Even the great Suvorov bequeathed: “A bullet is a fool! Bayonet - well done! And although since his time the accuracy and rate of fire of the infantryman's hand weapons have grown immeasurably, bayonet combat was still able to decide the outcome of the battle.
As the archives say, up to 80% of bayonet attacks in the Great Patriotic War were initiated by the soldiers of the Red Army. At the slightest opportunity, the Soviet infantryman struck with bayonets. They were equipped with rifles and carbines used by both the infantry and the cavalry of the Red Army. No wonder the number of fighters was counted precisely in bayonets.
Raising the strength of spirit and hands
The most serious attention was paid to work with a bayonet. So, the Manual on preparation for hand-to-hand combat of 1938 (NPRB-38) operated, containing a considerable arsenal of bayonet techniques, creatively developing the legacy of the First World War and the Civil War. On the basis of the NPRB-38 in 1940, Major Nechaev created a methodological manual on bayonet combat and rifle techniques for the command staff of the Red Army, taking into account the combat experience of 1938-1940.
There were competitions in bayonet fencing up to the all-union level. Before the war, the Red Army fought demonstrative battles in crowded places. They fenced seriously, but in protective gear.
OSOAVIAKHIM taught the correct use of a bayonet. The figure of a soldier clutching a rifle with a bayonet became popular thanks to visual agitation, including the famous Kukryniksy, who created satirical posters for the all-Union press.
Perfectly understanding the nature of the future war, the Soviet command brought up a high fighting spirit and decisiveness in the soldiers. And what else can strengthen the spirit like a duel face to face with the enemy? Bayonet fighting is fleeting and teaches you to instantly make the right and effective decisions in a stressful situation. And, as practice has shown, during the whole war of engines, there was always a place for the good old bayonet battle on it.
In a number of physical education institutes, including Lesgaft, there are departments of hand-to-hand fighting, boxing and fencing, where bayonet fighting is studied and codified.
Bayonet - if
The four-sided bayonet showed its shortcomings during the First World War, but there was neither time nor money to re-equip the Red Army - it was necessary to re-equip aviation, tank troops, and the Navy. For example, the Mosin rifle, modified in 1930, was still equipped with a four-sided bayonet, albeit an improved one. After the war, a mosinka with such a bayonet lay in warehouses for decades, being part of an emergency reserve.
In 1944, the troops receive a new Mosin carbine, with a different bayonet mount. He was in the under-barrel position, leaning forward if necessary. A similar design was used on the Kalashnikov assault rifle in the very nineties of the XX century. The Simonov self-loading carbine was originally also with a similar bayonet, but in the post-war period, the bayonet-knife comes to replace it.
If, however, return to the battlefields of the Great Patriotic War, then Soviet soldiers willingly used a bayonet attack, primarily in the defense of fortifications and in street battles (Brest, Stalingrad), when artillery and tanks could not help much because of the mixture of friends and foes. … The commander of the 62nd Army in Stalingrad, Vasily Chuikov, recalled that the soldiers put the Germans on the bayonet into bayonets like coolies with straw and threw them over themselves.
The Germans noted: in hand-to-hand combat, the Red Army soldiers fight not only with bayonets, but also with sapper shovels and knives. Used a bayonet when clearing enemy trenches and dugouts. The bayonet-knife was an aid in solving everyday issues.
Here are just a special badge for excellent bayonet combatants in the Red Army, unlike, say, Voroshilov's riflemen.
