French Army unit on the move circa 1910. France began experimenting with bicycle infranty units in 1896. Germany would invade France in August, 1914 soon after the beginning of World War I.
This photo is from the U.S. Library of Congress George Grantham Bain Collection and documents sports events, theater, celebrities, crime, strikes, disasters, political activities including the woman suffrage campaign, conventions and public celebrations.. Bain News Service was one of America’s earliest news picture agencies. Images from 39,744 glass negatives and a selection of about 1,600 photographic prints from Bains News Service are available online through the U.S. Library of Congress. A sample of them, such as this one showing the French Army cyclists, are posted to Flickr
The bike plane is my favorite. I wonder if it could actually get off the ground http://www.flickr.com/photos/library_of_congress/2809091316/
I immediately was reminded of this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YIV_ZcYZKnw&feature=player_detailpage#t=446s
Thanks Al. Running across old army photos and videos always sends me browsing at more military history sites.
Ha, I hadn’t seen that one before.