The fascinating thing about trench knives is their overall design reaks brutality and seems to just scream violence. In the modern military everything is sleek, black, and modern, the trench knife was big and brutal. Most people picture the United States M1918 trench knife when the word trench knife is brought up. The trench warfare of the first World War was a violent and brutal place, in between the nerve gas, and the new machine gun, a lot of fighting was done with bayonets, buttstocks, bare hands and of course the trench knife.
Trench knives were not common issue at first. As time passed and the war raged on a need for close range fighting implements aka knives and clubs was quickly developed. The bolt action rifles of the time were long and cumbersome, slow to fire, and …show more content…
They were often made by whatever the unit blacksmith, or the soldier could fashion. It is hard to imagine soldiers these days being forced to craft a knife to win a war, but that was the true nature of the first word war.
The Enemy
The Germans were actually the first to really take the need for a combat knife seriously. They issued their trench knife in more numbers than the French and Americans, but their knife was designed for both fighting and for utility purposes. The French, British, and Americans issued knives during the war, the Germans came to the war with knives.
The German Nahkampfmesser knife was a simple design, a wood handle with a blade approximately six inches in length. Since mass manufacturing of these items was still done by craftsmen they varied a bit in length width, but were mostly the same. The blade was straight, and could be used for both stabbing and slashing. The blade was a single edge, with a false double edge. German soldiers would occasionally have the same knife with a double edge, whether this was a soldier’s modification, or an oddity from the factory is unknown.
Bloody and
Trench knives were not common issue at first. As time passed and the war raged on a need for close range fighting implements aka knives and clubs was quickly developed. The bolt action rifles of the time were long and cumbersome, slow to fire, and …show more content…
They were often made by whatever the unit blacksmith, or the soldier could fashion. It is hard to imagine soldiers these days being forced to craft a knife to win a war, but that was the true nature of the first word war.
The Enemy
The Germans were actually the first to really take the need for a combat knife seriously. They issued their trench knife in more numbers than the French and Americans, but their knife was designed for both fighting and for utility purposes. The French, British, and Americans issued knives during the war, the Germans came to the war with knives.
The German Nahkampfmesser knife was a simple design, a wood handle with a blade approximately six inches in length. Since mass manufacturing of these items was still done by craftsmen they varied a bit in length width, but were mostly the same. The blade was straight, and could be used for both stabbing and slashing. The blade was a single edge, with a false double edge. German soldiers would occasionally have the same knife with a double edge, whether this was a soldier’s modification, or an oddity from the factory is unknown.
Bloody and