"FIX SWORDS!"

Evening Post, Volume LXXXVIII, Issue 52, 29 August 1914, Page 3

"FIX SWORDS!"

THE BAYONET BUSINESS AFTER YEARS OP INVENTION COLD STEEL FOLLOWS FIRE.

Man's machines for spreading death and ruin in war have gained in power till to-day the contemplation of their capacity to kill or maim is not an aid to dreamless sleep. Recent cable messages have referred to German masses "movrn down like corn," or demolished as if "smitten by a giant with a, titanic axe." Yet cold steel seems still to be playing a hot enough part in war. Lead and scrap-iron may sweep a landscape, but men get through somehow, by the help of .various cover or even straighton desperate dashes— and the years of invention vanish with the first clash of tempered steel. It is the old primeval struggle of man with man, the glare of eyes that know the decision of life or death is to be short, and not sweet. WHO LIKES THE BAYONET? Some of the reports have mentioned an eagerness of the French to get at the Germans with the bayonet. The sons of the Republic have been credited with a passion for the bayonet, and Germane are said to have an equal distaste. "The Germans do not like the bayonet," stated one despatch, which means that the Germans do not like to be perforated or prodded to death or disablement by a sharp twirling blade. The comment on the Germans' non-fondness of this treatment implies that there may be men of other nations who regard a bayonet poke as a good joke, or a pleasant stimulus to the vital system. The experience of modern wars shows that the enjoyment of the bayonet depends on whether a man is in front or behind the business end. Of course, there are soldiers, of some countries who inherit a preference for close-quarters work. The Russians are in this class j they like to have the enemy's body near enough for a thrust. "His strong point is stolid endurance rather than brilliant dash, but the traditions of the Russian army with regard to the bayonet are deeply implanted in him ; every Russian soldier is firmly convinced that the bayonet is in every respect superior to the bullet," wrote an English officer in a review of infantry tactics of the Russo-Japanese war. OPINIONS DIFFER. One British officer (Colonel J. W. G. Tulloch, Indian Army), who went' through the Manchurian campaign with a Japanese division, wrote :~— "This war has so far undoubtedly proved that- determined assaulting infantry will eventually have to use the bayonet against stubborn defenders before they can gain their objective ; it ha* also proved that when opposing forces are in close contact night attacks are feasible, sod in the majority of cases, when carried out with determination, they are successful. These facts make worthy of consideration the question of readopting swords for officers and of retaining as long a combined rifle and bayonet as are possessed by our possible enemies. The Japanese successes with the bayonet are due to personal activity on the part of the infantry soldier, a quality which is not to be found developed to neaily so high a degree in any European army." Another observer of the' Russo-Japan-ese war (Lieutenant-Colonel Haldane, D.5.0.) has stated : "Th© fights, for localities, which have been a feature of the battles of Manchuria, clearly point to the necessity of making men expert in the use of the bayonet. Of late years 1 am told that this matter has been somewhat overlooked by the Japanese, but it is now held that bayonet-fighting must be regarded in future as an important part of an infantry soldier's training." A Japanese officer has .remarked :—: — "Hand-to-hand fighting, so far as my expedience goes, lasts generally a few minutes, but at one place we fought for ten minutes — a regular melee, in which we, were very much crowded together." In a general report on experiences of the Russo-Japanese War, Colonel Waters, C.V.0., C.M.G., after a reference to the frequent occurrence of hand-to-hand fighting, says :—"lf: — "If troops who are about to be attacked with the bayonet be good shots, and not hopelessly outnumbered, I consider that no infantry could get near enough to them to use the bayonet, or, to put it another way, fire should be the predominant factor in a battle. . . Experience in; the field soon taught the Russians that, in the attack, fire was better than the bayonet, and extension preferable to the close order in which they had been trained." _ Grouping the various opinions of British authorities, the deduction is : Cold steel fits well with hot fire. The enemy has to be>punished by the artillery and field guns before an attack, and worried by covering fire while the bayonets advance. THE BAYONET'S EVOLUTION. Though etymologists still dispute about the origin of the word bayonet, it is commonly believed that the name is derived from Bayorine (France), w # here the short dagger known as the • bayonnette wae first made towards the end of the fifteenth century. In the middle of the seventeenth century Continental musketeers used steel daggers fixed in a wooden haft, which fitted into the muzzle of the firearm. There is circumstantial evidence that English troops .used plug-bayonets (then called daggers) at Tangier in 1663-4. This attachment had one obvious disadvantage ; it stopped firing. It is stated than, a contributory cause to the defeat of the English by the Scotch at Killicrankie in 1689 was the fire-preventive plug-bayonet. This theory is supported by the fact that soon after his misfortune the English General (Mackay) invented and introduced a ring bayonet which could be fixed without checking the fire. Socket and ring bayonets of various designs were used till 1805, when Sir John Moore introduced a bayonet fastened to the musket by a spring clip. The triangular bayonet remained, and was used in the British Army until the magazine rifle was adopted, when it was replaced by the sword-bayonet. The Russians still have the triangular weapon, which was without 'edges during the Russo-Japanese war. Thus, in a report of one experience a Japanese officer remarked :—"ln: — "In the caee of the two men kiUed with my sword I managed to catch hold of the bayonet in my left hand ; this has often been a disadvantage to the Russian infantry." CHANGING FASHIONS. Early forms of the blade had a. serrated back, a very ugly saw. which eveii comparatively young soldiers remember welL The "lacerator" is obsolete in nearly all armies^ if not in all. In 1891 the Italians used a carbine with an inseparable bayonet, but the permanent fixture has 'gone out of fashiop — as an Irishman may say. The United States, in 1905, adopted a. short rifle with a rod- bayonet. This weapon, when not in use, Tested in the Joie-end ot the ritle, like a ramrod, and was run. out when required. This innovation woe not copied by other coun-