The Mark I trench knife was an American trench knife

Trench knife

A Trench knife is a combat knife designed to kill or gravely incapacitate an enemy soldier at close quarters, as might be encountered in a trenchline or other confined area. It was developed in response to a need for a close combat weapon for soldiers conducting assaults and raids on enemy...

 designed by officers of the American Expeditionary Force

American Expeditionary Force

The American Expeditionary Forces or AEF were the United States Armed Forces sent to Europe in World War I. During the United States campaigns in World War I the AEF fought in France alongside British and French allied forces in the last year of the war, against Imperial German forces...

 (AEF) for use in World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

. It had a 6.75 in (17.1 cm) double edged dagger

Dagger

A dagger is a fighting knife with a sharp point designed or capable of being used as a thrusting or stabbing weapon. The design dates to human prehistory, and daggers have been used throughout human experience to the modern day in close combat confrontations...

 blade useful for both thrusting and slashing strokes, unlike previous U.S. trench knives such as the M1917 and M1918. The handle is made of cast bronze

Bronze

Bronze is a metal alloy consisting primarily of copper, usually with tin as the main additive. It is hard and brittle, and it was particularly significant in antiquity, so much so that the Bronze Age was named after the metal...

 and uses a conical steel

Steel

Steel is an alloy that consists mostly of iron and has a carbon content between 0.2% and 2.1% by weight, depending on the grade. Carbon is the most common alloying material for iron, but various other alloying elements are used, such as manganese, chromium, vanadium, and tungsten...

 nut

Nut (hardware)

A nut is a type of hardware fastener with a threaded hole. Nuts are almost always used opposite a mating bolt to fasten a stack of parts together. The two partners are kept together by a combination of their threads' friction, a slight stretch of the bolt, and compression of the parts...

 to hold the blade in place. The Mark I's blade was blackened

Black oxide

Black oxide or blackening is a conversion coating for ferrous materials, copper and copper based alloys, zinc, powdered metals, and silver solder. It is used to add mild corrosion resistance and for appearance. To achieve maximum corrosion resistance the black oxide must be impregnated with oil or...

 with a gun blue

Bluing (steel)

Bluing is a passivation process in which steel is partially protected against rust, and is named after the blue-black appearance of the resulting protective finish. True gun bluing is an electrochemical conversion coating resulting from an oxidizing chemical reaction with iron on the surface...

 type finish, the bronze handle was chemically blackened, with cast spikes on the bow of each knuckle

Brass knuckles

Brass knuckles, also sometimes called knuckles, knucks, brass knucks, or knuckledusters, are weapons used in hand-to-hand combat. Brass knuckles are pieces of metal, usually steel despite their name, shaped to fit around the knuckles...

. The spikes were intended to prevent an opponent from grabbing the knife hand, as well as to provide an additional striking surface when employed in hand-to-hand combat.

History

The Mark I was a development of the earlier U.S. M1917 and the slightly improved M1918 trench knives designed by Henry Disston & Sons of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Both the M1917 and M1918 used a triangular blade and a handle equipped with a guard designed to protect the user's knuckles. By 1918 it was apparent that the M1917 and M1918 designs were too limiting to succeed in their intended role, and a new trench knife design was requested.

On 1 June 1918 a panel of AEF officers conducted an exhaustive field test of various trench knives, including the U.S. M1917, the Hughes trench knife and the standard-issue trench knives of the British and French armies, respectively. The field test was performed to examine the qualities of each knife based on the following criteria: 1. Serviceability - ability to carry one-handed while performing other tasks; 2. Quickness or rapidity of employment in action; 3. Security of grip, in case user was stunned or knocked unconscious; 4. Ease of carrying when crawling in low prone position; 5. Probability of knife being knocked out of hand during a struggle; 6. Suitability of blade weight, length, and shape; and 7. Shape of handle.

Testing confirmed that the existing M1917 and M1918 designs were in need of improvement. Therefore a replacement trench knife designated the U.S. Trench Knife, Mark I was jointly developed by officers of the AEF and the Engineering Division of U.S. Ordnance. This knife was entirely different from the M1917, bearing a flat double-edged blade, a unique metal scabbard, and a cast-bronze handle with built-in guard for individual fingers. The AEF stated that the Mark I was a combination of all of the best features of the trench knives evaluated, and the Mark I's double-edged blade was taken directly from the Couteau Poignard Mle 1916 dit Le Vengeur, a trench knife design then currently in service with the French Army.

With the end of hostilites in World War I, large scale wartime contracts for Mark I knife production were cancelled. Most Mark I knives that were produced by U.S. manufacturers were never issued, and remained in Army storage stateside. During World War II, stocks of Mark I knives were released for issue to Army units with a need for a close-combat fighting knife, though in terms of actual numbers the Mark I did not see widespread use during the war. Of those Mark I knives released for service, most were issued in 1942 and 1943 to soldiers serving in elite Army Ranger and airborne formations, though some Mark I knives were used by Marine units in 1942 and 1943, in particular marines serving with the four Marine Raider battalions. Army and Marine field reports concerning the effectiveness of the Mark I knife were mixed; some men liked the design, while others complained that Mark I was poorly balanced, with a relatively thin blade that was prone to snapping at the blade/handle junction, particularly when employed for utility tasks. Other reports noted that the Mark I's large 'brass-knuckle' fingerguard handle was expensive to produce and limited the number of useful fighting grip positions, while preventing the knife from being carried in a conventional leather sheath or scabbard. The Mark I also came in for criticism from Marine Raiders for its poor balance, relatively slow deployment speed and limited quick-kill penetration capability when used in an offensive role (the Raiders would eventually adopt a combat knife with a stiletto

Stiletto

A stiletto is a knife or dagger with a long slender blade and needle-like point, intended primarily as a stabbing weapon. The stiletto blade's narrow cross-section and acuminated tip reduces friction upon entry, allowing the blade to penetrate deeply...

-style blade patterned after the Fairbairn-Sykes Commando Knife). Additionally, U.S. war planners had anounced a need for a general-purpose trench knife that could fulfill both the fighting and utility roles, while at the same time conserving strategic metal resources.

The Mark I trench knife was replaced in Army service by the M3 trench knife

M3 Fighting Knife

The M3 Fighting Knife or M3 Trench Knife was an American military combat knife first issued in March 1943. The M3 was originally designated for issue to soldiers not otherwise equipped with a bayonet...

in 1943, while the U.S. Marine Corps issued its own combat and utility knife the same year designated the 1219C2, later known as the USMC Mark 2 Combat Knife

KA-BAR

KA-BAR is the contemporary popular name for the combat knife first adopted by the United States Marine Corps in November 1942 as the 1219C2 Combat Knife , and subsequently adopted by the United States Navy as the U.S. Navy Utility Knife, Mark 2...

aka the USMC Knife, Fighting Utility.

Production

In order to save time in getting the new knife to troops in the field, the first Mark I trench knives were procured from a French manufacturer, Au Lion (Au Lion/Société Générale, France). Subsequently the U.S. government placed orders for 1,232,780 Mark I knives with several U.S. contractors, including Landers, Frary & Clark

Landers, Frary & Clark

Landers, Frary & Clark is the name of a company, based in New Britain, Connecticut that made housewares from 1865 until its assets were sold to the General Electric company in 1965....

(L.F.&C.) of New Britain, Connecticut

New Britain, Connecticut

New Britain is a city in Hartford County, Connecticut, United States. It is located approximately 9 miles southwest of Hartford. According to 2006 Census Bureau estimates, the population of the city is 71,254....

; Henry Disston & Sons (HD&S) of Philadelphia; and Oneida Community Limited (O.C.L.), with deliveries to commence in December 1918. Ordnance records note that the end of the war in November 1918 caused Ordnance to cancel all orders for the Mark I with the exception of a single reduced order for 119,424 knives from Landers, Frary & Clark Co. (L F & C). Despite this apparent cancellation, otherwise original U.S. Mark I trench knives have been found with HD&S and O.C.L. stamps, with grip handles cast in either bronze or aluminum.

The French version of the Mark I is stamped on the blade ricasso

Ricasso

A ricasso is a part of sword and knife blades. It is the section just above the guard or handle. It is sometimes unsharpened and unbevelled.The first unsharpened ricassos were found on Middle Bronze Age swords...

 with a recumbent lion, and the words Au Lion, while the grip is typically stamped "U.S. 1918", and fitted with a four-sided pommel cap. Made under wartime conditions, the French Mark I knife is generally more roughly finished than U.S. contracted examples, and incorporates several deviations from production specifications. Several versions of the French model exist - some with grooves on top of the grip, some without, and some bearing letters and numbers cast into the bronze fingerguard. As steel was a strategic material in wartime France, the French-manufactured Mark I was issued with a proprietary unmarked scabbard made of iron.

U.S.-contracted Mark I knives are stamped on the right side of the brass grip "U.S. 1918", with the contractor's initials located just below. The U.S. knives utilized an eight-sided pommel cap. Like the French-made version, U.S. Mark I knives came with proprietary scabbards designed to accommodate the Mark I knife with its oversized grip, but fabricated of steel instead of iron. Both blades and scabbards were issued with a blackened finish

Bluing (steel)

Bluing is a passivation process in which steel is partially protected against rust, and is named after the blue-black appearance of the resulting protective finish. True gun bluing is an electrochemical conversion coating resulting from an oxidizing chemical reaction with iron on the surface...

to prevent reflection. However, many soldiers (and later, civilian owners) attempted to polish the blades and/or scabbards, believing the blackened finish to be tarnish. As a result, many original Mark I knives and scabbards have lost their original finish. American-made steel scabbards for the Mark I trench knife were marked "L.F.&C. 1918".