and ward it off. The iron plate saves your arm
being cut; you are in under his guard; seize his rifle with your left
hand and punch with your right, driving the knife home the six inches,
which is all that is necessary. I have been in and seen a number of
bayonet charges and I am quite satisfied that the parries and thrusts
that we teach the infantryman are only of value to get him used to
handling his rifle. After that it would be a good thing for him to
forget them.

There are only two things that it is essential to remember when you go
into a bayonet charge. The first is that _the most determined man will
win_. I have known champion men-at-arms killed by a bayonet in their
first charge and other little fellows who were no good in the practice
combats kill their man every time. If you go into a bayonet charge
with the idea of disarming your opponent and taking him prisoner you
will most certainly be killed. But if you are quite sure in your own
mind that you are going to kill every man who comes against you, you
will do it. Your determination impresses itself upon the man you
attack and he will be beaten before you reach him. The other thing
that it is wise to remember is to make your opponent attack you on your
left side. If he attacks you on the right you have to parry him and
then thrust, but for an attack on the left side the action of parrying
will bring the toe of your butt into his jaw or ribs, disabling him,
and it is a good thing to use your knee at the same time.

The general-staff officers who decide how an army should be weaponed
never do the actual fighting and few junior officers or men feel
competent to offer their advice. I am quite confident that a majority
of the fighters would agree with the foregoing opinions, and I would
like the chance of taking a company armed as I have suggested into
action, and would be quite satisfied of their superiority to any troops
on the front.

CHAPTER XXXIII

THE FORCING-HOUSE OF BESTIALITY

The Germans have given to us an illustration, though such was not
needed by thinking men to convince them of its truth, of the fact that
the beast in humanity only requires encouragement to make us more
bestial than any wild thing of the jungle or even the filthy cur of the
streets. If any man takes as his guiding principle the devilish
doctrine that the "end justified the means" he will soon become a
menace to his fellows and any good impulses that he may o