As H.D. Miller notes, sometimes you CAN get away with bringing a knife to a gunfight. He points us to this blurb in The Sun:

OUTNUMBERED British soldiers killed 35 Iraqi attackers in the Army’s first bayonet charge since the Falklands War 22 years ago. The fearless Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders stormed rebel positions after being ambushed and pinned down.

Despite being outnumbered five to one, they suffered only three minor wounds in the hand-to-hand fighting near the city of Amara.

The battle erupted after Land Rovers carrying 20 Argylls came under attack on a highway. After radioing for back-up, they fixed bayonets and charged at 100 rebels using tactics learned in drills.

When the fighting ended bodies lay all over the highway — and more were floating in a nearby river. Nine rebels were captured.

An Army spokesman said: “This was an intense engagement.” [...]

Indeed, old bean.

Before you try this at home, kids, remember that sometimes it's not the weapon that's important, but rather the man that wields it.

Especially when you consider that the current British issue rifles are variants of the Enfield SA-80, a bullpup design (having the trigger mechanism far forward of the magazine and the action integrated into the buttstock) that although handy in close quarters (about the only benefit) is horrible for trying to use a bayonet. The idea of a bayonet is derived from the pike, and to be truly effective as a last-ditch weapon, you really want some length between you, the end of the bayonet, and the other guy. The last British rifle that was really suitable for this was the fine FN-FAL, aka "The Free World's Right Arm," which was long enough and strong enough to work as intended.

Again, however, when you are able to succeed in spite of the shortcomings of your circumstances, it says a lot about the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders. For some reason, even though we might make light of John Kerry for wearing a daisy on his ski ensemble, I don't think anyone would give these guys grief for their sense of fashion. They've also found a way to make sure no one makes fun of bagpipers.
posted by Terry at 9:44:00 AM