A Bayonet Charge In Afghanistan

Shropshire Star ^ | 28/09/12 | Staff Reporter

[sussex]

An heroic soldier from Shropshire, who led a bayonet charge over 90 yards of open ground in Afghanistan under a hail of enemy fire, was today awarded the Military Cross for his bravery.

[sussex]

It is so nice to see the REAL heroes of our country rewarded for a job that involves risking their lives on a daily basis , well done Corporal Jones you are a credit to our country. It is a shame that the muggers, thieves, burglars and cowards of this world cannot join you, learn some respect and value what is important in life , I am sure that they would behave totally differently and have better values in their lives.

[Menehune56]

A very brave young man, glad they all survived. Not very clear why they had to go bayonets however.

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

The world needs more Sean Jones.

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

Not very clear why they had to go bayonets however.

Scares the Shitte outta the Talibannies.

[sinsofsolarempirefan]

“They don’t like it up ‘em!”

As Corporal Jones’ namesake would have said...

[BerryDingle]

I wondering if the U.S. Army even issues bayonets anymore.

[Focault's Pendulum]

He's a new...

Glad that this one's on our side.

[Fred Hayek]

The perfumed prince pantywaists in the Pentagon have probably determined that the bayonet is too mean and scary to our enemies (oops, is enemy a hateful term?).

This is not the first story of the modern British Army resorting to use of bayonets out in the sandbox.

[ZOOKER]

A brave soldier, in an impossible situation.

It's not clear why a bayonet charge was needed, but I suspect it was an ROE issue. The Taliban occupied a village and were using the locals as human shields. Cpl. Jones apparently couldn't shoot because there were civilians in his field of fire.

I say give him a medal and court-martial the superior officer who put him in this situation.

[yefragetuwrabrumuy]

Few modern rifles are strong enough to withstand a bayonet. In most conflicts, a very light weapon is preferred, because a lighter weapon means you can carry more bullets.

However, in this case, I think the Brits need to take a lesson from their own history, and issue some Zulu iklwa short spears. They are simple enough to be fabbed even in the field.

They are small and light and you can cover a lot of terrain carrying them quickly. In close quarters very effective. Many British soldiers, though armed with rifles, met their fate from iklwas.

[Oldpuppymax]

Did they have no ammo? No grenades???

WHY did they have to fix bayonettes???
Had Hillary assigned them rubber bullets?

[BerryDingle]

This is not the first story of the modern British Army resorting to use of bayonets out in the sandbox.

I know as far back as the Korean War, pundits have routinely recommended the bayonet be "phased out" as an antiquated form of fighting. The Korean war proved those pundits to be pretty stupid.

[sinsofsolarempirefan]

I don’t think they ran out of ammo. British soldiers have historically been trained to use the bayonet as a psychological weapon designed to foster an aggressive attitude of taking the fight to the enemy and putting the fear of God in the enemy facing a load of hairy-arsed, bellowing infantry man coming at them with cold steel.

[Fred Hayek]

Bring back training with melee weapons.

[MasterGunner01]

When I was in Army JROTC in high school, we has two Korean War vets as instructors, Master Sergeant Wertman and Sergeant First Class Turner. On this particular day we were getting a one hour block of instruction on bayonet fighting. I still remember Sergeant Turner's words as if they were yesterday: “Gentlemen, if you're in combat and on the line, if someone says ‘fix bayonets’ you know one thing for certain — someone has really screwed up.”

[Mad Dawgg]

"Gentlemen, if you're in combat and on the line, if someone says ‘fix bayonets’ you know one thing for certain — someone has really screwed up.”

Yessir, one of the most famous bayonet moments was Chamberlain on Little Round Top.

The 2Oth main had held their position after multiple charges by the Confederates. The 20th had suffered some serious damage losing many men. So finally Chamberlain ordered Bayonets and had his troops do a wheel maneuver charge down the hill at the Confederates.

Chamberlain earned the Medal of Honor for it.

Why did he do it?

He said he knew they couldn't stand against another Confederate charge because, they were out of ammo.

And the rest is history.

[Mad Dawgg]

Err that would be the 20th Maine