The Problem of Classification

Pick up any book that catalogs bayonets and it immediately becomes obvious that bayonets have different designs, and with those designs different capabilities - the result is different types of weapons. But there is no common definition of these various types. As a starting point we can identify:

(1) plug bayonets - those designed to be inserted in the barrel of the firearm to create a thrusting weapon (the first generation of bayonet design).

(2) socket bayonets - typically a long, thin flat or triangular blade suitable only for thrusting and fitted with a socket to attach to the rifle (the second generation of bayonet design)

(3) knife bayonets - a bayonet in the shape of a knife, single or double edged.

(4) sword bayonets - those bayonets that have a sword or cutlass guard. More difficult examples to categorize are the yataghan blades and other long, straight blades, clearly of too long a length to be a practical knife, but lacking the guards typically found on swords.

(5) entrenching bayonets - bayonets designed to also serve as entreching tools with a spade like blade.

(6) engineer, pioneer, or sapper bayonets - equipped with a saw edge on the back of the blade.

(7) machete or hewing knife bayonets - equipped with a machete blade or some other form of blade intended as a heavy general purpose hewing tool.

(8) spike bayonets - short, often round, bayonets, often designed to attach to the rifle, and suitable only for thrusting.

This list is probably not all inclusive and is certainly subject to argument. But it serves as a starting point for thinking about the differences in how these weapons might be used in combat.