Start 1861: I Just Inherited the Dutch Throne

Using bicycles to help infantry move quickly is a very good plan. In World War II, when Japan raided the British colony of Malaysia, they used this method to follow the tank troops. The Japanese troops rode bicycles and the British troops in Malaysia were frightened.

William IV asked Interior Minister Jonler: "What is the most important army mobility tool in the Netherlands now?"

"cavalry"

"Yes, cavalry has been the most important army tool in Europe for hundreds of thousands of years, but horses are notoriously difficult to get, and they also need corresponding cavalry."

William IV especially remembered that in the early days of World War II, when the German army invaded Poland, France and other countries, Germany's mechanization level was relatively low and the mobility of its troops was relatively poor. The main reason for this was the signing of the Moral Agreement after losing the First World War. The Peace Treaty of Purcell limited the resources of the German army, especially its mobility. In the early days of the war, the German army often relied on walking to solve problems.

But the Germans at that time also knew that you couldn't do this. How could the troops slow down during the war? Therefore, the Germans also tried every means to increase the mobility of the troops, and tried every means to increase the starting price of the troops that can add mobility.

Limited by the number of cars produced and the stock of fuel at that time, this forced the German army to add some non-motorized vehicles to participate in the war, such as mules, horses, and bicycles.

"Therefore, riding a bicycle is easier to operate than riding a horse."

Wilhelm II asked War Minister Petter de Jong: "What is the current plan for the Dutch bicycle army?"

The German army's bicycles can be traced back to the early days of World War I. At that time, the Germans under William II also knew that riding a bicycle was always faster than running.

"The Netherlands currently has a bicycle brigade in every light infantry division in the Far East. The Dutch army is currently divided into a squad of about 10 people, three squads make up a platoon of about 30 people, and 3 platoons plus cooks There are about 110 people in total, including correspondents, composition chiefs, deputy platoon leaders, platoon leaders, instructors, chaplains, etc.

Three companies form a battalion with about 400 people, a regiment has 1,300 people, a brigade has about 4,000 people, a division has about 7,500 to 10,000 people. A regiment has about 30,000 people.

The Netherlands has two armies of 60,000 people, 30,000 conscripts, and an additional 30,000 indigenous troops deployed in the mainland.

More than 120,000 troops have been deployed in the mainland to guard the mainland.

The navy has more than 20,000 men in the Atlantic, a total of 140,000.

The Far East also has a navy of more than 30,000, an army of 60,000, and an indigenous army of more than 30,000, totaling 140,000.

It has 5,000 troops and 2,000 navy personnel on the Alaska Peninsula.

The Hawaiian Islands also have an army of 5,000 and a navy of 3,000.

A total of 15,000 people.

More than 10,000 naval personnel have been deployed in Madagascar, Mozambique, Tanzania and Kenya, and more than 5,000 personnel have been deployed at the mouth of the Congo River.

There are more than 20,000 Dutch troops stationed on Madagascar and more than 30,000 indigenous troops.

The first generation indigenous troops in Congo, Tanzania and Kenya also exceed 30,000, and the Dutch army also exceeds 30,000.

This is the deployment of 400,000 troops in the Netherlands. "

"This deployment is in place, but are the local indigenous troops still stable?"

I have to say that William IV is also a common problem for future generations. People who are not of my race must have different hearts. Although this sentence is crude, it is very appropriate.

What's more, in William IV's mind, it is still unknown whether these natives will be able to withstand the provocation if they come with the wave of self-reliance in the future. Therefore, what William IV is doing at present, In fact, it is slowly and subtly changing, and these people are gradually transferred to Africa.

Even if many Dutch nobles are worried, if there is a mutiny one day, the Netherlands will most likely set up a country for them in Africa. As for the Far East and the Australian continent, that is a no-brainer.

Of course, these are concessions made only in the last step.

It is still far from reaching that kind of crisis.

"Bicycles are a good thing for participating in the war. They can be used for large-scale reconnaissance and communication. This bicycle is good. It does not require food, water, or specialized troops. Moreover, many people do things like riding bicycles directly. Yes, many people have to learn how to ride a horse, and they may not be able to control it yet.”

After sighing, Mark Rudd, Chief of General Staff of the Dutch military, said with great seriousness: "In fact, when I first became prime minister a few years ago, I already realized that future European wars will require very high mobility of the military. , We must adopt the traditional combat concept of weapons and increase the mobility of the army to the greatest extent. The Netherlands must move quickly when the army is fighting. The army must quickly arrive in the theater and enter the battle quickly."

He pointed out that the first brigade of each infantry division must be equipped with a bicycle regiment, and each regiment must have combat reconnaissance troops, either with horses or bicycles. However, horses are indeed too difficult to serve, especially in Africa. There are many deserts on the border, making it difficult to move horses. Raising horses in the tropical zone of the Far East is also a hard job. Bicycles are much simpler in this regard.

Therefore, I suggest that all infantry brigades, regiments and grass-roots companies should be issued with bicycles.

William IV then began to take a serious look at how the current bicycles in the Netherlands were organized.

Mark Rudd told him that Europe remains unchanged. The current reconnaissance battalion in the Dutch Far East Infantry Division includes a battalion headquarters, a bicycle company, a cavalry company, as well as a heavy weapons platoon and a communications platoon.

Even many cavalry companies in the Far East have been replaced by bicycle companies.

A bicycle infantry platoon includes three squads, each with a squad leader and a deputy squad leader, a seven-man rifle team, and a four-man machine gun team.

As for machine guns, the Netherlands Ministry of National Defense, with the help of Dutch Americans from the Federal Republic of America, has obtained the patent for the multi-barreled hand-operated machine gun invented by the American R.J. Gatlin in 1862.

In 1864, the Netherlands had already begun to produce its own machine guns and had its own machine gun production factory.

After many transformations, in 1866 Nantes Maxim, a professor of mechanics at the Royal Netherlands Academy of Sciences, developed the 11.43 mm Maxim heavy machine gun based on his work. It was the first machine gun in the world to use gunpowder gas energy to complete the design cycle. , immediately shocked the world.

Before the defeat of Germany in later generations, the German People's Bombardier Division also included bicycle companies and bicycle battalions. Most of these bicycle companies were used as reconnaissance troops, and some were used as combat troops. After all, it was faster to go to the war zone by bicycle.