That WWI German & occasional Austrian Trench Knife Thread

[MilitariaOne]

Hi Lance,
have you any idea of the possible maker(s) of these Leupold knives.
They all are unmarked as far as I can see.

The reason I ask is that I have a secondhand copy of Deutshe Kampfmesser Vol. 1 by Halasz and the previous owner of the book has written in the maker G. FELIX, SOLINGEN on page36 which shows a metal handle knife #18 like the one you show.

Thanks,
Vosper

Greetings Vosper,

I concur with your assessment that the two knives are very (very) similar, with only the very subtlest of differences noted at the bottom end of the handle's shape. Frankly, they are close enough where it just may be the angle of the knife (in the book) when photographed that's causing the slight shape's difference I see.

As far as the possibility of the maker being Gustav Felix of Solingen that may very well be true. However, (& unfortunately) I possess no supporting evidence to either confirm or deny that possibility. Interestingly, the Felix GmbH & Co. KG Stahlwarenfabik which is the decedent company operating today, is still owned by the Felix family. I may have to contact them and seek further insight. Documentation is unlikely because their factory was destroyed during WWII and I suspect their WWI records may have gone up in smoke.

Thank you, for taking the time to share your own insight and thoughts reference this knife.

My warmest regards,

V/r Lance

[Vosper]

I have found a list of amendments to Halasz Vol 1 on the internet.
Go to;

https://militaria-zeitschrift.de/deutsche-kampfmesser-bd-i-neue-fakten/

Perhaps this is the source of information written in my book?

Vosper

[AZPhil]

Another great one Lance.
I also love that mace. It is killer!Yeah pun intended on that one's
Semper Fi
Phil

[MilitariaOne]

Hello all,

This month, a “Gerasser” marked Austrian M1917 Sturmmesser with a 214mm long blade. I never could track down the Gerasser company in order to share its history and hope one of this thread’s viewers can share what they know about this company on a subsequent post.

Lastly, I wished to pass on my hearty thanks for yet another year of fine moderators’ support and jovial members’ comradery. It will take a lot more than miracle diets’ spammers, “what’s it worth” posters, and the occasional technical glitch to break us up.

My very best wishes and too, have a prosperous New Year of collecting!

V/r Lance

Double click on image to enlarge.

[MilitariaOne]

Ahh the ability to trade doughnuts for a trench knife, I wonder what type the good Doctor got.

Best,

V/r Lance

Double click on the newspaper's article to enlarge.

[MAP]

Oh... What a story!

[rbminis]

Very interesting Lance!
Thanks for posting. These type of stories don't show up very often.
Ralph

[habicht]

Reminds me of when I was in Grafenwoerh in 1971 and traded a Bundeswehr soldier a pack of cigarettes for his utility knife. I've still got the knife so it lasted me longer than his twenty smokes.

[tcsaba]

Greetings all,

I need help to identify the manufacturers of these two scabbards. I found a picture wich said this type was made by the "Wiener Waffen Fabrik" , but they looks different to each other.
My another question is about the knife. Is it an original ww1 fighting knife? There is no manufacturer marking in the blade. Only an austrian eagle on the crossguard and tha blade. The knife is 313mm long. The blade is 192mm long, 28mm wide, 4mm thick.

Thank you for the answers.

[MilitariaOne]

Greetings all,

I need help to identify the manufacturers of these two scabbards. I found a picture wich said this type was made by the "Wiener Waffen Fabrik" , but they looks different to each other.
My another question is about the knife. Is it an original ww1 fighting knife? There is no manufacturer marking in the blade. Only an austrian eagle on the crossguard and tha blade. The knife is 313mm long. The blade is 192mm long, 28mm wide, 4mm thick.

Thank you for the answers.

Greetings Tcsaba,

I do apologize for my delayed response. This past week, I’ve been “on the road” and while I did view your post shortly after you created it, the “tyranny of time” simply did not allow me a chance to offer a coherent/worthy response.

Based on the wear and patina on the blade, I believe your knife is wholly original. The black staining present around the blade’s pitting is quite hard to replicate (i.e. fake).

On the lack of manufacture’s trademark, many contemporary manufactures were (oddly) rather ambivalent when it came to ensuring their manufacture’s logos/trademark were deeply impressed/stamped. This noted ambivalence resulted in many blades’ marks being very lightly stamped or only half-stamped. As such, with much continued use and too, considering these knives were used in great quantities during WWII; it would not be rare to encounter an example where its lightly stamped logo/trade mark has simply worn away. Contrastingly, the recent reproductions of these knives (all) sport very deep and distinctive manufactures’ logos/trademarks, which remains a great method to detect their recent origin.

As far as the manufactures for your specific scabbards, I can offer no conclusive advice/input. Only “V & N” = Vogel & Noot (an Austrian company), appeared to mark their scabbards with a known logo/trademark. Personally speaking, I am unaware of any method to determine who made the other scabbards’ variants. That does not mean someone else can’t conclusive identify their respective manufactures. More simply put, I can’t. Thoughts complete.

Best,

V/r Lance