F72080 DUTCH BICYCLE INFANTRY 1940

After the announcement of general mobilization at the beginning of World War II, the Dutch armed forces numbered about 280,000 people, most of whom served in the land army. The basic operational unit of the Dutch infantry was a division of approximately 10,000 men and a brigade of 6,000 to 7,000 men. The infantry division was made up of three regiments ranging from 2,200 to 2,600 line troops each. In addition, there were one or two artillery regiments and back-up units. One Dutch infantry regiment included three infantry battalions, an artillery battery of 4 57mm guns, an anti-tank artillery company with 6 47mm anti-tank guns, and a mortar company with 6 81mm mortars. The infantry battalion included a heavy machine gun company with 12 7.9 mm machine guns and three infantry companies with a total of 12 light machine guns. The basic infantry weapon of the infantryman was the Dutch Mannlicher model 1895 rifle. The artillery mainly used Krupp and Bofors cal. 75, 84, 125 and 150 mm weapons. It is worth adding that in 1940 - at the time of the German invasion of the Netherlands - the Dutch armed forces had a negligible number of tankettes or tanks, mainly of British production.