BAYONETS AND BLOBSTICKS The Canadian Experience of Close Combat 1915-1918 BAIONETTES ET 'BLOBSTICKS'. Les Canadiens au combat rapproche 1915-1918. A Thesis Submitted to the Division of Graduate Studies of the Royal Military College of Canada by Aaron Taylor Miedema, BFA (Hons.), BA (Hons.). In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts in War Studies April 2010 ©This thesis may be used within the Department of National Defence but copyright for open publication remains the property of the author. 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Canada iii ACKNOWLDGEMENTS Thanks must be given to the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and the Joseph Armand Bombardier scholarship for their funding and support of this work. In addition to this debt of gratitude, there are a number of people who deserve acknowledgement and credit for the merits of this work. Foremost is Dr. Tim Cook, without whom this almost four year project would never have begun, and without whose assistance certainly it would never have come to completion. The second is Dr. Doug Delaney, who kept me focused on the larger picture when I became mired in the mountains of small details. Third, many thanks to Dr. Huw Osborne who has helped me to organize my thinking and to clarify my writing by his generous assistance in the revision of this thesis, and doubly so for doing it twice. Thanks also go out to the many people who have read this thesis and given me feedback and criticism. Finally, I express my gratitude to the long list of people who stood by patiently while I have expounded upon my thesis and who treated me with the appropriate amount of skepticism when I've said "just another couple of weeks and it will be done." For the failings of the present work I am myself responsible. I have had no end of good counsel from all the aforementioned people; it is my fault alone if I failed to take it or lost track of it. Aaron Taylor Miedema 5 December, 2009 Kingston, Ontario iv ABSTRACT Miedema, Aaron T., BFA (Hons.), BA (Hons.). MA in War Studies, Royal Military College of Canada. April 2010. Bayonets and Blobsticks, The Canadian Experience of Close Combat 1915-1918. External Supervisor: Dr. Tim R. B. Cook (Canadian War Museum) Internal Supervisor: Dr. Douglas E. Delaney (Royal Military College of Canada) For many historians, it has been an accepted truism that the bayonet was an inadequate weapon in the Great War. And yet, in spite of this historical conclusion, soldiers of the Great War seemed oblivious to what seems so obvious to critics ninety years removed; they quite liked their bayonets and they used them—often. Their chain of command saw the value of the bayonet as well. Between 1914 and 1918, training in bayonet fighting increased, largely in response to what was happening at the front. Official records, battalion histories and soldiers accounts provide numerous examples of the bayonet being used in battle. The question posed by this thesis is simple: if the bayonet was so obviously inadequate why did soldiers continue to fix bayonets before going into battle? This question is answered through the detailed examination of the bayonet in the training literature, official records, battalion histories, and personal accounts of soldiers of the Canadian Corps. This thesis exposes the historical myth of the bayonet's obsolescence and demonstrates its importance in Anglo- Canadian attack doctrine during the Great War. Keywords: Bayonet, First World War, Great War, Canadian Corps, shock tactics, infantry tactics, attack doctrine. V RESUME Miedema, Aaron T., BBA (Avec distinction.), BA (Avec distinction), Maitrise en Etudes sur la guerre, College militaire royal du Canada, avril 2010, Bayonets and Blobsticks, The Canadian Experience of Close Combat 1915-19181. Surveillant externe : Tim R. B. Cook (Musee canadien de la guerre) Surveillant interne : Douglas E. Delaney (College militaire royal du Canada) Pour de nombreux historiens, c'est commettre un pleonasme que d'affirmer que la ba'ionnette etait une arme inadequate pendant la Grande Guerre. Pourtant, en depit de cette conclusion, les soldats de la Grande Guerre semblaient inconscients de ce qui parait si evident aux critiques 90 ans plus tard; ils aimaient leur ba'ionnette et ils s'en servaient souvent. Leurs chefs avaient eux aussi constate la valeur de la ba'ionnette. Entre 1914 et 1918, l'entrainement au combat a la ba'ionnette s'est intensifie surtout par suite de ce qui se passait au front. Les documents officiels, les histoires des bataillons et les recits des soldats contiennent de nombreux exemples de l'emploi de la ba'ionnette au combat. L'auteur de cette these pose une question simple : si la ba'ionnette etait si inadequate, pourquoi les soldats ont- ils continue de la fixer au canon de leur fusil avant de passer a l'attaque? II repond a la question en examinant de pres les mentions de la ba'ionnette dans les ecrits sur l'entrainement, dans les documents officiels, dans les histoires des bataillons et dans les comptes rendus personnels des soldats du Corps d'armee canadien. Cette these expose le mythe historique de 1'obsolescence de la ba'ionnette et elle montre 1'importance de cette arme dans la doctrine anglo-canadienne de l'attaque pendant la Grande Guerre. Mots cles : Ba'ionnette, Premiere Guerre mondiale, Grande Guerre, Corps d'armee canadien, tactiques des troupes de choc, tactiques d'infanterie, doctrine de l'attaque. 1 Bai'onettes et 'blobsticks'. Les Canadiens au combat rapproche 1915-1918. (Proposition; cet ouvrage n'est pas traduit). vi TABLE OF COTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS iii ABSTRACT iv RESUME v TABLE OF CONTENTS vi LIST OF FIGURES viii LIST OF MAPS viii ABBREVIATIONS ix CHAPTER ONE: Introduction. 1 CHAPTER TWO: Myths and misconceptions 9 I. Casualty statistics. 13 II. Use and abuse. 16 III. Alternative weapons. 18 IV. Bayonet in battle. 20 V. An alternative interpretation. 25 CHAPTER THREE: 1870 to 1914, the bayonet before the war. 27 I. European infantry tactics 1870-1914: Paradigm or balance? 28 II. Training and techniques of British bayonet fighting 1849-1914. 36 III. Conclusion. 42 CHAPTER FOUR: Fear and function. 43 I. Close combat: instinct and training. 43 II. Close combat conditioning. 48 III. The negotiation of close combat. 53 CHAPTER FIVE: 1915, The bayonet and trench warfare. 62 I. Trench Warfare. 62 II. From Canada to France. 65 III. Ypres: baptism of fire. 69 IV. Festubert: the problem of the attack. 73 V. Givenchy: new tactics and unforeseen consequences. 79 VI. Bayonet training 1915: formal and informal. 81 VI. Conclusion. 88 CHAPTER SIX: 1916, the bayonet and battle of materiel. 90 I. The problem of the offensive. 91 II. St. Eloi Craters and Mount Sorrel: new divisions, new corps, new problems. 92 III. Interlude: the lessons of the Somme. 97 IV. Courcelette: tactics and technology old and new. 99 V. The Ancre Heights: problems old and new. 104 VII. Bayonet training 1916: organization and control. 107 VIII. Conclusion. 110 CHAPTER SEVEN: 1917, the bayonet and the set-piece battle. 111 I. Vimy Ridge: change and continuity. 111 II. The Arras offensive: change continues. 117 III. Hill 70: charge and counter-charge. 119 IV. Passchendaele: individual and independence. 125 V. Bayonet training 1917: bayonet fighting matures. 130 vii VI. Conclusion. 133 CHAPTER EIGHT: 1918, the bayonet and the war of movement. 13 5 I. Amiens: The bayonet and open warfare. 135 II. Scarpe: The anatomy of a bayonet fight. 140 III. Arras: Continuing patterns. 143 IV. Conclusion: Beyond the Canal du Nord. 147 CHAPTER NINE: Conclusion. 149 WORKS CITED 153 CIRRICULUM VITAE 163 viii LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1: Bairnsfather cartoon illustrating the contrast between manning the trenches 14 and the intense periods of close combat. Figure 2: Bairnsfather cartoon showing a bayonet being used to dry socks.