All company officers and noncommissioned officers should be taught how to instruct in bayonet fighting, in order that they may be able to teach their men in this very important part of a soldier’s training. It should have place in all training schedules, and in all rest periods in war time.
Sacks for dummies should be filled with vertical layers of straw and thin sods, leaves, shavings, etc., in such a way as to give the greatest resistance without injury to the bayonet. A realistic effect, necessitating a strong withdrawal, as if gripped by a bone, is obtained by inserting pieces of hard wood, ¼ inch thick (pieces of crating or boxes), between the stuffing and the sack on the side facing the attacker, and the grain must be vertical.
These sack dummies can be made to stand on end by fixing a wooden cross or star (two or three pieces of wood about two inches broad and ¾ inch thick nailed across one another) in the base of the sack before filling it. They can also be placed with good effect on rough tripods or tied to improvised stools. Dummy sacks should be suspended from gallows and weighted or tethered to the ground from the bottom corners.
By the use of a little ingenuity an officer can readily represent the torso of an opponent in positions simulating actual conditions.
The greatest care should be taken that the object representing the opponent and its support should be incapable of injuring the bayonet or butt. Only light sticks (the parrying stick here referred to is shown in plates) must be used for parrying practice.
The chief causes of injury to the bayonet are: insufficient instruction in the bayonet training lessons; failure to withdraw the bayonet clear of the dummy before advancing; and placing the dummies on hard, unprepared ground.
For practising direction, there must always be an aiming mark on the dummy. Cardboard discs for this purpose are desirable. By continually changing the position of the mark, the “life” of the dummies is considerably prolonged.
In the absence of discs, five or six spots or numbers can be painted on the dummies as marks.