The French Army May Not Have Run Away After All... They May Have Gotten "Stuck" Together
So it might not be as the stigma goes that French soldiers are cowards that run away at the first sign of trouble. Due to some questionable design choices on their bayonets, they might not have had a choice. Though the fault is only their own. A simple oversight in designing the bayonet of the French MAS-36 rifle lead to a massive headache for the French army, and a lot of ribbing for anyone who was shortsighted enough to fall victim to the issue.
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Here We Have... A Gun
YouTuber Forgotten Weapons goes through a wide variety of weapons that have been lost to history, From those cancelled to egregious mistakes, to simply weapons that faded from relevance. In this episode, he focuses on the bayonet of the French M36, which has an unfortunate flaw in its design.
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Spring Loaded Tech Since 1939
The bayonet, which is removed from the chamber under the gun's barrel. is kept in place with spring loaded metal nubs, each on one side of the bayonet. This allows them to lock it in place. whether in use, or stored away. as well as release one side if the other is locked in. Ingenious right?
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Goddamit Carl
It is! Except some French soldiers on guard duty apparently realized that they can connect their rifles together, and what do you know! They can't get them apart because there is no second side to disengage the lock. So they basically created a double-ended club.
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The problem became so prevalent once it was known that this was possible, that the military and manufacturer had to rush to figure out a way to solve the problem, and make sure the rifles could be taken apart, if any soldiers decided to clown around. Luckily, the solution was already right before them.
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Now Why Didn't We Think of That Before
The various other elements of the gun like the receiver and the barrel could not be removed due to how the guns were designed, but fortunately, the design also provided a solution. There was a hole drilled into the port for the bayonet already.
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Mischief Managed
So in order to circumvent the issue, the manufacturer drilled holes in all of the bayonets, that allowed access to the spring via that hole. That way, the next time a soldier got it "stuck," he could simply stick a firing pin in the whole, and release the bayonet. Problem solved.
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That's Not All
However, not all of the bayonets were fixed, and there are some even today that are still without the crucial fix. So if you own a M-36 and think you're clever, better to keep the bayonet safely away, where no one can attach it to another gun permanently.
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