The New Zealand Cyclist Corps was an administrative corps of the New Zealand Military Forces during the First World War. It was formed in April 1916, initially as a single company, but by 1918 had been expanded to a battalion of three companies. The cyclists saw action on the Western Front, but were controlled at corps level and generally did not fight with the New Zealand Division. The New Zealand Cyclist Corps was disbanded at the end of the war. History Following the evacuation from Gallipoli, the New Zealand Division was formed and following new British doctrine was organised to have a company of cyclists. The 1st New Zealand Cyclist Company was formed in April 1916 at Trentham camp from men who had been training to join the New Zealand Mounted Rifles. The cyclists arrived on the Western Front in July 1916, but by this time it had instead been decided to from a cyclist battalion controlled at corps level. The New Zealand company was subsequently used to form No. 1 and No. 2 companies of II ANZAC Corps Cyclist Battalion, while the No. 3 company was formed from the Australian 5th Divisional Cyclist Company. Each company was organised into three platoons and the battalion had a nominal strength of 326 (26 officers and 310 other ranks), roughly a third the strength of an infantry battalion. The theoretical mobility of the cyclists was of little value on the western front were static trench warfare had set in. Although II ANZAC Corps Cyclist Battalion spent some time in the front line trenches and conducted raids against German positions, it primarily provided working parties for infrastructural work. In particular, the cyclists were regularly tasked with laying telephone cables in deep trenches to avoid cutting of the wire by artillery fire. Over the course of the war, the battalion laid a total of 5600 miles of telephone cables in trenches dug to 6-8 feet deep. The cyclists were engaged in such work during the Battle of Passchendaele, while during the Battle of Messines they were tasked with clearing a track through no-mans land for the Otago Mounted Rifles to advance through. From January 1917 the cyclists were provided with two Lewis guns per company (six per battalion). Later in July the battalion was restructured with 4 platoons per company, but with only a small increase in nominal strength to 338 (15 officers and