This one thing that I've been wondering for years.
I remember 4 years ago, the History Channel showed an Episode on their TV Series "Human Weapon" which showcases various martial arts around the world. This episode I speak of went over MCMAP, the Hand-to-Hand system of the United States Marine Corps.
During the episode, there was one instance where they speak of Marines being pinned under fire in some third world country. After prolonged exposure to enemy fire and being stuck in the same position, the Marines finally got fed up and equipped bayonets in on their guns and charged out to their attackers.Despite such an insane tactic, the enemy that was pinning them (who were armed with automatic machine guns) abandoned their suppression and fled from the area out of fear..Granted these were poorly-trained third world armies but still.,,,,,,,
I read of in Napoleonic Warfare that entire units and even whole armies would literally abandon their formation and flee the battlefield out of fear when men charged with Bayonets. I read this was a comment tactic of Napoleon and to people's surprise it worked so well against other armies. Only the MOST DISCIPLINED and DEVOTED like the British army was able to with stand this charge without collapsing and it would be late in the War when European nations finally realized Napoleon CAN be beaten that this tactic lost its effectiveness.
Even in World War 2 I read of PROFESSIONAL and WELL-TRAINED American soldiers literally abandoning their position out of fear when the Japanese would commit their Banzai Charges.
The first battle in The Red Badge of Courage portrays this perfectly when the protagonist ran away as the Confederate Army charged despite the fact he hadn't even fired several shots yet and the Confederates were still distance away.
How and why would a Bayonet Charge be so terrifying even in this modern age?I mean when kids today hear of this, they would go all like "you have a gun-shoot the motherfucker with it as he runs at you!!!!" and indeed playing a video game would lead you to believe its so easy to fire at hordes of men charging at you to hit you with a bayonet or other melee weapon.
The biggest impact will be on the morale of those being charged. The charge was usually against a unit that was wavering from being under fire for a long time or one caught by surprise by being hit in the flank. Being shot at is tough, but it is impersonal. However when a mad man is charging you with a long bayonet, it becomes you against him and it takes a different kind of courage to stand and take it. Which is why there are very few wounds recorded done by a bayonet. Either the charging unit is stopped by fire or the unit being charged breaks before the charging unit arrives.
Infantry fire mutual effect ... 😀
for sure if ou want a decisive action, musket fire is not the way to go !
You need the units to perform this, most would stop and return fire.
Those units or army are rare, at Prague in the 7YW Fredrick's army did this once, they won - the long term results were bad for the quality of the Prussian Army though.
Read Clausewitz on this, in war it is not about killing but about braking the moral of the enemy, this will lead to victory.
infantry executing a bayonet charge imply a moral contest between attacker and defender : the potential "material effect" of the bayonet can generate fear on the receiving end ...
to stop that charge the defender will use musket fire :timing of fire is essential : fire too early (early fire) and it will be inefficient > so you reinforce the will to close on the attacker side. wait and fire at very short distance (late fire) and the effect will be to stop - check - stall- the advance.. and the charge eventually degenerate into a firefight .. eventually execute a counter charge and the stoped initial attacker will retreat in disorder.
the point is to not make an assault on a "fresh line" and use skirmishers and artillery fire to "prep" the enemy line in order to reduce his moral, his will to fight. you can read Du Picq for example.
so it's not a question of "discipline" but a question of timing, firing method, national traits, terrain type, etc
to cross the last 100 yards at pas de charge you need only 60 seconds or so ... not much time to fire Z times against those coming bayonets.. !!
Best regards