CYCLISTS IN WAR.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 7418, 2 June 1902, Page 4

CYCLISTS IN WAR.

In the course of an article in the " Spectator," it is shown that the horse is an excellent target for the bullet of the enemy; in fact, South African experiences go to show that very often the entire fire of the Boers has been solely directed to the bunched-up horses. The reason of thie is perfectly obvious. Horses are no doub^ an aid to riflemea who have to seize a position, but are nothing . tut a'weakness and a danger when it .becomes necessary to hold the position against even a brief fire attack. To the infantry main body, who have not only to hold, but to live in a position for days under fire, they would be as much use as elephants. So much for the horse ; what about the cycle?

There la a horee with. ner,v«s of steel, susceptible of neither;, fear,f s b,unger, nor disease, who if neglected will not -die, but at worst grow dingy, who requires no training, no rations, and no guardianship, who is heroic under fire and quiescent in camp, who is difficult to wound and impossible to stampede; no Houyhnhnm, but a Lilliputian in a railway truck, base <store, or baggage waggon — moreover, no mean performer over a difficult country, who, finally, can be so quickly and; effectively disabled if in danger of capture that his acquisition by the enemy would be a more complicated curse than a blessing. The very mention of his name, the bicycle, will provoke a laugh. It has done so in Army circles ever since that famous day at Aldershot, when a well-known wag "shoo'd" off his impending onslaught with- an open umbrella, amidst the Homeric laughter of a brigade in line. . . . It is hard to conceive a vehicle more efficient for the purpose under discussion — the conveyance of the foot soldier from his camping to his battle ground, from the right to the left, and front the reserves to the firing line. The world is not all South Africa, There are few countries without roads, and there have been few battles which have not become battles from the very fact of the presence and the trend of the roads in a particular district. Most battles, indeed, have, been fought astride one main load and parallel to another.

The writer cites two or three instances of engagements in the present South African war in which he thinks a brigade of cyclists could have pushed home >an advantage which our mounted men with their worn-out horses were unable to do. A very powerful article in favour of the bicycle is concluded with tho following words: — "To oppose mobility to mobility is an imperative necessity; against comparative mobility, such as the so-called mobility of all European armies really is, the capacity of the main body of covering the ground even one mile per hour faster than the enemy is almost a guarantee of victory and a certain safeguard in retreat. There may be means of attaining this superior to the bicycle. . . . But the horse being out of the question, the bicycle is . obviously better than the boot."