BAYONET FIGHTING!

I know something about bayonet fighting..

  • YES

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • HEARD OF IT

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  • HEY, I'M AN EXPERT BAYONET FIGHTER!

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    1

SAINT

Active member
Nowadays, the military seems to be so focused on hi-tech hardware that people seem to have forgotten about the basic skills of a good soldier other than able to hit an enemy 1000 feet away with your rifle-- it's bayonet fighting!

In a real war and in the heat of a battle, soldiers may come face to face with one another (whether in the thick tropical jungle or in built-up areas). A soldier will see the face of his enemy in a flash of moment. Sometimes, it's so close, you can't point and shoot. BUT you can kill the enemy will your bayonet fixed to your rifle -- if you know your bayonet fighting well. Knock out your enemy with the butt of your rifle or with a straight thrust to his heart and twist as your pull your rifle out. :?

It's either you do this... or your enemy sticking his bayonet into your heart. It's got to be fast and instinctive.

An M-16 is a good weapon to fix a bayonet on. So is the AK-47. They are strong and tough rifles. I'm not sure the more recent types of rifles are long or tough enough to have a bayonet fixed for fighting face to face.

So you think bayonet fighting is important?
 
U.S. Army FM 21-150 covers bayonet fighting and other hand to hand techniques: http://atiam.train.army.mil/portal/atia/adlsc/view/public/297101-1/fm/3-25.150/ch7.htm#p3

Personally, I wouldn’t carry a bayonet because I am handy with a bolt action rifle, and I like my targets around 300 yards to 1000 yards. There are a lot of countries that focus so much more on melee than we do; for example, not many men can fight a North Korean fanatic and live to tell about it (if you ever see these nuts fight, you’ll know what I’m talking about). I wouldn’t want to fight an Islamic terrorist either because they are often hopped on hashish. The little bastards get shot, and even though they bleed to death later, they fight like nothing happened because they are too drugged up to feel anything!
 
Well often in a real actual war where you're against a competent enemy, fighting can end up hand to hand.
Bayonet skills can give your guys the edge in situations like that.
But nowadays because American firepower is so much better the chances of American or American supported forces actually getting that close to the enemy is rather small.
 
Food for thought:

Firepower alone may be insufficient to drive a determined enemy from his position. Where confined spaces or situations may not permit the reloading of the rifle or the use of grenades, the bayonet may become the primary weapon in destroying the enemy. It is essential that bayonet training is conducted regularly to instil aggression, self-confidence and psychological preparation in both the individual and the team.


A quote:

"We did fix bayonets because I believe bayonets kill people and are useful............It certainly saved my life."

From a Major in the Scots Guards during the Falkland Island War.
 
I had the privilege of meeting a Medal of Honor recipient named Walter Ehlers who earned his award over three days of fighting in Normandy. At one point, he took out an enemy mortar position and killed the 9 Germans who occupied it with his bayonet. One of my buddies asked him why he would assault a position like that, and he told us, "I had a bayonet, they didn't."
 
It could be that the US Army is trained in bayonet fighting using the M-16 rifle that the M-16 is still in use today.

If you have a new type of rifle, you have to train the soldiers to fight differently using that new weapon. And it may not be as effective as the M-16 which has a good butt and a long strong barrel.

:rambo:
 
BAYONET is simply a part of the training.

Even Chinese Type-95 got a BAYONET on it:
type95_rifle58_2.jpg
 
preferably a longer bayonet then the enemy has would be good.
the enfeild no4 short spike bayonet was unpopular in new guinea thanks to the japs having a long sword bayonet that was about two or three times it length.
 
In the jungles bayonet fighting has it's purpose, in built up (urban) areas it does not. Fighting in the city and in buildings is fast and furious fighting no doubt. But with the right kind of training, there would never be a need for a bayonet. Besides it makes your rifle that much longer and harder to manuever through buildigns with. I would like to see the military start training people in SWAT team tactics. A highly trained and well disciplined SWAT team could teach some excellent MOUT ( Military Operations in Urban Terrain) courses to the military.
 
Bayonet figting may not seem useful... until you run out of ammo...
This happened to my SAI (senior army instructor), luckily he still had some grenades... :twisted:
 
Rotty261 said:
I would like to see the military start training people in SWAT team tactics. A highly trained and well disciplined SWAT team could teach some excellent MOUT ( Military Operations in Urban Terrain) courses to the military.

Not quite. Law Enforcement is a completely different animal than the military. We may use some of the same tactics in certain situations, but we have different goals, different tools and different skills sets. A LE tactics team can teach the military very little concerning military operations.
 
Not quite. Law Enforcement is a completely different animal than the military. We may use some of the same tactics in certain situations, but we have different goals, different tools and different skills sets. A LE tactics team can teach the military very little concerning military operations.


I have been on a military SWAT team and served in overseas combat situations and the tactics are quite the same in small scale urban conflicts. The military and civilian LE teams use a lot of the same tools and while different goals are sometimes sought after the end solution is always the same, eliminate the threat and bring home all the good guys. I have trained extensively with civilian police agencies while in the military and the skills that are wanted are equal. An experienced SWAT team could teach young inexperienced military members a lot of things that could help make the missions more successful and keep them out of harms way. How to quickly and effectively breach doorways, enter rooms, avoid the fatal funnel, and general overall small teams tactics.
 
Rotty261 said:
I have been on a military SWAT team and served in overseas combat situations and the tactics are quite the same in small scale urban conflicts. The military and civilian LE teams use a lot of the same tools and while different goals are sometimes sought after the end solution is always the same, eliminate the threat and bring home all the good guys. I have trained extensively with civilian police agencies while in the military and the skills that are wanted are equal. An experienced SWAT team could teach young inexperienced military members a lot of things that could help make the missions more successful and keep them out of harms way. How to quickly and effectively breach doorways, enter rooms, avoid the fatal funnel, and general overall small teams tactics.

I have to disagree with you. In my 20+ years in the military, I've trained with and also trained several LE special tactics and rescue units. Law Enforcement and military are at completely different ends of the spectrum. Allowing a "SWAT cop" to train your basic infantryman would be a mistake that could eventually cost lives. We have different SOPs, we have different rules and we have different goals. All of these things must be taken into consideration when teaching even the most basic of tactics. Different mindsets.

Nonetheless, I seemed to have steered us on an off topic course. This discussion is perhaps better saved for another topic.
 
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