The cavalry had long been a dominant force in the fighting field by the time of World War I. But things were about to change, and rapidly. The mounted soldier was going to get a new mount.
Anyone who has seen the movie or theater productions of War Horse can’t fail to have been moved by the wholesale slaughter of cavalry horses on the battlefields of France and Belgium — not that their riders fared any better. With the arrival of more accurate artillery, armored cars, machine guns and tanks, cavalry was suddenly obsolete.
But there were other roles undertaken by mounted soldiers that a new invention — the motorcycle — could perform better, faster and more safely. Not in the traditional cavalry charge, obviously, because of the need to control the machine with both hands! Adding a sidecar with a gunner on board partially offset this limitation, but armored cars performed better in that role.
Where the military motorcycle principally scored was in communications. It was (relatively) stealthy, speedy and nimble, allowing it to deliver dispatches quickly while also being a trickier, lower-profile target for snipers.
Arguably, first to recognize these benefits was the British Army, which introduced the Triumph Model H, also known as the “Trusty Triumph” in 1915. (Ironically, the Triumph company was founded in 1902 by German immigrant Siegfried Bettman, and used a Bosch magneto!)
Not that Triumph had it all their own way. After they had won the Isle of Man TT in 1912 and earned team prizes in the International Six-days Trial, Douglas Motorcycles were also asked to build machines for the British army and provided at least 25,000 350cc “fore and aft” side-valve, 2-speed flat twins.
