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So. The bayonet. Necessary gear or overglorified MRE opener? In this TED talk...
For my new followers, this might be a good inflection point to unfollow if 20-30 tweet long threads on military equipment or small unit tactics isn't your jam.
For my new followers, this might be a good inflection point to unfollow if 20-30 tweet long threads on military equipment or small unit tactics isn't your jam.
The bayonet is probably best known in an American context for its place on Civil War battlefields where assaulting troops had *one* shot they can make while advancing (without pausing) and then followed through by turning their rifle or musket into a spear. The bayonet clung on
in martial history all the way through WWI, where it remained a huge component of military training and reigned supreme in martial attitudes of the day as the ultimate final measure to defeat an enemy's morale and crush them. That of course began to falter with automatic weapons.
The bayonet was, for a large period of history, a psychological weapon, responsible for few actual casualties (less than 1% in the Civil War). But when you could see a mass of your opponent advancing towards you,particularly if part of your line had broken, with gleaming bayonets
you might reevalute standing still in your own line fully exposed to a big stabby stick once you'd already discharged your single shot weapon. This changes quite a bit when you stop standing in a line waiting to receive the enemies charge and now occupy trenches, bunkers, & other
hardpoints from which you can fire your 5-10 rounds at a time before rapidly reloading 5-10 more rounds, all whilst supported by machine gun fire that is rapidly reducing that line of charging troops into smaller groups as some are cut down and others have to pause to seek cover.
Moreover, amidst the smoke, possibly gas, debris from artillery barrages & cacophony of rifle & machine gun fire as the enemy began to approach on a WWI battlefield it's unlikely soldiers returning fire from their trench could even discern if the attacker had bayonets mounted
until extremely close range at which point the bayonet would become a liability for any assaulter trying to navigate the narrow confines of the trenches. This was made evident by the numerous experiments (and adoptions) of shotguns, pistols, and submachine guns. The bayonet was
perhaps somewhat well adapted for charging troops who couldn't reload on the move and had only a single shot in their musket. Against entrenched defenders or opponents in urban/confined settings it was an extreme liability for the attacker. Post WWI, the bayonet remained standard
issue and consistently featured in the training of all major combatant armies. But with each successive major conflict it's use became less and less culminating in it's place today: useless. As @iAmTheWarax noted, similarly for my deployments, we were issued a very nice and
fancy bayonet made specifically for the Marine Corps. My first deployment we were just ordered to hand it over and it was locked away in my SSgts hooch so we didn't loose them. That was a relief because I didn't want to have to carry that thing anyway. In Afghanistan we were
given a choice to keep it or turn it in. I don't think anyone besides our (fucking idiot) Sergeant Major kept theirs. No one carried it on patrol. Everyone had a small knife or two (I had a t-handle push dagger [yeah, I was young and stupid] and a multi-tool). The vast majority
of the time you use a knife to open MREs, cut rope, or carve dicks into the porta-shitter wall. The role it's envisioned for, assaulting the enemy, is a thing of the past. The current justification I usually hear is "what if you run out of ammo?" and that's funny one. Firstly if
I completely run out of ammo and an enemy (with ammo) continues to exist near me, I'm fucked and gonna die. A pointy stick isn't gonna stop an enemy who just needs to stay 3 feet away from me to kill me. And at the end of the day, I still have 7-9lb metal club that I am literally
trained to use as a melee weapon. You could carry all manner of equipment to guarantee you are prepared for EVERY situation and a bayonet fits that. There are definitely the "rather have and not need..." crowd and perhaps they have a point. But a Marine bayo weights 1.25 lbs. And
the rest of your gear weighs a fuck ton. If I'm carrying something, it's gonna have a purpose. You know what else weighs 1.25 lbs? A loaded magazine. Having 30 more chances to avoid having to go hand to hand sounds like a good idea to me. An M67 grenade weighs 14 oz. Also
something I'd rather have more. And a bayonet is bulky. Over a foot long. With the rifle/MG, grenades, ammo, water, pouches, cleaning kit, med kit, radio, batteries, GPS, etc etc, space is at a premium on the modern fighter's kit.
Here's where people tend to get mad at me.
They point to Brit bayo charges in Afghanistan and Iraq as proof positive of the continued utility of the bayonet. As though the Taliban & al-Qaeda looked up over their firing positions to discern the attackers had bayonets before they decided to flee. Speed,intensity, & violence
of action carried the day there, which the British troops had in droves. A heavily armed force willing to make the rush into gun fire to displace a smaller and less disciplined sometimes just works. Bayonets don't make the difference there. It's not as though had bayonets not
been mounted the opponents would have stuck around. The psychological effect of the bayonet has been surrendered to an enemy equipped with automatic weapons that even the poorest trained militant can use to great effect before an opponent can get to stabbing distance. There will
always be instances of individuals getting to close combat distances and fighting with knives, rocks, clubs etc etc that will bayonet advocates will point to as proof of their utility. The reality is that General Reality has dictated troops stop carrying them in the vast majority
of combat units. Their use has been relegated to static guard points, prisoner details/riot control, ceremony, and boot camp as a means of instilling a martial spirit.
The bayonet is dead. Automatic fire and small unit warfare killed it.
The bayonet is dead. Automatic fire and small unit warfare killed it.
