Vetterli 71 Karabiner Bayonet

VETTERLI 71 KARABINER BAYONET. (See also, VETTERLI 71 KARABINER) First and foremost, the Vetterli was designed as a military rifle. As such, it was manufactured with a bayonet lug. When they designed the shortened Karabiner version, this was occluded, as it was intended to be used by cavalry. However, the Karabiner could still be easily modified to add a bayonet mount, whereupon it can be affixed to the side of the barrel. As a Karabiner, the reach of such a weapon is naturally still longer than a comparable traditional rifle, connoting a disadvantage in close combat when opposing one. Nevertheless, its addition was certainly advantageous compared to its absence.

Interview with Leander Coetzee
Interviewer: AHA member
Date: Redacted
Typewritten, questions omitted...) 8.5in x 11in
4/4

I lostmy taste for violence after that. Too much of a good thing. Trying to remember, but I don't. I lost track of specific events. We all did. A led to B, B to C, C to D, but D back to B. Then B happens the same way as before, but you end up at A. Does that make sense? I don't think so. You can't trust what anyone says, or remembers. No way of knowing how long that went on for.

I took over Samson's responsibilities. I was training my own. But as I said, I didn't have the stomach for violence I started shooting from afar. I didn't want to see the eyes of those I was killing. I wasn't in it for an ideal, to stop the dead. I'd realized then that they couldn't be stopped. And the money, Finch's money, meant nothing to me really. Was it the recruits? A part of me felt responsible to keep them safe. But the safest thing for them would be to buy them a ticket out of Louisiana. So I didn't really care about them either.

I learnt later that it was Victor. I didn't really understand why he fired on us, but he did. And we fought. Him with his Sparks, I with my Vetterli. He killed my men outright, a single shot through both. Outranged, I had to close the distance, I recall. It was like the war again, running from cover to cover. Counting the seconds it took him to reload that single barrel. I don't think he expected that. Used to killing the poor and vulnerable. We'd heard about the patients. Can't say I wanted vengeance, but I wouldn't let the chance pass by.

His smoke was giving him away. Black powder. Mine too. Old guns, suited to each other. Him in the upper story of an old house. I, amongst the scrub and dirt and rocks. I blew out all the windows by the time I reached it. I fixed bayonet, went in, and the Armored Samson charged me. A to B to C to B.