Was there a specific military bicycle used by the Hungarian Army in 1938-41?

[Sid Guttridge]

Was there a specific military bicycle used by the Hungarian Army over 1938-41?

If so, does anyone know of any photographs or line drawings of it?

I have an Osprey illustration of one, but this is a secondary source.

I have found two photos on the internet, but they aren't clear enough to answer my question.

Has anyone any other sources?

Many thanks,

Sid.

[Peter89]

Was there a specific military bicycle used by the Hungarian Army over 1938-41?

If so, does anyone know of any photographs or line drawings of it?

I have an Osprey illustration of one, but this is a secondary source.

I have found two photos on the internet, but they aren't clear enough to answer my question.

Has anyone any other sources?

Many thanks,

Sid.

Hello Sid,

yes, there was a standardized military bicycle in the Hungarian Royal Army. It's designation was 32M - Csepel-2 hadikerékpár, so in my own rough translation "Mark 32 Csepel-2 war bicycle". Csepel referred to its factory, the Weiss Manfréd Művek, Mark 32 refers to the date of design (1932).

This is a renovated vintage piece:



This is a folding version (Weiss Manfred 40M), made for the paratroopers:



If you are interested in the topic, Zoltán Sőregi started to publish some research about bicycle troops in the HRA and the KuK army.
http://real.mtak.hu/115619/1/HT_2020-5_Book_cikk_14.pdf
http://real.mtak.hu/118261/1/HT_2020-6_cikk_14.pdf

[Sid Guttridge]

Hi Peter,

Thanks very much. The official name of the bicycle, 32M - Csepel-2 hadikerékpár, has opened up a lot of material on the internet and more than answers my question.

However, it has opened up a set of contradictions.

According to Niehorster on p.40 of The Royal Hungarian Army, which I have valued for some 25+ years, on 23 January 1939 the seven original bicycle battalions were renumbered as follows:

1 - 14
2 - 16
3 - 10
4 - 15
5 - 9 and 13
6 - 12
7 -11

However, several of the more recent internet sources you have led me to give the following:

1 - 16
2 - 15
3 - 14
4 - 13
5 - 9
6 - 11
7 - 10
new - 12

Do you know which is accurate?

Many thanks,

Sid,

[Peter89]

Hi Peter,

Thanks very much. The official name of the bicycle, 32M - Csepel-2 hadikerékpár, has opened up a lot of material on the internet and more than answers my question.

However, it has opened up a set of contradictions.

According to Niehorster on p.40 of The Royal Hungarian Army, which I have valued for some 25+ years, on 23 January 1939 the seven original bicycle battalions were renumbered as follows:

1 - 14
2 - 16
3 - 10
4 - 15
5 - 9 and 13
6 - 12
7 -11

However, several of the more recent internet sources you have led me to give the following:

1 - 16
2 - 15
3 - 14
4 - 13
5 - 9
6 - 11
7 - 10
new - 12

Do you know which is accurate?

Many thanks,

Sid,

Hello Sid,

sorry for the late reply, I haven't been notified I was quoted.

I wish I could give you a definite answer, but I am not an expert of the topic to the degree that I was able to make source correction. It would be the easiest to write to Zoltán Sőregi to address this issue, but for some reason I can not find his email now. Let me get back to this topic later on.