After the Japanese army launched a full-scale invasion of China in 1937, its level of white-knife warfare left a deep impression on the Chinese soldiers, and the Japanese army's ability to fight and stab caused great casualties to the Chinese army. In order to restrain the Bayonets of the Japanese Army, the Chinese army was also equipped with a large number of large knives, but could the large knives really withstand the bayonets of the Japanese army?
In modern times, the Japanese army attaches far more importance to white-knife warfare than other countries, mainly due to Japan's lack of strategic resources, on the other hand, the Japanese military's Bushido spirit has also prompted it to prefer white-knife warfare. After the end of world war, when countries around the world shortened the standard rifle to adapt to the new way of combat, Japan did the opposite, designing the world's longest rifle, the Type 38 rifle, driven by precision design and the idea of white-knife warfare, and installed the Type 30 bayonet on the rifle.
Japanese Type 38 rifles
The gun weighed 3.73 kg and the rifle plus the Type 30 bayonet was 4.1 kg. The total length of the gun is 127.6 cm, plus the Type 30 single-edged bayonet can reach 166.3 cm, which is longer than all other rifles in the world, even higher than most Japanese soldiers, this bayonet has a long range, high accuracy, the scale of the Type 38 rifle is as high as 2400 meters,
effective range
Usually it is 460 meters, and some even reach 600 meters.
During the Russo-Japanese War, the Japanese army used the Type 38 rifle to fight with the Russian army, and the long and sharp bayonet of the Type 38 rifle posed a considerable threat to the Russian army. Because the Performance of the Type 38 Rifle is safe and reliable, the range is long, and the accuracy is high, so it has caused a sensation in the Japanese military circles just after it was finalized, and almost became the world's famous gun at that time, and was quickly equipped to the entire Japanese army and used until the end of World War II.
The Japanese army attaches great importance to the level of soldiers' stabbing, in 1909, when the Japanese army revised the "Infantry Code", it proposed that "the way to determine the outcome of the battle is the bayonet assault", you know, it was already the era of hot weapons, no country was willing to spend so much energy on cold weapons, which was unimaginable in other countries. Since then, the Japanese have done the same, and major educational schools have resumed kendo and recruited some kendo masters to study and improve the technique of stabbing.
In 1915, the Japanese Army had a bayonet art part in the "SwordPlay Teaching Model", which also became one of the earliest teaching materials for Japanese stabbing technology, and it can be said that from 1915 onwards, the Japanese army's stabbing technology began to rank in the ranks of the world army. Even in World War II, in the early days, after the Japanese recruits enlisted, 45 days of the 6 months of recruit training were spent on stabbing training, which showed the importance of stabbing!
The Japanese army's stabbing technique is simple and sharp, mainly divided into four categories: straight protrusion, detachment, downward protrusion, and retracement, and the straight protrusion is a direct stab above the waist of the enemy, and the target is usually the throat, chest, and ribs. This set of techniques seems to be very simple, there is no technical difficulty, but it is very practical, the attack sites are all human body key, the strokes are fatal, and the penetration point is also carefully designed, emphasizing the avoidance of ribs that are easy to get stuck in the blade and go straight to the heart, liver and other deadly positions.
Although the large knife used by the Chinese army looks more powerful than the Japanese bayonet, it cannot achieve the effect of the Japanese bayonet, and although the Northwest Army knife team has caused certain losses to the Japanese army, the Northwest Army knife team has specially invited a group of martial arts masters to guide and practice a complete set of knife techniques for fighting the Japanese army.
The practice of the Northwest Army is not universal, and the large knife team of the Northwest Army is also selected from some fighters with martial arts skills, and after being selected, they have been trained for a long time, which has caused certain casualties to the Japanese army. There are so many chinese troops, it is impossible for all fighters to have this talent, and they have not trained for such a long time, for most fighters, an inch long and an inch is the last word, and it is better to use a bayonet than a spear or a red gun.
In the Battle of Pingxingguan in 1937, the soldiers of the 115th Division of the Eighth Route Army fought with the Japanese army for the Laoye Temple, the 115th Division was the elite unit of the Eighth Route Army, and although the Fifth Division was said to be the elite of the Japanese army, this unit of the 21st Brigade regiment was escorted by heavy weight, and it was just an ordinary unit in the Japanese army. As a result of the battle, casualties on both sides were roughly equal. In the battle of the bayonet, the battle was very difficult, according to some eighth-route army veterans recalled: "Three ghost stabbing side by side can defeat one squad." ”
In the Battle of Pingxingguan, the old Red Army that participated in the battle of Pingxingguan dared to fight close combat and night battles were all fought like this, not to mention some miscellaneous units of the Kuomintang army. When the flat type guan fights the bayonet, he has learned martial arts since childhood
Yang Yong, deputy commander of the 686th Regiment of the 115th Division, performed prominently and stabbed several Japanese soldiers to death, but he was also wounded. After the war, the Eighth Route Army began to focus on assassination techniques. Lin Biao was also deeply impressed by this battle, and later lin Biao would say every time he evaluated a unit: "A unit that dares to bayonet and see red is a good unit!" ”
In the Shentouling ambush in which the Eighth Route Army participated in 1938, the number of rifles in the newly built units of the 386th Brigade of the 129th Division was seriously short, and some units were simply equipped with red tassels. Later, the soldiers found in actual combat that the red tassel gun, because of its length longer than the three-eight bayonet, could often suppress the Japanese bayonet and exert greater power. In addition, the operation of the red tassel gun is simple, whether it is the soldiers of the Eighth Route Army or the soldiers of the National Army, they are ordinary peasants, they can quickly and skillfully use the red tassel gun, so in later battles, some fighters would rather use the red tassel gun than the big knife.
After the beginning of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, the Chinese army paid great attention to collecting the bayonets of the Japanese army, because the industrial level of China at that time could not produce bayonets comparable to the bayonets of the Japanese army. When the three divisions of the Eighth Route Army were first formed, there were only 117 bayonets in the entire division of the 120th Division, only 55 bayonets in the entire division of the 129th Division, and the most bayonets in the 115th Division, with more than 2,000, but it was impossible to do one. Therefore, in the battle of Phoenix Mountain of the 120th Division, there was such a record: The enemy slashed with bayonets and knives, and I fought with the enemy with rifles, and as a result, I was stabbed by the enemy's bayonet and injured many people, and several people were killed, and the enemy killed more than ten people with my guns.
Throughout World War II, Japan produced more than 6.9 million bayonets, the world's largest production of bayonets, and even light machine guns were equipped with bayonets, and later the Americans jokingly said: "If the Battleship Yamato is driven to land, the Japanese must also install bayonets on it." ”
However, in the late stages of World War II, due to the large number of new recruits added by the Japanese army, its ability to fight was greatly reduced. Moreover, this superb level of stabbing of the Japanese army often does not play a big role in dealing with the armies of European and American countries, because the US military and the later Chinese Expeditionary Force are equipped with a large number of submachine guns, which can easily suppress the Japanese army.