A friend gave me the rather sad reason for the shift from horses to bicycles:
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The substitution was due to the fact that the slaughter of horses was so immense that all the agricultural horses had been rounded up, enforcing the total mechanization of British farming. Even this was not sufficient, so when no more than a tiny residue of horses remained, which were necessary to draw heavy munitions, bicycles were issued for the cavalrymen?s use.
I am getting ready to give a presentation on my grandfather's service in World War I at a Great War conference in Philadelphia in May.
Chris
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