Imperial German shortened S98 bayonet question

[KyleSchuette]

Hello, I have a question about shortened quill back and butcher blade German bayonets. Did the imperial German army ever have an official program shortening the bayonets during WW1 or was it more a trench modification? I am aware that the Turks shortened bayonets given to them by Germany but was wondering if the Germans did so also and if there was a way to tell the difference between a Turkish and German shortened bayonet. Thank you for the help.

[Sleepwalker]

Hi there,

there were cuts in S98 on the German side. They were more or less unofficial, however. An order to reduce it was not issued. Instead, the S98 were retired from 1915.

There are shortened and modified S98 / 05 from the Weimar Rubublik and III. Rich.
Here the S98 / 05 were also converted to the S84 / 98. But they are quite rare (Allegedly also for the Bavarian riot police. But so far I have not been able to prove that).

The absolute majority of the cuts were made by the Turks from 1935 onwards. You can tell that quickly from the quality of work and the scabbard.

Regards

[Sleepwalker]

So far I have only been able to find an abbreviated S98 / 05 that I can say is a German abbreviation.

But I can't say when. Personally, I tend towards the time after the First World War for a police force or authority.

If you compare the change with a Turkish one, the differences are clearly noticeable. The blade was ground to the format of an S84 / 98 blade and stored in an S84 / 98 scabbard.
























Regards

[Anderson]

Yes the S98/05 is the bayonet we more often see modifications to. And I agree with SW it's likely to have occurred with Police issue bayonets in the post WW1 period. Once the S84/98 emerged as the "winner" and the design to carry forward into the post Imperial era, some S98/05 were modified to the dimensions of an S84/98. This seems to have occurred in Police period of ownership. Not that difficult to find and quite an interesting piece to have.

[AndyB]

Trench modification with so hugh blade i would not accept as real. As mentioned it could be used by Police or some other guard units, that reused older S98 or S98/05 bayonets, offcoarse Yugoslavia shortened S98 to their M24 standarts too.