In the days of the musket, the bayonet charge was a way to get rid of an enemy occupying spot X that you want.
Many of the fights ended with either the charger or charge target running away after a scrape of a few minutes.
Well, let's say one unit doesn't do that. Let's say one army has some units that are just stubborn.
The stubborn guys fight for 20 minutes in a infantry vs infantry bayonet fight at the minimum. After 20 minutes, they will behave like normal soldiers if outnumbered such that the enemy has 3X +9 men or more, where X is the number of allies the stubborn unit has. If the enemy doesn't outnumber them that much, they just keep fighting. If they are outnumbered badly, they do whatever badly outnumbered soldiers do (sometimes run away, sometimes stay and fight, it depends on the actual battle).
Well, would the extra stubbornness help win battles? I think if 3000 guys (the stubborn ones) get charged by 4000 guys (after both sides get their shots off), the 3000 guys will lose even if they don't break. The side with more won't break because they have the charge momentum and the numbers, they will win a melee handily. The outnumbered stubborn guys may not break easily, but they aren't better at landing their bayonet on the enemy than normal veterans.
Many of the fights ended with either the charger or charge target running away after a scrape of a few minutes.
Well, let's say one unit doesn't do that. Let's say one army has some units that are just stubborn.
The stubborn guys fight for 20 minutes in a infantry vs infantry bayonet fight at the minimum. After 20 minutes, they will behave like normal soldiers if outnumbered such that the enemy has 3X +9 men or more, where X is the number of allies the stubborn unit has. If the enemy doesn't outnumber them that much, they just keep fighting. If they are outnumbered badly, they do whatever badly outnumbered soldiers do (sometimes run away, sometimes stay and fight, it depends on the actual battle).
Well, would the extra stubbornness help win battles? I think if 3000 guys (the stubborn ones) get charged by 4000 guys (after both sides get their shots off), the 3000 guys will lose even if they don't break. The side with more won't break because they have the charge momentum and the numbers, they will win a melee handily. The outnumbered stubborn guys may not break easily, but they aren't better at landing their bayonet on the enemy than normal veterans.