Bayonets of the Russian army. Russian needle four-sided bayonet Four-sided bayonet of the Russian army history of origin

Discussions about the need for bayonets have long ceased to be relevant in our era of the widespread use of automatic weapons. But back in the 19th century and even at the beginning of the 20th century, many copies were broken on this issue. Even the appearance of magazine rifles did not immediately send the bayonet to the scrap. And the biggest controversy unfolded over the type of bayonet. Should it be of the saber type, as, for example, among the Prussians, or is the only piercing option more relevant, like the four-sided bayonet of the Mosin rifle.

History of creation

Russian faceted bayonets have a rich history. The first needle bayonet was used on the Berdank. At first it was triangular, and in 1870 a stronger four-sided needle bayonet was designed. A slightly modified version of this bayonet also ended up on the legendary Mosin rifle, which became the main Russian weapon of both world wars. The bayonet was fired along with the rifle and did not need to be removed during firing.

It should be noted that it was attached to the right of the barrel, since in this position it had the least effect on the firing trajectory. The square bayonet was used in various options sample 1891 - in infantry, Cossack, dragoon.

Design

The standard was a design with a bayonet fastened with a collar and a tube in the shape of the letter "G", which thickened at the rear end.

But more complex and, therefore, expensive options with a spring latch were also produced, which pursued the goal of quickly removing and putting on the bayonet.

The tetrahedral blade had valleys in all faces. The total length is 500 mm, of which the length of the blade is 430 mm. The blade width is 17.7 mm and the inner diameter of the tube is 15 mm.

Advantages

The four-sided bayonet knife was traditionally condemned by Europeans for "inhumanity". The needle blade penetrated much deeper than the wide saber bayonets of European rifles. In addition, wounds inflicted by faceted weapons practically do not close, since they have a rounded, and not wide, but also a flat section. Therefore, the wounded with a Russian four-sided bayonet was much more likely to bleed to death. However, in the era of mines and chemical weapons any claims to edged weapons about inhumanity seem meaningless.

The Russian bayonet was technologically advanced in production, light and cheap compared to European counterparts. Due to its low weight, it created less interference when shooting and allowed the rifle to work faster in the bayonet proper. Under the conditions of a classic bayonet attack of a unit against a unit, a faceted bayonet looked preferable to a saber bayonet.

Flaws

In combat combat, the needle bayonet wins, but in the case of a one-on-one duel, when two fighters maneuver and try to fence, the saber bayonet, which allows you to deliver sweeping chopping blows, has the advantage.

The main disadvantage of the Russian bayonet is the inability to fold it without separating it from the weapon, or at least the ability to quickly remove and put it on. This became especially evident during the trench confrontations of the First World War. There is not enough space in the trench, and the bayonet constantly clings to something. It was not uncommon for it to break.

The second drawback is the small applicability of the square bayonet outside of hand-to-hand combat. And knife-shaped and saber-shaped bayonets always retain an applied function.

Development

By the beginning of the twentieth century, bayonets began to be used quite rarely. Therefore, in the advanced European armies, they increasingly began to pay attention to the convenience of bayonets, relying on shooting and preferring to produce light and short quick-release models that minimally interfere with the shooter. And the countries of the Triple Alliance were the first to produce cheap "ersatz bayonets" made of low-quality steel, which, however, fully justified themselves in the conditions of the predominance of small arms rather than hand-to-hand combat.

The Russian command stubbornly held on to the high piercing qualities of a faceted bayonet in hand-to-hand combat, although the shooting suffered from this. Only in 1916 was a new bayonet created, which made it possible to make chopping blows that were more effective in trench warfare. Also, this model was easier and cheaper to manufacture.

IN THE USSR

However, after the revolution, the leadership of the Red Army left the old four-sided bayonet of the 1891 model in service, despite a number of attempts to switch to bladed bayonet-knives.

In 1930, a modified version of the weapon was created, designed for the modernized Mosin rifle of the 1930 model. The most interesting modification of the old Russian bayonet was the folding bayonet for the Mosin carbine, which was put into service in 1943. This bayonet was shorter than the standard one and had a protrusion on the base, which tightly fixed the weapon in the firing position. Later, a second protrusion was added, which fixed the bayonet in the stowed position. It was fixed with a spring latch-sleeve, which was put on the barrel in the combat position, and moved forward in the stowed position, allowing the bayonet to be folded back to the forearm.

The Russian needle bayonet left a very noticeable mark in the history of wars, ending the era of the famous bayonet attacks of the Russian infantry, for which it has been famous since the time of Suvorov. And even though the legendary weapon left the stage a little later than it should have, it still left significant footprint in military history. In its direct purpose - hand-to-hand combat, there were no equals to the Russian four-sided bayonet.

Today, the bayonet attached to the barrel of the rifle still plays a role. We often forget how powerful he is. Its gleaming blade represents the most terrible weapon hand-to-hand combat. But why is the triangular bayonet so good, and why has it become so important in hand-to-hand combat?

In fact, a dagger in the form of a trihedral prism appeared in antiquity. However, its potential was truly revealed by the Russian army. During the First and Second World Wars, a triangular bayonet mounted under the barrel of a long Mosin rifle became the hallmark of a Russian soldier. The Russians loved this weapon for its incredible penetrating ability. In winter, soldiers wore uniforms made of dense materials, so a bayonet with low penetrating power was not suitable. The triangular bayonet did not have such a problem.

On the other hand, the Russian army, being poorly equipped, emphasized hand-to-hand combat. During the First and Second World Wars, the picture was as follows: Russian soldiers, breathing heavily, hobbled across a snow-covered field, dressed in padded jackets and with “three-rulers” in their hands. At a signal, the troops rushed to the enemy positions with a shout of "Hurrah", crushing everything in their path ...

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However, the power of the trihedral bayonet is expressed not only in its penetrating ability. Due to the special design, the wounds inflicted on the enemy were deep and did not heal well; it was worth inflicting one blow, and the enemy was not only out of order, he was incurable. The special shape made it possible to quickly pull out the bayonet and again rush into battle. On the other hand, such bayonets were easy to produce, which fully corresponded to the tasks of full-scale military operations.

In the early 50s, China bought a large batch of Mosin rifles of the 1944 model from the USSR, which were copied and became type 53 rifles - the first unified weapon of the People's Liberation Army of China (PLA). Triangular Soviet-made bayonets were widely used in the preparation of the army. At that time, due to the lack of heavy weapons, the PLA still put light infantry at the forefront, which, of course, approved of such powerful weapon, like a trihedral bayonet, especially in close combat. The bayonet was standard equipment on the Type 56 semi-automatic rifle, as well as on the Type 56 submachine gun subsequently developed. For a long time, the bayonet was a testament to the prowess and power of the PLA, as well as a symbol of fighting spirit.

The trihedral bayonet was in service with the PLA for 40 years and was removed in the late 80s. Why? In fact, this was the inevitable result of military technological progress - as military equipment was modernized and the interaction of troops was strengthened, the PLA ceased to rely on light infantry.

In modern warfare, a special role is assigned to firepower, and the likelihood of hand-to-hand combat between soldiers is becoming less and less. Despite the enormous power of the trihedral bayonet, especially in terms of stabbing, it is the simplest weapon in terms of characteristics. In other words, the era of the bayonet has already passed. New bayonet knives require not only penetrating power, but also versatility. In modern warfare, they are more like "tools of labor."

The materials of InoSMI contain only assessments of foreign media and do not reflect the position of the editors of InoSMI.

RUSSIAN BAYONET

Bayonet fighting is one of the varieties of close combat, during which the bayonet is used as a piercing and cutting object, and the butt is used as a striking object. Bayonet fighting is based on the same principles as for fencing.

With full confidence, we can say that the idea of creating a combined weapon appeared a very long time ago. But his most popular form eventually became the halberd.

combining such types of weapons as an ax, a spear and a hook. However, the greatest number of developments of combined weapons falls on the period of development firearms.

It was the complexity and duration of reloading that required additional equipment. Many museums around the world have preserved a large number of similar weapons- this is a sword pistol, an ax pistol, a shield pistol, a cane gun, a knife pistol, an ink pistol, an arquebus-halberd and many others. However, the bayonet itself appeared much later.

According to legend, the bayonet was invented in the 17th century in France, in the city of Bayon, hence the name bayonet. The first copies of it were pike tips with a shortened shaft, which was inserted into the muzzle for further combat. In order to introduce this weapon for the entire army, it was decided to demonstrate it to Louis XIV. However, the imperfect design led the king to order bayonets to be banned as impractical weapons.

Fortunately, the same demonstration was attended by a captain with a very famous surname d'Artagnan, who managed to convince Louis. So it appeared in service with the French army the new kind weapons. Then its use spread to other European states. In 1689, the bayonet appeared in service with the military in Austria.

Petrovsky charter

At the beginning of the 18th century, Peter I made the practice of bayonet fighting a statutory law of the army. The brutal defeat near Narva served as the starting point for the extensive training of army and navy personnel in hand-to-hand combat, the introduction of fencing into educational establishments. In 1700, with the direct participation of Peter, the first official document, regulating combat training Russian infantry "Short ordinary training". In it, special attention was paid to bayonet fighting using baguettes (a kind of bayonet). Moreover, if in the Western armies baguettes were used mainly as a defensive weapon, the idea of an offensive use of a bayonet was developed in the “Brief Ordinary Training”.

Petrovsky grenadier

The preparation of soldiers for bayonet fighting occupied a significant place in the "Military Regulations" put into effect in 1716. Peter 1 demanded that the officers organize and train their subordinates in such a way that "the soldiers get used to it, as in the battle itself." At the same time, great importance was given to individual training: “It is necessary for officers to notice every soldier with diligence so that they can do it in the best possible way.”

Soon, one small innovation was introduced - in addition to the cut-off peak, a tube was also attached to the barrel. And so a type of weapon appeared, which the Russians call a bayonet. For a very long period of time, these weapons were used as a means of protecting foot soldiers from cavalry.

The revolution in the use of the bayonet was made by A.V. Suvorov, who understood that only by seriously mastering the skills of a bayonet fight, Russian soldiers would be able to defeat the Turks in hand-to-hand combat.

It was A. Suvorov who made the bayonet a means of attack, emphasizing its clear advantages in close combat. This decision was caused by a number of objective reasons.

With the then relatively low level of military equipment, aimed fire from smooth-bore weapons could be fired 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, managed to shoot only 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 don't know the bayonet."

Soldiers were trained to act with bayonets both in the ranks and individually. Before Italian campaign In 1799, Suvorov, knowing that the Austrians were weak fighters in a bayonet fight, wrote instructions specifically for their army. It gave such advice: "... and when the enemy approaches thirty steps, then the standing army itself moves forward and meets the attacking army with bayonets. The bayonets are held flat, with the right hand, and stabbed with the help of the left. chest or head.

"... at a distance of a hundred steps to command: march-march! At this command, people grab their guns with their left hand and run at the enemy with bayonets shouting "Vivat"! The enemy must be stabbed right in the stomach, and if which is not pinned with a bayonet, then its butt."

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 straps on their chests that crossed each other (one for a half-saber, the other for a cartridge bag).

French infantry

Breaking through such protection is quite difficult for an experienced fighter. A blow to the face was also associated with the risk of a miss, since the opponent could turn his head away. The stomach was open and recoil, being in the ranks, the soldier could not. Suvorov taught to hit the enemy with the first blow, so that the fighter then had time to fend off the attack directed at him. The actions had to be clear and coordinated, according to the principle of "prick - protection" and again "prick - protection". At the same time, as can be seen from the above tips, the butt could be widely used. The tactics used against the Turks, the Russians successfully tried on the French.

Borodino - a great battle.

And in the future, special attention was traditionally paid to bayonet fighting in the Russian army.

“If, for example, you are flailing, then flail mentally, because flailing in battle is the first thing, and, most importantly, remember that you need to stab the enemy at a full lunge, in the chest, with a short blow, and rip the bayonet shortly back from his chest ...

Remember: from the chest shortly back, so that he does not grab it with his hand ... That's it! R-time - a full lunge and r-time - shortly back. Then r-one-two! R-one-two! stomp your foot briefly, frighten him, the enemy r-one-d-two! It was in 1871, Gilyarovsky then served in the army as a volunteer.

The instructor Ermilov, like Suvorov, also loved figurative and intelligible expressions:

“And whoever has the wrong fighting stance, Yermilov loses his temper:

What got you hooked? Stomach, whether that hurts, gray-footed! You freely hold on, like a general fell apart in a carriage, and you, like a woman over a pail ... A goose on a wire!

The method of hitting "on a full lunge, in the chest, with a short blow" at that time was a relative novelty in the Russian army, because back in the years Crimean War(1853-1856) Russian soldiers bayoneted differently. The writer-historian Sergeev-Tsensky described this technique as follows:

“Russian soldiers were taught to hit with a bayonet only in the stomach and from top to bottom, and, having hit, lower the butt, so that the bayonet went up, twisting the inside: it was useless to even take such wounded to the hospital.”

Indeed, what could be the use of the hospital after that ...

Such an effective method of bayonet fighting had to be abandoned under international pressure.

The fact is that in 1864 the first Geneva Convention was signed, which dealt exclusively with the issues of rendering assistance to wounded soldiers. The convention was initiated by the Swiss public figure Henri Dunant. In 1859, he organized care for the wounded at the Battle of Solferino during the Austro-Italian-French War, which resulted in 40,000 dead 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 doctors working on the battlefield.

In Russia, the Red Cross Society was established in May 1867 under the name "Society for the Care of the Wounded and Sick Soldiers." This is where I had to face the requests of the international community (mainly in the person of England and France, who had the saddest memories of Russian bayonet attacks during the Crimean War) to abandon the terrible blow to the stomach. As an alternative, the blow to the chest described above was chosen.

Bayonet fighting is a kind of fencing, in the technique of which a lot is borrowed from the technique of fighting with long-pole weapons. The assertion that the Russian bayonet battle was the best in Europe, although it set everyone 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 Lugarr's book "A Guide to Fencing with Bayonets", published in 1905 after the end of the Russo-Japanese War.

Here are a few of the methods outlined there:

“The soldier strikes with his gun at or slightly above his head.

The butt of the weapon is turned up. The bayonet is aimed at the head, neck or chest; a little above. A parade against such a blow is made, holding a gun

butt up, leading the enemy's bayonet to the left with the central part of the box.

(It is possible to repulse such a blow with your own bayonet or with the upper part of the gun, holding the weapon with the bayonet up and taking it away with a directed blow to the right or left,

while slightly bending the body).

2. The blow is applied from the bottom up, with bent knees, and directed to the abdomen. They beat him off by turning the gun with a bayonet to the ground, taking the enemy’s weapon to the left or right.

3. It is carried out according to the same principle as impact No. 2, but the knees are not so strongly bent. The bayonet is directed from the bottom up to the head or neck. The parade is performed by simply moving the gun to the side. The attacker's bayonet is taken to the center of the box; body moves to the left. (With the upper grip of the gun right hand the same thing is done, but in the other direction. Such a position is also convenient in that it allows the defender to immediately go on the attack himself).

As we can see, Lugarr does not offer to refuse a bayonet in the stomach. True, he does not recommend raising the bayonet in the stomach, “turning inside out”. The times are not the same, the humane twentieth century is in the yard ...

The first Russian rifle, which was originally designed as a breech-loading rifle, was a 4.2-line rifle mod. 1868 of the Gorlov-Gunius system (“Berdan system No. 1”).

This rifle was designed by our officers in the USA and fired without a bayonet. Gorlov, at his own discretion, chose a three-sided bayonet for the rifle, which was installed under the barrel.

After firing with a bayonet, it turned out that the bullet was moving away from the aiming point. After that, a new, more durable four-sided bayonet was designed (remember that three sides 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.

Such a bayonet was also adopted for the 4.2-line infantry rifle mod. 1870

("Berdan system No. 2") 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. It was only through the efforts of the best Russian Minister of War in the entire history of our state - Dmitry Alekseevich Milyutin, that the excellent Russian bayonet was defended. Here is an excerpt from the diary of D.A. Milyutin on March 14, 1874: “... the question of replacing bayonets with cleavers has been raised again ... following the example of the Prussians. Three times this question has already been discussed by competent persons: everyone unanimously gave preference to our bayonets and refuted the sovereign’s assumptions that bayonets adjoined the guns only at the time when the need to use edged weapons presented itself. And despite all the previous reports in this sense, the issue is raised again for the fourth time. With a high probability, here we can assume the insistence of the Duke Georg of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, who cannot allow us to have anything better than in the Prussian army.

Here it is time to recall another interesting feature of the Russian bayonet, its sharpening. Very often it is called a screwdriver. And even very serious authors write about the dual purpose of the bayonet, they say, they can stab the enemy and unscrew the screw. This, of course, is nonsense.

For the first time, the sharpening of the bayonet blade not on the point, but on a plane similar to the sting of a screwdriver, appeared on newly manufactured bayonets for the Russian rapid-fire 6-line rifle mod. 1869 (“Krnka system”) and four-sided bayonets for an infantry 4.2-linear rifle mod. 1870 ("Berdan system No. 2"). Why was she needed? Clearly do not unscrew the screws. The fact is that the bayonet must not only be “sticked” into the enemy, but also quickly removed from him. If a bayonet sharpened on a point stuck into a bone, then it was difficult to remove it, and a bayonet sharpened to a plane, as it were, bypassed the bone without getting stuck in it.

By the way, another curious story is connected with the position of the bayonet relative to the barrel. After the Berlin Congress of 1878, when withdrawing his army from the Balkans Russian empire gave the young Bulgarian army over 280 thousand 6-line rapid-fire rifles mod. 1869 "Krnka systems" mainly with bayonets arr. 1856. But a lot of bayonets for rifled guns mod. 1854 and to earlier smoothbore. These bayonets normally adjoined the Krnks, 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 it was impossible to shoot accurately from it without reshooting. And besides, this position of the bayonet did not reduce the derivation. The reasons for this incorrect placement were different slots on the tubes, which determine the method of attaching the bayonet: arr. 1856 was fixed at the front sight, and bayonets to the systems of 1854 and earlier were fixed on the under-barrel "bayonet rear sight"

Privates of the 13th Belozersky Infantry Regiment in combat uniform with full field equipment and a Berdan No. 2 rifle with an attached bayonet. 1882

Private of the Sofia Infantry Regiment with a muzzle-loading rifle mod. 1856 with an attached trihedral bayonet and clerk of the Divisional Headquarters (in dress uniform). 1862

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 the bayonet had to be higher than 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 was attached to the rifle, shot without it, the aiming point changed. That at very close distances it doesn’t matter, but at distances of about 400 steps it was already impossible to hit the target.

The Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905) showed a new battle tactic, and it was noted with surprise that by the time of hand-to-hand combat, Japanese soldiers still had time to fasten bladed bayonets to their Arisaks.

Soviet bayonets at the beginning of the Great Patriotic War. Top down:

bayonet for 3-line rifle arr. 1891, bayonet for 3-line rifle mod. 1891/30, bayonet for ABC-36, bayonet for SVT-38, bayonets for CBT-40 of two types

Bayonets in scabbards. From top to bottom: bayonet to CBT-40, bayonet to SVT-38, bayonet to ABC-36

The Russian bayonet has acquired a mass of legends, sometimes completely inconsistent with the truth. Many of them have long been accepted as true.

Perhaps one of the most interesting references to the use of the bayonet, which various domestic and Western “historians” are very fond of quoting now, is the words of the greatest commander A.V. Suvorov: "The bullet is a fool, the bayonet is well done." 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 a gun was like a spear. And the function of the shot was absolutely secondary. Alexander Vasilievich, if he knew about such an interpretation of his words in the future, he would be very surprised.

In the original, words by A.V. Suvorov in "The Science of Victory" sound like this: "Take care of the bullet for three days, and sometimes for a whole campaign, as there is nowhere to take it. Shoot rarely, but accurately; with a bayonet if firmly. The bullet will miss, the bayonet will not miss: the bullet is a fool, the bayonet is well done. This fragment as a whole completely changes the understanding of the phrase that is usually illiterately snatched from the works of the commander. The commander only calls to save ammunition and shoot accurately and focuses on the importance of the ability to work with a bayonet. The era of the muzzle-loader forced to try to shoot accurately, the importance of accurate shooting was impossible to underestimate. But smooth-bore guns with bag-loading could not provide a high rate of fire, the required accuracy, and a good command of the bayonet in battle was very important. This is emphasized by other Suvorov words: “One person can stab three with a bayonet, where there are four, and 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. Now it is customary to criticize military officials who kept our soldiers with a needle bayonet for so long, when the “cleaver bayonet”, a bayonet with a knife-shaped blade and a handle, was already introduced in many armies of the world. No matter what explanations they come up with. Perhaps the most absurd thing is that military officials believed that “bayonet-knives” are of great economic value for a soldier, and they will carry them home from service. And no one needs a needle bayonet. Such nonsense can be cultivated only by people who are far from military history, who have absolutely no idea of the rules for handling state property. It is strange that the presence of full-time cleavers and other edged soldier's weapons is not commented on by the authors of this "wild explanation".

1812, Borodino, bayonet attacks

Let's get back to the bayonets, so - a bayonet for a muzzle-loading gun. It is clear that the bayonet must be constantly attached, but at the same time make it possible to load the gun safely for the shooter. These requirements apply only to a triangular bayonet, which has a long neck that moves the wedge of the bayonet 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 satisfied by a trihedral bayonet with a flat edge facing the muzzle.

The huntsman, sitting with the fitting of the huntsman in the sheath on the side of the bayonet-cleaver

Were there bayonets-cleavers in the Russian army? Of course they were. Back in the 18th century for Jaeger fittings such bayonets were adopted, in those days they were called daggers. The bayonet-cleaver, for example, was at the famous Russian Littikh fitting arr. 1843. Again a strange picture is drawn, why Russian huntsmen and skirmishers did not cut their hands when loading a fitting with a hewn blade. The answer to it is simple, the rangers and skirmishers solved specific tasks with their rifled weapons, saying modern language they were snipers. An example is the episode connected with the defense of Smolensk in 1812. Against the actions of only one huntsman on the right bank of the Dnieper, the French were forced to concentrate rifle fire and use artillery piece, only by night the fire of the huntsman subsided. On the morning of the next day, a non-commissioned officer of the Jaeger regiment, killed by a core, was found at that place. What need does a sniper have in a bayonet? Only in extreme cases does he attach the bayonet to his fitting.

A 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 the bayonet must be such that the infantryman can repel the saber blow of the 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 bayonet-cleaver for them was correspondingly longer. When fired, he caused inconvenience, outweighed the muzzle of the barrel down, deflected 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, Root with 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 a butt. When Root, 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 prowess, on the personal order of Napoleon, he was released from captivity.

Time passed, weapons changed, after civil war in the United States, 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 meaninglessness of the bayonet. Since with such a rate of fire, things will not reach 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 release were converted from old muzzle-loaders, and there was no point in changing the old bayonet for them.

The last bayonet-cleaver in the Russian Empire to the fitting of rifle battalions arr. 1843 ("Littich fitting") and the first mass-produced bayonet-knife in the Soviet Union for the ABC-36 rifle

Bayonet to the "Littich fitting", scabbard - modern reconstruction according to the English model

The very first Russian rifle, which was originally designed as a breech-loading rifle, was a 4.2-line rifle mod. 1868 of the Gorlov-Gunius system (“Berdan system No. 1”). This rifle was designed by our officers in the USA and fired without a bayonet. Gorlov, at his own discretion, chose a three-sided bayonet for the rifle, which was installed under the barrel. After firing with a bayonet, it turned out that the bullet was moving away from the aiming point. After that, a new, more durable four-sided bayonet was designed (remember that three sides 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.

The feat of Leonty Root. Leonty received 18 bayonet wounds, after the death of his comrades, he single-handedly opposed the French unit in hand-to-hand combat. The wounded was taken prisoner, as having shown the highest military prowess, after being cured, he was released from captivity on the personal order of Napoleon

Such a bayonet was also adopted for the 4.2-line infantry rifle mod. 1870 ("Berdan system No. 2") 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. It was only through the efforts of the best Russian Minister of War in the entire history of our state - Dmitry Alekseevich Milyutin, that the excellent Russian bayonet was defended. Here is an excerpt from the diary of D.A. Milyutin on March 14, 1874: “... the question of replacing bayonets with cleavers has been raised again ... following the example of the Prussians. Three times this question has already been discussed by competent persons: everyone unanimously gave preference to our bayonets and refuted the sovereign’s assumptions that bayonets adjoined the guns only at the time when the need to use edged weapons presented itself. And despite all the previous reports in this sense, the issue is raised again for the fourth time. With a high probability, here we can assume the insistence of the Duke Georg of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, who cannot allow us to have anything better than in the Prussian army.

Bayonet to a smooth-bore muzzle-loading Russian 7-line infantry rifle mod. 1828 With a decrease in the length of a gun or rifle, the length of the bayonet increased. The requirements for protection against a cavalry saber strike determined the total length of an infantry rifle (rifle) with an attached bayonet

Bayonet for 6-line rapid-fire rifle arr. 1869 (“Krnka system”, this bayonet is a bayonet originally adopted for a muzzle-loading 6-linear rifle model 1856)

Bayonet for 4.2-line infantry rifle mod. 1870 ("Berdan system No. 2")

This issue was finally resolved only in 1876. That's what D.A. Milyutin writes about this on April 14, 1876: “During my report, the sovereign announced to me his decision on bayonets. The sovereign has long been inclined to the opinion of Duke Georg of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, so that in our infantry, following the example of the Prussian, a German cleaver, a bayonet, should be adopted instead of our beautiful three-sided 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 submitted by me to the sovereign, who, after considering them, made a decision, ordering the introduction of new bayonets - cleavers and shooting without attached bayonets only in rifle battalions and in the guard; in the whole army to leave as before. Thus, there is a new complication, a new variegation; again the lack of unity and uniformity, so important in the organization and formation of troops. Nevertheless, I still prefer this decision to the one that I was afraid of and to which the sovereign has noticeably leaned so far.

A bayonet sharpened to a plane and a standard rifle screwdriver (using the Berdan No. 2 system as an example). It is unreasonable to assume that such a bayonet is intended for unscrewing screws. If you try to do this, the tip of the bayonet will be damaged and most likely the unscrewer will be seriously injured by the bayonet that has come off.

Turkestan soldier in winter uniform. 1873. A soldier has a 6-line rifle arr. 1869 ("Krnk system") with attached bayonet

Thus, for the sake of the Germanophiles in Russia, the Prussian cleaver supplanted the Russian bayonet, in spite of every common sense and the opinion of qualified professionals. But ... in fact, apart from experiments and experiments, things did not work out. And the needle four-sided bayonet remained in its place.

The capture of the Grivitsky redoubt near Plevna, the Russian-Turkish war, 1877. The picture shows fragments of hand-to-hand fights and work with bayonets

Shooting practice of the lower ranks of the 280th Sursky Infantry Regiment in gas masks. 3-line rifles arr. 1891 with attached bayonets. 1916 World War I. 1914-1918

Soon the Russian-Turkish war broke out (1877-1878). The army of the Russian Empire for the first time entered into such large-scale hostilities with rapid-fire breech-loading weapons. At the main apartment of the Russian army was an American military agent engineer-lieutenant F.V. Green, who collected data for the US Government. He was instructed to collect materials on the effectiveness of the use of sabers and bayonets in combat. This was due to the fact that the Americans wanted to abandon both, but were afraid to make 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 fighting in the conditions of 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, using the shelters 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 runs, or surrenders, or a quick hand-to-hand fight begins.

The moment of the bayonet fight at the competitions in the Central Park of Culture and Recreation. Gorky. Moscow, 1942

Bulgarian soldier armed with a Russian 3-line infantry rifle model 1891, converted to the Mannlicher cartridge model 1893, with an attached bayonet. A steel bayonet scabbard of the Austrian model is visible on the waist belt. World War I. 1914-1918

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, during the attack all the defenders (about 200 people) were pierced by Russian bayonets. In the same September, a detachment of General Skobelev attacked two Turkish redoubts and rifle ditches south of Plevna, from which the Turks could only be knocked out with bayonets. Fortifications on the right flank near Gorny Dubnyak during the October battles were also taken with hostility. 1878, the January battles near Sheinovo, the attack on the fortified Turkish positions ended in hand-to-hand combat, after 3 minutes from its beginning the Turks surrendered. Near Philippo-lem, the guards captured 24 Turkish guns, while hand-to-hand combat ensued, in which 150 Turkish soldiers and officers were wounded with bayonets. The bayonet always worked and worked perfectly.

The battle on January 1, 1878 at Gorny Bogrov is very indicative. The Russian units were defending, the Turks were advancing. The fire on the Turks was opened 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 work with bayonets.

Austrian conversion of a bayonet to a 4.2-line infantry rifle model 1870 (“Berdan system No. 2) for a rifle o6jj.1895 (“Mannlicher system”). The blade is attached to the handle of a bayonet-knife model 1895. The First World War. 1914-1918

Bayonet for 4.2-line infantry rifle model 1870 in Austrian steel scabbard. World War I. 1914-1918

Bayonets for a three-line rifle in the service of foreign armies in a sheath. From bottom to top: Austrian, German, German ersatz, Finnish, Romanian scabbards

Greene comes to one important conclusion: during a fleeting hand-to-hand fight, only those who have attached bayonets win the upper hand. It is impossible to reload weapons during such a battle. According to Green's estimates, for every 90,000 who died in that war, 1,000 died from the bayonet. And there is no better weapon for hand-to-hand combat than a bayonet.

By the way, another curious 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 presented the young Bulgarian army with over 280 thousand 6-line rapid-fire rifles mod. 1869 "Krnka systems" mainly with bayonets arr. 1856. But a lot of bayonets for rifled guns mod. 1854 and to earlier smoothbore. These bayonets normally adjoined the Krnks, 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 it was impossible to shoot accurately from it without reshooting. And besides, this position of the bayonet did not reduce the derivation. The reasons for this incorrect placement were different slots on the tubes, which determine the method of attaching the bayonet: arr. 1856 was fixed at the front sight, and bayonets to the systems of 1854 and earlier were fixed on the under-barrel "bayonet rear sight".

Privates of the 13th Belozersky Infantry Regiment in combat uniform with full field equipment and a Berdan No. 2 rifle with an attached bayonet. 1882

Private of the Sofia Infantry Regiment with a muzzle-loading rifle mod. 1856 with an attached trihedral bayonet and clerk of the Divisional Headquarters (in full dress). 1862

Soviet bayonets at the beginning of the Great Patriotic War. Top down:
bayonet for 3-line rifle arr. 1891, bayonet for 3-line rifle mod. 1891/30, bayonet for ABC-36, bayonet for SVT-38, bayonets for CBT-40 of two types

Bayonets in scabbards. From top to bottom: bayonet to CBT-40, bayonet to SVT-38, bayonet to ABC-36

Despite the changed situation, the bayonet remained popular and in demand. Moreover, officers marching 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 checker.

Time passed, the question of replacing the bayonet with a cleaver was not forgotten. As before, the main task in his solution was the task of shooting with and without a bayonet attached.

Attached bayonets-cleavers did not allow accurate shooting, so it was possible to open fire with an attached bayonet only as an exception. With needle-shaped faceted bayonets, where the neck deflects the blade some distance from the axis of the bore, shooting is not a problem.

The arguments of the supporters of one or another point of view on bayonets were very consistent. Supporters of bayonets-cleavers pointed to the development of hand-held firearms: with an increase in range, the beginning of the battle is tied at sufficiently long distances, which eliminates the need for hand-to-hand fights. The retreat of one side or the other occurs under the influence of only fire contact, bayonet battles in modern wars are less and less common, and the number of wounded and killed with knives is also decreasing. At the same time, the needle bayonet, which is always attached to the rifle, still, although slightly, affects the accuracy of fire. Its weight, applied to the muzzle away from the rifle's fulcrum, tires the shooter. This was especially considered important when a soldier enters the battle already tired. It was further pointed out that the needle bayonet, except for attack, is useless in all cases of combat and marching life, while the bayonet-cleaver replaces the lower ranks with a knife, is used when chopping firewood, when pitching tents, when arranging bivouac and household appliances, etc. The requirements of the instant connection of an open cleaver, according to its propagandists, were met, 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, then he will always be armed with a cleaver. A permanently attached bayonet makes the rifle longer, the bayonet clings to the branches in the forest, making it difficult to carry the rifle over the shoulder on a shoulder strap. A bayonet-cleaver, hanging on the belt, avoids these difficulties.

The poster depicts a fighter with a SVT-40 rifle with an attached bayonet-knife, going on the attack

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 - the arguments for it significantly outweighed the above arguments against.

So what was said in defense of a permanently attached needle bayonet? In order to satisfy all the conditions of battle, it is necessary that the infantry be armed with such weapons that make it possible to hit the enemy both from a distance and in chest-to-chest combat. So that the infantryman at any moment of the battle would be ready to act with both firearms and melee weapons. Attaching bayonets before an attack presents significant difficulties, the conditions of battle are so diverse that it is impossible to determine in advance the moments at which troops should have their bayonets attached. The need for a bayonet in combat may appear suddenly, at a time when hand-to-hand combat is not expected.

Reserves for the front: In the classroom for practicing bayonet fighting. Central Asian military district, 1943

The adjoining of cleavers when approaching the enemy entails the most unfavorable consequences: in this period of the battle, people are in such an excited state that they may not attach the bayonet at all. In addition, it takes not so little time to attach a bayonet in battle as it might seem. Experience has shown that in order to remove and attach the bayonet, it will take time corresponding to at least 5 to 6 shots. At a time when the lower ranks will adjoin the bayonets, the fire must significantly weaken, and this can have disastrous consequences. At the same time, the closer the bayonet is attached to the enemy, the more fussy and slower it will be executed.

Thus, our rifle with a permanently attached 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 results of firing are insignificant. In combat, it is rare to shoot accurately while standing without cover, in most cases shooting is carried out lying down, and it is always possible to put the gun on a support or rest your elbow on the ground. As for the effect of the bayonet on the accuracy of fire, firstly, the bayonet attached to the right reduces the derivation, and secondly, in our rifle system the bayonet affects the accuracy of the battle. With a properly 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 muzzle part of the barrel shakes less, and the bullet gets a more uniform direction.

The decision made in the Western European armies to shoot without a bayonet and adjoin it only when approaching the enemy at 300 - 400 steps, slightly contributes to less fatigue of the shooter, but the accuracy of the system loses from this. Shooting from a rifle without a bayonet, zeroed in with a bayonet, without moving the front sight, gives such results that at a distance of 400 paces one can no longer expect accurate shooting.

The needle bayonet gave more dangerous non-healing wounds, provided better penetration of thick clothing.

The decision taken in the Russian army - to shoot at all distances with an attached bayonet, with which the rifle is aimed, is the most correct.

Years passed, August 1914 came. Russia entered the First world war. New types of weapons did not reduce the relevance of the bayonet. The Russian bayonet has ceased to be only Russian.

Captured Russian 3-line rifles mod. 1891 ("Mosin system") was massively used by Germany and Austria-Hungary. In Austria-Hungary, together with them, both captured and ersatz bayonets of Austrian production of excellent quality were used. They differed from the original only in the slot in the tube, which the "Austrians" had a straight line. The scabbards for the original and ersatz bayonets were made of iron with hooks characteristic of Austrian scabbards. The German sheath for bayonets for the 3-line "Mosin rifle" could be of two types: iron, similar to the Austrian ones, but with a drop-shaped hook characteristic of the "Germans", and an ersatz made of galvanized sheet.

Suzdal Infantry Regiment in the vanguard of the Danube Army. Forced movement to Adrianople. 1878 At the lower ranks of the rifle of the Krnk and Berdan systems No. 2 with attached bayonets

The lower ranks of the 64th Infantry Kazan Regiment. Halt during the march from Baba-Eski to Adrianople. 1878 In the foreground, Berdan rifles No. 2 with attached bayonets mounted in goats

Repulse of the assault on the Bayazet fortress on June 8, 1877. The Russian soldiers defending the fortress have rapid-firing needle rifles mod. 1867 ("Carle system") with attached bayonets

In the Austro-Hungarian army during the First World War, captured Russian rifles of the Berdan No. 2 system were also in service. For their bayonets, leather and iron scabbards were developed. A number of bayonets for the "Berdan rifle No. 2" were converted into bayonets for the rifle mod. 1895 of the "Mannlicher system", by welding the handle of the Mannlicher bayonet 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 was also armed with about 66 thousand Russian 3-line rifles of the "Mosin system", which in 1912-1913. were delivered from Russia. In 1917, Austria-Hungary transferred allied assistance to Bulgaria - 10,000 rifles of the Mosin system, converted to the Mannlicher cartridge mod. 1893. The bayonets for them were in metal Austrian and German scabbards.

The war is over, the Russian bayonet proved to be excellent. But his time was irrevocably gone. The conditions of the battle changed, new automatic weapons appeared. And for the first time, the bayonet-knife came to the Red Army en masse in 1936, it was a bayonet for the Simonov automatic rifle mod. 1936. Soon, new Tokarev SVT-38 and SVT-40 self-loading rifles begin to enter service. Only for that historical stage and only with the use of rapid-fire, rapidly reloading rifles, with the widespread use of fire from automatic weapons, did the needle bayonet give up its positions.

The Life Guards Moscow Regiment attacks Turkish positions at Araba-Konak

And be our army with a new rifle and a new bayonet, if not for the war. June 1941, a powerful blow from the German army, the 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 as soon as possible. The production of the “three-line” was forced, the bayonet 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 leaned forward if necessary. The last in history Soviet army needle bayonet, there was a bayonet for Simonov's self-loading carbine arr. 1945 Shortly after the start of production, the needle bayonet was replaced with a knife-shaped bayonet. From that moment on, the old needle bayonets in the USSR and Russia were no longer returned.

Training of soldiers of the Red Army in hand-to-hand combat shortly before the start of the war

GFO 15.04.2003 - 02:40

The needle bayonet with a tube in service with the Russian army lasted longer than in all European countries. During this time, he became a symbol of the inflexibility and perseverance of the Russian soldier. Few armies in the world could compete on equal terms with the Russian army in a bayonet battle. But when, by the end of the 19th century, bladed bayonet-knives began to be adopted everywhere, it seemed that time had stopped in Russia. Nothing could shake the hegemony of the needle bayonet. However, we also made repeated attempts to equip the army with a bladed bayonet.
From the end of the 17th century, military-style guns were equipped mainly with triangular bayonets with a tube, which replaced baguettes inserted into the barrel. There were bayonets with a pipe and flat knife-like blades; some of them are stored in the collection of VIMAIViVS (St. Petersburg). But they could not be used separately from the gun, like a cleaver or dagger. Bayonets-cleavers were accepted only for Jaeger fittings, and at first Jaeger daggers-cleavers were worn separately, and only later they got the possibility of attaching to the fitting.
Battles of the 17th and early 19th centuries often ended in bayonet fights, so in battle a bayonet constantly attached to a rifle was necessary. However, since the middle of the 19th century, the improvement of small arms has led to a significant decrease in the number of hand-to-hand combat. Therefore, in most European armies, needle bayonets were replaced by blade-type bayonet-knives that could be worn on a belt and used not only in battle, but also as a household knife at a halt, in a camp, etc.
Russia was among the few countries that left needle bayonets with a tube in service with the army. However, the Russian bayonet became not three-sided, as before, but four-sided.
For the first time in the Russian army, a four-sided bayonet was adopted for the Berdan? 2 infantry rifle mod. 1870 This bayonet, without any significant changes, was used with Mosin magazine rifles until they were finally withdrawn from service in the late 40s of the 20th century.
At the end of XIX - beginning of XX centuries. in the Russian army there were many supporters of the preservation of the needle bayonet (always attached to the rifle in battle), who sought to prove its superiority over the knife bayonet.
A curious and rather curious "dignity" of a tetrahedral bayonet is given by the famous weapons designer and researcher V. G. Fedorov. The fact is that the bladed bayonet could be used in the household as a knife. Therefore, during the First World War in the Russian army, when collecting captured weapons bladed bayonets for foreign rifles often went hand in hand with "amateurs". The strict orders of the command did not help either. “Our faceted bayonet is less loved from a domestic point of view - this is its dignity,” notes V. G. Fedorov, who stood for the rearmament of the Russian army with bladed bayonets, with irony.
However, in Russia they understood the advantages of a blade-type bayonet.
In 1877, a 4.2-line Cossack rifle mod. 1873 "with a dagger adapted to it instead of a bayonet." Rifles with such a bladed bayonet were supposed to equip the troops of the Turkestan district.
Detailed Description this "bayonet-dagger" was not given in the message, but we can conclude that it had a tube with a slot that was put on the barrel: "... The method of attaching the dagger to the barrel is the same as that adopted now in our 4.2- rifle of the line with a French bayonet.
Samples were tested by firing live ammunition with a gunpowder charge of 1 spool (4.26 g). Here is how the results are described: “After 10 ... shots fired, the thin edge of the slot, with which the dagger was put on the barrel, bent and crumpled due to the fact that when fired, the dagger with the tube, lagging behind the barrel by inertia, hit the named edge of the tube on the base of the front sight. With further firing up to 20 shots, the rear edge of the base of the front sight also broke, and the edge of the front sight bent up so much that it interfered with further aiming of the rifle, and the fastening of the dagger to the barrel was broken.
According to the test results, the presented sample was finalized in the shooting range workshop.
To strengthen the wall of the barrel, a "special prism" was soldered in its muzzle. The handle of the dagger was lengthened, which made it more comfortable, and the connection with the barrel was more rigid. As follows from a further message, the new version of the bayonet, apparently, did not have the tube that the previous sample had.
The tests carried out showed that when firing at a distance of 200 steps (142 m), the attached bayonet does not affect "neither the deflection of bullets, nor the accuracy of fire." However, it was noted that the possibility of bending "a relatively thin-walled barrel adopted for 4.2-linear Cossack rifles" has not been completely eliminated, and the conversion of rifles should be done at factories. At the same time, it will be possible to avoid a significant marriage only on newly manufactured weapons.
The issue of adopting a bladed bayonet was referred to the Main Committee for the Arrangement and Formation of Troops. However, the bayonet-knife was never adopted.
This issue was again returned in 1909, when the Artillery Committee unanimously recognized the need to equip the Cossacks with a bayonet-dagger, which could be worn on a belt and adjoined to a rifle before hand-to-hand combat. Cossack rifle mod. 1891 did not have a bayonet. AT Russo-Japanese War 1904-1905 Transbaikalian Cossacks sought to acquire Japanese bayonets-knives by any means.
The weapons department proposed to the state-owned weapons factories, the Gun Range, and the Zlatoust Arms Factory to develop a model of a bayonet-knife, taking into account the designs of bladed bayonets adopted by Western European armies. It was recommended to pay special attention to the bayonet for the German rifle mod. 1898
The following bayonet requirements have been developed:
- the mass of the bayonet must not exceed 1 pound (409 g);
- if possible, the length of a Cossack rifle with an attached bayonet should be no less than the length of a dragoon rifle with a four-sided bayonet;
- fast and convenient connection of the bayonet to the barrel;
- fastening should provide a strong and reliable connection of the bayonet with the barrel and prevent loosening during operation;
- the possibility of wearing a bayonet on the belt.
On December 21, 1909, the Imperial Tula Arms Plant received a request from the GAU to expedite the production and delivery of samples of the "bayonet-dagger". A report dated April 8, 1910 reported on the development and manufacture of two different samples of a bladed bayonet for a Cossack rifle. One was proposed by the head of the plant, Lieutenant General Alexander Vladimirovich Kun, the other - by a civilian weapons master of the Control Workshop Kavarinov.
The document provides the following brief description of the "bayonet-cleaver" designed by N. Kavarinov: "... The bayonet-cleaver consists of 6 parts: a bayonet-cleaver made of a single piece of steel, a valve, a valve spring, a spring stud, a latch and a screw for In order to put on the bayonet-cleaver, you need to put the tube on the muzzle and direct the groove into the protrusion made on the ring, send it to failure, you can put it on both with the latch open and closed. thumb turn the latch down, while the latch will enter its nest, and the bayonet-cleaver will move freely.
Explanatory drawings and drawings were not attached to the document. The description suggests that this sample was a bayonet with a tube, but not with a four-sided needle blade, but with a knife blade. The design, apparently, resembled a bladed bayonet, which was produced during the Great Patriotic War for rifles mod. 1891/30 In this case, it could not be used conveniently enough as a dagger, thereby not fulfilling one of the basic requirements. Even less detailed information is available about Kuhn's sample. It is clear that it could be used as a dagger, as it had a hilt, and "for wearing on a belt" he needed "also a scabbard, which should be made of wood and sheathed in leather."
As production manager A. V. Kun, "in addition to the indicated conditions, he also had in mind the easy adaptation of this bayonet to an existing rifle by the forces of regimental workshops." To convert the rifle to a new bayonet, it was enough to drill a new hole in the stock "for the bolt passing through the ears of the bayonet ring; expand the hole for the muzzle screw and then, due to the fact that the diameters of the muzzle of the barrels of Cossack rifles have large comparative tolerances, a hole in the crosshair of the bayonet you will have to let the unfinished one in, shatter it in the troops when fitting bayonets to rifles.
"... The military units will have to issue new muzzles ... due to the fact that the outer dimensions of the muzzle are made with significant tolerances", therefore "when fitting the bayonet rings, the outer surface of the existing muzzles would have to be adjusted to the new bayonet rings, and this work will not by the means of military workshops, or at least it will take a lot of time.
"To put the designed bayonet on the rifle, it is enough to insert the rod at the end of the handle into the hole of the bayonet ring, and put the hole in the crosshair on the muzzle and send the bayonet down to failure, while the springs in the rod jump over the edge of the bayonet ring. To remove the bayonet, you need , pressing the fingers of the right or left hand on the protruding ends of the springs, press the bayonet up and, when the heads of the springs go a little inward, raise the bayonet up.
From the above passages, we can conclude that in order to mount the bayonet designed by Kuhn, it was necessary to provide the rifle with an additional bayonet ring, which was attached to the "muzzle". Under the "muzzle", apparently, should be understood in this case, the tip of the forearm.
Two samples of new bayonet-daggers for the Cossack rifle were presented to the GAU, and on June 30, 1910 they were received by the Rifle Range at the Officer's Rifle School in Oranienbaum.
The available documents do not allow us to trace the further fate of the samples. One thing is certain: a bladed bayonet for a rifle mod. 1891 was never adopted. main role economic reasons played in it. So, when upgrading the rifle arr. 1891 in 1930, the proposal to take a bladed bayonet with her was rejected, as it required significant financial costs.
There is some information about attempts during the First World War to use blade-type bayonets in the Russian army. In the summer of 1916, a special team was formed, armed with automatic rifles, V. G. Fedorov submachine guns and Mauser pistols. The unit was equipped with many technical innovations of that time: optical sights and binoculars, devices for shooting from shelters, portable shooting shields. Among the weapons mentioned are "special bayonets-daggers modeled on the Caucasian Cossack army".
It is curious what to adapt to the rifle arr. In 1891, the bladed bayonet was succeeded ... by the Germans. During the First World War, captured Russian rifles in the German army were supplied with a special element for attaching the German bladed bayonet from the Mauser rifle. Such samples are stored in the Tula state museum weapons.
They also had mounts for the bladed bayonet of the model based on the rifle mod. 1891, adopted by a number of countries: Poland - model 91/98/25, Finland - rifles M27, M28, M28-30 ("Shutskor"), M30 and M39.
As for Russia, bladed bayonets for rifles mod. 1891, arr. 1891/10 and arr. 1891/30 were used only in small quantities, for example, blade bayonets issued during the Great Patriotic War.
A needle bayonet with a four-sided blade took root in Russia for a long time. One of the options for a bayonet for an experimental self-loading rifle of 1930 by V. A. Degtyarev, although it had a wooden handle, was, however, a tetrahedral needle blade. Adopted at the end of the war, Simonov's self-loading carbine was equipped with an integral folding four-sided needle bayonet.
The decision to replace needle bayonets with blade bayonets for repeating rifles for the Red Army was never made due to cost savings. Nevertheless, already after the modernization of 1930, V. E. Markevich offered for his BEM rifle - an improved version of the 1891/30 model. - a bayonet with a "hewn blade". Only self-loading and automatic rifles ABC-36, SVT-38, SVT-40 were equipped with bladed bayonet-knives, and then the bayonet-knife was adopted for Kalashnikov assault rifles.
In the modern period, the needle four-sided integral bayonet was preserved only in the Kalashnikov assault rifle of Chinese production "type 56".
Igor Pink (c)

1-bladed bayonet from the Littikh fitting of the 1843 model, 2-triangular bayonet from the 6-linear gun, 3-quadral bayonet from the rifle of the Berdan 2 system, spring stopper from the rifle of the Mosin system of 1891/1930, 6-quadrant bayonet of the system of Colonel Gulkevich to the rifle of the Mosin system

7-quadruple bayonet from the Lebel system rifle, 8-Japanese bayonet model "30" for the Arisaka rifle, 9-bladed bayonet for the German Mauser rifle of 1871, 10-bladed bayonet for ABC-36, 11-bladed bayonet from SVT -38, 12-bladed bayonet from SVT-40, 13-bladed bayonet for AK-47

Adjacency of a tetrahedral bayonet to a rifle of the Lebel system. The presence of a handle made possible application this bayonet in hand-to-hand combat separately from the gun as a stabbing weapon

Soviet bladed bayonet for the Simonov automatic rifle (ABC-36). The bayonet was attached to the rifle with the help of movable handle plates. After engaging the hook located at the back of the bayonet on the rifle, you must move the bayonet handle up and attach the bayonet to the weapon

1-Needle bayonet on a Mosin rifle of the 1891 model, 2-Needle bayonet on a Berdan rifle? 2, 3-bladed bayonet on the SVT-38 rifle, 4-bladed bayonet on the ABC-36 rifle, 5-bladed bayonet on the SVT-40 rifle

Bladed bayonets on rifles AVS-36 (above) and SVT-40:
clearly visible differences in the design of fastening the bayonet to the rifle

Sergeant major 15.04.2003 - 03:46

GFO
Battles of the 17th and early 19th centuries often ended in bayonet fights, so in battle a bayonet constantly attached to a rifle was necessary.

Sorry, of course, but the terminology? What RIFLES in the battles of the 17th and early 19th centuries ???
Smoothbore guns.

flint 15.04.2003 - 09:16

Vitiaz 16.04.2003 - 03:04

In fact, the advantages of a knife bayonet in a bayonet fight are extremely doubtful. In any case, a good knife bayonet will tend to have a needle-like design.
Carrying around with a long saber like the Lebel bayonets is also a dubious pleasure.

The main reason for switching to knife bayonets is to facilitate the work of doctors when sorting the wounded. Very often (almost always) a wound with a needle bayonet does not cause any severe external bleeding. If the wounded enters covered in mud, such a wound may not be noticed. At the same time, damage internal organs can be very significant. As a result, the wounded quietly reaches the corner without any help - there is no blood to be seen.
A knife bayonet, on the contrary, causes profuse external bleeding. Such a wounded person will be immediately noticed and will begin to fuss. Purely subconsciously, at the stage of sorting the wounded, the severity of the injury is determined precisely by the amount of blood.

By the way, it is precisely because of their "non-conventionality" that needle bayonets are dismantled from Chinese-made SKS carbines when they are sold in the USA. This does not happen with Soviet-issue SKS bayonets (knife).

Besides, a good bayonet was never a good knife, and a good knife was never a good bayonet. For example - bayonet-knife AK / AKM / AK-74 - degradation from mediocre to outright shit. Although in the style of the evolution of knife bayonets.

By the way, the knife bayonet "gets stuck" in the enemy ...

GFO 16.04.2003 - 10:44

2 Flint
Somewhere in the forum the decoder is lying around. And about guns like "cutting - not cutting" can you be more detailed? Please! If with pictures, then finally a complete fart monocle will turn out! Thanks in advance.
4 Knight
I do not think that needle bayonets left the arena for this very reason. Sufficient accuracy is needed to deliver a striking blow with a needle bayonet. And the probability of being hit by a bladed bayonet is much greater. Plus bleeding. This is about medicine. Rather, the dude will die from blood loss with an extensive bayonet wound than he will "reach" from infection. The exception is some penetrating wounds (like a wound to the liver). Plus the improvement of firearms (transferring combat over long distances). Changing the strategy of warfare (WW1 trenches). All this led to the transformation of the bayonet into a bayonet - a knife. Those. loading the bayonet with household functions. And use as a melee weapon. Unfortunately, nothing is universal. A bayonet in capable hands is a bayonet. A knife in skillful hands is a knife. Bayonet AK knife for a Soviet soldier. Everything is logical.

Sergeant major 16.04.2003 - 02:02

flint
To Feltfebel:
S terminologiey kak raz vse v poryadke. Zdes" (ya zhivu v Calgary) na severo-amerikanskom kontinente esche v XVIII century gospodstvuet nareznoe oruzhie, hotya zamki esche kremnevye. Y menya 2 ruzhya 50 caliber (octagon snaruzhi, 4 nareza vnutri. Eto dovol "no blizkie replici ruzhey togo vremeni) . Ya ne dumayu Rossiya otstavala. Naskol "ko mne izvestno Mushket M-1854 byl nareznym, oba Berdana, Krynka, Baranovskaya vintovka byli nareznymi. Pover" te, Mosinka voznikla ne na pustom meste.

This is not about the fittings of rangers or trappers (Kentucky rifles, etc.). Hunting rifled weapons have been known since the 16th century.
We are talking about weapons that are actually and massively exploited with a bayonet in battle. This means that we are referring to the SMOOTH-BOREED rifles of the line infantry, which, in general, due to the tactical conditions of its use on the battlefield, did not use rifled weapons until the widespread use of breech-loading models. That is, until the 40s. 19th century. My objections related to an earlier period (see previous posts), but the models you listed are the latest.

Sergeant major 16.04.2003 - 02:06

GFO
I do not think that needle bayonets left the arena for this very reason.

It was precisely because of inhumanity ... The needle bayonet was banned by the Hague, in a monmu, convention, I don’t remember ... in twenty some year.
The USSR did not participate in the signing of this document :-))))

Vitiaz 16.04.2003 - 10:55

It is from the loss of blood that the wounded will quietly come to a corner, moaning modestly and asking the little girls to drink ... He will bleed inside his beloved, WITHOUT SPILLING A DROPS ON THE FLOOR.
When wounded with a needle bayonet, approximately the same effect occurs as when wounded with an awl. The tissues are not so much cut as moved apart. On the surface, vessels and tissues have bad habit close the wound and exclude superficial capillary bleeding, or make it insignificant. Inside, the picture can be completely different, with damage to the abdominal organs, intestines, main vessels, etc.

Internal bleeding is diagnosed either at autopsy or during a CAREFUL examination based on indirect signs IN SUSPECTED. With the mass sorting of the wounded, coming in huge numbers from the battlefield, they will most likely deal with bloodied screaming people first of all, rather than a quietly fading man in dirty uniforms WITHOUT VISIBLE TRACES OF BLOOD AND OTHER DAMAGES.

When wounded with a knife bayonet, the intestines will dangle on the floor, the wounded will yell, and in other ways to attract attention. The wound will be of the type of fragmentation - easily and understandably, any paramedic can handle it.

flint 17.04.2003 - 01:40

S udovol "stviem mogu sdelat" otdel "nuyu temku na predmet "sovremennye repliki chernoporohovyh ruzhey" or something v takom duhe. No tol "ko obyasnite mne ubogomu (a esche programmist!) kak vy kartinki on server uploadite? Or ya dolzhen vystavit" svoi linki?

Esli takaya ideya podoydet, dayte znat".

GFO 17.04.2003 - 11:55

4 Knight
Logically, I did not think about internal bleeding. Although the question of the humanity of the needle and blade bayonet is still the same. Like sho is more dangerous than a rosette or sharpening. I remember there was such a top. In capable hands, both are dangerous. And the question of humanity is one of the aspects of the evolution of the bayonet. So sho the problem should be considered at the complex. I think so! (c) Thanks anyway - enlightened.
2 Flint
Extinguish! With great pleasure! If there is no nada for anyone, then mine is nada! If the top is not fucking needed, I'll kill it before saving myself. Pictures are easy to insert. You write a message. You post it on a server. Patom you press Edith. Then you will see everything! Pragramer after all should be f courses! 😀 And pls use transliteration. And then the eyes of cancer after your messages. 😛ipec:

Reaper 19.04.2003 - 01:22

That is why the best weapon for a sniper is an infantry three-ruler with an attached bayonet. The enemy hardly expects that when trying to take a sniper prisoner, he decides to hit with bayonets... 😛

What about internal bleeding- right. The main thing is that it doesn’t even hurt too much, i.e. the wounded man does not complain very actively and yells. But that doesn't make it any less deadly. The tactics of bayonet fighting included a quick injection into an organ with many vessels (lungs, stomach, liver) and a quick rebound, since the enemy did not die right away - in the words of A.V. Suvorov, "dead on a bayonet, scratching his neck with a saber." 😀