For those pokey times
Here we see Heckler & Koch GRAY ROOM PHOTO#35, showing off a prototype HK MP5A2SF submachine gun in 9x19mm para complete with a 10-inch barrel with flash hider and bayonet attachment.
If room brooms with stabby things on the end seem odd, remember that they have been done several times in the past.
The Brit’s Lanchester submachine gun used the 1907 Enfield bayonet and “They don’t like it up ’em!”
The STEN, with the stick attached
The Japanese Hyaku Shiki Kikan-tanju o the Type 100 submachine gun (Photo: NHAM)
Came complete with an Arisaka style skewer (Photo: NHAM)
The Swedish K M/45 used the same bayonet as the country’s Mausers
And even the UZI, as issued by the IDF, used a FAL pattern bayonet
The Sterling accepted a bayonet, although it was rarely used. Still, it looked nice on the presentation models.
Hell, maybe they should bring them back.
The Aussie OMC (Owen Machine Carbine), starting with the heavier barrel and sleeve with latching point of the Mk.2, took a Mk.1 bayonet that was a shorter version of the ’07 pattern for the SMLE, the Mk. 2 bayonet for the Owen was simply a shortened ’07 that was reground when the arsenal lopped the front off.
The later F1 SMG simply accepted the Bowie-style bayonet from the SLR L1A1 rifle. I don’t recall that the Aussie’s Thompsen, Austen, or later pattern experimental guns were ever adapted or designed for carrying a pointy bit on the front though. These two guns will make good additions to your posted images, if you can get photos with their bayonets mounted.
Although it may have happened during the fight against the Japs, or in Korea, during Konfrontasi or in South Vietnam, I’ve never read or heard of their use by diggers during a battle. When guarding prisoners of war, I’m sure they were used to give the extra threat that some POWs, unfamiliar with the capabilities of the Owen, may have required. Especially the Japanese troops held at Nowra, site of the mass escape and subsequent Jap suicides.