crawling close up to the firing line. If the assault is begun at a greater distance than 35 m. from the hostile position, fire while in motion is employed, "in order that the enemy may not regain his senses and may be prevented from rising above his parapet."
During an unexpected encounter at night, on unfavorable
terrain (Swiep-Wald at Königgrätz), as well as during obstinate
fights for the possession of fortifications (the Grivica
Work at Plevna, Scheinovo), bayonet combats are unavoidable,
provided both forces are equally determined. During the fight
for the possession of Servigny, on the evening of August 31st,
1870, serious hand to hand fighting occurred in the narrow
village streets.[1] The Russo-Japanese war also proved beyond
the shadow of a doubt that determined troops will maintain
their positions until they are thrown out of them by cold steel.[2]
The defender will never retire simultaneously all along the line; frequently isolated groups and then entire units will leave his line when the superiority of the attacker's fire becomes effective. Officers, non-commissioned officers and capable privates will endeavor to keep the weak-kneed from running away.[3]
- ↑ Kunz, Noisseville, p. 51. See p. 134 supra. Fieldmarshal Moltke makes the following observations in regard to the bayonet fights of the campaign of 1859: "General Niel credits his victory at Solferino to the use of the bayonet. The question as to how often the advance to hand to hand conflict is carried out, may be left open. As a rule, it is employed only when it may be presumed that the enemy will not await the onslaught." In his memoranda of 1865, in regard to the influence of improved fire arms on tactics, he states: "If the bayonet fights, so often mentioned in French accounts of the campaign of 1859, were stripped of their dramatic splendor, and if the simple prosaic truth could be ascertained, by far the greater number of these reports would be corrected in so far as to state that the opponent, shaken by more or less heavy losses, avoided the actual collision."
- ↑ Examples: The attack on Tempel Hill on October 11th, In Angriffsverfahren der Japaner, von Lüttwitz.—The capture of works No. 17 and No. 18 by the 2nd Division, on March 1st, 1905 (Mukden).—Description by an eye-*witness of a bayonet fight. Sir Ian Hamilton, A Staff Officer's Scrap Book, p. 252.—A bayonet fight occurred in the day time, in the open, when the 11th Rifle Regiment broke through the line at Hamatan during the battle on the Yalu, (see Kriegsgeschichtliche Einzelschriften, 39-40, p. 131), and in Bernaul's Regiment, during the engagement at Datshishiao, on July 24th, 1904.
- ↑ At Villepion, Captain von Hoffmann made a wavering section hold its position by springing toward them, revolver in hand, and yelling: "I'll shoot the first man who gets up! my revolver will hit too, whether Chassepot bullets will hit you is a question." Geschichte des Bayerischen Leibregiments.
