Today no one remembers the main weapon of the infantryman - his native bayonets. But it is the bayonet that has been embracing the Russian warrior for more than three hundred years.
Today no one remembers the main weapon of the infantryman - his native bayonets. We see the most various types weapons from submarines before spaceships. The equipment of warriors, especially world powers, is simply top notch. But it is the bayonet that has been embracing the Russian warrior for more than three hundred years. How true friend he is always nearby and is the first to take enemy attacks on himself, remaining in the shadows until then.
In his writings, the great Russian commander Alexander Vasilyevich Suvorov wrote: “Save a bullet for three days, and sometimes for a whole campaign, as there is nowhere to take it. Shoot rarely, but accurately; stab him firmly with a bayonet. The bullet is foolish, but the bayonet is not foolish: the bullet is a fool, the bayonet is a good fellow.” the last part This phrase subsequently became popular among the people.
Of course, in the eighteenth century, bayonets were used only as a defensive weapon to protect against a cavalryman’s saber strike, especially since in European countries the bayonet has always been a “weapon of last chance.” Such a concept as a “bayonet attack” practically did not exist at all, and the bayonet itself served only for self-defense.
The Russian deadly offensive bayonet attack has long become legendary.
In 1813, in the battle of Leipzig, a Russian unit was pinned down by superior enemy forces. Having sent the wounded to a safe place and covering their retreat, Corporal Leonty Korenny and his comrades entered into hand-to-hand combat with the French. Delivering bayonet strikes and parrying the attacks of his opponents, he saw his comrades fall. When the bayonet broke, he fought back with the butt. By the time his strength was exhausted, he received 18 bayonet wounds, and all his friends died the death of the brave. There were quite a few French bodies around the corporal himself. This hero survived and in recognition of his highest military valor, on the personal order of Napoleon, he was released from captivity.
In 1877, in the battle of Lovcha, Turkish redoubts were surrounded; to their misfortune, the Turks refused to surrender. About 200 defenders were bayoneted by Russians during the attack. Later, south of Plevna, General Skobelev’s detachment attacked Turkish positions, from which the Turks could only be driven out with bayonets. In 1878, an attack on fortified Turkish positions near Sheinovo ended in hand-to-hand combat and within 3 minutes of its start, the Turks surrendered. The bayonet always worked perfectly and did not fail. Later, in their reports, the Americans noted that the Turks usually fled or surrendered.
During the Russo-Japanese War of 1905, the Japanese tried to knock out Russian infantry from afar, preventing a bayonet attack. They understood that in hand-to-hand combat a “samurai” could not resist a Russian infantryman. After being wounded in the stomach, the survival rate was very low.
The bayonet acted as a weapon of mass destruction, psychologically suppressing entire battalions at the very beginning of a bayonet attack. The enemies, realizing what awaited them, could no longer adequately repel the attack and, as a rule, this led to confusion, panic and capitulation. This was the case during the Second World War. During Afghan war in the 80s such facts were also present.
The Russian method of bayonet fighting frightened enemy forces so much that, according to the Geneva Convention, the traditional blow to the stomach had to be replaced with a “more humane” blow to the chest.
The last thing in the history of the Soviet army was a bayonet self-loading carbine Simonova arr. 1945 Shortly after the start of production, the bayonet was replaced with a knife-shaped one. From that moment on, the USSR and Russia said goodbye to bayonets.
In our time, bayonet-knives have completely replaced bayonets, but their main function remains unchanged - hand-to-hand combat. Methods and methods of war today do not oblige one to constantly carry weapons with attached bayonets. The range and rate of fire were significantly increased, so Suvorov’s tactics faded into the background. But the bayonet-knife is still an integral attribute any warrior. Moreover, this is no longer just a knife, but a multifunctional device.
It turns out that it was the bayonet that largely determined the essence of dashing Russian warriors. Recklessness, bordering on madness in hand-to-hand combat, relegating the importance of shooting from a firearm to the background, did its job - and the whole world remembers the words of A.V. Suvorova: “The bullet is a fool, bayonet- Well done".
Denis Neroda
Today, in the era of weapons of mass destruction and the use of nanotechnology in military affairs, the bayonet continues to remain an integral part of the infantryman’s personal weapon. Glorious Russian military traditions, most clearly expressed in the apt aphorism of A.V. Suvorov’s “The bullet is a fool, the bayonet is a fine fellow” have always been revered in our Armed Forces.
The military leadership in our country fully shared the opinion of the famous military theorist and teacher Russian General M.I. Dragomirova: “No matter how perfect the gun is, even by 50 steps a miss is more likely than with a bayonet by a step or one and a half; and in any case, the latter requires much more fearlessness, self-sacrifice, and a sense of camaraderie to act than shooting, which is more in keeping with the instinct of self-preservation. Shooting requires rest, a strike with a bayonet requires forward movement, which in itself expresses the feeling of our superiority over the enemy. You can exchange fire for hours and achieve nothing; the bayonet immediately forces the enemy to give up the rear.”
At the end of the 1950s, after a series of development work, military experts concluded that in modern conditions the bayonet is still a material expression of the highest tension of the will to win, so the Kalashnikov assault rifle should also have a bayonet. And since conducting such a fight requires special physical, technical and psychological training of personnel, the army again needs to begin mastering hand-to-hand combat using a bayonet and butt.
A bayonet is a bladed melee weapon, adapted for attachment to a hand-held long-barreled firearm and is used to defeat an enemy in hand-to-hand combat. The bayonet has the same damaging qualities as piercing or piercing types of bladed weapons. In accordance with this purpose, the following requirements are imposed on the bayonet:
1. When struck, the bayonet must inflict wounds sufficient to quickly incapacitate the enemy. Associated with this requirement is the length and shape of the bayonet blade (needle or blade bayonets).
2. The bayonet must have sufficient strength with minimal weight.
3. The presence of a bayonet should not impair the maneuverability of the weapon and have an adverse effect on shooting accuracy and combat stability.
4. The bayonet fastening must be reliable and ensure that it can be quickly brought into combat readiness.
For the first time bayonets appeared in the middle of the second half of the 16th century in Northern Spain as hunting weapon. In accordance with modern terminology, the first bayonet was a baguinet - a shortened spear or dagger, inserted with a wooden handle into the barrel of a muzzle-loading percussion flintlock gun and used to finish off a wounded animal.
The first combat use of baguinet bayonets inserted into flintlock rifles was made in 1640-1641 in the French city of Bayonne, from which, by the way, the name “baguette” came. The combination of baguettes with military firearms has become established in Western Europe in the second half of the 17th century. The appearance at the end of the 17th century of a needle bayonet with a tube attached to the barrel made it possible to eliminate the main drawback of the “musket-baguette” system - the impossibility of firing with a bayonet made for battle.
Initially, bayonets in the 18th-19th centuries had only elbowed or straight slots in the tube, without locking devices. The bayonet was placed on the barrel so that the front section of the tube was level with the muzzle of the gun or musket. In this case, the blade of the bayonet was usually located to the right of the axis of the barrel, since in most cases the gun was held by the neck of the butt and directed for a bayonet strike with the right hand. In addition, with this arrangement of the blade, it was more convenient to put on and remove the bayonet from the barrel with the right hand. IN last quarter In the 19th century, bayonets appeared in many armies, which were most often attached to rifles from below.
In small arms, two types of bayonets were used: needle-shaped, or faceted, and bladed, which in turn are divided into bayonets themselves and bayonets-knives.
The needle bayonet was used only to perform one function - bayonet fighting. A bladed bayonet or a bayonet-knife, separated from a weapon, in addition to its direct purpose, could be used to inflict damage on the enemy when directly held in the hand, as well as for other purposes, for example, it could be used to cut, dig in, chop branches, and finally, it could use it like a knife or dagger.
In Russia, a needle bayonet mod. 1891 and its modification - bayonet mod. 1891/30 was used longer than anywhere else (until the late 1940s), despite the fact that it proved useless in all situations except bayonet fighting, since it did not have a handle.
In other countries, needle bayonets were abandoned quite quickly, especially since in the last quarter of the 19th century, multifunctional bayonets began to gain a strong position, the appearance of which practically coincided with the introduction of smokeless gunpowder and the adoption of new, more advanced repeating rifles. In the first decades after the appearance and widespread use of bayonet knives, the name of this weapon accurately reflected the degree of significance of the functions that were assigned to it: first of all, a bayonet, and then, if necessary, a knife.
One of the main trends in the development of the design of bayonet knives in the period 1918-1945 was the desire to unify and reduce the number of bayonets intended for the same type of rifle or carbine. In turn, modernized and newly developed models of magazine-operated, as well as self-loading and automatic rifles and carbines were equipped with such attachment devices that either made it possible to use already existing samples bayonet-knives, or required only their minor modernization.
At this time, bayonets were equipped not only with repeating, self-loading, automatic and assault rifles (machine guns) and carbines, but sometimes with submachine guns and even some types of light machine guns (for example, the Japanese Type 96 light machine gun). It should be noted that the use of bayonets in submachine guns and light machine guns was not justified by tactical purpose and conditions combat use samples and was an unnecessary complication and weighting of the weapon design.
The fighting of the infantry of the countries participating in the Second World War, armed mainly with repeating or self-loading rifles and carbines equipped with bayonets, demonstrated the insignificant value of the fixed bayonet on the battlefield. Occasional bayonet attacks by small units did not have any impact on the overall course of military operations on any of the fronts, although the need to equip the soldier with personal melee weapons, as compact and multifunctional as possible, was not questioned. The requirement for compactness was explained by the constantly increasing saturation of the army with weapons and military equipment. When servicing it and transporting personnel in it, the long bayonet was a hindrance.
A successful solution to this problem was the creation of a combined bayonet-knife in the 1950s. Currently, bayonet-knives, which have become almost the only (except for knives and daggers themselves) actively used type of combat edged weapons, are given the functions of knives and tools first and foremost, and only then bayonets. This was a step forward towards creating the ideal model - a combination of bayonet, tool and survival knife.
Based on the shape and cross-section of the blade, blade bayonet knives can be divided into four groups:
1. Bayonet knives with single-edged monocotyledon blades. The blade tip of most samples was located on midline, which ensured maximum penetration into soft tissue during a piercing blow. An example of such bayonet knives is: English bayonets M1907; Canadian bayonets M1908 and M1912; Japanese "type 30" bayonets and their later modifications. Some bayonets with single-edged blades had modifications with a saw on the butt (German bayonet M98/05). Non-commissioned officers, as well as orderlies and sappers could be equipped with such bayonets. Blade length for bayonet knives infantry rifles was 250–300 mm, for cavalry carbines and special troops– up to 400 mm and even more.
2. Bayonet knives with single-edged T-shaped blades also classified as stiletto bayonets or dagger bayonets. An example of such a bayonet-knife is the Dutch bayonet of the 1895 model.
3. Bayonet knives with double-edged blades. Sometimes also called dagger bayonets. The blades of such bayonet knives can be symmetrically or asymmetrically double-edged. In the latter case, the blade has a double-edged sharpening from the tip to the middle of the blade. Some bayonet-knives with double-edged blades had a narrow blade located on the middle line of the blade, for example the Swedish M1896 bayonet for the Mauser rifle. The English bayonets M1888 and M1903 had double-edged blades of a cruciform section with concave edges.
4. Stiletto bayonets with needle blades. Sometimes also classified as dagger bayonets. The presence of a metal handle made them, although not very comfortable, suitable for hand-to-hand combat piercing weapon. An example is the French M1886 bayonet and its subsequent variants.
The bayonet attachment to the weapon could be detachable or permanent. In this case, the bayonet could be attached directly to the barrel (domestic rifles model 1891 and model 1891/30; carbine model 1944; AK / AKM / AK-74 assault rifles); simultaneously to the upper stock ring and to the barrel (English Lee-Enfield Mk. Ill rifle, French Lebel M1886/93 rifle); to the tip of the forend stock (German Mauser 98 rifle).
The fastening of the bayonet, regardless of its type, should provide the greatest possible strength, since a slight movement of the bayonet during shooting is accompanied by a decrease in accuracy due to a shift in the center of gravity of the weapon (if shooting, as a rule, is carried out with an attached bayonet). It was recognized that it is more advantageous to attach a bayonet with a tube to a rifle so that the deflection of the bullet due to a shift in the center of gravity goes in the opposite direction to the deviation from derivation, i.e. if the bullet deflects from derivation to the right, then the bayonet should be adjacent to the right sides. When attached to the tip of the fore-end of the stock, the bayonet had less influence on the vibrations of the barrel when fired than when it was attached to the barrel.
The direct attachment of the bayonet to the barrel was distinguished by the greatest strength and reliability, although in this case the barrel experienced significant loads during bayonet strikes; this was taken into account when choosing the thickness of the barrel wall at the muzzle. Attaching the bayonet to a special tip of the fore-end of the stock relieved the barrel of additional load, but did not provide sufficient strength and reliability of the connection, although to some extent it reduced harmful effects powder gases escaping from the barrel bore on the surface of the blade. Attaching the bayonet simultaneously to the upper stock ring and to the barrel became a compromise attempt to free the barrel from significant additional load and ensure the reliability of the bayonet when it was detached. In this case, for mounting on the barrel of a rifle or carbine, bayonets, as a rule, had a T-shaped longitudinal groove and a spring latch in the head of the handle, as well as a ring in the crosspiece.
There were also other ways of fixing bayonet knives on weapons:
– with the spring latch button located not in the head of the handle, but at the crosspiece (for example, the American M1905 bayonet for the M1903 Springfield rifle);
– with a spring latch located in the crosspiece ring, which ensured a silent connection without a characteristic click (for example, the Canadian M1908 bayonet);
– with putting the cross ring not on the barrel, but on a special rod located in the forend (for example, an English bayonet M1903);
– with a hollow handle placed on a special rod located under the rifle barrel (for example, the French M1892 bayonet).
Options for attaching detachable bayonets:
1. On repeating rifles:
A – needle bayonet, attached with a tube to the barrel (Mosin rifle model 1891/30 USSR);
B – needle bayonet, attached with a handle stop simultaneously to the upper stock ring and to the barrel (Lebel rifle M1886/93; M1907/15 and M16. France);
B – blade bayonet attached to the upper stock ring (Lee-Enfield rifle Mk. III. England)
G – blade bayonet, attached simultaneously to the upper stock ring and to the barrel (M 88 rifle. Germany)
D – blade bayonet, attached simultaneously to the upper stock ring and to the barrel (Arisaka rifle type 30, type 38 and type 99. Japan)
E – blade bayonet attached to the tip of the fore-end stock (Mauser 98 rifle and Mauser 98k carbine. Germany)
2. On assault rifles (machine guns) and submachine guns:
F – on an AKM assault rifle (USSR)
3 – on an AR-18 assault rifle (USA)
And - on the FN CAL assault rifle (Belgium)
K – on the G.3 assault rifle (Germany)
L – on the Steyer-Solothurn CI-100 submachine gun (Austria)
M - on the Sterling L2A1 submachine gun (England)
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Speaking about which bayonet fastening was more successful - detachable or non-detachable - it should be noted that each method of fastening the bayonet had its own advantages and disadvantages. For example, a bladed detachable bayonet-knife product “6x4” for the Kalashnikov AK-74 assault rifle is used not only in bayonet combat, but can also be used for other purposes in various conditions of marching and combat service. From this point of view, it is advisable to have a blade bayonet with its detachable mount. On the other hand, in favor of the integral attachment of the bayonet, which is an integral part of a firearm - a rifle or carbine, the following considerations were expressed: at any moment of the battle a bayonet strike can be delivered, and the loss of the bayonet in combat conditions is excluded. Thus, the Simonov SKS self-loading carbine, discontinued in the 1950s, but still in service with Russian honor guard companies and recognized as one of the most beautiful examples of so-called representative military weapons, is equipped with an integral blade bayonet.
In domestic small arms in the first half of the 20th century they found wide application both needle (rifles model 1891 and 1891/30; carbine model 1944) and bladed bayonets (Simonov automatic rifle model 1936; Tokarev SVT self-loading rifles model 1938 and model 1940). Since the 1950s, the Soviet Armed Forces began using bayonets with the adoption of the Kalashnikov AK/AKM assault rifle.
As the most typical example of a domestic needle bayonet, we can consider the bayonet for the repeating rifle of the Mosin system mod. 1891/30. It consists of a tetrahedral needle-type blade; neck connecting the blade to the tube; tube, with which the bayonet was put on the muzzle of the barrel and a spring latch. The cross section of the blade of needle bayonets is made in the form of a quadrangle. The surfaces of the side edges of the blade are equipped with longitudinal grooves, the so-called valleys. The resulting ribs of the bayonet provided it with sufficient rigidity for a given cross-sectional area. A needle bayonet with a fuller, penetrating the body, cut the fibers; the fullers, facilitating the flow of blood from the wound, reduced resistance when the bayonet penetrated the body and, in addition, reduced the weight of the bayonet, providing it with the necessary strength. The bayonet blade had a pointed combat end. The combat end of the blade was blunted and formed a platform 0.5 mm in width. This platform protected the shooter from accidental injuries. The direction of the blade axis made an angle of about 2 degrees with the direction of the tube axis. With this direction of the blade, the axis of the bayonet passed through the center of gravity of the rifle and between the hands of the shooter holding it; This achieved a great impact effect and eliminated the twisting of the weapon in the hands upon impact. The length of the bayonet blade was 435 mm. Using a push-button spring latch mounted at the base of the blade, the bayonet was securely attached directly to the barrel of the rifle mod. 1891/30.
The blade bayonet for the Tokarev SVT self-loading rifle mod. 1940, the monocotyledon blade had a pointed combat end and one-sided sharpening. On the handle of the bayonet there was a stop with which the bayonet was connected to the muzzle bushing. At the rear end of the handle there was a groove for attaching the bayonet to the rifle and a latch with a spring to hold the bayonet attached to the rifle.
The first model of the Kalashnikov AK assault rifle, adopted by the Soviet army in 1949, did not have a bayonet. And only in 1953, together with the so-called lightweight AK assault rifle, the “6×2” bayonet-knife was adopted for service. It had the same blade as the bayonets for the Tokarev SVT-40 self-loading rifles, but a different mechanism for fixing it on the barrel. The spring latch was mounted in the crosspiece. The handle, square in cross-section, was formed by two plastic cheeks. In the closed position, the blade of the blade was directed upward. The bayonet turned out to be inconvenient when used as a knife, primarily due to the unfortunate shape of the handle.
At the same time, in the mid-1950s, Lieutenant Colonel of the Naval Service R. Todorov proposed and adopted a combat knife of a special design, which featured a hole in the blade, and was adopted by naval reconnaissance officers. An additional part was attached to this hole, which made it possible to perform a number of operations with a knife. This knife served as the basis for the development of a new bayonet-knife product “6x3” for the AKM assault rifle, adopted by the Soviet army in 1959. The top of the sheath of this bayonet was covered with an insulating material, which made it possible to use the bayonet for cutting live wires and wires. On the butt of the blade there was a saw and a cutting edge.
The next sample of a bayonet-knife - a “6x4” product for the Kalashnikov AKM assault rifle (later AK-74) - differed from the previous sample in the shape of the handle and plastic sheath. It was also adjacent to a special stop mounted under the barrel in the lower part of the gas chamber of the Kalashnikov AKM/AK-74 assault rifles. The single-edged blade of the bayonet-knife had a pointed combat end and double-sided sharpening. The presence of a file on the butt of the blade made it possible to use this bayonet-knife for sawing even steel rods.
In 1989, it was replaced by the latest domestic model of a bayonet-knife for arming the AK-74 assault rifle - the “6x5” product. Without abandoning the idea of transforming a bayonet-knife into a multi-purpose tool, the designers significantly changed the shape of the blade, bringing it closer to a dagger. The shape of the handle also changed, which, like the scabbard, was now made of glass-filled polyamide PA6S-211DS. The weight of the bayonet, amounting to 0.22 kg, decreased by approximately 60 g compared to the 6x3 and 6x4 bayonet knives. To reduce the cost of mass production, the 6×5 bayonet received more simple form. To the Nikonov AN-94 assault rifle (), which was adopted in 1997 by the Russian army, taking into account the peculiarities of its automatic operation, the “6x5” bayonet is attached not under the barrel, as in Kalashnikov assault rifles, but on the right, so the blade of the bayonet located in a horizontal plane. According to the developers, this position of the blade prevents it from getting stuck between the ribs of the enemy’s body and makes it easier to quickly pull it out for a second strike.
And today, in the armed forces of almost all countries, the military is not going to give up the use of bayonet knives, both due to tradition and due to the lack of a suitable replacement for training aggressiveness and skills in escorting prisoners. Therefore, work on the creation of new models continues, and further development, apparently, will be aimed at giving the bayonet knives maximum versatility. Such trends make it possible to identify the main requirements and criteria taken into account when developing and testing new types of bayonet knives: dimensions and shape of the blade; the formation of a wide wound by the blade and the ability to quickly remove the bayonet-knife from the body to strike again; the ability to use other weapons while holding a bayonet-knife in the hand; speed of application; Easy to hold in your hand when crawling.
Many experts today consider the idea of maximum versatility of a bayonet knife to be unfeasible. The functions of the bayonet in the “bayonet – tool – knife” complex have clearly faded into the background, which was clearly demonstrated in local wars second half of the 20th century. Hand-to-hand combat in these wars usually occurred suddenly, so the soldiers often did not have time to attach the bayonet. The barrel and butt of a weapon, sapper blades, combat knives and bayonet knives not attached to the weapon were used in close combat. In addition, the presence of a pistol grip on almost all models of modern assault rifles (machine guns) has meant that delivering a bayonet strike with a weapon with an attached bayonet has become less convenient than it was before with repeating rifles.
However, such problems did not stop the continuation of work on new types of bayonet knives. Attempts are currently being made to combine a bayonet and a survival knife. However, assessing the prospects for the development of this type of edged weapon, we can say with a high degree of confidence that the bayonet-knife will most likely finally retire in a few decades, giving way to special types of edged weapons, and such edged weapons will not be associated with assault rifles (machine guns). will be at all.
The Russian method of bayonet fighting frightened the enemy so much that, according to the Geneva Convention, the traditional blow to the stomach had to be replaced with a “more humane” blow to the chest.
The appearance of the bayonet
In 1684, the Austrian army was the first to decide to abolish pikes and introduce bayonets (the predecessors of the bayonet, which were inserted into the barrel of a musket for close combat). Soon the bayonet was invented in France. In 1688, in the presence of King Louis XIV, experiments were carried out on fencing with bayonets, but the design of attaching the bayonet to the barrel was still imperfect, and the bayonets slipped off the muskets when striking. The King of France rejected the innovation, but the Austrians, having improved the mount, immediately rearmed the infantry in 1689. Then the innovation spread throughout all the armies of Europe, and the French were the last to adopt it, in 1703.
The shape of the bayonet was determined by its method of attachment to the weapon:
1. Bayonet plug - baguette. It had a tapering handle to fit tightly into the barrel.
2. Socketed bayonet. It had a cylindrical handle and was mounted on the barrel.
3. Bayonet. The handle has a groove that fits onto the barrel post and a ring that wraps around the barrel.
4. Fixed bayonet - permanently attached and usually has a mechanism for folding and quick release.
The technique of fighting with a bayonet, of course, had not yet been developed. Thus, the regulations required the Swedish musketeer to attack while holding a gun in his left hand and a naked sword in his right. This method of simultaneous fencing with both hands required lengthy preparation. Therefore, the Russians, who had neither sufficient time for training nor worthy teachers, used simpler techniques.
Petrovsky Charter
At the beginning of the 18th century, Peter I made practicing bayonet fighting techniques a statutory law of the army. The brutal defeat near Narva served as the starting point for extensive training of army and navy personnel in hand-to-hand combat and the introduction of fencing into educational institutions. In 1700, with the direct participation of Peter, the first official document regulating combat training Russian infantry "Short ordinary training." It paid special attention to bayonet combat using baguettes (a type of bayonet). Moreover, if in Western armies baguettes were used primarily as a defensive weapon, in the “Brief Ordinary Training” the idea of the offensive use of the bayonet was developed.
Petrovsky Grenadier
The preparation of soldiers for bayonet combat occupied a significant place in the “Military Regulations” put into effect in 1716. Peter 1 demanded that officers organize and train their subordinates in such a way that “soldiers get used to it as in battle itself.” Wherein great importance was given to individual training: “Officers should diligently take note of each soldier so that they can live in the best possible way.”
Stupid bullet, great bayonet
The revolution in the use of the bayonet was made by A.V. Suvorov, who understood that only by seriously mastering the skills of bayonet fighting would Russian soldiers be able to defeat the Turks in hand-to-hand combat.
“Shoot rarely, but accurately. Stab firmly with a bayonet; the bullet will be damaged, but the bayonet will not be damaged. If only once! - Throw the busurman with the bayonet; Dead on a bayonet, scratching his neck with a saber; A saber on the neck - jump back a step - strike again - strike another, strike a third. The hero will stab half a dozen, and I have seen more. Take care of the bullet in the muzzle! Three will rush in - stab the first, shoot the second, karachun the third with a bayonet.”
In Suvorov’s time, the bullet really was a fool. Suffice it to say that at the end of the 18th century, up to 20 percent of shots misfired. Of course, this does not mean at all that Suvorov refused rifle fire. He demanded to “hold” the bullet in order to shoot at the moment of approaching the enemy with maximum efficiency.
Given the then relatively low level of military equipment, aimed fire from smoothbore weapons it was possible to lead no further than 80-100 steps. This distance was covered by running in 20-30 seconds. During such a period of time, the enemy, as a rule, only had time to shoot once. Therefore, a swift attack, turning into a swift bayonet strike, was Suvorov’s main means of achieving victory in the battle. He said that “the enemy has the same hands, but they just don’t know the bayonet.”
“Attack the first enemy line with bayonets! - hooray! - Platoon commanders: koli, koli!”
Soldiers were trained to use bayonets both in formation and individually. Before the Italian campaign of 1799, Suvorov, knowing that the Austrians were weak fighters in bayonet fighting, wrote instructions specifically for their army. It gave the following advice: "...and when the enemy approaches thirty steps, then standing army she herself moves forward and meets the attacking army with bayonets. The bayonets are held flat right hand, and stab with the left one. On occasion, it doesn’t interfere with a butt in the chest or on the head.”
“... at a distance of a hundred steps, command: march-march! At this command, people grab their guns with their left hands and run at the enemy with bayonets, shouting “vivat”! The enemy must be stabbed directly in the stomach, and if he is not pinned with a bayonet, then butt of it."
The recommendation to strike in the stomach is due to the fact that the soldiers of the regular army (in this case, the French) had thick leather belts on their chests, crossing each other (one for the half-saber, the other for the cartridge bag).
It is quite difficult for even an experienced fighter to break through such a defense. A blow to the face also carried the risk of missing, since the enemy could turn his head away. The stomach was open and the soldier could not retreat, being in the ranks. Suvorov taught to hit the enemy with the first blow, so that the fighter would then have time to fend off an attack aimed at him. Actions had to be clear and coordinated, according to the principle of “injection - protection” and again “injection - protection”. In this case, as can be seen from the tips described above, the butt could be widely used. The Russians successfully tried the tactics used against the Turks against the French.
Bayonet of mass destruction
And in the future, bayonet fighting in the Russian army traditionally paid special attention
“Russian soldiers were taught to hit with a bayonet only in the stomach and from top to bottom, and, having struck, to lower the butt, so that the bayonet rose upward, turning out the insides: it was useless to even take such wounded people to the hospital.”
Indeed, what good could the hospital be after that...
It was necessary to abandon such an effective method of bayonet fighting under international pressure.
The fact is that in 1864 the first Geneva Convention was signed, which related exclusively to the provision of assistance to wounded soldiers. The initiator of the convention was the Swiss public figure Henri Dunant. In 1859, he organized the provision of assistance to the wounded at the Battle of Solferino during the Austro-Italian-French War, which resulted in 40 thousand killed and wounded. He was also the initiator of the creation of the organization, which later became known as the Red Cross (Red Crescent) Society. The Red Cross was chosen as the identification badge of medics working on the battlefield.
In Russia, the Red Cross Society was created in May 1867 under the name “Society for the Care of Wounded and Sick Soldiers.” This is where I had to face requests from the international community (mainly in the person of England and France, who had the saddest memories of Russian bayonet attacks during Crimean War) refuse a terrible blow to the stomach. As an alternative, the blow to the chest described above was chosen.
Bayonet fighting is a type of fencing, the technique of which is borrowed a lot from the technique of fighting with long-armed weapons. The assertion that Russian bayonet fighting was the best in Europe, although it set everyone’s teeth on edge, is nevertheless true, and this was recognized in any army until the Second World War.
The main recommendations for bayonet fighting at the beginning of the last century were set out in Alexander Lugarre’s book “Bayonet Fencing Manual,” published in 1905 after the end of the Russo-Japanese War.
The history of the Russian bayonet is overgrown with a mass of legends, sometimes completely untrue. Many of them have long been accepted as truth. Perhaps one of the most interesting references to the use of a bayonet, which various domestic and Western “historians” now love to quote, is the words greatest commander A.V. Suvorova: “The bullet is a fool, the bayonet is a good fellow.”
Now with these words they are trying to show the backwardness of the Russian army, in fact saying that in the hands of a Russian soldier the gun was like a spear. And the function of the shot was absolutely secondary. Alexander Vasilyevich, if he knew about such an interpretation of his words in the future, would be very surprised.
In the original, words by A.V. Suvorov in “The Science of Victory” sound like this: “ Save the bullet for three days, and sometimes for an entire campaign, as there is nowhere to take it. Shoot rarely, but accurately; stab him firmly with a bayonet. The bullet is foolish, but the bayonet is not foolish: the bullet is a fool, the bayonet is a good fellow " This fragment as a whole completely changes the understanding of that phrase, which is usually illiterately snatched from the works of a commander. The commander just calls on you to take care of your ammunition and shoot accurately and emphasizes the importance of the ability to use a bayonet.
The era of muzzle-loading weapons forced one to try to shoot accurately; the importance of accurate shooting could not be underestimated. But smooth-bore guns with bag loading could not provide the high rate of fire required for accuracy, and good bayonet control in battle was very important. This is emphasized by other Suvorov words: “ With a bayonet one man can stab three or even four, but a hundred bullets fly into the air ».
The Russian bayonet is traditionally needle-shaped with a three or four-sided blade, a neck and a tube with a slot for putting on the barrel. It is now customary to criticize military officials who kept our soldiers with a needle bayonet for so long, when many armies around the world had already introduced the “cleaver bayonet,” a bayonet with a knife-like blade and handle. They can't come up with any explanations for this.
Perhaps the most absurd thing is that military officials believed that “bayonet knives” were of great economic value to the soldier, and they would carry them home from service. And no one needs a needle bayonet. Such nonsense can only be cultivated by people who are far from military history and who have absolutely no idea about the rules for handling government property. It is strange that the presence of standard cutlasses and other bladed soldier weapons is not commented on in any way by the authors of this “wild explanation.”
Let's get back to bayonets, so - a bayonet for a muzzle-loading gun. It is clear that the bayonet must be permanently attached, but at the same time make it possible to load the gun safely for the shooter. These requirements are only suitable for a triangular bayonet, which has a long neck that moves the wedge of the bayonet away from the muzzle to a distance that is safe for the hand when loading. In this case, the edge facing the muzzle should not be sharp. These requirements are perfectly met by a triangular bayonet with a flat edge facing the muzzle.
A huntsman, a huntsman sitting with a fitting has a cleaver bayonet in a sheath on his sideDid the Russian army have cleaver bayonets? Of course there were. Back in the 18th century. Such bayonets were adopted for Jaeger rifles; in those days they were called dirks. The famous Russian Littikh bayonet, for example, had a cleaver bayonet mod. 1843. Again, a strange picture is drawn of why Russian huntsmen and skirmishers did not cut their hands when loading a fitting with a cleaver blade. The answer to it is simple, the rangers and skirmishers decided with their rifled weapons specific tasks, in modern terms, these were snipers.
An example is the episode associated with the defense of Smolensk in 1812. Against the actions of just one ranger on the right bank of the Dnieper, the French were forced to concentrate rifle fire and use artillery piece, only by nightfall the huntsman’s fire died down. On the morning of the next day, a non-commissioned officer of the Jaeger regiment, killed by a cannonball, was discovered at that place. What need does a sniper have for a bayonet? Only in as a last resort he attaches the bayonet to his fitting.
Very important issue was the length of the bayonet, it was determined not just like that, but based on the most important requirement. The total length of the gun with a bayonet must be such that an infantryman can repel a saber strike from a cavalryman at a safe distance. Accordingly, the length of the bayonet was determined in this way. The rifled fittings were shorter than infantry rifles and the cleaver bayonet for them was correspondingly longer. When fired, it caused inconvenience, weighed the muzzle of the barrel down, and deviated the direction of the bullet.
A gun with a needle bayonet in the hands of a skilled soldier worked wonders. As an example, we can recall the feat of Corporal Leonty Korenny, in 1813, in the battle of Leipzig in the village of Gossu, his unit was squeezed by superior enemy forces. Having evacuated the wounded, Korennoy and a small number of comrades entered into a bayonet battle with the French; soon he was left alone, parrying bayonet blows, he inflicted them himself, after the bayonet broke, he fought back with the butt. When Korennoy, wounded by French bayonets, fell, there were many French bodies around him. The hero received 18 bayonet wounds, but survived; in recognition of his highest military valor, on the personal order of Napoleon, he was released from captivity.
Time passed, weapons changed, after the American Civil War, when all the advantages of breech-loading systems for unitary cartridges, characterized by a high rate of fire, were revealed, conversations began in the military environment about the pointlessness of the bayonet. Since with such a rate of fire it will not come to bayonet attacks.
The first Russian breech-loading rifles had triangular bayonets, identical to the old guns. This was due to the fact that 6-line rifles at the beginning of their production were conversions from old muzzle-loading ones, and there was no point in changing the old bayonet for them.
The first Russian rifle, which was originally designed as a breech-loading rifle, was a 4.2-line rifle mod. 1868 Gorlov-Gunius system (“Berdan system No. 1”). This rifle was designed by our officers in the USA and was sighted without a bayonet.
Gorlov, at his own discretion, chose a triangular bayonet for the rifle, which was mounted under the barrel. After firing with a bayonet, it turned out that the bullet was moving away from the aiming point. After this, a new, more durable four-sided bayonet was designed (remember that three edges were needed exclusively for muzzle-loading systems). This bayonet, as on previous rifles, was placed to the right of the barrel to compensate for derivation.
This bayonet was also adopted for the 4.2-line infantry rifle mod. 1870 (“Berdan No. 2 system”) and, slightly modified, to the dragoon version of this rifle. And then very interesting attempts began to replace the needle bayonet with a cleaver bayonet. Only through the efforts of the best Russian Minister of War in the entire history of our state, Dmitry Alekseevich Milyutin, was it possible to defend the excellent Russian bayonet. Here is an excerpt from D.A.’s diary. Milyutin for March 14, 1874:
« ... the question of replacing bayonets with cutlasses is again raised ... following the example of the Prussians. This issue has already been discussed three times by competent persons: everyone unanimously gave preference to our bayonets and refuted the sovereign’s assumptions that bayonets should be attached to guns only at the time when there was a need to use melee weapons. And despite all the previous reports in this sense, the issue is being raised again for the fourth time. With a high probability, here we can assume the insistence of Duke Georg of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, who cannot allow us to have anything better than in the Prussian army».
This issue was finally resolved only in 1876. This is what D.A. Milyutin writes about this on April 14, 1876: “ During my report, the sovereign announced to me his decision about bayonets. The Emperor had long been inclined to the opinion of Duke Georg of Mecklenburg-Strelitz that in our infantry, following the Prussian example, a German cleaver - bayonet - should be adopted instead of our beautiful triangular bayonet... and that shooting should be carried out without an attached bayonet.
... All the minutes of the meeting, with the attachment of separate notes, were presented by me to the sovereign, who, after considering them, made a decision, ordering the introduction of new bayonets - cutlasses and shooting without fixed bayonets only in rifle battalions and in the guard; in the entire army, leave it as before. Thus, a new complication appears, a new diversity; again the lack of unity and uniformity, so important in the organization and formation of troops. Nevertheless, I still prefer this solution to the one that I feared and to which the sovereign had been noticeably inclined until now».
Thus, to please Germanophiles in Russia, the Prussian cleaver replaced the Russian bayonet, contrary to all common sense and the opinion of qualified specialists. But... in reality, apart from experiments and experiments, things didn’t work out. And the needle-shaped tetrahedral bayonet remained in its place.
Soon the Russian-Turkish War (1877-1878) broke out. For the first time, the Army of the Russian Empire entered such large-scale hostilities with rapid-fire breech-loading weapons. At the main headquarters of the Russian army there was an American military agent, Lieutenant Engineer F.V. Green, who collected data for the US Government. He was tasked with collecting materials on the effectiveness of using sabers and bayonets in combat. This was due to the fact that the Americans wanted to give up both, but were afraid of making a mistake.
After receiving the order, Green had a lot of conversations about the bayonet with Russian officers and among them he met only “ardent defenders of this type of weapon.” In his report, the lieutenant engineer completely refutes the opinion of the American command about the impossibility of bayonet combat when using rapid-fire weapons and notes, on the contrary, that during the campaign very often hand-to-hand combat decided the outcome of the battle. He described the tactics of attacking with chains, when the chains move, taking advantage of the cover of the terrain, the first chain suffers greatly, and numerous subsequent ones break into the trenches or, as they were called then, rifle ditches. And then the enemy either flees, surrenders, or a quick hand-to-hand fight begins.
As the American notes, usually the Turks fled or surrendered. But it was not always so. In 1877, in the September battle of Lovcha, the Turkish redoubts were surrounded, the Turks refused to surrender, and during the attack all the defenders (about 200 people) were stabbed by Russian bayonets. In the same September, General Skobelev’s detachment attacked two Turkish redoubts and rifle trenches south of Plevna, from which the Turks could only be driven out with bayonets. The fortifications on the right flank at Gorny Dubnyak were also taken with hostility during the October battles.
1878, January battles near Sheinovo, the attack on fortified Turkish positions ended in hand-to-hand combat, after 3 minutes from its start the Turks surrendered. Near Philippolis, the guards captured 24 Turkish guns, and a hand-to-hand battle ensued, in which 150 Turkish soldiers and officers were wounded with bayonets. The bayonet always worked and worked perfectly.
The battle of January 1, 1878 at Gorny Bogrov is very indicative. The Russian units defended, the Turks advanced. Fire was opened on the Turks from a distance of 40 yards (about 40 m), the Turks suffered serious losses, some of the survivors rushed back, and some into the Russian fortifications, where they were killed. When examining the corpses, it turned out that some of them had their skulls pierced with rifle butts. This fact was explained as follows: the soldiers there were recruits, if they were more experienced, they would have worked with bayonets.
Bayonet for 4.2-line infantry rifle mod. 1870 World War I. 1914-1918 
Green comes to one crucial conclusion: during a quick hand-to-hand fight, only those with fixed bayonets have the upper hand. It is impossible to reload weapons during such a battle. According to Green's estimates, of the 90 thousand killed in that war, 1 thousand died from the bayonet. AND best weapons for hand-to-hand combat there is no other weapon than the bayonet.
Now it's time to remember one more thing interesting feature Russian bayonet, its sharpening. It is often called a screwdriver. And even very serious authors write about the dual purpose of the bayonet, saying that it can both stab an enemy and unscrew a screw. This is, of course, nonsense.
For the first time, sharpening the bayonet blade not to a point, but to a plane similar to the tip of a screwdriver, appeared on newly produced bayonets for the Russian rapid-fire 6-line rifle mod. 1869 (“Krnka system”) and tetrahedral bayonets for an infantry 4.2-line rifle mod. 1870 (“Berdan system No. 2”). Why was she needed? Obviously do not remove the screws. The fact is that the bayonet must not only be “stuck” into the enemy, but also quickly removed from him. If a bayonet sharpened to a point pierced a bone, then it was difficult to remove it, but a bayonet sharpened to a flat surface seemed to bypass the bone without getting stuck in it.
By the way, another interesting story is connected with the position of the bayonet relative to the barrel. After the Berlin Congress of 1878, when withdrawing its army from the Balkans, the Russian Empire donated over 280 thousand 6-line troops to the young Bulgarian army rapid-fire rifles arr. 1869 "Krnka system" mainly with bayonets mod. 1856. But along with the rifles, a lot of bayonets for rifled guns mod. 1854 and to earlier smoothbore ones. These bayonets were normally attached to the Krnkas, but the blade of the bayonet was not located to the right, as it should be, but to the left of the barrel.
It was possible to use such a rifle, but accurate shooting at the same time, it was impossible to fire from it without a shootout. And besides, this position of the bayonet did not reduce derivation. The reasons for this incorrect placement were different slots on the tubes, which determine the method of attaching the bayonet: mod. 1856 was fixed on the front sight, and bayonets for systems 1854 and earlier were fixed on the under-barrel “bayonet rear sight.”
And so the years passed, and the era of magazine weapons began. The Russian 3-line rifle already had a shorter bayonet. The overall length of the rifle and bayonet was shorter than previous systems. The reason for this was the changed requirements for the overall length of the weapon; now the overall length of the rifle with a bayonet had to be above the eyes of a soldier of average height.
The bayonet still remained attached to the rifle; it was believed that the soldier should shoot accurately, and when the bayonet is attached to a rifle that was shot without it, the aiming point changes. Which is unimportant at very close distances, but at distances of about 400 steps it was no longer possible to hit the target.
Russo-Japanese War(1904-1905) showed new battle tactics, and it was surprised that the Japanese soldiers still managed to attach bladed bayonets to their Arisakas by the time of hand-to-hand combat.
bayonet for 3-line rifle mod. 1891, bayonet for a 3-line rifle mod. 1891/30, bayonet for ABC-36, bayonet for SVT-38, bayonets for CBT-40 of two types
Despite the changed situation, the bayonet remained popular and in demand. Moreover, the officers walking with their lower ranks took a rifle with an attached bayonet from the dead and wounded, being more confident in the bayonet than in their saber.
As time passed, the question of replacing the bayonet with a cleaver was not forgotten. As before, the main problem in his solution was the task associated with shooting with and without a fixed bayonet.
Fixed cleaver bayonets did not allow accurate shooting, so it was possible to open fire with a fixed bayonet only as an exception. With needle-faceted bayonets, where the neck deflects the blade some distance from the axis of the bore, shooting does not pose a problem.
The arguments of supporters of one or another point of view on bayonets were very consistent. Supporters of cleaver bayonets pointed to the development of hand-held firearms: with increasing range, the start of the battle begins at fairly long distances, which eliminates the need for hand-to-hand combat. The retreat of one side or the other occurs under the influence of fire contact only, bayonet fighting in modern wars They are becoming less and less common, and the number of wounded and killed with melee weapons is also decreasing.
At the same time, a needle bayonet, always attached to a rifle, still, albeit slightly, affects shooting accuracy. Its weight, applied to the muzzle far from the rifle's fulcrum, tires the shooter. This was considered especially important when a soldier enters battle already tired. It was further indicated that a needle bayonet, except for attack, is useless in all cases of combat and marching life, while a cleaver bayonet replaces a knife for lower ranks and is used when cutting wood, when pitching tents, when arranging bivouac and household equipment, etc.
The requirements for instant connection of an open cleaver, according to its propagandists, were fulfilled, since the procedure itself is simple and does not require much time. If necessary: at posts, on guard, in secrets, etc. cleaver bayonets must be attached. If a soldier needs to go somewhere without a rifle, he will always be armed with a cleaver. A constantly attached bayonet makes the rifle longer; the bayonet in the forest clings to branches, making it difficult to carry the rifle over the shoulder on a shoulder strap. A bayonet-cleaver hanging on the belt allows you to avoid these difficulties.
The issue of replacing the needle bayonet was considered in great detail in the Russian army at the beginning of the 20th century, and what is very important is that the arguments for it significantly outweighed the arguments against it stated above.
So what was said in defense of the permanently attached needle bayonet? To satisfy all the conditions of battle, it is necessary that the infantry be armed with weapons that make it possible to hit the enemy both from afar and in chest-to-chest combat. So that the infantryman would be ready to use both firearms and knives at every moment of battle. Fixing bayonets before an attack presents significant difficulties; battle conditions are so varied that it is impossible to determine in advance the moments at which troops should have their bayonets fixed. The need for a bayonet in battles may appear suddenly, at a time when hand-to-hand combat is not expected.
The contact of cutlasses when approaching the enemy entails the most unfavorable consequences: during this period of the battle, people are in such an excited state that they may not touch the bayonet at all. In addition, attaching a bayonet in battle does not take as little time as it might seem.
Experience has shown that in order to remove and attach a bayonet, it will take time corresponding to at least 5 - 6 shots. At the time when the lower ranks will join bayonets, the fire should weaken significantly, and this can have disastrous consequences. At the same time, the closer to the enemy the bayonet is attached, the more fussy and slower it will be executed.
Thus, our rifle with a permanently fixed bayonet fully satisfies all the conditions for firearms and hand-to-hand combat.
The mentioned harmful effects of the weight of the bayonet on the shooting results are insignificant. In combat, it is rarely possible to shoot accurately while standing without cover; in most cases, shooting is done while lying down, and there is always the opportunity to put the gun on a support or rest your elbow on the ground. As for the influence of the bayonet on shooting accuracy, firstly, a bayonet attached to the right reduces derivation, and secondly, in our rifle system the bayonet affects the accuracy of the battle.
With a correctly attached bayonet, the radius of the circle containing all the bullets is smaller. This phenomenon is explained by the fact that when shooting with a bayonet from our rifle (with the accepted barrel length, weight of parts and charge, etc.), the vibration of the muzzle of the barrel is less, and the bullet receives a more uniform direction.
The decision made in Western European armies to shoot without a bayonet and to attach it only when approaching the enemy at 300-400 steps slightly contributes to less fatigue for the shooter, but the accuracy of the system suffers from this. Shooting from a rifle without a bayonet, sighted with a bayonet, without moving the front sight gives such results that at a distance of 400 steps one can no longer expect accurate shooting.
The needle bayonet gave more dangerous non-healing wounds and provided better penetration of thick clothing. The decision made in the Russian army - to shoot at all distances with a fixed bayonet, with which the rifle is zeroed - is the most correct.
Years passed, August 1914 arrived. Russia entered the First world war. New types of weapons have not reduced the relevance of the bayonet. The Russian bayonet is no longer just Russian.
Captured Russian 3-line rifles mod. 1891 (“Mosin system”) was massively used by Germany and Austria-Hungary. In Austria-Hungary, both captured and ersatz Austrian-made bayonets of excellent quality were used together with them. They differed from the original only in the slot in the tube, which for the “Austrians” was straight.
The scabbards for the original and ersatz bayonets were made of iron with hooks characteristic of Austrian scabbards. German scabbards for bayonets for the 3-line “Mosin rifle” could be of two types: iron, similar to the Austrian ones, but with a teardrop-shaped hook characteristic of the “Germans,” and an ersatz one made of galvanized sheet.
During the First World War, the Austro-Hungarian army also had captured Russian rifles of the “Berdan No. 2 system” in service. Leather and iron scabbards were made for their bayonets. A number of bayonets for the “Berdan rifle No. 2” were converted into bayonets for a rifle mod. 1895 “Mannlicher system”, by welding the handle of a Mannlicher bayonet knife to the blade.
From 1882 to 1913, the Bulgarian army received from Russia about 180 thousand infantry rifles of the “Berdan No. 2 system” and 3 thousand dragoon rifles of the same system. All of them were equipped with infantry and dragoon bayonets. The Bulgarian army also had about 66 thousand Russian 3-line rifles of the “Mosin system” in service, which in 1912-1913. were delivered from Russia. In 1917, Austria-Hungary transferred allied assistance to Bulgaria - 10 thousand Mosin system rifles, converted to the Mannlicher cartridge mod. 1893. The bayonets for them were in metal Austrian and German sheaths.
The war is over, the Russian bayonet showed itself excellently. But his time was running out irrevocably. The battle conditions changed, new automatic weapons appeared. And for the first time the bayonet-knife came en masse to the Red Army in 1936, it was a bayonet for automatic rifle Simonova arr. 1936. Soon, new Tokarev self-loading rifles SVT-38 and SVT-40 begin to enter service. Only at that historical stage and only with the use of rapid-fire, quickly reloadable rifles, with the widespread use of fire from automatic weapons, did the needle bayonet lose its position.
And our army would have a new rifle and a new bayonet, if not for the war. June 1941, powerful blow German army, inability to take decisive action and outright sabotage of the military leadership Soviet Union allowed the Germans to capture a significant part of our country in the shortest possible time. The production of the “three-line” was accelerated, the bayonet that went with it was still needle-shaped, but already modified in 1930.
In 1944, a new 3-line carbine was adopted; it also had a needle bayonet, but of a different design. The bayonet was fixed on the carbine and folded forward if necessary. The last needle bayonet in the history of the Soviet army was the bayonet for the Simonov self-loading carbine mod. 1945. Soon after the start of production, the needle bayonet was replaced with a knife-shaped one. From that moment to old needle bayonets they never returned to the USSR and Russia.
/Alexey Klishin, Agop Kazanyan, topwar.ru/
What were they like? combat characteristics weapons of that time? It turns out that a rifle bullet weighing 33 g, fired by igniting a charge of 11 g of black smoky powder, pierced a good dozen cuirasses at a distance of 43 m and left significant dents on five more! A remarkable achievement, but the rate of fire did not exceed one shot per minute. And before it was even lower. It was not for nothing that at the end of the 16th century, musketeers and arquebusers were placed in the same formation with pikemen armed with spears, who covered them while they reloaded their guns. Later, shooters began to be equipped with knives and daggers with round and narrow handles, which were inserted into the muzzles of guns, transforming firearms into bladed weapons.
Thus, in the 17th century, many European armies had infantry units armed with smoothbore rifles with bayonets attached to the barrels. Moreover, over time, a more suitable place was found for the bayonet, next to the barrel, but away from the front sight, so as not to interfere with aiming and shooting. This system has survived to this day. Nevertheless, as they say, our famous commander Generalissimo A.V. Suvorov did not like shooting on the battlefield. The well-known saying that “the bullet is stupid, but the bayonet is great” is attributed to him. But why did the brilliant military leader suddenly show himself to be such a retrograde? It turns out there were special reasons for this. During the time of Suvorov, guns in the army, as already mentioned, were mostly smooth-bore. And even those, despite Leskov’s Levsha’s warning: “The British don’t clean their guns with bricks,” continued to clean them using crushed brick powder. And with such cleaning, the diameter of the barrel gradually increased. And when fired, the bullet dangled freely in it, which led to both short range shooting and poor accuracy. In addition, the guns were single-shot, and in order to reload such a barrel again, considerable skill and quite a lot of time were required. Finally, after the shot, the entire space around the shooter was covered with a cloud of thick white smoke, through which it was very difficult to see anything. Such a cloud unmasked the shooter himself perfectly.
It is clear that in such conditions there was no talk of any effective shooting. Bullets often flew anywhere, “into the white light, like a penny,” and not at all to the target. That is why, in the time of Suvorov, riflemen, going on the attack, fired one or two volleys when approaching the enemy, and then rushed into a bayonet attack, sticking a wooden or bone handle of a special baguette bayonet into the barrel of their gun. The name comes from a corruption of the French word "bayonet" - bayonet. Such bayonets first appeared in France in the 40s of the 16th century, and from there they migrated through Poland to Russia. And since our soldiers in hand-to-hand combat usually surpassed the soldiers of foreign armies, Suvorov relied more on a bayonet than on a bullet.
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