While lancemen on horseback didn’t prove effective in the Great War, lances and short spears still made an impact in the trenches. As the war started, every major force mounted lance men, but the lancemen and cavalry were put down quickly by the Maxim gun, an early recoil-operated machine gun. Spears made a bit of a comeback in World War 1 trenches. In an instant, it can come to your hand for a fight. Similar lanyards can still be found on everything from pocket knives to flashlights used in combat today. Speaking of brass knuckles…Ī common adornment to the club was a lanyard to make sure your enemy never took it from you in a fight, and you could hang it from your wrist as you climbed or shot your rifle. This knife combined brass knuckles with a blade to deliver a brutal dual-purpose weapon for close-quarters use. Eventually, military forces caught up and rushed out knives for soldiers, including the famed American M1917 and Mk 1 trench knife, that could do the same job. These little blades made it easy to launch yourself into an opponent, deal serious damage, and move on. Some were push daggers, sometimes made from stakes used to pin barbed wire down or whatever else a soldier could scrounge up that was sharp and pointy enough. The Germans, French, Canadians, Americans, and others all eventually had their own versions of the trench knife. They proved unwieldy in the tight trenches, and soldiers began making knives meant primarily for fighting in cramped spaces, where stabbing was a more feasible technique than slashing. Soldiers had bayonets, but they were often more of a short sword than a knife. The most famous trench weapons of World War 1 were trench knives.
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