ire the day of the bayonet is over. Battles, they
say, must now be fought with the combatants miles apart. Bayonets are as
obsolete as spears and battle axes. Evidently this theory had the full
support of the German General Staff, whose military wisdom was in some
quarters believed to be infallible--before the war.

As events have proved, however, there has been no more rude awakening
for the German soldiery than the efficacy of the bayonet in the hands of
Tommy Atkins. In spite of the employment of gigantic siege guns and
their enormous superiority in strength, though not in handling, of
artillery, the Germans have failed to keep the Allies at the theoretical
safe distance. They have been forced to accept hand-to-hand fighting,
and in every encounter at close quarters there has never been a moment's
doubt as to the result. They have shriveled up in the presence of the
bayonet, and fled in disorder at the first glimpse of naked steel. It is
not that the Germans lack courage. "They are brave enough," our soldiers
admit with perfect frankness, "but the bayonet terrifies them, and they
cry out in agony at the sight of it."

Admittedly, it requires more than ordinary courage to face a bayonet
charge, just as it calls for a high order of valor to use that deadly
weapon. Instances are given of young soldiers experiencing a sinking
sensation, a feeling of collapse, at the order "Fix Bayonets!" their
hands trembling violently over the task. But when the bugle sounds the
charge, and the wild dash at the enemy's lines has begun, with the skirl
of the pipes to stir up the blood, the nerves stiffen and the hands grip
the rifle with grim determination. "It was his life or mine," said a
young Highlander describing his first battle, "and I ran the bayonet
through him." There is no time for sentiment, and there can be no
thought of chivalry. Just get the ugly business over and done with as
quickly as possible. One soldier tells what a sense of horror swept over
him when his bayonet stuck in his victim, and he had to use all his
strength to wrench it out of the body in time to tackle the next man.

Many men describe the effects of the British bayonet charges and the way
the Germans--Uhlans, Guards, and artillerymen--recoil from them. "If you
go near them with the bayonet they squeal like pigs," "they beg for
mercy on their knees," "the way they cringe before the bayonet is
pitiful"--such are examples of the hundreds of references to th