Italian elite regiment forced to climb Alps carrying bicycles and machine guns

I know something of Belgian military bicycling bands. Here from 1909 is another photogenic but doomed military enterprise:

Keep taking the drugs, Riccardo. The photo is from the November 1909 edition of Por esos mundos, which concluded that the French could beat the Germans, that the British had successively reformed their military following lessons learned in South Africa and in Spain’s glorious campaigns in North Africa, and which said the following of Rome’s cracked troops:

In its bersaglieri Italy has the most picturesque and curious infantry in Europe: made up of some of the most vigorous and bravest men in the country, they are distinguished by always moving around in double quick march, whether they are operating in open countryside or parading along city streets, keeping it up indefinitely… Each regiment of bersaglieri is also equipped with a company of cyclists composed of one hundred and twenty men and commanded by a captain and four lieutenants; these troops are specially prepared for the exploration of ground to be crossed by operational columns.

Trevor @ 6 October 2008 7:53 AM

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