fundamentals-bayonets

FUNDAMENTALS FRIDAYS-BAYONETS
The following is a reprint from my days of sending out a weekly e-mail newsletter, pre-blog.  They have been helpfully packaged in an e-book http://bisonpress.com/bisonnewsletter.html
It took awhile to clean it up after I cut and pasted from the book so I don't have time to lard it with Amazon links.  Here are today's Amazon links -Rawles ( How to Survive the End of the World as We Know It: Tactics, Techniques, and Technologies for Uncertain Times ).  Bayonet ( M-16 Bayonet Knife ).  Wool socks ( 3 - Prs. Merino Wool Blend Socks ).
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SURVIVAL BAYONETS

copyrighted 2005

The Germans name nasty lunch meat after their city of origin. The French were a bit
cooler and got a rifle mounted knife named after one of theirs. Of course, that was awhile
ago and it seems the poor bastards just can't get anything else right for the last two
centuries or so. I suppose after almost taking over Europe anything else just pales in
comparison. You have to love them, what with the French Foreign Legion, their selling us lots of land cheap, and just the contrary nature of the culture. They thumb their noses at us and everyone else. France doesn't hate America, they hate everyone. Perhaps they
even may serve as a lesson to us. You can almost be the worlds superpower, then do
everything wrong in politics and economics but yet still hang in there and somehow keep
the whole country going despite setbacks. We should be so lucky in the future.

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Okay, we go back to yesteryear when the armies of the day decided that the best way to
settle their differences was to line up facing each other and shoot at each other on
command until the whole area was obscured in gunpowder smoke and then you couldn't
see who was about to kill you. And some guy in France says, "Hey, lets fire a couple of
times and then run at the other guys with sharp objects and they will crap themselves and
run and we shall be victorious and go to our campfires and eat whatever it is we
Frenchmen eat besides snails and cheese sauces to celebrate being such superior dandied
guys that wear powdered wigs and get to keep mistresses which our wives approve of
since they are busy admiring that stocky peasant from the countryside who is delivering
whatever it is that French countryside dudes bring into the city since at least he is not a
dandy that listens to ballet or opera or some such but rather swills cheap wine and leers at
all passing females and will mount them like a farm animal given half the change, even
though everyone knows the only reason the wife even got huffy in the first place was
because the guys hair looked nicer than hers, but whatever, since the best part was they
got to keep mistresses so in your face German guys with that broomstick up your butt
acting like you are sooo superior." And thus was born the bayonet. The charcoal burners
of the day were slow to reload, and thus another weapon mounted on that now empty
weapon made sense.

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What would have made more sense was to issue everyone at least two or three pistols and
a short sword if they really wanted some serious mayhem going on close quarters, but
since life was cheap and manufactured items were dear, the infantryman was lucky he even got the bayonet. I'm sure there was a bunch of bankers and politicians sitting around and bitching about giving the poor bastards adequate tools to get the job done. Why, I have no idea. The printing press came along at the same time and the greedy SOBs were
already turning out worthless money. Hell, that's how we are paying for our MidEast
conquest, just turn on the presses and make all that we need. Who cares if the poor get
poorer as their money buys less and less? We have a globe to dominate, piss on the poor what have they done for us lately? They only pay taxes and fight in the wars.

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To be effective with the smooth bores of the day, infantry had to stay in ranks and volley
fire. The ranks had to stay in formation or they were worthless as a fighting unit, and thus
the all-important training of marching and maneuvering in step with everyone else. That
was pretty much all they were taught other than reloading by the numbers to ensure
everyone was ready to fire again at the same time ( and of course military customs to
brainwash you into actually wanting to stay and fight when you knew you would most
likely die ). Thus it followed that bayonet fighting must be in formation and by the
numbers. The wall of advancing steel was effective. You knew there was a good chance
a small lead ball would miss you, but you were pretty sure that the guy with the bayonet
was going to stab you but good.

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And then came along the Industrial Revolution and the bayonet was suddenly staked up
against a heck of a lot more rifles and they were real rifles with rifled barrels and not
muskets with smooth bores and they used percussion caps rather than flintlocks and even
worse the artillery got more effective and there was a lot more of that, too. Even if the
armies of the day still used slow muzzleloaders and blackpowder the bayonet charge was
made obsolete by the increased artillery and the ability to field a much larger force. And
fifty years later the military had still fail to realize this. And even worse than still relying
on bayonets as a psychological weapon was using them against machineguns and repeating rifles. And then after a war taking a knife to a gunfight while bankrupting several colonial powers of the day and literally slaughtering an entire generation, the bayonet was still retained which might have some marginal purpose but even that was ruined by still teaching bayonet fighting as if the troops were in a mass formation two hundred years ago fighting with muzzleloaders. Parry, thrust. Like the other guy was going to stand still and fight you in a duel with mounted bayonets instead of pulling out his pistol he got from his own officer he had fragged and shooting your sorry butt.

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Even today when perhaps a bayonet would be a useful tool since the standard teaching
doctrine of warfare is to pray and spray and in remote locations you can run out of ammo
quick, the fact that you only have a useless Mattel Toy to mount the bayonet on makes the whole exercise pointless. In the military, the bayonet is useless. But, come the
apocalypse, now we have an entirely different story. Now the bayonet becomes a
welcome tool of warfare. Or, I should say, survival. Just as a survival rifle is different
than a military one, the roles of a bayonet are different in the military and to a survivalist.
In the military you run out of ammo and if you are stupid and don't run than at least you
can fight with a bayonet ( assuming the other guy also ran out of ammo and was stupid
enough to also wish to fight the same way, unless all he had was a knife and then at least
you had some reach ). But 99% of the time it would probably be smarter to just issue the
troops a good knife. There are plenty of chores around camp to use them on and in a
worse case scenario they always have a weapon to defend themselves with. But with
today’s short carbine like assault rifles that are definitely not designed with bayonet
fighting in mind it is best to forget military bayonets.

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All survivalists that have a suitable rifle should own one or more bayonets. Any social
breakdown, post-apocalypse, industrial disruption scenario will bode well for bayonet
usage. You are faced with a real possibility of ammo shortages, and the bayonet will see
you home so you can reload those carefully salvaged brass cases. There most likely will
be a lot of dog packs turned feral as well as wolves migrating down from the wilderness in the winter to find a meal. Any future riot control will be much more effective using deadly force. If your boss should turn dictator you might be intimidating the populace with shiny cold steel ( cheaper than bullets ). As a determent to violence since a show of force might resolve the situation. And finally, as a silent weapon. Lets briefly review these.

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Ammunition shortages are a primary concern to your survivalist. Whether from future
political controls such as increased taxes or outright bans, or simply that doomsday occurs before you know it, the fear is that you may end up without enough ammo. And so we endlessly stockpile ammunition. Surplus ammo to practice with, ball ammo to save
money, reloading components, there is never enough. The recommendation has usually
been 1000 rounds for bolt actions and 10k for semi-autos but even that modest amount
could be out of reach for a lot of us. The old ball and chain, the other half, the spouse,
they wish to see you die in a cloud of fallout, choking and sputtering, your last pitiful
glance towards them imploring with your eyes, why, oh why have you forsaken us with
your insistence on those worthless unnecessary trinkets such as cars and houses and
college educations you had me buy with my ever shrinking supply of inflation shrunken
paper dollars? Do they wish to see you die as a last "In your face" "I get the last word"?
Do they hate you so much? Did they find out about the fling with your co-worker? That
can be the only explanation as to why you were denied all your survivalist preparation
toys. Well, you do the best you can. If you really have a hard time getting survival money
budgeted, better get a bayonet sooner rather than later. You might run out of ammo real
fast. Just save the last round for the spouse, s/he will make for good eating and then it is
you who shall have the last laugh.

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Wolves were quit feared by countryside peasants long ago. Here you go, out to chop
some wood to heat your gruel with and a damn pack of wolves runs out of the woods and
kills you in a gruesome manner. About the only thing you have to fight with is a stick of
wood since the ruling king of the day decided him staying in power was much more
important than mere poor people being able to defend themselves against predators ( such
as himself for instance ) and thus you went unarmed. Well, ok, you had the ax. But a
bow or crossbow would have been much more effective or even a spear. But instead you
waited until Igor the neighbor was eaten by wolves and then begged the local chief to do
something and maybe they went hunting wolves which was fun for them, not like work at
all, and a season or three later the wolves came back and started eating villagers again
since they still weren't armed with more than sticks. Kind of like the Federal government
that won't allow US citizens to arm themselves on an airplane. A raghead hijacks the thing for the price of the ticket and a few 59 cent box cutters and then afterwards we invade the country that trained them, spend tens of billions of dollars and kill hundreds of soldiers to extract revenge when all along if you allowed each passenger to carry a $3-500 pistol they paid for themselves and shoot a 20 cent round into a hijacker the problem would have been solved ( but that's not the way to keep the military/industrial complex in business, now is it ). So wolves are going to be a problem, as are the less talented but still lethal feral dog population. They get hungry and you might become food. This is were semiautos will come in real handy, and spray and pray is hard to miss at close ranges.

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However, if semi-auto is not in your budget it might be a good idea to have a bolt action
that is capable of mounting a bayonet. Those bastards get too close and you might want
to attach your bayonet in case one of them get through between reloading. A gentle
reminder of steel sliding into the animals side might convince the critter to back off. But
your bigger problem will probably be feral dogs instead of wolves. There will be more of
them and they are a lot more stupid and might be prone to attack whereas a wolf might
know enough to stay away. Remember, even with semi-auto you can run out of ammo or
get a jam. The bayonet is far from ideal for fighting natural predators but better than butt
stroking them with an empty light weight assault rifle.

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In an apocalyptic future you may be part of the ruling class ( or work for one ) and the
best thing for riot control will be cold steel. In today’s politically correct environment
rioters are lovingly dissuaded from their erroneous beliefs with tender applications of
mace, high pressure water streams or wooden batons. With television cameras rolling
nearby it just won't do to rip into the crowd with a squad automatic weapon, blood
spraying, internal organs leaking, bowls voiding and other assorted yukkie stuff. It is bad
for public image and tends to leave a foul taste in the mouth of a loan officer from the
World Bank. Likewise, repeatedly plunging a bayonet into the abdomen of a screaming
tree-hugging, socialist, yoga practicing, tofu eating, Greenpeace donating protestor is bad
for business, however satisfying an image it may be. But in the future, there will be no
such constraints. Forget that pussy riot control gear of today and inspire some real fear in
the populace. You want to peaceably assemble and protest just because you're hungry and
tired of taxes? Bayonet practicing time. It saves on ammo, and after you get cut you'll
think twice before protesting again.

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On a related note, bayonets are perfect for keeping the population in line even if no riots
should form. During Japans occupation of the Pacific islands and most of ( at least coastal
) Asia before and at the start of WWII, they used very few soldiers to keep indigenous
populations in line. A single soldier was tasked with patrolling a certain area, and any
trouble was dealt with by a bayonet. How long was it before the population learned not to
step out of line? PDQ. The Japs had a very small industrial base compared with most
others, and while it worked miracles, supplies were always dear. Terror backed by steel
was the best way to keep order. The Americans would have bombarded a village from the
air, sent in several companies to mop up, set up an aid station for the people to treat the
wounds they themselves caused, flown in a few cargo planes full of food the local
wouldn't even feed their livestock, taught a few troopers the local language in Monterey,
flown them out, tried to reason with the locals that Uncle Sam loved them, rigged the
local election to get a mayor in power they liked, seen another insurrection occur and
finally give up and went home. Cost- tens of millions of dollars. Cost to the Japanese,
several days worth of rice to feed the soldier and about $3 to manufacture the bayonet.
And don't forget POW's. Nothing better at keeping them in line than a bayonet, other than
a shotgun full of birdshot. It won't kill you but it sure will hurt getting all the shot out ( if
the infection doesn't kill you first ). However, you don't issue the regular troops shotguns,
so give them a bayonet to attach to their regular rifle. Any grunt is now a guard in a POW
facility.

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A bayonet is also great as a show of force. Lets say a hurricane just wiped out the old
neighborhood. You could set up a lawn chair and wait for looters with your Mattel Toy
AR-15, or you could get out the old Lee-Enfield No.1 with mounted bayonet that is about
a foot long and look at the shocked expressions on passerby's faces as they see that
whopper of a pig-sticker. How many are going to come back and try to loot your house?
Nary a one, I would wager. Or, post-apocalypse, you are the proprietor of Billy Bobs
Trading Post Bar Brothel Mercenary Recruitment Center Opium Den & Used Computers
Bought And Sold. As a rule your customers are going to be an unruly bunch. You
guessed it, bayonet time. And if you had a side agreement with Joe Bobs Butcher Shop
And Taxidermy down the street you could sell the stiffening cooling corpse for a little
pocket money rather than waste anything. No more future unruly customers.

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And as a silent weapon. Now, most other weapons are preferred for silent wet work. A
garrote, crossbow, dagger, whatever. However, if you already have a bayonet for other
uses, it follows that you at least have the ability to take out a sentry if need be. How many
of us carry around a garrote? I usually accidentally leave mine at home. What do you tell
a cop? "Why, yes, officer, I am a piano tuner". It's like fighting with the bayonet after all
your ammo is gone. It is unwise, but if you have to at least you can. The pig sticker is an
all around versatile weapon of terror.

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Now, what kind of bayonet should you carry? There are two basic types, the pike and the knife. The pike looks like a tent stake, and knife like, well, a knife. The knife type was the most common with turn of the century military bolt action rifles. The Mauser, Enfield, etc. What later showed up as a problem was that a long flat knife would easily snap off when you struck an enemy and then continued to swing the rifle to the side. Or, the blade was so long the enemies flesh acted as a suction and it was hard to extract the blade. As a solution it was proposed pike types be used once again. Most shortened the blade, some went exclusively to pike. It is my opinion that the pike is better if you are in the military and your only action is ramming the bayonet into the enemy, using your momentum and the rifles weight to stab and ram the steel into flesh. That is the militaries one pony show with the bayonet. But as a survival weapon, the knife bayonet is much better if you plan on using the rifle/bayonet as more than just an expensive spear. With a bayonet being used at times as a determent you don't always need to kill someone. If you also use the bayonet to swipe and cut ( like a longer reaching sword ) rather than just sticking the damn thing into whatever target presents itself, you expand your options. If you practice a bit you could get real good. A POW is acting up, swish, there goes an ear. A slave gives you lip, swish, cut an artery and laugh like crazy as everyone goes running around trying to stem the gusher. Instead of killing a valuable worker, you just re-establish dominance. Or, psych them out. Go running towards one screaming like mad acting like you are going to stick the bayonet in his stomach, but then suddenly stop, pivot, and hit one of the bystanders with a good swipe across the chest. He didn't see that one coming! Just use your imagination.

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Any military rifle is going to be set up for a bayonet unless you bought a recent semi-auto
ban rifle that did away with the attachment to be legal. A few only have one type of
bayonet, such as Chinese made SKS's with built in pike. Or the Eastern European SKS
that has a built in knife bayonet. The WWII Lee-Enfield used the pike type, but if you
search around you can find the alternate knife style. The ideal would be a full size round
battle rifle ( Garand, FN-FAL, HK91, etc ) with bayonet. That way you have a sniper
rifle, a semi-auto for rapid fire in emergencies, and a sturdy long rifle to mount a bayonet
on. The perfect weapons package, if you can afford the $500 and up price tag ( not
including mags and extra ammo ). That is why I stick with the military bolt actions. No
magazines, less ammo used, less parts to break. But a compromise. One day I might wish
I had more than ten rounds in the mag and they self loaded. But, hey, that's why I have a
bayonet.

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Beware the one problem of the rifle/bayonet system- the point were the two meet. You usually will have a spring and latch system to lock the bayonet in place. Get a replacement spring. If you have to duct tape the damn thing together you are going to loose the flexibility of two separate weapons systems. And not to mention loosing your credibility. You'll be a laughing stock instead of a menace. Also, be sure to have a scabbard and a way to carry that scabbard. You usually have a "frog" that is attached to a utility belt and the scabbard rests in that. It is better to have the bayonet handy on your belt than left in your pack back at camp.

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