Fix Bayonets!

by John Norris

Overview

The bayonet is an essential item of a soldier's kit even on today's modern hi-tech battlefield. This work examines the origins of this humble weapon and the 'cult of the bayonet' as espoused by the Russian General Alexander Suvorov who asserted that The bullet misses, the bayonet does not. The first bayonets appeared in France in the early 17th century and soon they were being used by every army in Europe. The author examines the spread of this simple weapon and how it led to fundamental changes being made in battlefield tactics. Over 300 years later, in the age of hi-tech warfare and weapons of mass destruction, the bayonet is still in service with armies around the world. British and US forces in Afghanistan regularly have their bayonets fixed. Fix Bayonets illustrates how tactics changed and the design of the weapon, although fundamentally the same, has evolved over the centuries.Much myth and legend surrounds the subject of bayonet charges and the weapon has become an icon of defiance and the determination to do whatever it takes to win. The author examines evidence for the reality of such actions. How did the ordinary soldier feel to be told 'fix bayonets'? John Norris draws on personal accounts of soldiers using bayonets in combat from the Napoleonic and Crimean Wars, various Colonial campaigns, through the World Wars, Falklands War and into the 21st century in Afghanistan. In so doing he explains the seemingly anachronistic survival of this simple weapon on the modern battlefield.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781473883789
Publisher:	Pen & Sword Books Limited
Publication date:	01/03/2016
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	224
File size:	8 MB

About the Author

John Norris is a freelance military historian who writes regular monthly columns for several specialist titles, ranging from vehicle profiles to re-enactment events. He has written fifteen books on various military historical subjects, most recently Fix Bayonets! (due to be published by Pen&Sword)

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements vi

Introduction vii

Chapter 1 A Desperate Act 1

Chapter 2 A New Weapon for the Infantry 4

Chapter 3 The Experience of the English Civil War and Beyond 13

Chapter 4 Time for Change 27

Chapter 5 The Eighteenth Century and the American War of Independence 48

Chapter 6 Back to Europe and Other Conflicts 83

Chapter 7 New Weapons and More Wrars 102

Chapter 8 Bayonet Practice 137

Chapter 9 Cut and Thrust 144

Chapter 10 Ceremonies and Other Weapons Fitted with Bayonets 154

Chapter 11 The Twentieth Century and Beyond 170

Where to see Bayonets 204

Bibliography 205

Index 207