Pictures of British soldiers with bayonets

[Webwing]

How many pictures of British soldiers with bayonets, fighting in Afghanistan or Iraq can you find?

I´ve been pretty curious about this lately.

I´ll start with two.

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[flamingknives]

Cassio, which part of the forum are you on?

[Webwing]

He, he. This is the open forum AFAIK.

Bayonets are not modeled in the game, no secret about that.

I was just curious how many pictures we all could find of them actually being used! Well, not actually being used but just fixed in place. They look great!

[Clavicula_Nox]

I remember once, when doing bayonet drill in Basic, that one of my drill sergeants, who had recently returned from the initial Iraq invasion, scoffed at the idea of bayonet drills. His logic ran something like:

"If you're stopped on the road, jump out, and someone says 'Fix bayonets!' then you know you're having a bad day."

Is it a standard thing for British troops to fix their bayonets like that?

[flamingknives]

Just checking.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00f1wkb/Panorama_Three_Bloody_Summers/

has some footage of bayonets fixed.

There's the fairly famous action by the PWRR battlegroup in Maysan province, some way south of Al Amarah, where a bayonet charge was used to clear a hostile ambush position.

[Clavicula_Nox]

Yeah, I read about it; sounded pretty gutsy to me.

[Webwing]

First picture I see of the LLM from bellow.

The contrast, the laser and the bayonet!!!

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[Seik]

I do not think that this is really a bayonet function. The SA-80 series is very vulnerable for dust and the troops are ordered to put tapes on the openings. Maybe the knife is a practical field solution?!

[ChrisND]

Maybe the knife is a practical field solution?!

What opening would the bayonet would be covering?

[theFightingSeabee]

I've read plenty of stories about the brits in afghanistan. They undergoing some pretty tough fights every day, real up close and personal battles.

[JonS]

[JonS]

[Webwing]

Bayonet Brits kill 35 rebels

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.

Link to the article

[Webwing]

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[John Kettler]

Had no idea the British had staged a successful bayonet attack post Falklands. Am most unhappy this story rated only a paragraph. For starters, at those odds, with bullets flying, who thought this was a good idea? Was it day or night? In what sort of positions were the ambushers? Terrain? Reporter needs a remedial military reporting class soonest!

Regards,

John Kettler

[Sergei]

Hey, it's The Sun. Probably in the next article British troops catch Elvis Presley, who is alive and well, from an Afghan cave.

[RSColonel_131st]

First picture I see of the LLM from bellow.

The contrast, the laser and the bayonet!!!

Well, Technology has improved - now you can aim the bayonet with laser precision.

[jenrick]

If I recall they were taking rounds and had minimal ammo and a bad tactical position. Rather then get picked off in the fire fight they were going to loose they decided to assault through the ambush just like your supposed to.

As a police officer, I can say that having someone charge you with an edged weapon (when they've got a real chance of sticking/cutting your) is significantly more intimidating then being shot at. Being shot at is no fun, but it's a lot less personal then someone trying to perforate your hide with a manual implement. Now when some charges you with a home made spear from 60 feet away and you're behind cover, it's not real intimidating. Makes for good video as they deploy the bean bags rounds though.

-Jenrick

[flamingknives]

The PWRR action was a number of Warriors (two, I think) with few dismounts. Engaged by insurgents (the Mahdi army) they had firepower (30mm RARDEN and chain gun) but needed to clear the enemy positions. So they did, with bayonets. I haven't got my copy of "Dusty Warriors" at the moment, but it's covered in there.

[John Kettler]

jenrick,

Ah, ammo short, exposed and destined to lose a drawn out engagement! In that case, assaulting through the ambush does indeed make some sense, especially if it's a close ambush. Your point about sharps is well taken, for practically everyone's been cut at some time and didn't like it, whereas few have ever been shot. The fear of being cut runs deep in the human psyche, a condition aggravated by a muscular, body armored screaming maniac charging you with one aimed squarely at your guts.

Regards,

John Kettler

[Cpl Steiner]

I remember seeing some guys doing bayonet drill with SA80s on TV and compared to the old SLR it wasn't a very effective improvised pole-arm. Soldiers trying to bayonet sandbags on the ground had to put their hand behind the butt of the rifle and push to get enough reach. It looked pretty comical at times!

[GSX]

I've read plenty of stories about the brits in afghanistan. They undergoing some pretty tough fights every day, real up close and personal battles.

Seems like nothing really changes then

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/soldiers-in-helmand-unearth-british-rifles-lost-in-1880-massacre-842497.html

[GSX]

Had no idea the British had staged a successful bayonet attack post Falklands. Am most unhappy this story rated only a paragraph. For starters, at those odds, with bullets flying, who thought this was a good idea? Was it day or night? In what sort of positions were the ambushers? Terrain? Reporter needs a remedial military reporting class soonest!

Regards,

John Kettler

John, heres a bit more meat o flesh out the story.

WITH BAYONETS ATTACHED, THEY FINISHED OFF THE ENEMY WHO HAD NOT RUN AWAY.. May 21 2004

SCOTS TELL OF CHARGE

By Keith Mcleod And Michael Christie

SCOTS soldiers last night told how they launched a bayonet charge on Iraqi militiamen after hours of battle.

An Army insider last night gave the Record an insight into the bravery of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders.

They were forced to use 'cold steel' as supplies of ammunition ran low.

Many of the militiamen turned and fled but the close-quarters fighting left around 20 rebels dead.

Thirty-five of Shia Moslem cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's followers died and two British troops were injured during the three-hour battle.

A senior Argylls officer said last night: 'After a fierce fight and with small amounts of ammo left, they put in a conventional left-flanking attack.

'With bayonets attached, they finished off the enemy who had not run off.'

It was the first time in 22 years the Army had used bayonets in action.

The last came when the Scots Guards stormed Argentinian positions during the Falklands War.

The battle developed following a distress call from a group of eight British soldiers last Friday.

The troops under the command of Major Adam Griffiths were surrounded on the notorious Route Six highway while en route to Camp Abu Naji in southern Iraq. Their LandRovers were riddled with bullets and they came under attack from rocket launchers and grenades.

But as a 30-strong platoon of Argylls responded to the SOS, the militia were getting reinforcements.

The men from the Stirlingshire-based regiment were forced to dig in and shoot back.

The Argylls were aided by a detachment of the Princess of Wales' Royal Regiment, who arrived at the scene in armoured Warrior vehicles.

More than 150 Iraqis were said to be involved in last week's battle. Military sources say the militiamen miscalculated the response from the original group of soldiers.

Last night, a source said: 'Morale is very good following this serious incident.

'The insurgents have been laying ambushes on Route Six one of the main roads between Basra and Baghdad for some time.

'Previously, the response from small British groups has been drive on. These militiamen were obviously expecting this to happen again.

'The enemy have been picking their targets, mainly two LandRovers with six to eight soldiers on board. With those odds, it is sometimes best to keep on going, but the attack was so sustained, the LandRovers stopped and returned fire.

'We now hope that these attacks on Route Six will stop, but we are taking nothing for granted.'

Intelligence gathered since the bayonet charge suggests it shocked the militia fighters, who expected the outnumbered Scots to flee.

The source added: 'The injuries received by our troops were shrapnel to the hand and shrapnel to the groin. Both of these casualties were as a result of rocket-propelled grenades fired at them.

'Both the injured guys are back with their units and doing fine.'

The Princess of Wales' Royal Regiment arrived on the scene in 37ton Warriors just as the Scots' ammo was getting low.

They found many Iraqi militia fleeing the bayonet charge.

Around 20 Iraqis who chose to stand and fight were killed by the troops of both regiments.

The Argylls' forebears formed The Thin Red Line which kept 25,000 Russians at bay at Balaclava during the Crimean War of the 1850s.

In 1967, Argylls commander Lieutenant-Colonel Colin Mitchell known as Mad Mitch stormed a rebel stronghold in Yemen.

Accompanied only by 15 pipers playing Scotland The Brave, he recaptured Crater Town, the commercial heart of Aden, which had been in enemy hands for two weeks.

The regiment has won 16 Victoria Crosses.

[ERISS]

That's some work for a next patch. I am always sorry my CM:SF soldiers have to sit and watch their comrade fight when laking bullets. It's not so rare (in scenarios where retreat is losing) but it shows then the simulation is not good enough.

[John Kettler]

GSX,

Many thanks! Was hoping there were some details to be had.

Regards,

John Kettler