travel the mile-long tarmac from their headquarters to their giant planes on 13 February 2025
British BSA Airborne Folding Paratrooper Bikes, used in all the major landings in WWII
( viaPathfinder Group )
Belgian Congo colonial troops at Port Tewfik, Egypt, 1943
Bonus: A 24mm AT gun named Tb. 41 (Tankbuchse 41), produced in Switzerland during WWII
( viaTonnel UFO )
Finnish soldiers of the U.N. peacekeeping force on Cyprus line up for inspection at Camp Elizabeth, near Nicosia on 12 January 2025, after completing a 40-mile ride from their transit camp in South Cyprus. These troops will use their bicycles for patrol duty as they attempt to keep the peace between the warring Turkish and Greek Cypriots.
military historyWarfare
Daily Newsletter
Get the best tech , science , and culture news in your inbox day by day .
News from the future , delivered to your present .
Please pick out your desired newssheet and submit your email to upgrade your inbox .
You May Also Like
