Bayonet
From Free net encyclopedia
Bluewave (Talk | contribs)
/* History */ Linked Louis XIV
Next diff →
Current revision
Image:Bayonet OKC-3S - Ontario Knife Company.jpg A bayonet (from French "baïonnette") is a knife- or dagger-shaped weapon designed to fit on or over the muzzle of a rifle or similar weapon. It is a close combat weapon.
Contents |
History
Image:Bayonette-p1000740.jpg The evolution of the bayonet can be traced to a certain extent to a fortuitous accident. In the mid-17th century irregular military conflicts of rural France, the peasants of the Southern French town of Bayonne, having run out of powder and shot, rammed their long-bladed hunting knives into the muzzles of their primitive muskets to fashion impromptu spears, and by necessity created an ancillary weapon that was to influence Western European infantry tactics until the early 20th century. The weapon was introduced into the French army by General Jean Martinet.
The benefit of such a dual-purpose arm contained in one was soon apparent. The early muskets fired at a slow rate (about a round per minute when loading with loose powder and ball), and were unreliable. Bayonets provided a useful addition to the weapon-system when an enemy charging to contact could cross the musket's killing ground (a range of approximat. 100 yards/metres at the most optimistic) at the expense of perhaps only one volley from their waiting opponents. A foot long bayonet, extending to a regulation 17 inches (approx. 43 centimetres) during the Napoleonic period, on a 5 foot (almost 2 metre) tall musket achieved a reach similar to the infantry spear, and later halberd, of earlier times.
Early bayonets were of the "plug" type. The bayonet had a round handle that fit directly into the musket barrel. This naturally prevented the gun from being fired. In 1671 plug bayonets were issued to the French regiment of fusiliers then raised. They were issued to part of an English dragoon regiment raised in 1672 and disbanded in 1674, and to the Royal Fusiliers when raised in 1685. The danger incurred by the use of this bayonet (which put a stop to all fire) was felt so early that the younger Puysgur saw a ring-bayonet in 1678 which could be fixed without stopping the fire. The English defeat at the Battle of Killiecrankie in 1689 was due (among other things) to the use of the plug-bayonet; and shortly afterwards the defeated leader, Hugh Mackay, is believed to have introduced a ring-bayonet of his own invention. Soon "socket" bayonets offset the blade from the muzzle. The bayonet attached over the outside of the barrel with a ring-shaped socket, secured on later models by a spring-loaded catch on the muzzle of the musket barrel.
A trial with badly-fitting socket or zigzag bayonets was made after the battle of Fleurus, 1690, in the presence of Louis XIV, who refused to adopt them. Shortly after the peace of Ryswick (1697), the English and Germans abolished the pike and introduced these bayonets, and plates of them are given in Surirey de St. Remy's Mémoires d'Artillerie, published in Paris in that year; but owing to a military cabal they were not issued to the French infantry until 1703. Henceforward the bayonet became, with the musket or other firearm, the typical weapon of infantry.
Many socket bayonets were triangular in order to provide sideways stability of the blade without much increase in weight. This design of bayonet did not include a handle to use the blade apart from the gun. The triangular bayonet also created wounds which were difficult to stitch when attended to by a medic (it is more difficult to stitch a three sided wound than a two sided wound). Thus making the wound more likely to become infected.
18th and 19th century military tactics included various massed bayonet charges and defences. The British Army was particularly known for its bayonet use, although towards the early 19th century and the flowering of Napoleonic warfare, the primacy of regular and speedy volley-fire saw the British eclipse their opponents in line to line infantry combat.
Despite the British Army's fame from bayonet use, it was the Russian Army who used the bayonet the most times in any Napoleonic conflict. Their motto was 'The Bullet is foolish, the Bayonet wise'. This implies that the bullet of a musket was wildly inaccurate (which was true in most cases) but with the close quarters of bayonet fighting, it was hard to miss.
Bayonets were experimented with through much of the 18th and 19th centuries. In the United States Navy during the American Civil War, bayonets were even affixed to single shot pistols, although they soon proved useless for anything but cooking. Cutlasses remained the favoured cutting weapon for the Navy at the time. Queen Victoria's Royal navy gave up, in favor of the cutlass bayonet, the pikes which were once served out to repel attacks of boarders. Image:Prussian bayonet clean.jpg
Design
Modern bayonets are often knife-shaped with handles and a socket, or permanently attached to the rifle as with the SKS. Depending on where and when a specific SKS was manufactured, it may have a permanently attached bayonet with a knife-shaped blade (Russian, Romanian, Yugoslavian, early Chinese), or a cruciform (late Chinese) or triangular (Albanian) spike bayonet of the type outlawed by the Geneva Accords, or no bayonet at all.
Most modern bayonets have a fuller (visible on the top half of the blade shown above), which is a concave depression in the blade designed to reduce the weight and increase the stiffness of the blade. Some speculate that this design feature makes a bayonet easier to withdraw after a stabbing attack by allowing air into the wound it produces, or to allow blood to drain from it, but in fact fullers have not been experimentally shown to have such an effect.
Modern use
Image:Fass90-bayonette-p1000786.jpg Even in modern warfare, bayonets are still used as weapons because, although most combat occurs at a distance, troops are always required to close with an enemy to "mop-up". British forces for example performed bayonet charges during the Falklands War and the invasion of Iraq [1].
"The purpose of a bayonet is to stick your enemy as quickly and as many times as freaking possible," says Staff Sgt. James Hall, USMC bayonet instructor. Trainees at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot in San Diego get their first instruction in using the bayonet as a lethal weapon on their 10th day. The essence of bayonet fighting is to spring forward from a modified crouch and thrust the blade into the enemy. Recruits are taught how to slash an enemy diagonally from shoulder to hipbone and how to use a bayonet to push aside the enemy's weapon.
"We've created this myth that we can stay in the clouds and win wars," said bayonet expert Homer Brett, who serves as a consultant to the Marine Corps. "But the only way to control territory is with infantry, and for the individual fighter on the ground, a bayonet is indispensable."
The advent of heavy artillery decreased their usefulness. Bayonet charges during the trench warfare of World War I were notably unsuccessful.
In a modern context, bayonets are known to be particularly good for controlling prisoners, poking an enemy to see whether he is dead and for when the fighter is out of ammunition or so close to the enemy that firing a round is impossible.
A bayonet also remains useful as a utility knife, and as an aid to combat morale. Training in the use of the bayonet (i.e. fixed to a rifle and used to impale hanging sacks of straw) has been given precedence long after the combat role of the bayonet declined as it is thought to increase desired aggressiveness in troops. Despite the limitations of the bayonet, it is still issued in most armies and most armies still train with them.
In close-order drill the command to fix bayonets is a two-part command. It consists of the preparatory order "Fix" and the execution order "BAYONETS". It is only issued from the Order Arms position. The commands to "Fix" and "Unfix" bayonets are among the only drill commands not executed in a specified cadence.
The United States
Image:M9bayonet2.jpg Image:M6 Bayonet.jpg
The modern sawback U.S. M9 Bayonet, officially adopted in 1984, is issued with a special sheath designed to double as a wire cutter, developed by Phrobis III. Some production runs of the M9 have a fuller and some do not, depending upon which contractor manufactured that batch and what the military specs were at the time. The M9 Bayonet partially replaced, but is used in addition to the older M6 and M7 Bayonets, introduced in 1957 and 1964 respectively. Many troops have retained the M7, since the M9 has a reputation for breakage, due to a combination of its thin blade and varying quality among the various contractors used. As of 2002, the US Marine Corps is also issuing small quantities of new bayonets of a different design from the M9, with an 8" Bowie knife-style blade and no fuller, manufactured by the Ontario Knife Company of New York. This new bayonet, the OKC-3S is cosmetically similar to the Marines' famed Ka-bar fighting knife. The weapon upgrade is part of a push begun four years ago by then-Commandant Gen. James L. Jones to expand and toughen hand-to-hand combat training for Marines, including more training in the martial arts and knife fighting. The new bayonet -- with a steel blade 8 inches long, 15/16 inches wide and which weighs 1 1/4 pounds with its scabbard -- is slightly longer, thicker and heavier than the current model M9. A sharper point and serrations near the handle help penetrate body armor that many modern adversaries wear. In one demonstration, a prototype was able to pierce a punching bag covered with aircraft aluminum and a bulletproof flak jacket. Also, the handle is more oval than round to prevent repetitive-stress injuries during training. "We spent a lot of time making sure the handle was ergonomically correct," said Nick Trbovich Jr., president and chief executive of Ontario Knife Co., which won the Marine bayonet contract after a yearlong competition. "There are no blister points on the handle. The Marines are the best and they deserve the best." It can also double as a fighting knife.
Cultural impact
The push-twist motion of fastening the modern bayonet has given name to several connectors and contacts including the bayonet-fitting light bulb that is common in the UK (as opposed to the continental screw-fitting type), and the BNC ("Bayonet Neill-Concelman") RF connector. Bayonet-type connections are also common among detachable lens for cameras.
The bayonet has become a symbol of military power. The term "at the point of a bayonet" refers to using military force or action to accomplish, maintain, or defend something.
Bayonets are associated with brutal offensives or desperate last stands as they can only be used in very close quarters and so the order to fix bayonets onto rifles has a foreboding nature to soldiers. Undertaking a task 'with fixed bayonets' has this connotation of no room for compromise and is a phrase used particularly in politics.
Sources and External links
- This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition{{#if:{{{article|}}}| article {{#if:{{{url|}}}|[{{{url|}}}}} "{{{article}}}"{{#if:{{{url|}}}|]}}{{#if:{{{author|}}}| by {{{author}}}}}}}, a publication now in the public domain.
- http://www.old-smithy.info/index.htm
See also
de:Bajonett es:Bayoneta fi:Pistin fr:Baïonnette he:כידון io:Bayoneto ja:銃剣 no:Bajonett pl:Bagnet ro:baionetă ru:Штык sl:Bajonet sv:Bajonett