Editing Bayonet (section)

===Reversal in opinion===
[[File:World-War-II-US-Military-Bayonets.jpg|thumb|US military bayonets; from the top down, they are the M1905, the M1, M1905E1 Bowie Point Bayonet (a cut down version of the M1905), and the M4 Bayonet for the M1 Carbine.]]

The experience of [[World War I]] reversed opinion on the value of long rifles and bayonets in typical infantry combat operations.<ref name="PEG"/><ref name="REG"/><ref name="MCB"/><ref name="KNY">Knyvett, R. Hugh (Capt.), ''Over There with the Australians'', originally published 1918, reprinted by The Echo Library, {{ISBN|978-1-4068-6694-0}} (2011), pp. 152–153.</ref> Whether in the close confines of trench warfare, night time raiding and patrolling, or attacking across open ground, soldiers of both sides soon recognized the inherent limitations of a long and ungainly rifle and bayonet when used as a [[close-quarters battle]] weapon.<ref name="PEG"/><ref name="REG"/><ref name="MCB">McBride, Herbert W., ''A Rifleman Went to War'', Plantersville, SC: Small Arms Technical Publishing Co. (1935), pp. 179–185, 197, 241–243, 335</ref><ref name="KNY"/> Once Allied soldiers had been trained to expect the ''throw point'' or ''extended thrust-and-lunge attack'', the method lost most of its tactical value on the World War I battlefield.<ref name="CRO"/> It required a strong arm and wrist, was very slow to recover if the initial thrust missed its mark, and was easily parried by a soldier who was trained to expect it, thus exposing the German soldier to a return thrust which he could not easily block or parry.<ref name="CRO"/><ref>Moss, James Alfred, ''Manual of Military Training'', Menasha, WI: George Banta Publishing Co. (1914), p. 161: "The adversary may attempt a greater extension in the thrust and lunge by quitting the grasp of his piece with the left hand and advancing the right as far as possible. When this is done, a sharp parry may cause him to lose control of his rifle, leaving him exposed to a counter-attack, which should follow promptly."</ref><ref>United States Marine Corps, ''U.S. Marine Combat Conditioning'', United States Marine Corps Schools (Sep 1944), reprinted Skyhorse Publishing Inc.,  {{ISBN|978-1602399624}} (2011), p. 7: "The...' throw point' as it is sometimes called can be used to thrust from a distance an '''unarmed''' enemy who is running backwards away from you. This would probably be the only time you would actually thrust a man with a...' throw point'...because unless your enemy is off his guard and unless you have a very strong arm, there is too much chance of dropping the rifle or of his knocking it from your hands."</ref> Instead of longer bayonets, infantry forces on both sides began experimenting with other weapons as auxiliary close-quarter arms, including the [[trench knife]], [[Trench raiding club|trench club]], [[handgun]], [[hand grenade]], and [[entrenching tool]].<ref name="MCB"/><ref>Beith, Ian H., "Modern Battle Tactics: Address Delivered April 9, 1917", ''National Service'' (June 1917), pp. 325, 328</ref>

Soldiers soon began employing the bayonet as a knife as well as an attachment for the rifle, and bayonets were often shortened officially or unofficially to make them more versatile and easier to use as tools, or to maneuver in close quarters.<ref name="BRA"/><ref name="REG"/><ref name="MCB"/><ref name="KNY"/> During [[World War II]], bayonets were further shortened into knife-sized weapons in order to give them additional utility as [[Combat knife|fighting]] or [[utility knife|utility knives]].<ref name="BRA"/> The vast majority of modern bayonets introduced since World War II are of the [[knife bayonet]] type.<ref name="BRA"/>