[Mass Combat] Motorcycle troops? - Page 2

sir_pudding · 06-22-2011, 09:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Michele

But with a heavy, large truck, 1 man could drive 30 men to the immediate rear area of the battlefield. After unloading the infantrymen and letting them move forward on foot, that one driver could move the truck back to relatively safer areas. 29 men is a platoon's worth of infantry.

The truck is also more multipurpose; you can use it for troops, supplies, ammo, medivac, a mobile CP, a platform for a crew served weapon and so on.

Anaraxes · 06-22-2011, 09:57 AM

Quote:

This hampered WWII cavalry units, too

And other mounted infantry throughout history (hobelars, dragoons, etc).

vicky_molokh · 06-22-2011, 10:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sir_pudding

The truck is also more multipurpose; you can use it for troops, supplies, ammo, medivac, a mobile CP, a platform for a crew served weapon and so on.

That's what I suspected about the goodies of trucks. But trucks are transport units. I have no doubt trucks are good transports.

But what about the comparison of motoinfantry to regular infantry?
It's cheaper to build a bike and train a given soldier to drive than to grow, train and hire another soldier.
Bikes are fast, probably faster than trucks too. Makes for good hit-and-run or flanking tactics, ne?
Bikes can probably mount weapons that would normally require setup time (bipod/tripod-mounted guns, antitank weapons). Also, aren't they perfect as highly mobile mortar weapons platforms?

What has negated those advantages?

The Colonel · 06-22-2011, 10:51 AM

IIRC the two main armies to use significant numbers of motorcycle troops were the Germans and Italians in the WW2 period.

Both were poorly mechanised and used them because they had to rather than because they were a good idea.

Other forces used small numbers of motorcyclists as scouts or couriers but seemed to have decided against using them as motorized infantry.

Besides the problems mentioned in previous posts, fifteen motorcycles and sidecars are likely to require far more maintenance time than the truck and (if I calculate correctly), 7.5 times as many tires.

06-22-2011, 10:51 AM	#4
The Colonel Join Date: Jul 2006	Re: [Mass Combat] Motorcycle troops? IIRC the two main armies to use significant numbers of motorcycle troops were the Germans and Italians in the WW2 period. Both were poorly mechanised and used them because they had to rather than because they were a good idea. Other forces used small numbers of motorcyclists as scouts or couriers but seemed to have decided against using them as motorized infantry. Besides the problems mentioned in previous posts, fifteen motorcycles and sidecars are likely to require far more maintenance time than the truck and (if I calculate correctly), 7.5 times as many tires.