BATTLETALK 001: Pointmen with Bayonets YES--and NOT
"Bayonets are not obsolete, my device was used during the pull out of Iraq, Iraqis were not afraid of warning shots, but when bayonets were affixed, they did not advance on the line."
--Jason Ono of NextGen Defense Research LLC
The bleak Eastern Front in WW2 is best seen in the James Coburn movie,
"Cross of Iron".
https://ok.ru/video/91226769946
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cross_of_Iron
The film is noted for featuring historically accurate weaponry and equipment such as Soviet T-34/85 tanks (which were obtained from the arsenal of the Yugoslav People's Army), Russian PPSh-41s and German MG-42s and MP-40s. According to star James Coburn, the Yugoslav government had promised that all the military equipment would be ready for the start of filming, but Hartwig's lack of budget meant that considerable delays occurred when half the equipment was missing just as the production was about to begin.[2]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Coburn
He was one of the many stars in Midway (1976), then had the star role in Sam Peckinpah's Cross of Iron (1977) playing a German Soldier. This critically acclaimed war epic performed poorly in the United States but was a huge hit in Europe. Peckinpah and Coburn remained close friends until Peckinpah's death in 1984.
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Note: the PPSh-41 firing 65x rounds of powerful 7.62mm x 25mm ammo is Coburn's Sgt. Steiner's weapon of choice! Ha!
Why?
The German Infantry Squad was weak at CQB firefights with 9mm x 19mm pistol bullet-firing MP40 SMGs and Luger P08 pistols that look cool like the "7" in 007--but even with a WW1 trench-clearing snail drum are still firing short-ranged bullets good to at best 50m.
The idea of the pointman with a fully automatic weapon is to be at the front of the mounted or dismounted formation aka ON POINT and make first contact with the enemy with a quantitative firepower advantage IF both sides GET CLOSE and bump into each other at CQB (under 50m ranges) popping out from closed terrain concealment. In OPEN TERRAIN, having short-range weapons doesn't help at all; if they are on point, THEY CAN'T DO ANYTHING unless the entire main body is close and endangered, and if the pointmen see the enemy 1st at long range, THEY CAN'T DO ANYTHING from afar, either. In open terrain, pointmen should have long-range weapons but they must be with pistol grips to fire instantly--and not held at absurd port arms like in a parade. The weak 5.56mm x 45mm Assault Rifle round is far better than a 9mm pistol round with 300 meter reach but its been woefully weak in open terrain Iraq/Afghanistan hence why the next M16A5 should be modular and able to fire 7.62mm x 51mm NATO. If fighting in Philippine close terrain jungles, yes, 5.56mm is enough for riflemen maneuvering into LOS kill shots--but still is not enough to punch through vegetation for suppressive fires as a LMG.
The Germans suffered horrendous losses if their rifle squads built around their MG34/MG42 light (medium) machine guns bumped into foes at close ranges under 300 meters (SRB & CQB) and concluded after the Russians that a selective fire (semi or full automatic) Assault Rifle (AR) was needed instead of separate rifles and SMGs...1st with their Fallschirmjaeger's (Paratroopers) fabulous FG42; then the Stg44 the nerd video gamers orgasm over since they don't have to parachute jump but can fantasize from their mom's basement.
German vs. Russian Pointmen
www.combatreform.org/lightmachineguns.htm
https://1sttac.blogspot.com/2020/06/retrowarthink-013-mg3442-vs-bar-selfar.html
Firepower
The FIREPOWER advantage here goes to the Russian Soviet trooper who has 65x ready rounds of 7.62mm x 25mm comparable to our M1 carbine's .30 caliber, 7.62mm x 33mm rounds which out-range 200m to 50m and out-penetrate the German's 32x ready rounds of weaker 9mm x 19mm Luger pistol bullets--the former actually has an ASSAULT RIFLE with mini-rifle rounds--not a Sub-Machine Gun (SMG) firing weak, stubby pistol bullets. With 2x drums of 65x the Russian has 130x total rounds in 1x reload; the German has 4x stick magazines of 32x for a total of 128x rounds in 3x reloads plus 8x in his P38 pistol for a total of 136x rounds.
https://1sttac.blogspot.com/2020/05/tactismart-008-brother-can-you-spare.html
If the Germans were thinking ahead, the SMG and pistol would use the same type magazines; if the SMG gets destroyed, the long magazines would feed into the pistol which should also have a shoulder stock holster like the "Broom Handle" Mauser 98C and Browning Hi-power making it into a carbine. If all his long magazines are emptied, he should be able to even pop in the short pistol mag into his SMG for emergency ammo.
https://1sttac.blogspot.com/2021/04/tactismart-049-us-army-assault-rifle.html
10 meter range reach advantage to the German with his stick grenade versus
the Russian with a baseball grenade--as long as he doesn't loose it stuck in
his belt.
Neither the German or Russian can fire rifle grenades for HE, CE effects from their shoulder arms.
https://1sttac.blogspot.com/2021/04/tactismart-054-where-are-our-rifle-hand.html
https://1sttac.blogspot.com/2020/07/tactismart-027-so-you-want-to-be-rifle.html
BOTH men absurdly have no way to attach a bayonet to their AR and SMG--as
they close towards each other in melee' fight they might have emptied
their shoulder weapons where the German with a 9mm pistol has the advantage
over the Russian trooper here without one. If the Russian had a TT-33 he'd have
a 100m to 50m range advantage over the German. If AR/SMG and pistols are
emptied and they fight hand-to-hand neither has the pike fighting capability
of old because they can't attach a bayonet to the end of their should
weapons which is absurd since all it would take would be some metal
engineering.
The German is depicted incompetently firing his SMG from his waist and
isn't using his iron sight; will he hit anything or anyone this way?
Hey! additional causative reasons why 62M died in WW2!
Now look at the SAS super trooper with M203 40mm GL mounted under a M16
AR...its barrel blocks attaching either a M7 or Eikhorn or M9 Wire Cutter Bayonet (WCB). Problem is
perpetuated with the M320 40mm GL and if you mount a 20mm/12 gauge shotgun under your AR15/M16/M4 barrel, too.
The solution is attaching a re-positionable bayonet lug so the bayonet clips over the rifle barrel SIDEWAYS and away from the 20mm SG or 40mm GL barrel.
http://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2017/11/09/bayonet-mount-front-m203-one-entrepreneurs-entry/
1:1 Scale ModelVISION! M4 Assault Carbine + M203 Grenade Launcher
Our TTPE3 & CONOPS Demonstrator...
Protection
Against TBATE, both men seem insulated enough from cold--but if freezing
rain lands on them, they'll get soaked and get hypothermia. Maybe they have
rain gear in their rucksacks? Maybe not.
Hey! additional causative reasons why 62M died in WW2!
Both the German and the Russian lack hard body and head armor to protect
from even shrapnel-much less bullets. The Russians had excellent hard body
armor and this blue striper t-shirt trooper should have it doing ASSAULTS. Both
sides had hard helmets available.
Hey! additional causative reasons why 62M died in WW2!
Mobility
The lack of even head armor helmets would give both sides a slight movement
speed advantage over those with hard head gear--but the French in WW1 found
this to be dangerously delusional with lethal effects criss-crossing the modern
battlefield at thousands of feet-per-second.
The Russian has mobility advantage in padded clothing to prevent knee/elbow
contact injuries but the German has better boot traction soles and doesn't have
his boot tops uncovered where water & muck can enter like the Russian.
Let's look at the Pacific war gyrenes.
Firepower
The marine with the fastest-firing and compact weapon--the M1 semi-auto
carbine with 15-round magazine should be on point in vegetated, closed
terrain--not the 2x morons holding long semi-auto, pistol grip-less, M1 Garands
absurdly at lazy man's port arms. It'll take precious seconds to bring their Garands
to bear all things being equal and both sides see each other at the same time.
M1 Garands could have been fitted with pistol grips to be held at the
ready during movements. War is not deer hunting back in CONUS.
The front 2x marines DO have bayonets fixed to act as pike weapons to
slash/stab Japs they can sneak up on if they want to not fire their guns which
will require a few seconds to shoulder & aim lacking pistol grips. The
M1903 Springfield sniper rifle and M1 carbine guy both lack bayonets
attached an inexcusable mistake for the designated marksman since he had one
and attachment provisions on his long arm. Later in the war, M1 carbines had
bayonet attachment fittings.
Note the top 2x weapons fire the weak-ass, .45 caliber cartridge...the Thompson SMG could have been a defacto AR if chambered to fire the M1 .30 caliber Carbine cartridge extending its range to at least 200m...also notice the M1 Carbine later in the war got a bayonet attach capability...
The British Para with the Thompson SMG is limited to short range, under 50m CQB battle; HE IS NOT OFFERING ANYTHING TO THE ANTI-TANK battle the longer-ranged Bren LMG and 6-pounder (57mm) AT gun are engaged in. If his Thompson was chambered to fire .30 cal Carbine rounds he could be helping the short-handed LTC Frost's 1st Battalion here at Arnhem...The Tommy gunner could also be firing instead an Anti-Tank (AT) aka anti-materiel' rifle destroying German thin-skinned vehicles and tank vision optics etc.
www.combatreform.org/tankterror.htm
None of the gyrene's weapons has pistol grips though U.S. ARMY Paratrooper
M1 Carbine .30 cal versions had pistol grips and folding stocks. USMC pointmen
often carried Thompson SMGs with pistol grips ready-to-fire but again, the
stubby .45 caliber bullets lacked vegetative piercing power so full-auto BARs
firing full-sized, rimless, 7.62mm x 82mm ".30/06" cartridges lacking
pistol grips even though foreign models had them as well as quick-change
barrels--were used to slice thru jungle. The U.S. ARMY should have adopted the Bren
LMG with its top-load magazine instead of the limited capacity bottom-feed
BAR--in rimless ".30/06" of course.
www.combatreform.org/lightmachineguns.htm
The British should have ditched their problematic jam-prone rimmed
.303/7.7mm cartridge for either American or German 7.92mm Mauser rimless to be able to
use these supplied or captured stocks in event of Great War v2.0 aka WW2. Both
armies should have had SMLE bolt-action and M1 Garand rifles that fired
by either stripper clips or Bren LMG magazines SIDEWAYS like the amazing U.S. Johnson LMG or German FG42 AR/LMG.
https://1sttac.blogspot.com/2020/05/retrowarthink-008-automatic-weapons.html
https://1sttac.blogspot.com/2020/06/retrowarthink-011-british-ww1-stupidity.html
Protection
They are too clusterfucked close together where 1x Japanese NAMBU LMG burst
mows them down but we'll overlook this as Hollywood bunching together for the
artist's graphically bold depiction.
All the marines are sort-of wearing M1 steel pot helmets with chip straps
un-connected without adding local vegetation as camouflage as the wily
Japanese did so the latter may remain undetected and see them 1st. Their hands,
necks and faces are not camouflage paint-covered. That U.S. ground forces did
not have body armor is inexcusable and explains the 110K infantry dead in the
war.
Mobility
All 4x in the fireteam are hating life with swamp water muck filling their
trousers and boots; they will get horrible jungle rot unless they dry off soon.
Why the USMC didn't come to the Pacific with fisherman's water-proof waders and
boots is a big question. The Russian infantry had them for inflatable donut
river crossings.
https://1sttac.blogspot.com/2020/06/futurewarthink-015-cant-swim-why-hell.html
RIGHT (Almost) in WW1
The Dough Boy with the unreliable French Chauchat LMG and the officer/NCO firing the anemic .45 cal ACP pistol with just 7x rounds both lack bayonets attached to something long to make them defacto pikes like the Soldiers with rifles have...
WW2 Nearly All WRONG
No one has bayonets attached to their long guns despite this obviously being a CQB urban battle...what happened to the military mind from 1918 to this point in 1944 Arnhem?
John 3:16
Semper Airborne!
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