Based on an old trench knife design, this cleaned up version represents the spirit of the worst of times, the trench war of WWI that inspired many of the Geneva Protocols commonly known as Rules of Warfare. Even with the slight civilized changes of this model, it’s a knife that should never leave the collector’s shelf, let alone the house.
With a polished high carbon stainless steel blade 6 3/8″ long and a solid brass knuckle duster hand grip that ends in a sharp spike, this is purely a weapon. It’s deadly no matter how it lands.
Infantrymen thrust into that battleground fought the hand to hand trench battles with weapons they improvised rather than the issued equipment designed for fighting in open country. Although there were some expectations of conduct and directives were occasionally passed down banning the use of some very effective battlefield inventions, they were not enforced. Soldiers used whatever worked, one of the preferred weapons being a sharpened trench shovel. This polished and interesting piece may be patterned after the U. S. M1917 “Knuckle Duster” trench knife, an even more brutal weapon with a three sided spike blade.
The sheath for this collector’s knife does not stand up to use–it fits poorly, scratches the polish of the blade, and the flimsy belt hooks on the scabbard break off. All the more reason to hang the Battle Knife on the wall.
