by JamesL on 12 Feb 2008 20:21
For what its worth, the US Army military attache in Berlin accompanied the German II Armee Korps into Poland. He made the following observations.
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An interesting item, however, which I discovered, was that the German motorcycle and sidecar, as a troop carrier, did not prove satisfactory. In the Motorized Reconnaissance Battalion Eight which made the march with the 14th Army to Lemburg and was the first unit to make contact with the Russians, they found this motorcycle, with its three-man load, ammunition and light machine gun, was not a strong enough vehicle to withstand the daily combat and the tough going. By the time this battalion reached Lemburg it had no motorcycles left and were mounted in any sort of vehicle they were able to commandeer, largely American cars taken from the Poles. The motorcycle, however, for messenger service was extensively used and did prove satisfactory. Only as a troop carrier was it found too light. In that connection, I don’t whether you know it or not, but the German mechanized units there is no mechanized unit of the German army that doesn’t have as part of it, infantry, either in motorcycles or trucks to furnish support for the mechanized units.
In the reconnaissance battalions they have a motorcycle company and whenever they encounter anti-tank resistance, which the armored cars could not penetrate, these troops were brought up and attacked on foot, supported by their 75mm infantry cannon, which they have with them and their heavy machine guns and mortars.
Notes of Lecture by Major Percy Black at the US Army War College, December 6, 1939.
