Pretty much every rifleman was issued a bayonet, and trained on it. But it was a spiritual rather than a destructive thing, similar to how AK-74s and M-16/M-4s can still mount them. 'Fix bayonets!' is the order for the assault, and the order to make one move close to the enemy.
Actually killing someone with a bayonet was a very rare occurrence. Submachineguns, pistols, and hand grenades of various fuses (impact, concussion, delay) were the close combat method of choice and would cut them down before that.
It was both German and Soviet practice to load up with as many grenades as possible (up to a dozen) in grenade bags.
The Bayonet was still a useful tool as sometimes you would find yourself low on ammo and just because the statistics show that a low number of people were killed it does not mean it did not happen
Bayonets are very dull blades, similar to a kitchen knife. Fighting knives, sharpened spades, and shovels were more useful. Even the butt of the rifle is more useful than the actual bayonet. There's much about this in writings on WW1.
In WW2, the claims of killing people with bayonets most commonly come from the soviet side of things. It is common enough to wonder if it was just a 'catch-all' description of close combat rather than the actual act. It is rare to hear about bayonet kills on the US or Axis side.
Relic Entertainment
cblanco ★ 
보드카 중대 
VonManteuffel 
Heartless Jäger 
