Why aren't there Motorcycle Troops?

[Tigrii]

Is it because motorcycles were only used for strategic mobility (i.e. ride to battle, dismount, fight)? They wouldn't be very good fighters but would be the ultimate expendable scout!

[Auggy]

They wouldn't be very good fighters but would be the ultimate expendable scout!

Thats the reason.

[PiggDogg]

Tigrii,

Those motorcycle tires puncture too easily, and then the troops would have to abandon those Harleys, er ... BMWs.

Also, those side cars fall off too easily, injuring the poor fool in the sidecar.

Cheers, Richard

[Franko]

There ARE motorcycle troops in the game (recon troops). However, read the manual and you'll find out why they did not actually include the bikes themselves -- in a nutshell, it was an anti-gaminess device.

I agree.

F

[tracer]

I asked that question a lloonngg time ago and the answer was "no way, would they be incorporated into the game"

[xerxes]

I've posted an op "gambles fallacy" at the depot that uses kubelwagons for the motorcylce transport (they can take 1/2 recon squads). They (kubelwagons, aka motorcyles) aren't all that useful. They die from long range mg fire quite easily (just like motorcyles) and when they run over rocky terrain their tires bust (motorcyle would probably do better).

In playtesting the op, the "motorcycles" tend to get abandoned early on and the troopers hoof it. Works out better that way.

FWIW.

[ichadwick]

Motorcycles were mostly used as reconnaissance scouts or orders runners between units during the war, sometimes as emergency transport or spotters rather than combat vehicles.

Motorcycles by themselves proved fast, nimble and hard to hit, but when they added sidecars and guns, they became slower and less agile - and less able to extricate themselves from the mire in bad terrain. Four-wheel vehicles were also preferred because they could be armoured. Aside from leg shields on some makes, there really isn't any protection on a motorcycle. And the passenger space is limited to one.

In Russia, motorcycles had a greater difficulty: mud (rasputsita... sp?). The narrow tires could easily get stuck in ruts. Like the 750cc Harley, the 745cc BMW was relatively heavy for a bike - large bikes were preferred on the front for their sheer power and speed, compared to some of the lighter motorcycles like the 250-500cc DKWs, BSAs and Triumphs in use as runners.

The BMW has the advantage of having its sidecar wheel driven by the bike's engine as well (a feature unknown on Harleys and other Allied bikes). There were other makes too - Zundapp was a big manufacturer, as was DKW. Triumph even had a plant in Germany (independent of its British ancestor).

There were some interesting experiments at marrying a halftrack drive with a motorcycle, but in the end, motorcycles played a minor role during the wars.

See German Motorcycle Books for some interesting titles.

You might be interested to note that it wasn't until after WW2 that automobiles outnumbered motorcycles in registrations in most European countries. Few of the pre-war manufacturers managed to survice in the next decade.

Ian

My motorcycle sites