The British Bayonet Charge.

Huntly Press and District Gazette, Volume 4, 12 February 1915, Page 3

The British Bayonet Charge.

HOW IT IS WORKED. There is nothing which the German Soldiers would not prefer to face than the terrible bayonet charge of the British infantry. Plucky as the Uhlans have shown themselves when opposed to the deadly tire of French and British artillery, stubbornly as they have resisted the machine guns which the Allies have so often brought against them, there is one thing which they dread with heart and soul, the British bayonet. No soldiers in the world are such dashing assailants as the soldiers of King George, who, once they have received the order to charge, become the terror of the foe.

THE METHOD OF CHARGING It is from a distance of five or six hundred yards of its objective that a bayonet charge is generally directed, and provided the defendants are merely armed with rifles and are unsupported by maxims, there is no resisting it. The gleam of the cold grey steel is quite enough even for the hardiest of defenders, who, as a rule, are only too glad to throw down their arms long before the assailants have reached the first tier of trenches which it has become their intention to carry. A bayonet charge properly conducted is a very different thing to what it was even a dozen years ago. Previous to that time a whole battalion would have leapt up together, and with a frantic cheer would have made a wild dash for the enemy’s position. It was the lesson taught by the Boers which put an end to this method of proceedure, for the process was proved on more than one occasion to be almost suicidal. To day no brigadier would ever think of ordering a whole battalion to advance simultaneously in one line against an enemy armed with magazine rifles. Battalion:, now advance by successive rushes from the right, left, or centre; so that while one party is advancing the remainder of the battalion, by keeping up a murderous fire on the position before them, can so check the enemy’s fire that the advance, or even a double company (when not opposed by volleys), may be effected at only average risk. THE VALUE OF TAKING COVER.

There are positions which can only be approached over open and uninterrupted ground, and there are many who fail to understand how, under such trying conditions, infantrymen are able to find any use for their sidearms. But it is wonderful what useful cover may be obtained by the utilisation even of the slightest fold in the ground, and though this is not likely to be of much service when the assailants are being subjected to shrapnel, against rifle fire it is often of the highest value, not only saving the men from the enemy’s bullets, but often tending to delude the the defendants as to the extent of the assault. Even amongst short grass or shrubbery it is truly surprising how hard it is sometimes to catch a glimpse of the skirmishers as they slowly work their way towards the position to be attacked. FRESH FOR THE FINAL RUSH.

Another point in which the bayonet charge of to-day differs materially from that of an earlier era is that the men, when they at last draw sufficiently close to engage the enemy hand to band, instead of being worn out with the violent exertion inseparable from the prolonged skirmishing movements which precede the final assault, at the present day the troops come to grips with the enemy in a comparatively fresh condition, so often are the assaulting parties given the opportunity of a few moments’ rest in moving from one point to another. Thus it is not witli men almost fainting with fatigue that the Germans have to deal when the British charge them with cold steel., but with men fully prepared for the encounter and frantically eagqr to get to the business in hand.

The counter attacks which the Germans have occasionally launched against the Allies have been mild indeed compared to the terrible charge of the British. Until the present war, of course, the people of Germany have always regarded the British forces with undisguised contempt, but recent experiences have taught them that they cannot afford to despise the British bayonet, which they dread, curse, and abhor.

A FURIOUS SPECTACLE. What a spectacle is a bayonet charge I 'One would think that human passion is incapable of surpassing the mingled sensations of fiery courage and incredible recklessness which animate the assailants. However

desperate the defenders, it is [ reserved for their adversaries to exhibit the most fearful passions for which even war can hold itself responsible. After a soldier has seen some of his comrades shot down beside him (perhaps amongst them a brother a cousin, or a dearly loved friend the one savage hope which takes possession of his soul is to come hand to band with the murderer Already the Germans have had more than one taste of the British bayonet, but as they have openly admitted that our rifle-fire is “altogether hellish, ” it would appear that no terms remain in which to describe the wholesale dread with which they have come to regard the “ thin long lines of cold grey steel. ” —M. M. F. PAID IN HIS OWN COIN. Shortly before the war a German and a Frenchman sat opposite each other at table de hote in a certain hotel in Switzerland. “You are a Frenchman, I suppose ?” inquired the German, at the commence of the meal. “ Yes," was the reply, “ but how did you manage to find out ?”

“ Because you eat so much bread,” said the German. There was a long pause. When the dinner was over, the Frenchman in his turn questioned his vis-a-vis.

“ You are a German, I presume ?” “ To be sure, but tell me, pray, how you made that discovery ?” ‘ Because you ate so much of everything,” was the dry retort.”