BACKGROUND: Although hunting and fighting knives had been around for centuries it wasn’t until WWI that the close combat/trench knife truly came into its own. The bayonets of the period proved to be too long, heavy and unwieldy in close combat situations which led to some soldiers privately purchasing hunting style knives for use in the field. By 1915 the German blade manufacturers recognized a demand for the smaller close combat/trench knives and a number of them started to produce them in greater quantities. The smaller close combat/trench knives became quite popular and saw widespread usage. This popularity was not lost on the blade manufacturers and at the beginning of WWII many started to produce a wide range of close combat/trench knives in both ordnance issue and private purchase versions with numerous minor variations.

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: The knife features a roughly, 13cm long, drop forged steel construction, non-fullered, blade with a long top swedge and a full length, including the hilt, of roughly, 27cm. Blade shows the expected period sharpening. The knife has a natural steel, horizontal, flat, scalloped tip, double crossguard and nicely contoured, carved, natural softwood grips. The grip are secured to the blade tang by three small, dome headed, steel rivets. The knife comes complete with its original sheet metal scabbard. Paint has been removed from the scabbard. The scabbard has its small, throat retaining, rivet intact to the obverse and prong, spring steel, retaining clip with two small retaining rivets to the reverse.