Hajduk
11-22-2003, 23:05
This post is a follow-up to the thread obsolete units in the Monastery section.
There may be practical reasons to study ancient/medieval weapons & tactics. Col. Rex Applegate once compared advanced riot control formations & tactics to medieval warfare (Riot Control, Paladin Press).
Wearing helmets and using shields, police/MPs, like ancient Hoplites, will form phalanxes against mobs. Of course, the goal of riot control is to neutralize and disperse mobs without the use of lethal force (preferably using no violence at all).
Political radicals & street fighters have also adapted old tactics & equipment to counter riot control measures. There is a manual (written by a self-described anarchist) which provides instructions on counter riot-control formations. The book also provides informaton on fabricating protective gear, including shields.
On the obsolete units thread, there was a discussion of English maintaining obsolete weapons long after firearms became widely accepted in European militaries.
The pike reappeared during World War 2. Facing a shortage of weapons, the newly-organized Home Guard was issued shotguns, US Springfields, and even pikes. The pikes were improvised by welding an issue bayonet to a long pipe I remember seeing a photo of the arsenal of one Home Guard unit. There was a short pike or halbred, but it looked like an original not an improvisation. I can't imagine how the Home
Guard would have used pikes to repel a German invasion (maybe to impale parachutists? ouch!http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif
Home Guard book review
http://www.sgaus.org/book_1.htm
During the American Civil War, Georgia provided a company of pikemen to the Confederacy. They were later issued firearms. It does not appear that they ever used pikes on the battlefield.
Joe Brown's Pikes
by LTC (Ret.) Joe Griffith
http://www.hsgng.org/pages/joebrownpike.htm
There may be practical reasons to study ancient/medieval weapons & tactics. Col. Rex Applegate once compared advanced riot control formations & tactics to medieval warfare (Riot Control, Paladin Press).
Wearing helmets and using shields, police/MPs, like ancient Hoplites, will form phalanxes against mobs. Of course, the goal of riot control is to neutralize and disperse mobs without the use of lethal force (preferably using no violence at all).
Political radicals & street fighters have also adapted old tactics & equipment to counter riot control measures. There is a manual (written by a self-described anarchist) which provides instructions on counter riot-control formations. The book also provides informaton on fabricating protective gear, including shields.
On the obsolete units thread, there was a discussion of English maintaining obsolete weapons long after firearms became widely accepted in European militaries.
The pike reappeared during World War 2. Facing a shortage of weapons, the newly-organized Home Guard was issued shotguns, US Springfields, and even pikes. The pikes were improvised by welding an issue bayonet to a long pipe I remember seeing a photo of the arsenal of one Home Guard unit. There was a short pike or halbred, but it looked like an original not an improvisation. I can't imagine how the Home
Guard would have used pikes to repel a German invasion (maybe to impale parachutists? ouch!http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif
Home Guard book review
http://www.sgaus.org/book_1.htm
During the American Civil War, Georgia provided a company of pikemen to the Confederacy. They were later issued firearms. It does not appear that they ever used pikes on the battlefield.
Joe Brown's Pikes
by LTC (Ret.) Joe Griffith
http://www.hsgng.org/pages/joebrownpike.htm