Bayonet fighting instruction by an English Sergeant Major, Camp Dick, circa 1917. Camp Dick, was an aviation training facility near Dallas, Texas. The camp, while neither a ground school nor a flying school, was designed as a place in which the morale of the aviators could be maintained while the men were in transition from one stage of development to another. The experience of World War I saw a complete reversal in opinion on the relative value of long rifles and bayonets in typical infantry combat operations. 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. Instead of longer bayonets, infantry forces on both sides began experimenting with other weapons as auxiliary close-quarter arms, including the trench knife, pistol, hand grenade, and entrenching tool.
