Silent Warriors: Special Force's Bows 1961

Special Forces bowmen.

 

The bow is indeed a weapon whose time has not yet passed. The Mongols conquered all of Asia and rode into the heart of Europe using hordes of horse archers! The English, using the Welsh/English long bow, bedeviled the French for centuries! At the Battle of Agincourt, English bowmen using 140-150 lb. long bows, were able to get off 12-15 accurate arrows per minute! That means 60,000 -75,000 arrows per minute hit the French, over 1,000 per second! It also means that in just 10 minutes they shot 600,000-750,000 arrows!! If your primary weapon is the bow, then you will need a LOT of arrows! The long bow could have served as the primary English/British military weapon well into the 19th Century, but bowmen are raised not trained. It takes 15-20 years of daily practice to make a bowman, whereas a few months of training will produce a rifleman!