AGINCOURT WEAPON

Evening Star, Issue 23683, 17 September 1940, Page 6

AGINCOURT WEAPON

PARAS HOT CARRIES BOW AMD ARROWS < [From Our London Correspondent.] August 8. _ Our gallant Home Guards include, in a contingent near Grimsby, an archery champion of the North of England. He carries with him on patrol, in addition to the regulation and more modern equipment, a bow and arrows. Thiis the historic weapon of Agincourt is still doing patriotic duty in England in the highly-mechanised epoch of this war. But the archery expert makes out a strong case for his anachronism. He asks his critics to think what would be the effect on any German parachute raiders if suddenly, without warning sound, one or two of their number fell transfixed with arrows. They would almost certainly at once believe that the celebrated angels of Mens were doing deadlv execution. The archer in question declares that, at anything up to 200yds, he could not miss a man, and that: at such range, his arrows would be lethal. Curiously enough, only a few days ago I heard a distinguished British Army officer argue quite seriously that Wellington’s Waterloo' infantry, if armed with bows instead of muskets, would have been far more deadly to Napoleon’s cavalry. A musket was not effective beyond 200yds, and an expert archer could aim at least half a dozen shafts whilst a musket was being reloaded.