The Death of the Bayonet?

Most scholars believe the end came in 1916 with the British at the Somme. That terrible battle of attrition ended the thought that advancing infantry would be expected to walk into the battle with bayonet exposed attempting to intimidate the enemy. Machine guns were not intimidated easily. Shortly after that battle infantry platoons were reorganized to become specialists in various different trades of warfare. Prior to this act, mass bayonet charges were the order of the day. One of those fights we will discuss here today.

Second Lt. Albert Jacka, Australian Imperial Force, found himself in the middle of a vicious German Counter Offensive on August 7, 1916 around Pozieres. Jacka who had already won the Victoria Cross at Gallipoli the previous year was no stranger to combat. During the battle some 40 AIF "diggers" were captured by German forces in the assault. Jacka found himself in charge of seven men, some wounded including himself, attempting to rescue the 40 men. Jacka led his men, bayonets fixed towards the German trenches. As they approached the lines a German soldier climbed from the trench expecting more prisoners and Jacka shot him dead. Seeing this battle develop from their vantage point additional AIF troopers joined in the charge. It seems this small group of men, determined to free their fellow mates incited a mass offensive. This impulse movement caught the German forces completely off guard, Jacka and his men started clearing trenches one by one, shooting, bayoneting and grenading as they progressed. Lt. Jacka wounded many more times in the ensuing assault was like a man possessed, he would not relinquish his charge until those men were free. Credited with killing 20 Germans himself, the charge eventually reached the captives well behind the front lines. Once the guards were taken care of all the prisoners were set free and upon returning to the friendly lines they also brought with them 42 German prisoners. Jacka was nominated for a second Victoria Cross for his bayonet charge but this was downgraded to the Military Cross. His actions that day were later related as "the most dramatic and effective act of individual audacity in the history of the AIF" along with a title that was bestowed upon him by the press and those that knew him, "Australia’s Greatest Front Line Soldier."

To this day, this is the reason the bayonet has not been eliminated, it is not the weapon that is important it is the fighting spirit it instills. The bayonet is dead..... not hardly.

How could any reasoning/sane military men not award the Victoria cross for this action.
Man its beyond my understanding for sure! What a sad joke.

Shortly after the end of the Vietnam war the Army spent $7 million dollars on a research project to determine how many Vc Nva soldiers were killed by a bayonet attached to a rifle. There were 0 confirmed kills. U. S. Army Ret.

a British unit fixed bayonets in Iraq; Falklands, also.

Well the crappy bayonets that the Caf issued with the Fn C1 were basically useless weight. Yep the Brits went to bayonets on a few occasions in the Falklands IIRC.
Does anyone even issue a decent one anymore?

Fixing bayonets is still an important part of the "final assault" in the British Army (or was when I was in 14 yrs ago)
As Cpl Jones said, "They don't like it up 'em Mr Mainwaring!"