Bayonet Ya: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

[[Cool Guns]] are great ... until you run out of ammo. Thankfully, you won't be lugging around dead weight when you attach a sharp blade on it, allowing the empty gun to improvise as a [[Blade on a Stick]]. Even better when you can detach it and use it as is.

== Live Action TV ==

 

* ''[[Deadliest Warrior]]'': As attachments for the musket of the musketeer and the AK-47 of the Taliban.

* Seen occasionally in ''[[Sharpe]]''. The elite Rifles use longer bayonets for their weapons, which [[Insistent Terminology|must be referred]] to when deployed as 'fix swords!' rather than 'fix bayonets!' as for the musket-wielding regulars.

** [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3pzxb2sxbDU "Alreet get yourselves sat doon there so you can all see... THE BAYONET!!!"]

** Bayonets can be very effective in combat for two psychological reasons: First, soldiers who are prepared to fight with bayonets will often be trained to go into a [[The Berserker|certain mindset]], which is traditionally ingrained into them in Basic Training in some armed forces such as the US Army. Second, and perhaps much more relevant: Having a bunch of guys running at you with improvised spears and screaming for blood is ''pants-shittingly terrifying''.

* Before the invention of the bayonet, early gunpowder age infantry would often be split into musketeers and pikemen. The muskets fired too slowly, inaccurately, and with too short a range to reliably defend [[Anti-Cavalry|against cavalry charges]], and proved less than adequate in hand to hand fighting. Therefore, it was the pikemen's job to keep the horsemen at bay with a medieval style pike formation, while also serving as a buffer between the gunmen and hand to hand combat. The Bayonet revolutionized things by turning the musket into a spear, allowing a musketeer to both shoot volleys and stop cavalry, all while not being useless at hand to hand. Due to the early musket's aforementioned disadvantages, bayonet charges also served as a surprisingly effective means charging enemy infantry, something a single shot gun could hardly be used for. The bayonet started out not as an emergency weapon, but as primary form of armament.

**Even in the eighteenth century the bayonet's primary use aside from anti-cavalry was not the generation of casualties for as suregons noted only a small percentage of wounds were from bayonets. It was for the destruction of units that had already been softened by fire. A bayonet charge was like a game of "chicken" and the unit that had it's morale at a lower ebb ran first.

* Famously used in [[The American Civil War]] by the 20th Maine Volunteer Infantry under Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain. During the battle of [[Gettysburg]], Chamberlain's troops were suffering heavy casualties and running out of ammo, and he knew they would be unable to defend their vital position on Little Round Top against the approaching Confederate army. So, in a complete [[Badass]] move, he ordered a bayonet charge, which even at the time was considered an old-school textbook maneuver, but which Chamberlain realized could be used as a simultaneous frontal attack and flanking. The Confederates were utterly cowed and the 20th Maine [[Moment of Awesome|won the day]]. Chamberlain himself received a Medal of Honor for it.

* At the battle of Eylau, has the Russian forces progressed towards his HQ, Napoleon ordered general Dorsenne to stop their advance with the 2nd regiment of foot grenadiers of the Old Guard and the 2nd regiments of Chasseurs. Seeing one of the grenadiers take aim with his rifle, Dorsenne ordered "Grenadiers, l'arme au bras ! La vieille garde ne se bat qu'à la baïonnette." (Grenadiers, weapons at rest! The Old guard only fights with bayonets). The Russian assault was then routed by the Old Guard.

 

== Tabletop Games ==

** The expansion pack ''finally'' introduced another bayoneted weapon, the Light Plasma Gun... which had good damage and unlimited ammo ''anyway'', making it pointless.

* As of ''[[Mass Effect 3]]'', shotguns can be equipped with bayonets, which increase melee damage and change the sound so it's a little less ''thwack'' and a bit more ''stab''.

* ''[[Dead Rising 2]]'', which uses [[MacGyvering]] as a gimmick, gives you the option of creating a shotgun with a pitchfork bayonet.

* ''[[Red Orchestra: Ostfront 41-45]]'' allows standard riflemen to attach bayonets to their rifles.