Motorcycles

Panzer reconnaissance - Kradschützen

The role of the armoured reconnaissance battle groups, which in the case of the 116^th Panzer Division was ‘Panzer Aufklärungs Abteilung 116’, was leading the division or used for protecting its vulnerable flanks and it was also used to flush out and overcome any light opposition. Advancing to contact, their role in addition to seeking intelligence about the enemy was to smooth the way for the oncoming armour. Such Panzer Aufklärungsabteilungen often consisted of motorcycle troops (Kradschϋtzen) and infantry in wheeled or semi-tracked armoured vehicles and they were often accompanied by air, artillery and engineer liaison officers.  But the all familiar image of the motor cycle troops swarming along the roads ahead of a Panzer Division was relevant only to the early part of the war.  As the war progressed and other vehicles were designed and put into service with the Panzer Aufklärungsabteilungen, motorcycle combinations were never phased out and were still in use right up until the end of the war.

The advantage of employing Motorcycle combinations in reconnaissance battalions was that the vehicles themselves proved exceptionally manoeuvrable and capable of making a ‘U’ turn in the width of the road, unlike most larger vehicles, although they were exceptionally vulnerable to small arms fire and were themselves only lightly armed. It was not until 1941 that specially designed cross-country motorcycle combinations were introduced into military service being equipped with an engine geared to both rear and sidecar wheels. These vehicles were the BMWR75 and the Zundapp KS750, which were both built in the same factory and fitted with 2-cylinder, 4-stroke engines and were capable of speeds upto 60mph and with a range of 175 - 200 miles. Other features of these vehicles included road and cross country gearing, exceptionally strong frames, high positioning of the engine and the exhaust and they were also fitted with large profile tyres. Their use also extended to traffic duty and road escort work. The solo machines were only issued to dispatch riders.

Kradschϋtzen armament included light machine guns, such as the MG34 or MG42, mounted on the combination sidecars and also mortars to provide covering fire whenever the two non-driving members of the three man crew were obliged to dismount. Dismounted riflemen also provided covering fire whilst the driver moved the vehicle out of hostile range.

The group also has a motorcycle BMW R-75 combination, this time a genuine wartime vehicle, (the vehicle in the foreground below).