Folding Bicycles Carried Canadians Inland

Canadian troops brought more than 1,000 folding bicycles ashore at Juno Beach on D-Day so infantrymen could travel inland faster and more quietly than on foot. Although the Birmingham Small Arms Company designed its Airborne Folding Bicycle for paratroopers, the military also issued it to infantry and service units. Two wing nuts allowed soldiers to fold the frame in half for easier transport and discard the bicycle when it was no longer useful. French civilians later recovered many abandoned bikes and used them during wartime and postwar fuel shortages.

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