The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1914-08-27
HOW THE BAYONET
 IS USED IN WAR

M WILL aAN " E1tt
 The general idea is that the mod ern rifle, which shoots accurately at 1,500 yards, has so revolutienized
 fighting that opposing armies lie down a couples of miles apart and pot
 at each other until one side is all
 dead, or stheir. ammunition has given l out. Because of the deadly aim of l the guns, say many, to charge would 1 be fatal. That bayonets are never
 used. is another idea of some, who ar
 que that the soldiers never get close | enough.
 | Precisely the opposite is true. Tn modern tactics, a bayonet charge is
 the culmination of every attack of in- fantry. The normal infantry at- tack, as laid down in the United States Army-and which is not much different from the rules of the Euro pean fighting men-begins with Aong
 range fire and ends with an assault of the enemy's position.
 Troops going into action do so in three parts-the advance, the support
 and the reserve. The army which at tacks has the advantage of the inftia-
 tive for it can make 8 real attack, or feint at any part of the defenders 8 line which it wishes. It also has the advantage of moral supremacy, for
 attacking troops are brayer than de- lenders. On the other hand, the de- fender has the choice of position He can take advantage of the lay of the land, 2ean measure ranges in advance of the action, can have plenty of am munition brought to the firing line be- fore the fight.
 Journeying with troops who are to attack a position, one finds them
 marching in long lines of close order
 before they come onto the field of fire, for close order lines can be directed hither and thither and can be de-
 pIoyed along any front which extends ed lines cannot be. Officers and men
 are marching forward with guns load
 ed and ammunition belts filled, They wear their full field equipment, with blanket rolls and haversack on their back, for this tmpedirnents affords no small protection from the burst of shrapnel when the men are lying down.
 The enemy's scouts have been driv-
 en back to their position and a scat tering fire comes from their trenches as the columns advance Here and there man reels and falls. He is carried to one side and taken to the rear by the litter bearers. The com
 mander of the troops knows, from his
 scouting parties, the location and ex- tent of the entrencf1me rents which he is about to assault, and at the proper time he gives the word of command. The solid bodies of men depIoy into
 a long line, the men about a yard and
 a half apart, the line parallel with the
 enemies trenches. They. rush forward until they reach favorable piece of
 ground, picked out in advance. Here
 they drop and, if they have time, l scoop out small holes in the ground, piling the dirt in front of the hole, thus afording partial protection from the rain of bullets, which now has become steady. The enemy has meas
 ured the ground in front of it's posi-
 tion and knows that the troops are about 1.20o yards away.
 Meanwhile, the majors and their
 officers are debating the range. Per haps they use range finders, which in-
 struments are very likely to become
 tangled up in action Generally they take an average of the estimates of several trained distance estimaters
 The range is passed along the line to
 the company officers, who blow whis- ties to attract the attention of their
 men. The range is given by signals. for the fusi1ade has become rapid that shouted orders could not be
 heard. Firing begins along the line
 to mark the result of which officers andously train their glasses on the eneny's trenches. At such range. the barest outlines only can be seen, | and of the effect of the bullets, no
 more than an occasional dust, driven
 up by the impact with the ground.
 After a few minutes, the dust puffs are 1ocated-they are rising a hun
 dred yards in front of the enemy. Sharp whistles tear the air, and, as the sergeants look around in >obe-
 dience to the call, they receive the sig
 nal to increase the range by 100 yards
 The word is passed along from one man on the firing line to the next, the sights are adjusted and the firing con unues.
 Now the puffs of dust are falling about the enemy's trench hes-their range has been found and the battle is on. Faster and faster comes the
 hail of bullets, the officers signaling faster fire if the fire is too slow. The
 object of this part of the fight is to
 obtain a superiority of fire, for every slight increase in the effectiveness of the attacking party is met with a cor responding decrease in the fire effec- tiVeness of the defendants Their aim is not steady, nor their move ments so unhurried. Companions to
 the right or left have rolled over wounded, and, as a closely aimed shot flies overhead, the defending soldiers vince and shrink down behind their
 earthworks Here they lose shot and fire effectiveness again diminish 'es.
 Then it is time for the advance. "a man at a time-it all depends on the weight of the defenders. fire, they rise and rush forward a few hundred feet, sinking again behind a rise in the ground, any other cover, while their companions on the first firing
 line redouble their efforts to keep the