Figure 1.--Here we see German boys with a Herr (Army) motorcycle. Notice the rear sest. t was one of Zündapp bikes which was judged superior to the BMW bikes. This snzpshot was taken in 1940. Both bikes suffered from the summer and winter conditionds in the Soviet Union. Experts sent East to assess needed design changes were basically unable to devise modfictions capble of dealing wih the conditions.

The motorcycle found its greatest use with the Germans, in part because they lacked the industrial capacity to build the needed utilitarian four-wheeled vehicles which the United States built. The Germsn autiomotive industry was a fraction of the size of the Ametican industry. And there was the additionl bdenefit that the motircycles consumd relatively little fuel-- a major German consideration for the oil constrained Germans. The Germans used the motorcycle widely in their early offensive campaigns, including the massive Barbarossa campaign. For the Wehrmacht, the motorcycle had the advantage that it was easier to build and required a smaller motor than cars and jeep-like vehicles. This issue was partially solved by the extensive use of a sidecar combination. Bikes were built by both BMW and Zündap, both companies that did not produce motorcycles during World War I. We have not yet found an estimate of the total number of motorcycles that the Germans built. Zündapp produced nearly 19,000 of the KS 750 went which went into production in 1940. BMW produced ?????. DKW and NSU lso built motyoicycldes. Non-German motorcycles were built under license, included the Triumph, with more than 12,000 250cc units built in Nuremburg This was the locstion of Steib which built some od the sidecars. [Garson] The BMW R75 and the competing Zündapp KS 750 were both widely used by the Wehrmacht in North Africa and the Soviet Union. Heer analysts eventually concluded that the Zündapp had superior characteristics. The Heer for logiatical reasins wanted one single model mwith interchangeable parts. Zündapp and BMW agreed upon standardization of parts for both bikes (August 1942). The goal was create a Zündapp-BMW hybrid to be designated the BW 43. A BMW 286/1 side-car would be grafted onto a Zündapp KS 750 motorcycle. By this time the motorcycle was declining as a vehicle priority. German commanders continued to use the motorcycle as they had in World War I, meaning a messenger fumction, but expanded the tactical function. The Germans also used the motorcycle for tactical assault, at least in the early campaigns beginning in Poland and thriough Barbarossa (1939-41). Many of the ways the motorcycles were used by the Germans were baically prosaic, delivering messages and dispatches, chauffeuring officers, spare parts, hot meals, mail, and much else. We are unsure about the tactical value, but they were used as a tactical fighting vehicle, we believe especially in the Soviet Union. They were frequntly equipped with an MG-34 machine gun attached to the sidecar. [Garson] One functioin was scouting and patrol. The Germans used motorcycles as point vehicles, part of the reconnaissance forces of Panzer divisions in early campaigns. Here they often took the brunt of battle One source reports thst thedy sometimes were equipped as tank destroyers. [Garson] We are not sure just what equipment was involved here. Of course they did not have protective armor plating of the Panzers and the supoport of the infantry. [Garson] They became sniper magnets. Experts sent East to assess needed design changes were basically unable to devise modfictions capble of dealing wih the conditions. One report read, "While we were following the movement of the front in daily stages, we spent the nights in tents on the steppes…. We had crossed the Don, and then gone in the direction of Stalingrad, and we sought out the field repair shops, which operated in the most primitive conditions, directly behind the front line. There the machines were examined and reports on the troops’ experiences were taken. My opinion was correct. The machines went under the liquid mud, which flowed over the motors by the bucketful and was sucked into the low-lying air filter, ruining it—the mud got into the motor, and often the oil pans no longer held oil, but only sand…." [Garson] The motorcyclists were called 'kradfahrer'. Their use of motorcycles began to change as the War turned agaimst the Germans. Huge numbers were lost in the Doviet Union dure ythe two bRed srrmy unreroffebsiuveds (1941-42 and 1942-43). This mission declined as the tide of battle turned and the Germans were forced to adopt a defensive posture.

Sources

Garson, G. Paul. "Military vehicles: German motorcycles in WWII," WarfareHistory Network (November 18, 2015).

Created: 3:13 AM 8/14/2021
Last updated: 3:13 AM 8/14/2021