FIX BAYONETS!

The bayonet is essentially a knife fixed to the end of a gun, used for charging the enemy when firepower fails. There is something chilling about the order to "fix bayonets", heralding as it does uncompromisingly brutal hand to hand fighting, but there was bayonet warfare in the Falklands conflict and in Afghanistan in the 21st century. Norris draws on personal accounts of soldiers using bayonets in combat from the Napoleonic and Crimean Wars, various Colonial campaigns, through the World Wars. The bayonet originated in the French city of Bayonne and was introduced into military service in 1647. The earliest bayonets were of the plug type, with tapering handles capable of being fitted into the mouth of a musket when needed. When King Charles II was restored to the throne of England he placed an order for 500 bayonets, until then almost unknown this side of the Channel. The muskets in service, however, were not in good repair and the insertion of a bayonet tended to split the metal, so adjustments were made to allow the bayonet to be inserted through rings on a flintlock rather than into the muzzle. The bayonet also proved an effective intimidatory measure while soldiers were reloading, given that it added an extra 12 inches to a musket barrel already five foot long. In the 18th century the blade was now triangular in section and the bayonet itself was fitted with a Z-shaped slot that prevented it from falling off. The British faced French forces in the American War of Independence, but had to yield before their superior musket and bayonet technique. At Waterloo in 1815 the bayonet was effective in breaking up the enemy lines at the end of the battle. During World War I each of the three main belligerents had their own bayonet design, and today's contemporary bayonets are produced to exacting metalworking standards. 209pp, white photos.