1943 K-98 bayonet

[stonebuster]

My father-in-law brought this bayonet back from Europe after WW2. It appears to me, a novice, to be in excellent shape and manufactured in 1943. The scabbard number matches the bayonet. That's all I know about this piece of history. Any other information you experts could share with me would be appreciated by my wife and I.

[AZPhil]

Here is some more info that member Jim P posted. Find your code . Its clc
https://www.warrelics.eu/forum/k98-b...ii-era-398814/
Nice matching Bayonet by the way

Semper Fi
Phil

[mauser9]

Very nice and thanks for sharing. Would like to find one as nice as this to complement my 98k.

[JPhilip]

Hello,
I'm far to be a specialist on S 84/98 bayonets but i see a couple of things that are not right in my opinion.
The bayonet itself is Ok i guess but the problem might be with the scabbard. IMO it' s a scabbard produced earlier that was used to complete this set. There are too many numbers stamped on it, at least one too many and the stripes engraved on the retaining stud shouldn't be there on a 1943 produced bayonet, there were discontinued around 1940. Also, the frog is a WWI example, for the S 98/05 i believe...
I could be wrong of course, i let the specialists give their opinion
Thanks

[Frogprince]

Mostly in agreement with the above, the renumbered scabbard and bayonet are a later pairing with the frog for a S.98/05. But for the bayonet - R. Herder for reasons best know to them put the letter block at the front of the number as an upper case character ("H"), instead of lower case and behind the serial number. Best Regards, Fred

[stonebuster]

So, along the line somewhere they renumbered the scabbard to be able to pass it off as a matching set to a buyer? When did this practice begin? My father-in-law parachuted into Europe in 1944, but stayed until 1950 as an MP after the war. He took part in the occupation of Austria. So he could have obtained the bayonet after the war was over. Is this something that was done in Europe after the war to market war relics? Thanks for the link, and information. Mike

[Rescue190]

The souvenir market was going pretty strong during the occupation years. They were already full swing into reproducing many items for the GI to bring home, so it is possible it was done during this time.
John

[stonebuster]

This is the only other bayonet he brought home. Any information about it would be appreciated.

[BlackCat1982]

This is the only other bayonet he brought home. Any information about it would be appreciated.

This one is an 1895 Mannlicher bayonet. It's an Austrian one I believe.

[stonebuster]

In the lower right photo you may be able to see the FB/GY stamp on the scabbard. The blade has the WG marking. This means the two are mismatched? Photo rotated when I downloaded for some reason. No numbers on blade or scabbard. Thanks for answering my novice questions, but I find this very interesting.