Anzac cyclists
Prime Minister William Massey and Joseph Ward inspect the New Zealand Cyclist Corps.
The New Zealand Cyclist Corps, part of the 2nd Anzac Cyclist Battalion, was heavily involved in the Belgian offensives of 1917. Bicycles were useful for transporting men and light equipment over large distances in much less time than it would take troops on foot – despite often being hampered by the terrain and muddy conditions, they could easily cover 60 kilometres a day. Cyclists also performed tasks such as traffic control, tree felling, cable laying, trench repairs and reconnaissance.
At Messines the battalion prepared an 1800-metre track from the Allies’ reserve line across the former no-man’s land and through abandoned German trenches to a point called Middlefarm to enable the mounted troops to get through. Several members of the battalion were killed, and 19 were wounded carrying out this dangerous work.
At Gravenstafel and Bellevue Spur in October the cyclists were largely employed laying cables behind the advancing troops. According to the official history, ‘The enemy shelling throughout was heavy and the going bad owing to the rain and the sea of shell holes filled with water, but the men stuck to their work well and accomplished a result which any army may be proud of.’
Credit
Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand
Reference: 1/2-013358-G
Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Matauranga o Aotearoa must be obtained before any reuse of this image.
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TwitterYes, the discrepancy in the dates is a puzzle - the clip is clearly dated 1914-5. I noticed that the Cyclists Corps was initially formed from men of the Mounted Rifles (one steed as good as another, maybe?) Perhaps they were experimenting with cyclists earlier on - the group in the video clip, as you point out, seem to be training alongside the NZ Mounted troops. It will be interesting to see if someone has the answer to this apparent anomaly.
Hi Anne -thanks for this.
Note that according to the official history the New Zealand Cyclist Company did not have their bikes in Egypt. Also they were only in Egypt for a few weeks in June-July 1916, so the cyclists in the film are a bit of a mystery. It certainly looks like Egypt, and NZ Mounted troops, but it can't be the NZ Cyclist Company in 1915 (they weren't formed until May 1916).
According to the Australian history, Cycling to war (2008), the Australians had '30-40' bikes in Egypt which were used for trianing after the formation of their cyclists companies in March 1916. It is possible that the troops in the film were using these bikes but this is just speculation on my part.
Can any military historians help solve this mystery? Kind regards, Jamie Mackay
Hi Jamie
I was very intrigued when watching a clip of NZ troops training around Zeitoun before the Battle of the Suez Canal to see a small group of cyclists included but hadn't realised till now that there was actually a specialist cyclist corps.
If anyone is interested, the Regimental History of the Cyclists Corps can be read online at the NZETC website:
http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-WH1-Cycl-t1-body1-d1.html
Video clip of troops training in Egypt can be viewed at Te Ara
http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/video/34110/zeitoun-camp-egypt-1914-15
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