Close Combat on the Eastern front.., bayonets, knives, riffle butts, fists...

In what situation did our troops have to fight hand to hand, close up with the enemy?
In cities, in trenches, bunkers, mountains and forests -

Here we discuss close combat !



This post has been edited by Der Maresal on February 02, 2005 05:08 am

Attached Image

Sounds interesting...the real combat, man to man. You have to relay on your basic instincts and your knife, infantry shovel, and your gun.

While it's obviously that cases of hand to hand combat did exist, I believe the soldiers avoided them at any cost, as they avoided coming too close to the enemy, since the fear of being captured was great.

I agree with you Dragos and there's no war that didn't only just once hand to hand combat. But what about the Japonees witch were determined to fight to the last man, even in hand to hand combat?

My grandfather told me how some fellow comrades threw away their bayonets, to don't carry them any more. He told them to keep the bayonets, but some did not listen. And when did these guys remember that the bayonets could be useful?
Oh, yeah... When the Russians were in the Romanian trench.

PS: The translation of the bottom of the poster shown by "Der Maresal" is:
On the land and on the sea.
The 2 words on the top I don't understand.

This post has been edited by Florin on February 03, 2005 12:51 am

This was silly, since the bayonet, as any knife, is not only useful for stabbing. Opening cans comes in mind.

My uncle was only 11-12 years old when the war was going on, but he saw a lot of front lines, from Crimea to Moldova to Transylvania.
He told me that there was more hand combat in WWII battles (at least as far as Romania is concerned) than most people think.

Florin - I'm curious, what happened to your grandfather's comrades? Did he tell you?

My Russian doesn't go any farther than Florin's, but I would be willing to bet that the words at the top say something like "In The Air", judging by the victorious Red air fleet sending the Nazi planes down in flames.

I love how the artist worked in the naval battle down in the corner of the poster, and the planes flying in close formation. It's like a parade that also shoots.

On the frontline, a military man has comrades and friends.
The comrades are many... The friends are few.

Those comrades which threw away the bayonets died or tried to surrender. But in a close combat the enemy may be in no mood to accept surrender...

What happened with his friends, you can find under
WorldWar2.ro Forum -> Operations & Battles -> Eastern Front (1941-1944),
in the topic: WW2 EASTERN FRONT PHOTOS
The link is:
http://www.worldwar2.ro/forum/index.php?sh...=15&#entry22894
I posted few photos there.

This post has been edited by Florin on February 03, 2005 08:09 pm

And also I think that soldiers preferred to shoot from a distance (much easier ) then having to stick a bayonett between the enemy's ribs, and then having to kick him to get it out..

.as described in 'All quitet on the Western front'

For the people who still have left same sensibility in the depth of their soul, killing the enemy by wrestling at close combat is even more stressful than when it is done from a distance, with a firearm. And the memory of the screams and of the faces in deep agony is more powerful than when the enemy was killed far away with firearms.

Now the modern armies have "counselors", or let call them psychiatrists, but the problem is very old, and in the past it was neglected.

This post has been edited by Florin on February 04, 2005 04:29 pm

That depends on the tipe of weapon.....think about a sniper rifle, you can't hear but you can see your "victims" face.

"в небесах is "v nebesakh" (In the skies)

v nebesakh, na zimelea i na more"

In the Skies, on land and on the sea

This post has been edited by Der Maresal on February 10, 2005 05:29 pm

This propaganda poster shows the Red Army superiority over the Wermacht. All soviet red units destroy the German black ones. A good poster at that time because, I think, not many Russians knew reading and writing.