What's the command for advancing with bayonets at the ready? Fix bayonets = attach to rifle. Charge bayonet = at the ready? Advance = Go?

Uh, something along the lines of-

"Hey sgt! were running red on ammo!"

"Aw crap, get your bayonets out... ...(insert incredibly short inspirational speech here)... Charge!"


I highly doubt anyone is going to be using parade ground prepatory and execution command in the middle of a battle. Nor is anyone going to do a bayonet charge unless it's the only thing they have left to fight with. (And maybe they watched charge of the light brigade too many times...)

The command to fix bayonets is dependant on which regiment, which army, and which country your in. In the UK it is "Fix" follwed by "Bayonets". In the Napoleonic wars the command "Advance" would be given at which point th entire skermish line would advance upon the emeny and be promtly blown to pieces!. In modern warfare the bayonet is a weapon of last resort but it used a lot more often than you may think in 2009, Lieutenant James Adamson, aged 24, of the Royal Regiment of Scotland was awarded the Military Cross for a bayonet charge whilst on a tour of duty in Afghanistan: after shooting one Taliban fighter dead Adamson had run out of ammunition when another enemy appeared. Adamson immediately charged the second Taliban fighter and bayonetted him. I am confident that the commands will still exist in the drill manual of all regiments ... they just won't have seen the light of day for a long long time. I'd say you're on safe ground with "Fix Bayonets" and possibly "Prepare to Asault"

the contention that bayonet attacks have not occured since the civil war is incorrect. I know that US forces did a bayonet attack in the Korean war and the UK forces have used it in the Falklands conflict and in Afghanistan.

I know that the command fix bayonets is used to attach the bayonet to the rifle. I believe that charge bayonet is the act of leveling the bayonet at the enemy and holding it at the ready. From this point I think the command advance would be given, and the line would advance to contact.

And as all things in the military, there is a proper proceedure for everything. Otherwise there would not still be regulations for the employment of whale oil lamps on US Navy ships.

Bayonet charges died decades ago. Bayonets are generally used as a defensive measure (e.g. holding a position that is about to be overrun) or in limited offensive maneuvering (e.g. house-to-house fighting where the enemy could literally be on the other side of the doorway). Once the order "Fix Bayonets!" comes down, that's all there is to it.

The command to attach the bayonet to the weapon is "fix bayonets". since there has not been a true "bayonet" charge since the civil war, there is currently no command to advance on the enemy with fixed bayonets.