MOTOR CYCLIST SOLDIERS.

King Country Chronicle, Volume IX, Issue 736, 13 January 1915, Page 3

MOTOR CYCLIST SOLDIERS.

A USEFUL CORPS,

The English motor cyclists in France and Belgium are cbing splendid work, and every general staff officer Cannot say enough in praise of the valuable services rendered at the front by the motor cycle despatch riders. An Englsh war correspondent recently had an opportunity of observing, and chatting with a number of their couriers at an obscure little French' village, and as a corps he states that the English motor cyclist unit certainly has not its -equal in any of the armies In the field. After dealing enthusiastically with their invaluable services he writes: —•

"For the moment I am thinking only of the spirit of those youngsters who gathered round me in the circle of light thrown by their powerful lamps, restnig on their travel-stained machines, eager, impulsive, highspirited boys, laughing at the layer of petrol-scented dust, in Which hair and hands were covered, making light of the miles behind them as of the miies to come, though a cold and frosty dawn lay between them and their ultimate destination. Most of them had a rifle slung across their backs; some had none, but a revolver was strapped to the leather belt encircling their dusty over-alls. On the carrier behind them they mostly carried a begrimed sack with their possessions—a brush and comb, a tooth brush, sleeping things, and shaving tackle, with perhaps a few maps. Looking at them so dusty, so dirty, and so bright and cheerful, I* could not help thinking of them as many of them were in-London, the immaculate motor cyclist of the suburbs, witn the lady of his affections instead of a grimy pack on the carrier sbehind: AM classes are represented among the Army motor cyclists. Most of them ar9 undergraduates or public school boys, many have come from the Officers'' Training Corps, many are clerks and shop assistants. All the varied accents of class and county are heard in their speech, from the studied correctness of Oxford to the homely burr of the West. But the most complete democracy exists among these u knights o*f the road. Cliques and classes seem to have vanished when the blue and white armbands of the Signalling Corps of , the Royal Engineers—the emblem of their branch —waa fastened to their sleeve. Doubtless, after the manner of Englishmen herding together, they have also evolved their own code of manners and customs from which it is not permitted to move an inch. One thing I know, anything like "grousing" or shirking is barred. I clothes brush to one bronzed young man who was J so smothered in dust that he looked as if he had been dropped into, a flour bin. He politely declined it, "If you look properly dusty," he said apologetically, "they'llj see you've not been shirking, don't you know?" All the time we were talking more dusty and enthusiastic young men kept whirling in; A large convoy of Army motor lorries was parking for the nighfc_in the market place, and one by one the lorries came lumber-: ing up. Every now and then a high pillar of dust would . come skirting jn and but of the clumsy vans. It would eventually materialise into a. perfectly cool and extremely cheerful youtb, who was quite willing to talk about vhe war and his experiences, and~who seemed only to remember as an afterthought that he had come Bixty miles by road, had had practically nothing to eat or drink all .day, that he was both tired and thirsty, and had forty odd miles to .go: 'before.-d'abyreak. Hia first thought is nis machine, which he honours with a comprehensive.glance travelling from" the mascot in front to the back tyre; then, learning that there is a newcomer fresh from England present, he wants to come into the circle and hear the news, accepting a cigarette with a quiet Lawfulness that is perfectly charming. The life is none too easy. The motor cyclist has mostly to Bhift for himself; he moves too fast, and too often, to be provided' for. by the machinery the Army arranges for finding quarters. On arrival at headquarters with a despatch, after he has presented -it and been dismased until wanted again, he sets out' to find —Somewhere to wash, something to eat, somewhere to sleep, and where-the petrol is kept. 'JNo speed limit, thrills all round, an open air life, and lots of variety' is tbe way in which one of the motor cyclists summed up his life at the front. They are the gallopers of. modern war, though they must stick to the roads, but some of these daredevils try to use their machins across open country with dire results. All along the straight white roads leading to the zone of operations you may meet them whirring by in clouds of dust —gone before you can bid them God-speed. Their total lack of sentimentality about themselves and their work, their unselfishness towards one another, and their disregard of danger are worthy of the highest traditions of the British Army. Meeting them one" begins to understand something of that moral ascendancy which, according to official despatches, 'French's contemptible little army' haß already succeeded in establishing over the German troops.' Yet these boys have not been soldiering • long enuugh to absorb the traditions of the Army. One would like to think that theirs is the spirit of us all."