Originally Posted By: IzzyJG99
People tend to underestimate the power of a bicycle. The way Singapore was conquered by the Japanese was because all the troops had bicycles! They were able to carry twice the normal load of food, water and ammo and move twice as far in a day as they could on foot. They call it the Great Bike Blitzkrieg that totally overwhelmed the British Forces there in World War II.


That is so interesting, Izzy. I'd never heard of that before. I Googled and that attack commenced one hour and twenty minutes before Pearl Harbor.

http://www.militaryhistoryonline.com/wwii/articles/singapore.aspx

"...the Japanese had issued their soldiers thousands of bicycles. Western Malaya had good hard surfaced roads, and the Japanese soldiers rode down them, as much as twenty hours at a stretch. The Japanese had sold many bicycles in Malaya before the war, so they were able to find parts and repairs in most towns and villages. When they could no longer repair the tires, they rode on the rims...."


http://www.ibiblio.net/hyperwar/PTO/RisingSun/BicycleBlitz/index.html#III

"...bicycles rather than horses as a means of troop and light material transportation. This decision allowed the foot soldiers to travel farther, faster, and with less fatigue. Due to the vast number of rivers on the Malay peninsula, and the British propensity to destroy the more than 250 bridges they crossed during their retreat, bicycles allowed the infantry (to continue) their advance, wading across the rivers carrying their bicycles on their shoulders,or crossing on log bridges held up on the shoulders of engineers standing in the stream.

The British could not escape the troops on bicycles."