Bayonet? Can Modern Warfare still be used?
In the movie "Northern and Southern War", facing the friendly artillerymen rushing to the battlefield in artillery carts, the PLA infantry soldiers proudly said, "Don't forget that cannons cannot be equipped with bayonets. To solve the battle, we must rely on We infantry!" From this point of view, the bayonet is an important equipment for infantry in close combat.
However, as a pure cold weapon, how did the bayonet wade through the long river of history and enter the 21st century that is called modern?
The original origin of the bayonet was actually due to the shortcomings of primitive firearms. When the flintlock gun entered the historical stage, its reliability and performance were very "unreliable". In addition to its limited power and frequent firing failures, loading was also extremely time-consuming and laborious, with each loading taking one to two minutes or even longer. Time is nothing unusual. Once an accident occurs, such as failure to fire or running out of ammunition, the musketeers may have to face enemy cavalry or infantry. In the subsequent close encounter, the musket that cannot be fired in the hands of the musketeers will never be more useful than a wooden stick. In order not to let They died under the enemy's swords and spears, and they must be equipped with fighting weapons of sufficient length. This was the initial trigger for the bayonet.
The bayonet is called Bayonet in modern English. The word actually comes from the French Bayonnette - it is said that the bayonet was first born in Bayonne, France, and began to be equipped with the French army in 1647. One theory that most people are willing to agree with is that during a military conflict that broke out in the French countryside in the mid-17th century, soldiers in the southern town of Bayonne eagerly took out their long hunting knives after running out of ammunition. The handle of the knife was inserted into the muzzle of the gun and used as a temporary spear. This may be the original origin of the bayonet.
There is also a saying that the bayonet was not invented as a military equipment. It was originally only needed for hunting. This statement also has its merits. The shooting accuracy of early muskets was very poor, and it took a long time to load. It would be very dangerous to use such muskets to hunt large and ferocious beasts.
Once a hit is missed, the hunter has almost no chance to reload, so the bayonet may be their last resort. The Spaniards strongly support this statement, because since the 17th century, Spanish hunting firearms have been equipped with self-defense weapons with sharp blades. Many people believe that this equipment was later borrowed by the French and eventually became a standard equipment of the French army.
Looking back at the evolution of the bayonet. The earliest bayonet was called a plug bayonet. Its shape was a double-edged spear point with a conical metal handle. When using it, soldiers would insert the conical metal handle of the bayonet directly into the muzzle of the musket and then plug it hard. Just tight. Such a bayonet obviously solved the problem of hand-to-hand combat for the musketeers, but there were many problems with this primitive bayonet: First, the bayonet was inserted directly into the muzzle, which meant that it was impossible to shoot in combat, and the soldiers were busy installing the bayonet. At this time, they had no protection - they could neither shoot nor use bayonets.
There was an extremely unfortunate example in 1689 - when the English army and the Scottish army were facing off at Killais, when a British army was installing bayonets after firing ammunition, the brave Scottish Highlanders The British troops launched a sudden attack. The British soldiers were unable to fight back, their positions were in chaos, and almost the entire army was wiped out.
In addition to being unable to shoot after the bayonet is installed, the plug-type bayonet can easily loosen due to collision with the enemy during the stabbing process. The originally plugged bayonet is likely to suddenly fall off the muzzle. This is tragic. It is definitely a very fatal thing in the white man's fight. There is also an embarrassing situation where the plug-type bayonet may not be pulled out after a fight because it is stuffed too tightly. As a result, the musket cannot be used and becomes useless again. The dagger bayonet used with the British Becker rifle is 60 centimeters long.
In order to solve the many disadvantages of the plug bayonet, people invented the sleeve bayonet. The structure of the sleeve-type bayonet has undergone great changes. Its main structure consists of a pointed blade body with a curved end and a mounting sleeve. When using it, soldiers need to put the mounting sleeve on the outside of the barrel and tighten it. At this time, the bayonet is under the barrel. The rifle with the bayonet installed can still be loaded and fired, which greatly ensures the personal safety of soldiers. Although British soldiers have been wearing bayonets like daggers since 1775, the bayonet cannot be used alone in actual combat because the sleeve is inconvenient to hold and cannot be used alone as a dagger. The cross-section of many sleeve-type bayonets is designed to be triangular - somewhat similar to a triangular scraper. This is to reduce weight while ensuring the strength of the blade body. There was once a somewhat scary legend that the bayonet with a triangular cross-section was used to create wounds on the enemy's body that were difficult to suture and highly susceptible to infection. In fact, this was not the original intention of the bayonet - the designer just wanted to balance the weight and strength. Find balance. The Soviet Union was keen on this kind of spiked bayonet. The 1944 Mosin-Nagant rifle used a foldable cross-section spiked bayonet.
A traditional misunderstanding is that many people regard the bayonet as a brave offensive weapon for infantry, but in fact the bayonet was originally only used as a defensive weapon. The infantry in square formations relied on their bayonets to be fully capable of defending against a sudden attack by enemy cavalry - the total length of their rifles plus their bayonets allowed them to easily reach the cavalry on horseback.
The length of the musket at that time was about 1.5 meters, and the length of the bayonet was about 30-40 centimeters. In this way, the total length of the musket with a bayonet could reach 1.8-1.9 meters, which is equivalent to a spear.
Historically, some countries also tried to equip riflemen with short swords to prepare for the need for hand-to-hand combat. At the beginning of the 19th century, some British rifle regiments issued short swords to soldiers to replace the function of bayonets. With the further development of rifle technology, breech-loading rifles and magazine-fed rifles were invented one after another. With such rifles, soldiers had enough firepower and speed to repel enemy cavalry. It was from this time that the bayonet truly began to transform from a defensive weapon into a dual-purpose weapon for individual soldiers. After all, it takes time to install a split bayonet. Installing a bayonet in the heat of battle is still quite stressful. In order to solve the problem of bayonet installation, some rifles simply use permanent bayonets in their designs. This kind of bayonet is always installed under the barrel of the rifle. It can be folded and stowed backward when not in use, and folded forward and locked when in use, which greatly facilitates the conversion process and is loved by many soldiers.
The early bayonet did not adopt a multi-functional design, and basically had no other use except being mounted on a rifle for stabbing. Soldiers always hope that the bayonet can do more things. If the designer does not consider this, then the soldiers will find its own uses. The sleeve-type bayonet on the Soviet Mosin-Nagant 1891/30 rifle has a sharp and flat front end. Soldiers simply use it as a flat-head screwdriver. Some soldiers can even use it to completely disassemble a rifle. After the emergence of sleeve-type bayonets, dagger/dagger-type bayonets also appeared. The shape of this bayonet is the same as that of a dagger/dagger. The handle is equipped with a mounting slot, which can be installed under the barrel or on the mounting mechanism on the side.
Modern bayonets generally adopt a two-point installation method. The bayonet is installed on the barrel through the round hole on the handle guard, and the rear end of the handle is then locked on the latch at the back of the barrel. It is very convenient. Convenient and fast.
If you need to remove it, just press the spring-loaded unlock button. In addition to being easy to install, modern bayonets are also multi-functional and can cut wires, branches, and open cans. The length of the bayonet has become shorter, equipped with a cylindrical handle, and the blade is flat, dagger-shaped, with double or single edges. , some single-edged bayonets also have serrations on the back. Many modern bayonet blades are equipped with a longitudinal groove, which people are accustomed to call blood grooves. They think that its purpose is to cause rapid blood loss after assassination. In fact, this is another misunderstanding. The design purpose of this groove is mainly to strengthen the bending rigidity of the bayonet so that it will not easily bend and deform when stabbing.
In terms of form, there are two major schools of bayonet blade design. One is a flat dagger-like double-edged blade, and the other is a spiked spear-like blade.
Since the mid-19th century, flat blades have been widely used, and spear blades have gradually faded out of history. In terms of length, the theory that one inch is longer and one inch is stronger was once quite popular. Many countries strive to design longer bayonets so that they can stab the enemy in advance when the enemy cannot reach them.
The dagger-type bayonet used by the British infantry Becker rifle between 1800 and 1840 was 60 centimeters in length. However, such a bayonet was too long and heavy. After being installed, the rifle became top-heavy and basically useless. Aim and shoot with precision. This trend continued until World War I, when the French army equipped Lieber rifles with bayonets that were also 59 cm long.
In the 18th and 19th centuries, the chapter on bayonet use was always indispensable in the infantry tactical training tutorials of various countries. When the Russian army fought against the French army commanded by Napoleon, they often used bayonets to engage in hand-to-hand combat with the French army. At that time, the Russian general Suvorov had a famous saying, "The bullet is stupid, the bayonet is smart." This is not an exaggeration. At that time, the smoothbore flintlock gun not only lacked accuracy, but also had a short range, only about 100 meters. Only at a melee distance of several meters with a bayonet can a flintlock gun truly achieve "no miss". In many military literary works, the bayonet is praised as the iconic weapon for soldiers to bravely kill the enemy. However, in fact, few soldiers really want to use the bayonet to fight hand-to-hand with their opponents. Both the British and the French were proud of their bayonets. However, when the British and French armies clashed in Egypt in 1801, after the ammunition was exhausted, the two sides did not use their bayonets. Instead, they threw stones at each other. As a result, a British colonel was killed. The soldier was killed by stones thrown by the French. In the Battle of Inkerman in the Crimean War, facing the Russian army, the British army once again did not choose bayonets, but chose to throw stones at the Russian army. Of course, the effect was very limited. The famous book "Military History" even states that the Russian and Japanese troops, who have always given the impression of being keen on stabbing, also chose stones instead of bayonets in close combat during the wars of the 20th century.
Changes in the form of warfare in the 20th century significantly weakened the status of the bayonet. In fact, as early as the American Civil War from 1861 to 1865, the number of casualties caused by bayonets was less than one percent of the total casualties.
In modern warfare, although soldiers occasionally have to use bayonets to see red, due to the large number of automatic pistols and assault rifles, soldiers do not have to rely on bayonets even in close combat. The length of modern assault rifles is generally short. Even if a bayonet is installed, the overall length of the rifle-bayonet is also short, making it difficult to serve as a suitable stabbing weapon. It is precisely because of this that many doubt whether the bayonet should continue to be retained as a weapon. .
However, most countries still retain bayonets in automatic weapon accessories. Just in 2009, a lieutenant in the British Army in Afghanistan saved his own life with a bayonet: he was on patrol at the time. He encountered a Taliban man. When he hit the man with his rifle, the ammunition in the magazine had been exhausted. At this moment, another Taliban rushed out of the stabbing. The lieutenant immediately loaded the bayonet and faced the man. Go up and stab the enemy.
The British army also awarded him a medal afterwards. During the Korean War, the U.S. Army also fought with the Chinese People's Volunteers with bayonets. However, the U.S. Army was passive, while the Volunteer Army, which was good at fighting, was more proactive. However, behind this brave spirit, we cannot forget that the Volunteer Army lacked close combat automatic weapons and infantry support at that time. The heavy truth of weapons. With the rapid changes in the face of modern warfare, the U.S. Army announced in 2010 that it would no longer continue bayonet combat training. This may be a signal that the history of bayonet as an actual combat weapon is coming to an end.