Jim Wilkins wrote:

On Nov 29, 12:42 am, "Michael A. Terrell"
wrote:

It's a quick way to kill someone up close, when yo either have to
keep quiet, or are out of ammo.

Bayonets let you control captives with graded, non-lethal force backed
by a bullet if necessary.

I've read that they are a preferred weapon for close-up, nighttime
furball fights when you can't identify friend from foe at any
distance. In Herbert McBride's WW1 autobio the trench-raiding machine
gunners would bring only their spare barrels to use as clubs. They
wanted live prisoners to interrogate.


What kept those prisoners in line? The knowledge that a quick
bayonet thrust, and they are dead. of course you want to obtain
information, but you can only control so many prisoners at a time.

--
The movie 'Deliverance' isn't a documentary!