Trench Knives, Chapter Two

Early in the Jackie Gleason of wars ("The Great One") the higher echelons of all armies involved had a tough time adjusting to the realities. They remained convinced that the next concentrated infantry charge would break through the line and the glorious cavalry would exploit the opening and all would be rosy.
The poor groundpounders on the French, Belgian and British side were left to pointlessly charge the entrenched machine guns of the Germans time after futile time while the defenders, at the limit of their initial attacks and with nowhere to go but backwards, remained on the defensive - and - in possession of the high ground. In the midst of the admirable obedience and loyalty of the attacking troops, the boys on the ground improvised and what resulted, among other things, was the trench knife.
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My belief is that they were intended as raiding weapons. The practice of stealthy, nighttime incursions into the German lines was originated, very early in the war, by the Commonwealth armies. Some believe the Canadians started it based on their experiences with the Indians back home. Others think it was other Indians from the other side of the world who first tried it. The practice is thought to have been a favored terror tactic of tribal fighting on the Indian subcontinent. The whole idea horrified the continental armies. The French grudgingly took it up as did the Axis troops, if only in self-defense. While the rationale was ostensibly to gather intelligence, the British high command whole-heartedly embraced raiding as a way to maintain "the fighting spirit" and to show the Jerry's who dominated no-man's-land, and that, in fact the British line began at the German wire.
Back to the knives. They are bash and slash weapons. They require absolutely no finesse in their use. They seem to be something that as long as the knife is in one's hand, one could flail away willy-nilly and anyone in the way would get hurt. I suspect they evolved as something to carry in the idle hand, the dominant one being occupied with a revolver in the case of officers or the "cosh" or club favored by the ranks.
All that being said, I'll cease prattling and leave you with the pictures, all examples of the work of Robbins of Dudley with the exception of the last. This knife is "attributed to R of D but no one has ever explained the letter "C" in the middle of it. Robbins made a verifiable knife which was very similar but much more elegant.

The Festive Trench Knife Season

Back again after another protracted absence. I guess that's part of getting old. Time moves more swiftly.
Well the merry holiday season approaches so purchasers of knuckle knives will soon begin coming out of the woodwork. I don't know why, but Civil War knives are popular in the summer while Christmas appeals to the WW1 and 2 blades.

I've been interested in knuckle knives for a long time. When I walking home from high school as a lad, I often stopped at an Army/Navy store. I bought a practice grenade once, solid cast iron. Another time, a pair of Mickey Mouse boots.
One time however the clerk showed me a wicked knife behind the counter. It had a nasty triangular blade about 8"long and a knuckle bow with pyramids embossed into it. It was a M1917/18 trench knife made by Landers, Frary and Clark. $12 it cost and I didn't have it, so I went my way. By the time I'd returned it was gone. The photo at top shows the identical knife. This was the US Army's first attempt at a trench weapon. Unlike the British who depended on commercially produced, private purchase knives such as the Clement's and the various, bizarre creations of Robbins of Dudley, the US, like the French, contracted for their manufacture. In addition to LF&C, they were made by Oneida Community Ltd, Henry Disston & Sons and the American Cutlery Co. The knuckle bow varied according to manufacturer, second photo. It was effective and cheap to produce but of limited usefulness for anything but killing. It's hard to open a can of corned willy with a triangular blade.
Enter the knife everyone thinks of when they hear "trench knife", the M1918 Mark I. I confess, I used to think this was the coolest knife I'd ever seen and it does have a lot going for it from a design standpoint. But now, having seen what the British were up to, it looks like a product of committee thinking. It was designed by a Major McNary and utilized a knuckle duster similar to the Clement's and the identical blade shape as the French M1916 trench dagger. It arrived too late in the war to have any effectiveness - in fact there is some debate as to whether any Mark Is even saw combat in the first war. WW2 was different. The US entered the war with only one issued knife, a parachutist's jump knife. They seem to keep forgetting that knives are necessary. I don't get it. I guess that's what happens when you put the smart people in charge. The McNary pattern was widely used in the second war and even up to Vietnam. it also provided the casting pattern and inspiration for some nice WW2 theater knives.
In closing, a WW2 photo showing a Mark I "in use". It would appear the corporal is having a bit of a discipline problem. What's worse, the private doesn't look worried.

More D-Guards

First off, the pictured knife is a favorite of mine. It probably qualifies as a big'un so I'm leading off with it. It comes with it's copy attached, so I'll not be so tedious as to describe it. I love that oh-so-sensitive inscription. I'm also going to take this oportunity to toot my own horn. The knife of mine that this one "inspired" (I hate that word) was glowingly and graciously reviewed by the madogre, and he didn't pay anything close to ninety-five-hundred bucks for it either.
Another bit of news is that I stumbled across a great website full of photos of Rebel Bowies as well as other stuff.
Now for some more pictures, this time of the smaller ones. I'm going to start with one I affectionately refer to as "the nasty little d-guard". Not fair but it is nothing you'd want to spread your peanut butter with - at least not now. It's a cool little knife anyway, a turned handle with a ferrule and an actually "useful" size blade. It has a characteristic that seems somewhat common among period d-guards though. The guard is so small it looks as if one's fingers would barely fit. It seems like that would sort of dictate the position in which the knife is held although it would probably protect the knuckles better that a wider guard.
A wider guard like the one on the next knife, a very simple elegant little shank, found on the battlefield at Cold Harbor. Love that guard. With the curve and looped end to the quillon, this is a nice one. Next I'm just going to toss some more little ones out for your enjoyment.





















This bottom one is interesting. What with the plaited sheath and antler handle it is unique, majorly tight guard though.








This one is nice as well.

Big 'Uns

Sorry, sorry, sorry. Yet again I abandoned my faithful readers (all three of them - and one of them's my Mom) for a embarrassingly long time. My excuse is that I've regressed to my teenage years in yet another way. I'm a paper boy again. Well actually the wife and I accomplish what was done by one fifteen-year-old back in the day. Up every morning at 3:30, a brisk walk of two or three miles and, together we make less than minimum wage as "independent contractors". The short version is that my sleep cycle has been so toasted it's all I can do some days to stay out of bed.
Having fallen on my sword sufficiently now I can now move onto the subject at hand. Confederate Bowie knives, specifically D-guards. Many of the serious reenactors are scornful of them as they were heavy and cumbersome and, even though a huge percentage of early studio photos show the lads brandishing such - and a significant number remain extant, they feel most were probably sent back home or just shitcanned. Fair enough. Probably the case. I'm sure on a fifty mile hike in the Southern heat with bad food and worse shoes, the big scary knife that seemed so awesome when you joined up would quickly have become more trouble than it was worth.
personally, I don't care. It's of no importance to me whether or not a big Bowie ever slew a Yankee or not. For me they seem to illustrate the mindset of the young bucks headed off to war and that's what I find interesting.
Big knives were considered a fashion accessory in the 30's and 40's and Jeff Davis himself commanded a unit in the Mexican war that was armed with knives possessing eighteen-inch blades so there was certainly precedent set in the pliable young Southern minds.


The opening picture, way back up at the top, is of the one that set me on the D-guard trail as it were. I've always thought they were cool and wanted to sell them on the site, but I was concerned about "authenticity" - the reenactor crowd being sticklers for such and rightly so. However this one convinced me that their was no absolute standard, neither for design nor quality. This old piece of crap. which sold for $2800 by the way, was hand made from a file - and crudely. My suspicion is that some guy used his farm's mule-shoeing forge to make himself a knife before he marched off. I'm sure he did it to the best of his abilities, but no self-respecting smith of the period would have let this thing out of his shop.
Given the title with which I've saddled this post, I'll toss in a few more pics of larger examples I've uncovered over the years on various antique and museum websites.
This final shank is so huge that, using my standard guestimate of four to five inches for handle length, the blade of this monster runs over two feet, and it won't win any beauty contests either.














One final bit of business: Long ago I left you with the "cliffhanger" of whatever-happened-to-the-Volcanic-lever-action-pistol?
This last photo hints even more specifically. The Volcanic Repeating Arms Co. eventually became Winchester.