Are there any bows/crossbows still in official military use ?

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RobSmith

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Just curious. Swords are still issued to officers, and there is anecdotal evidence that some officers choose to occasionally carry theirs in combat to this days. At least one Canadian cavalry regiment (the Strathconas) still occasional practice decapitating people with swords, on horseback. At least one French unit (Pionniers, I think) are still issued with leather aprons and friggin' battle axes !:eek:

So this begs the question : Are bows or crossbows still around in military inventories also.
 
RobSmith said:
At least one Canadian cavalry regiment (the Strathconas) still occasional practice decapitating people with swords, on horseback.
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Is that a fact....? Any Strats want to chime in?

The swords are for ceremonial/drill purposes. We dont skewer our foes with swords anymore. Bullets do the job with much better standoff.

Canada does not have "archery equimpent" in its arsenal of weapons.

(Ooops... OPSEC? damn!)
 
RobSmith said:
Just curious. Swords are still issued to officers, and there is anecdotal evidence that some officers choose to occasionally carry theirs in combat to this days. At least one Canadian cavalry regiment (the Strathconas) still occasional practice decapitating people with swords, on horseback. At least one French unit (Pionniers, I think) are still issued with leather aprons and friggin' battle axes !:eek:

So this begs the question : Are bows or crossbows still around in military inventories also.
Click to expand...

Swords aren't carried by any Canadian soldiers/officers in combat. That's not to say someone hasn't done it in the last 50 years, I really doubt it's happened though. If it was done, I suspect it would be more for a laugh than anything.

The Strathcona's Mounted Troop does ceremonial riding displays with lances, usually the only one with a sword is the officer. I don't believe they train to use it for anything other than drill purposes.

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IIRC all three reg force infantry regiments had pioneer platoons, but I think they have all been disbanded. I have only seen the axe and apron on display inside the RCR lines, not sure if they use it for parade or not. The axe isn't really a "battle axe" anyway. Neither are standard issue items.

pioneers.jpg
 
We don't practice decapitating people on horseback but the Troop does at a full gallop try to pick up pieces of wood placed on the ground by piercing it with the sword tip. It's a bit of a competition and some of the riders are quite skilled at it.
 
Thanks for clearing that up. The information about that particular set of skills comes from, you guessed it, the tv :redface:.

There was a show a couple of weeks ago (probably a rerun), "finding the fallen" where they had historians digging around at the site of a WW1 Canadian cavalry charge that, as I understand it, resulted in heavy casualties. Among the background for the show they had one of the historians in question demonstrate the proper technique to skewer people on horseback without losing one's sword (or breaking one's arm for that matter) and that's where the "still practiced to this day" bit was mentioned.

Gotta admit it looks like getting it right requires some pretty serious skills, and a hellovalot of practice.

As for officers still occasionally carrying swords in combat, this is apparently a USMC thing, traditions die hard and some officers apparently do bring their's on deployment to this day, wether any of those swords ever left the barracks after arrival still has to be confirmed. The way I look at it, stowing one on board of a vehicle for a short patrol should be easy enough, therefore making them "used in combat" (IF it really does happen, lots of rumors, but no real "confirmation" therefore my statement of "anecdotal evidence").

zipperhead said:
We don't practice decapitating people on horseback but the Troop does at a full gallop try to pick up pieces of wood placed on the ground by piercing it with the sword tip. It's a bit of a competition and some of the riders are quite skilled at it.
Click to expand...
 
My brother has a book that shows the Spanish Special Forces using a compound bow in one of the photos. Can't remember the book title, but it was one of those hardcover types that goes into brief detail about several countires military capabilities. I'll have to ask him.
 
I have an old book written in Russian that states that a small handheld "mini-bow" was used quite commonly by the Kremlin and some Russian special forces.
 
Perhaps. Had a guy on my rifle team get 7 ground hogs and only 1 was by a firearm. The Airborne loved the ammo cam KIA.
In the field or during ops, if a skilled weapons tech is told to make a bow by superiors, it will be made and to be used. I have saw some unusual requests, and they were made too.
 
I know the Canadian military supports its members in tonnes of various cometitions and events; thus, has all kinds of odd bits and pieces stored all around the country. Although there is no bow of any kind in the actual combat arenal, i would not be the least suprised if we had lots around owned by the military in support of archery initiatives of members
 
As a guy who owns such a sword I can tell you the Canadian ones are for parade and drill only. It is modelled on a real infantry sword but is not sharpened, there are different patterns according to the corps/branch the user belongs to (infantry, armoured, navy etc). No sane person would take it in the field.:eek:

Lots of troops have carried tomahawks into the field and most ditched them after lugging them around for nothing.

Assault Pioneer Platoon have several ceremonial weapons they use. On parade the Pioneers are usually charged with "securing" the battalions parade ground and with the protection of the battalion HQ. They carry ceremonial double bladed axes and wear leather work aprons but axes were tools only, not battle axes. The Pioneer Sergeant (a Warrant Officer actually) carried a saw backed short sword called a hanger and it is the symbol of his rank and position. He is one of the few infantry NCO positions that carry a sword on parade. Again the sword is a ceremonial one and is based on a traditional working tool.

Some bases have lots of archery equipment in their inventory but it all belongs to recreational archery clubs for sport and hunting, not battle.
 
I believe the British used a crossbow in WW2 for quietly eliminating sentries.
How to take a sentry down with an axe; Do not use the sharp edge, instead, strike the sentry between the shoulder blades with the flat part, crushing the vertabrae and preventing them from making a sound.
 
I wouldnt call it fact, but Ive heard from at least three different people that crossbows were used in vietnam by SF. But, like most of the posts and "information" in this thread Im just going by what other people have said. Wouldnt surprise me though.
 
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