That was in the Second World War, I've read that long ago, my Pipe Major, James McWilliams, had written about him, and mentioned him in one of his books about the war, I can't remember if it was "Suicide Battalion" or another one now. As a piper in a military pipe band, J. Churchill was something of a legend for us younger guys, yet there wasn't many if any cases of him actually USING his sword in combat. Besides, I was referring to warfare of our generation, not from WW2, where officers swords/daggers/etc were somewhat more common, even with battle dress, and there were even cavalry charges in the second world war, with pikes/lances/swords and all. He did kill enemy troops with arrows, but a bow/arrow at ranges under 100 meters even today is still a capable enough first shot weapon so long as surprise is on your side. If not...
The Japanese used swords often enough in WW2 I suppose, not just Katana swords either, but typical western officer's sabers, as well as long bayonets that were sometimes detached from their rifles. Warfare during most of WW2 due to the smaller magazines and prevalence of bolt action rifles in many theaters especially in the early years made a sword something that COULD be used in many situations in an infantry action. Particularly how the Japanese fought, with lots of bayonet Banzai charges - here a sword could have some use by NCO's and officers, once the charge made contact or overwhelmed the enemy troops. However today, with much larger ammunition magazines, and more ammunition being carried by most soldiers, not to mention many carrying a pistol, emergency reloads or transition to secondary firearms is a far, far more effective tactic than drawing a giant razor blade, or bayonet charges for that matter.
If I saw somebody carrying a sword today, complete with their rifle, handgun, plate carrier, gear/vest, and such - yes, I would still laugh. And so would you.
