Weapons

Bayonet

The musket turned into a short spear.

Bayonet
Socket bayonet with a triangular blade, loose and fixed. Reference model.
Type
Socket, with triangular blade
Blade length
About 43 cm ◊
Users
Infantry of all four armies
Paraguayan complement
Machete

The socket bayonet fitted over the muzzle, with an offset neck that allowed the musket to be loaded without removing it. The Paraguayan infantry, worse armed for a firefight, sought close combat: at Tuyutí it advanced with the bayonet.

Part of the Paraguayan infantry also carried a machete: at Cerro León, in 1864, recruits were armed with a “flintlock musket, bayonet or machete”.

‡ Disputed.That the Paraguayans always kept the bayonet fixed, for lack of a scabbard, comes from a single source. ◊ The exact shape of the soldiers' machete is unknown.

Sources: ABC Color, “Día de la Infantería Paraguaya” and the weapons of the Paraguayan soldiers; Daniel E. Soubie, “El ejército paraguayo”.

Open in the illustrated encyclopedia ›

Guerra Guasu Collection · by José Báez · Free for everyone · Home · Privacy