![S-mine](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fa/S-mine.jpg)
The Mark I trench knife is an American
trench knife designed by officers of the
American Expeditionary Force
The American Expeditionary Forces (A. E. F.) was a formation of the United States Army on the Western Front of World War I. The A. E. F. was established on July 5, 1917, in France under the command of General John J. Pershing. It fought along ...
(AEF) for use in
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
. It has a double-edged
dagger
A dagger is a fighting knife with a very sharp point and usually two sharp edges, typically designed or capable of being used as a thrusting or stabbing weapon.State v. Martin, 633 S.W.2d 80 (Mo. 1982): This is the dictionary or popular-use de ...
blade useful for both thrusting and slashing strokes, unlike previous U.S. trench knives such as the M1917 and M1918. The handle is made of
cast
Cast may refer to:
Music
* Cast (band), an English alternative rock band
* Cast (Mexican band), a progressive Mexican rock band
* The Cast, a Scottish musical duo: Mairi Campbell and Dave Francis
* ''Cast'', a 2012 album by Trespassers William
...
bronze and uses a conical
steel nut
Nut often refers to:
* Nut (fruit), fruit composed of a hard shell and a seed, or a collective noun for dry and edible fruits or seeds
* Nut (hardware), fastener used with a bolt
Nut or Nuts may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Co ...
to hold the blade in place. The Mark I's blade was
blued with a
black oxide finish, the bronze handle was chemically blackened, with cast spikes on the bow of each
knuckle. The spikes were intended to prevent an opponent from grabbing the knife hand, as well as to provide a more concentrated striking surface when employed in
hand-to-hand combat.
History
![M1918 Trench Knife](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bf/M1918_Trench_Knife.jpg)
The Mark I was a development of the earlier U.S. M1917 and the slightly improved M1918 trench knives designed by ''Henry Disston & Sons'' of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
[Crowell, Benedict (1919),''America's Munitions 1917-1918, Report of Benedict Crowell, Assistant Secretary of War (Director of Munitions)'', U.S. War Department, Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, pp. 88, 228] Both the M1917 and M1918 used a triangular blade and a handle equipped with a guard designed to protect the user's knuckles.
By 1918 it was apparent that the M1917 and M1918 designs were too limiting to succeed in their intended role, and a new trench knife design was requested.
On 1 June 1918 a panel of AEF officers conducted an exhaustive field test of various trench knives, including the U.S. M1917, the ''Hughes'' trench knife and the standard-issue trench knives of the British and French armies, respectively.
The field test was performed to examine the qualities of each knife based on the following criteria: the ability to carry one-handed while performing other tasks, the quickness or rapidity of employment in action, security of grip, in case the user was stunned or knocked unconscious, ease of carrying when crawling in a low prone position, the probability of the knife being knocked out of hand during a struggle, the suitability of blade weight, length, and shape; and the shape of the handle.
Testing confirmed that the existing M1917 and M1918 designs were in need of improvement.
Therefore, a replacement trench knife designated the U.S. trench knife, Mark I was jointly developed by officers of the AEF and the Engineering Division of U.S. Ordnance.
This knife was entirely different from the M1917, bearing a flat double-edged blade, a unique metal
scabbard
A scabbard is a sheath for holding a sword, knife, or other large blade. As well, rifles may be stored in a scabbard by horse riders. Military cavalry and cowboys had scabbards for their saddle ring carbine rifles and lever-action rifles on the ...
, and a cast-bronze handle with built-in guard for individual fingers.
The AEF stated that the Mark I was a combination of all of the best features of the trench knives evaluated, and the Mark I's double-edged blade was taken directly from the ''Couteau Poignard Mle 1916 ''(known as'' Le Vengeur''), a trench knife design then in service with the French Army.
[Cassidy, p. 47]
Strategic planning by the Allies in 1918 called for the training and equipping of a 4 million man U.S. Army to be landed in France for an offensive in the Spring of 1919. With the Armistice and the sudden end of hostilities in November 1918, large-scale wartime contracts for Mark I knife production were cancelled. Most Mark I knives that were produced by U.S. manufacturers were never issued, and remained in army storage. During World War II, stocks of Mark I knives were released for issue to army units with a need for a close-combat fighting knife, though the number of Mark I used was limited.
Of those Mark I knives released for service, most were issued in 1942 and 1943 to soldiers serving in elite army ranger and airborne formations, though some Mark I knives were used by Marine units in 1942 and 1943, in particular marines serving with the four
Marine Raider
The Marine Raiders are special operations forces originally established by the United States Marine Corps during World War II to conduct amphibious light infantry warfare. " Edson's" Raiders of 1st Marine Raider Battalion and " Carlson's" Rai ...
battalions. Army and Marine field reports concerning the effectiveness of the Mark I knife were mixed; some men liked the design, while others complained that Mark I was poorly balanced, with a relatively thin blade that was prone to snapping at the blade-handle junction, particularly when employed for utility tasks.
Other reports noted that the Mark I's large 'brass-knuckle' fingerguard handle was expensive to produce and limited the number of useful fighting grip positions, while preventing the knife from being carried in a conventional leather sheath or scabbard. The Mark I also received criticism from Marine Raiders for its poor balance, relatively slow deployment speed and limited quick-kill penetration capability when used in an offensive role (the Raiders would eventually adopt a combat knife with a
stiletto-style blade patterned after the
Fairbairn–Sykes fighting knife
The Fairbairn–Sykes fighting knife is a double-edged fighting knife resembling a dagger or poignard with a foil grip. It was developed by William Ewart Fairbairn and Eric Anthony Sykes in Shanghai based on ideas that the two men had while se ...
). Additionally, U.S. war planners had announced a need for a general-purpose trench knife that could fulfill both the fighting and utility roles, while at the same time conserving
strategic metal resources.
The Mark I trench knife was replaced in Army service by the
M3 trench knife
The M3 trench knife or M3 fighting knife was an American military combat knife first issued in March 1943. The M3 was originally designated for issue to soldiers not otherwise equipped with a bayonet.Trzaska, Frank, (1996), U.S. Fighting Knives ...
in 1943 as well as old bayonets converted into fighting knives, while the U.S. Marine Corps issued its own combat and utility knife the same year designated the ''1219C2'', later known as the ''
USMC Mark 2 combat knife'' aka the ''USMC knife, fighting utility''.
[Shackleford, Steve (ed.), ''Blade's Guide To Knives And Their Values'' (7th ed.), Iola, WI: Krause Publications, , p. 387]
Production
In order to save time in getting the new knife to troops in the field, the first Mark I trench knives were procured from a French manufacturer, ''Au Lion'' (Au Lion/Société Générale, France).
Subsequently, the U.S. government placed orders for 1,232,780 Mark I knives with several U.S. contractors, including ''
Landers, Frary & Clark
Landers, Frary & Clark was a housewares company based in New Britain, Connecticut. The firm traced its origins to 1842, when George M. Landers and Josiah Dewey entered into a partnership named Dewey and Landers, which manufactured various metal ...
'' (L.F.&C.) of
New Britain, Connecticut; ''Henry Disston & Sons'' (HD&S) of
Philadelphia
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...
; and ''Oneida Community Limited'' (O.C.L.), with deliveries to commence in December 1918.
Ordnance records note that the end of the war in November 1918 caused Ordnance to cancel all orders for the Mark I with the exception of a single reduced order for 119,424 knives from ''Landers, Frary & Clark Co.'' (L F & C).
Despite this apparent cancellation, otherwise original U.S. Mark I trench knives have been found with ''HD&S'' and ''O.C.L.'' stamps, with grip handles cast in either bronze or aluminum.
The French version of the Mark I is stamped on the blade
ricasso
A ricasso is an unsharpened length of blade just above the guard or handle on a knife, dagger, sword, or bayonet. Blades designed this way appear at many periods in history in many parts of the world and date back to at least the Bronze Age—ess ...
with a recumbent lion, and the words ''Au Lion'', while the grip is typically stamped "U.S. 1918", and fitted with a four-sided
pommel cap. Made under wartime conditions, the French Mark I knife is generally more roughly finished than U.S. contracted examples, and incorporates several deviations from production specifications. Several versions of the French model exist - some with grooves on top of the grip, some without, and some bearing letters and numbers cast into the bronze fingerguard. As steel was a strategic material in wartime France, the French-manufactured Mark I was issued with a proprietary unmarked scabbard made of iron.
U.S.-contracted Mark I knives are stamped on the right side of the brass grip "U.S. 1918", with the contractor's initials located just below. The U.S. knives utilized a six-sided pommel cap. Like the French-made version, U.S. Mark I knives came with proprietary scabbards designed to accommodate the Mark I knife with its oversized grip, but fabricated of steel instead of iron. Both blades and scabbards were issued with a
blackened finish to prevent reflection. However, many soldiers (and later, civilian owners) attempted to polish the blades and/or scabbards, believing the blackened finish to be tarnish. As a result, many original Mark I knives and scabbards have lost their original finish. American-made steel scabbards for the Mark I trench knife were marked "L.F.&C. 1918".
See also
*
List of daggers
The following is a list of notable daggers, either historical or modern. A dagger is a knife with a sharp point designed for fighting.
Ancient daggers
*Acinaces
*Bronze Age dagger
*Parazonium
*Pugio
* Sica
European tradition
;High Middle Ages:
*K ...
Notes
References
*Crowell, Benedict, ''America's Munitions 1917-1918, Report of Benedict Crowell, Assistant Secretary of War (Director of Munitions)'', U.S. War Department, Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office (1919)
*Walker, Greg, ''Battle Blades: A Professional's Guide to Combat/Fighting Knives'', Boulder, CO: Paladin Press, (1993)
External links
*http://arms2armor.com/Knives/m1trench.htm
Original Patent
{{Knives
Daggers
Fist-load weapons
Military knives
World War I infantry weapons of the United States
World War II infantry weapons of the United States