firstly I apologise if this is in the wrong thread but I have the chance to buy this and need to know what country made it and is it a garrot or just a saw.
firstly I apologise if this is in the wrong thread but I have the chance to buy this and need to know what country made it and is it a garrot or just a saw.
Its a sinister looking object, I would say its a saw
Nick
"In all my years as a soldier, I have never seen men fight so hard." - SS Obergruppenfuhrer Wilhelm Bittrich - Arnhem
thanks I assume it is british ww2.
The British ones i have seen have a thicker cutting blade
I see did any other countries use them.
Here is an example of the British folding saw. I'm not familiar with the pattern you show, but it seems to be missing the wooden pegs?
It is what is popularly known as a "Commando saw".
Originally designed to go into an E&E (Escape and Evasion), kit, it was designed with a multitude of uses in mind, including the two obvious ones mentioned, ie; Saw and garrotte, however, it could also be used as a snare of sorts.
In the saw form, it could be used by using just the "finger rings", making a couple of "toggles" threading those through the rings and using them as hand grips. By looping the rings over a suitable bough, a bow saw could also be made.
By looping it back on itself, (one ring is slightly larger than the other), a running snare could/can also be made.
The garrotte is self explanatory.
They were, and are commonly available in the modern form, (I used to carry two in my army days. One in my dedicated E&E kit and another threaded through one of the draw-strings of my combat smock with the rings separated and used as zip-pulls on my combat smock. I've still got them buried in a box in the loft somewhere)
Now, back to the one in question.
Is this a WWII British/Allied issue item? TBH, I am not sure, they have been around for decades, I believe that they were originally designed for SOE Agents and such like.
Did other countries make/use them? As far as I am aware, not during WWII (but, as usual, I am willing to stand corrected by others)
Hope that this is of some use
Regards etc
Ian D
AKA: Jimpy
Luc.
This piece of kit was British Army VEHICLE based kit. I have two in my possession, one that I got from my late grandfather, who "liberated" it from his tank at the end of the war and one that I was given by a colleague from here.
The saw teeth on this are as nasty as they look, and mine, despite having a 1939 date stamp, are still razor sharp and make mincemeat of a piece of timber. (I used to carry mine in the top pocket of my bergan when I was in the army and it got a fair amount of use)
Regards etc
Ian D
AKA: Jimpy
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