Posted 10 years ago
battlegear
(69 items)
Here are a few old Yataghan sword bayonets from my bayonet collection
1. The French M1842 model had a distinctive recurved blade, based on the North African Yataghan swords. Why the shape was chosen is open to conjecture, the shape gave a longer reach with the long blade and the curve ensured that the blade was out of the bullet trajectory, of course it may just have been a styling exercise. There is a theory that the choice of blade was the best compromise for a blade between thrusting and slashing.
2. The French M1866 Chassepot bayonet, probably the most common and well known of the Yataghan bayonets. A brass hilt with an external leaf spring. Has a large forward curved quillion. Made by several countries for use by the French, including Germany, the UK, Belgium and Holland. French blades are marked on the spine with the Arsenal that made it and the month and year of manufacture.
3. Turk M1874 Peabody bayonet, US made bayonet with leather grips held with 5 rivets, and external spring. Uses leather scabbard, These were made by the Providence Tool Company , Providence, Rhode Island for the Turkish Government.
4. Brazil M1904 with leather scabbard with brass fittings , Produced for the Brazilian Police, bayonet has wooden grips with riveted grips. This is probably the last Yataghan made, has the Brazilian Police Coat of Arms on the hilt used by the Rio De Janeiro Police in Brazil, Very rare bayonet.
I've given much thought to the reversed curve & decided that it was a bit of a hanger-on of the muzzle loader era plus the fact that these are dated are just when smokeless powder was coming & the blk. pdr. guns needed a wet swab run thru the bore after about 10 rds.. Kept your hand away from the blade while swabbing.
Nice collection!
that does make sense, then the soldier would not need to remove the bayonet during cleaning & reloading
I also think the shape might give more power to the blade if used as a side arm like a sword, the curve would give more chopping power kind of like the Ghurka Kukri machete style fighting knife?
I've mentioned this before, but...
In 1883, Author Richard Burton (Not the actor!) wrote “The ‘curved thrust’ (of the North African Yataghan sword) so imposed upon Colonel Mercy, of the French army, that he proposed…to adopt the Yataghan, whose beautifully curved line of blade coincides accurately with the motion of the wrist in cutting, and to which he held to be equally valuable for the point.” Unfortunately, Burton goes on to say “As a bayonet it lost all its distinctive excellence; the forward weight, so valuable in cutting with the hand, made it heavy and unmanageable at the end of a musket.”
There had been other straight sword bayonets of similar length by then, and I know of no literature of the period makes mention of a bullet trajectory problem, or that that this design was used to solve it.
Chris
Oh, the Burton quotes are from his 1883 book "The Book of the Sword" which was reprinted by Dover Publishing in 1987
excellent info Chrinp!
The hook on the hand guard was supposed to be for breaking your opponent's blade, whether bayonet or sword. Wonder how well that worked?
Sorry guys, but I have to toss in my two cents again. I hope I’m coming off like a know-it-all jerk.
In the late 19th Century, the bayonet was considered a form of fencing. When parrying the enemy’s thrust, the soldier was to use his own bayonet blade to deflect the enemy blade and the quillon - like the quillon on a sword – would catch the enemy blade as it slid down the soldier’s blade to keep it from continuing downward to strike the soldier’s left arm and hand holding the forestock of his rifle.
Sometimes a soldier might then be able to execute a “Prise de fer” (Taking the Blade). That does not mean breaking the blade or prying the rifle from the enemy’s hands. It means that for a brief moment the soldier can use the deflected momentum of the enemy thrust to control the enemy’s blade and move it out of his strike zone, possibly put the opponent off balance, and put himself in position for a counter-thrust.
Of course all that took lots of practice, and by WWI, I think the brass began to realize that the quillon would get caught on equipment straps more than it would ever parry an enemy bayonet, and the French and British began removing the quillon from existing bayonets and manufacturing bayonets without.
Chris
Crap! I meant NOT comming off like a know-it-all jerk!
your info is excellent for reference, makes it more interesting when you know the history of something