Barry Bull
Donor
The bayonet began as a spear alternative i.e. converted the musket into a short pike. With the socket bayonet it also then removed the need for a side arm sword too. When it shortened it replaced the need for a knife as well.
Even going back to the heyday of the bayonet it's principal task was to intimidate. A bayonet charge is intended to frighten the enemy into running away and the records of the proportions of bayonet deaths and injuries show that they were out ranked by artillery and ball even then.
In that role the bayonet can be useful in riot control and prisoner control. A less lethal weapon than ball and one which can be displayed. 'Fix bayonets' in such circumstances includes flourishing the bayonet so that the opposition can see the intent.
In the old days they were long, on long rifles, to defend against cavalry up there on a horse. When magazine rifles thwarted cavalry charges the short rifle took over with a shorter knife bayonet but one can go too far. The SMLE 'pig sticker' was an efficient killing bayonet but the short spike failed to intimidate and was replaced by a knife bayonet that could be seen.
Lastly, one never runs out of bayonet. It is a sidearm. The descendent of the pre bayonet sword and is a weapon of the last resort in battle. You need a knife anyway for assorted daily tasks so it may as well be a bayonet. Without a bayonet controlling riots and guarding prisoners it can far too easily lead to deadly shootings when young frightened soldiers feel under threat from a mob. It is more selective than ball which is less precise under stress and over penetrates. The bayonet wielder can select individual targets out of a group. Psychologically it frightens because the threat is personal not general.
Teaching bayonet fighting is less about technique than about teaching the necessity of combining it with visible aggression. 'Crossing bayonets' rarely ever happened and you use a bayonet because you have to and it can only be effective in directly attacking the enemy. Aggression is all. Eventually boots have to go on the ground and action devolves to 'pointy stick' distance. Ball is good, HE etc. is better but the bayonet is always at hand when fixed. Not your first choice is always the last.
When one is stationed in Fulda Gap in 1985...