Taken from contemporary accounts and other archive information
The motorcycles of the Territorial and Special Reserves had already been training hard during June as the latest versions of the Eastern Defence Plan were being tested. “Enemy” Blue forces had landed in Southampton and seized the City. Forces then spread out heading north through Hampshire.
Reserve motorcyclists were mobilised together with a Cavalry Brigade that took up position in Elstead in Surrey. The dispatch riders assembled on the Hogs Back near Guildford were sent to the Headquarters that had been assembled at Kingsley near Bordon in Hampshire. The riders on their Bradbury and Ariel motorcycles were then sent to various Telegraph locations which had been set up by the Royal Engineers. They carried messages on the locations of the advancing forces back and forth from the Cavalry and other forward positions.
During this exercise which took place over 15 days in Jun 1914 we find evidence that the Cavalry were even at that time equipped with Marconi Wireless sets carried in cars. There reason given was that the Cavalry, being a highly mobile force could not use telegraph as the lines took too long to lay. However we discover that the wireless sets needed to be powered by Douglas motorcycle engines that could be prone to overheating.
No comments:
Post a Comment