quote:

Originally posted by Jerry Fisk:
The triangle punch does not heal over well.

quote:

Originally posted by Naphtali:
Something that continues to puzzle me in retrospect since the era of using bayonets as a fighting/intimidation instrument mounted on a long gun (I use the phrase to account for guns such as Lancaster smgs in World War II, Winchester 1897 trench guns, et al.) and projecting forward of its muzzle is essentially over.

One factoid (??) I have read more than once that pertains to bayonet or sword/cutlass use as a stabbing tool is the difficulty in pulling blade from stab wound. I believe that some bayonet training included stepping on the fallen body to enhance the stabber's ability to get his gun-bayonet out of the stabbed body. The intended point of impact with most bayonet thrusts would be the thoracic cavity. Thoracic cavity has a rib cage to protect the cavity's organs. Every example I have seen of how a blade bayonet is mounted shows blade perpendicular to ribs. Mounted "sideways," the blade could "slide" between ribs - easier going in, much easier coming out. Pointed rods and triangular configurations avoid the issue. While I think that would allow them to have shorter blades, shortening the effective length of an infantryman's "pike" was probably not desirable.

And yet that small change appears to have been omitted. Since rod and triangular bayonets are pretty much useless except their use as the long gun's "pike," a design change that would cause a blade bayonet to be less useful as a knife is not a reasonable justification not to make the change.

quote:

Originally posted by Naphtali:
Something that continues to puzzle me in retrospect since the era of using bayonets as a fighting/intimidation instrument mounted on a long gun (I use the phrase to account for guns such as Lancaster smgs in World War II, Winchester 1897 trench guns, et al.) and projecting forward of its muzzle is essentially over.

One factoid (??) I have read more than once that pertains to bayonet or sword/cutlass use as a stabbing tool is the difficulty in pulling blade from stab wound. I believe that some bayonet training included stepping on the fallen body to enhance the stabber's ability to get his gun-bayonet out of the stabbed body. The intended point of impact with most bayonet thrusts would be the thoracic cavity. Thoracic cavity has a rib cage to protect the cavity's organs. Every example I have seen of how a blade bayonet is mounted shows blade perpendicular to ribs. Mounted "sideways," the blade could "slide" between ribs - easier going in, much easier coming out. Pointed rods and triangular configurations avoid the issue. While I think that would allow them to have shorter blades, shortening the effective length of an infantryman's "pike" was probably not desirable.

And yet that small change appears to have been omitted. Since rod and triangular bayonets are pretty much useless except their use as the long gun's "pike," a design change that would cause a blade bayonet to be less useful as a knife is not a reasonable justification not to make the change.

quote:

COL. LEWIS MILLETT
THE STORY OF LEWIS MILLETT
The U.S. Army's Last Bayonet Charge

DAVID FRUM
10.23.12 5:30 PM ET
Today's post-debate interest in bayonets offers a fragment of an excuse to reproduce this delightful Peter Worthington column from the old Frum Forum.



I first spotted him at a banquet and awards ceremony in Seoul, marking the 50th anniversary of the Korean war – a grizzled old colonel with a white handlebar moustache and the Medal of Honor around his neck.

But what caught my attention was two Canadian war medals nestled among the 26 medal ribbons he wore – the Canadian Volunteer medal with overseas clasp, and Victory medal from WWII.

“How come?” I asked him.

A mischievous grin spread his face. He introduced himself – Col. Lewis Lee Millett, a storied American fighting soldier, although I didn’t know it at the time.


“I got the Medal of Honor thanks to the Canadian army,” he quipped. “The Canadians taught me bayonet fighting, and I led a bayonet charge in the Korean war.” He paused, waiting for inevitable questions.


I was with my friend, Vince Courtenay, both of us Korean vets from the same battalion of the Princess Pats in Korea.

Millett, then around 80 years old, told how he’d joined the U.S. army at age 21 in the summer of 1941 – and then deserted, because the U.S. wasn’t yet in the war. He came to Canada and joined our army to go overseas. He wanted to fight Nazis. “As I recall, the Canadian infantry was always doing bayonet training – stabbing straw-filled dummies, parry, thrust, shouting. It made an impression on me.”

After Pearl Harbour, when the U.S. entered the war, he transferred back to the U.S. army, served in North Africa and Italy, winning the Silver Star. When paperwork caught up with him that he had deserted in 1941, his commanding officer court-martialed him – fined him $50, and promptly promoted him to 2nd lieutenant.

“I believe I am the only colonel in the regular army who was ever court-martialed and convicted of desertion,” he laughed. In Korea, he also won the Distinguished Service Cross, next to the Medal of Honor in prestige, but he seemed inordinately proud of his two Canadian medals.

In the ferocious fighting of early 1951, Millett recalled reading a document that said the Chinese believed American soldiers dreaded hand-to-hand combat, and were fearful of “cold steel."

“We’ll see about that, you sons of bitches,” he muttered. At a feature called Hill 180, under grenade and rifle fire, he led two platoons in a bayonet charge up the hill.


“I always had my men fix bayonets,” he said. “I never forgot the Canadian training. We didn’t do much bayonet drill in those days, but I gotta say, those Chinese didn’t know what hit them when we charged.”

Millett led the way and routed the Chinese. His Medal of Honor citation reads: “His dauntless leadership and personal courage so inspired his men that they stormed into the hostile position and used their bayonets with such lethal effect that the enemy fled in wild disorder.”


In the Vietnam war, Millett was involved in a clandestine intelligence program aimed at subverting and killing Viet Cong in the countryside. He retired in 1973 when he felt the U.S. was abandoning South Vietnam.

He once told an interviewer: “I believe deeply in freedom. I’ve fought in three wars, and volunteered for all of them . . . I believe as a free man it is your duty to help those under the attack of tyranny. It’s as simple as that.”

Lewis Millett, old soldier, died on Nov. 14, age 89: A free man, a brave man, an American patriot.

quote:

Originally posted by Edmond:
[FLASH_VIDEO]<iframe frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/PAPox1A3F6U" width="560"></iframe>[/FLASH_VIDEO]

quote:

Originally posted by Edmond:
Please fuck yourself off.