1943ish Kinfolks Fighting Knife

[GadgetWorks]

I found this with my dad's Mussett bag. Of all his pictures there were only 2 with dates, and they both have the knife in his belt. There was a certificate he had that said he was authorized a captured camera. I'm thinking this was from that camera. I'm still looking for that.

[bellasilva]

That is just too damn cool, killer picture! Where did your father serve?

[Charlie Flick]

Great period pic. Contemporary photos of the small Kinfolks knife are very scarce. Can you tell us more about where the pic was taken and what unit your father served in?

 

Thanks for the post. We love this kind of stuff here!

 

Regards,

Charlie

[Patchcollector]

Awesome!It's always great to see a pic of the knife actually being carried.Thanks for posting this!

[GadgetWorks]

My father was in Batter A. I would say it was somewhere in this time frame. This comes from the Dept of records branch historical records section ordered from the National Archives. It is the official narrative history of the 980th FA Bn (144th FA Regt) from the Army.

 

 

March order was given to the Bn at 0825H, the 11th and the Bn CO and the Btry CO’s left with their reconnaissance parties at 0900H. The Bn left the area at 1000H, arrived at the release point at 1200H and was closed in a position of readiness at 1228H. The Bn CP was located in Holtensen, Germany Coor. RC575494. Btry A captured 12 prisoners at 1300H while going after water. The Bn XO took 4 prisoners while on reconnaissance for establishing roadblocks at 1315H. 4 more prisoners were taken during the afternoon to bring the total for the day to 20. Btry A captured 5 more prisoners during the night. Special order No. 24, HQ, VII Corps dated 11 April 1945, awarded the Fifth Bronze Oak Leaf Cluster to the Air Medal to 1LT Young, and the Second Bronze Oak Leaf Cluster to the Air Medal to SSG Richard Hiserman.

The Bn received march order at 0830H the next morning, 12 April 1945 and the Bn CO and the Btry CO’s left with their reconnaissance parties at 0840H. The Bn closed station and left the area at 1000H. The Bn closed station in a position of readiness at Osterode, Germany, Coor. C739501, at 1145H. Personnel of Btry A were engaged in a fire fight with the enemy in a woods in front of the Btry gun position, during which CPL RH Hutchins was killed and PFC Fred Guyer was wounded. PFC Guyer was returned to duty. FA report Number 94, HQ VII Corps Artillery, dated 13 April 1945 reported the incident as follows: On 12 April 1945 the 3 firing Btry’s of the 980th FA Bn (155G) were each in a small arms fire fight and took prisoners. Btry A received small arms fire while occupying position at C747788. A patrol was formed immediately and the woods searched. In searching the woods, the patrol ran into a well defended road block and was forced to withdraw. 1 man was killed and another wounded in the action and 1 prisoner of war was taken. Btry B took 27 prisoners, without loss to the Btry whole occupying positions at C743489. Btry C received a report from a Polish worker that enemy troops were in the woods in the rear of the Btry position at C740487. A patrol was sent out to investigate and brought in 7 prisoners of war. The Bn total for the day was 35 prisoners of war.

S-3 Periodic Report, Number 99, HQ 1st Inf Div dated 12 April 1945 reported the incident as follows: The 980th FA Bn in their new position just southwest of Osterode had several running fire fights with enemy infantry, capturing over 40 prisoners of war by 1800H.

At 1900H, the Bn was given orders by the 1st inf Div Art to occupy firing positions and at 1915H the Bn was ready to fire. FA Report number 95, HQ VII Corps Art dated 14 April 1945 reported an Air OP adjustment at 1925H as follows: At 1925H on 12 April 1945 an air observer of the 980th FA Bn (155G) saw 3 tanks, a staff car, and a group of Infantry moving west along the road at Coor. C819495, the Bn, not yet registered, fired 1 round at a road junction across the path of the column. The air observer was prepared to adjust the fire but the 1st round hit the road junction. Fire for effect was started at once and 42 rounds were fired. When the dust and smoke cleared, the Infantry had dispersed, the 3 tanks were stopped, and the staff car was racing down the road in the direction from which it came.

The Bn took a total of 44 prisoners during the day.

BG Palmer, CG, VII Corps Artillery, visited the Bn for 50 minutes during the afternoon of the 13th. 2LT James B. Terry was transferred from the Bn to Military Government, 1st US Army.

The Bn received orders at 0814H, 14 April 1945 to change the direction of fire to an azimuth of 1600 mils and by 0902H the Bn was ready to fire in the new direction. BG Palmer visited the Bn for 20 min during the afternoon. Btry A captured 5 prisoners during the day.

[GadgetWorks]

Here's the knife, you can read Kinfolks in the blade. It has the plastic Hilt, that dates it to late 1943 and later. They left out of Boston around the 28th of Dec 1943 on the Edmund B. Alexander. Arrived in Liverpool 8 Jan 1944. Somewhere around Bournemouth they boarded LST-325 10 Jun, arrived Utah Beach 11 Jun and disembarked 12 June when the tide had went out. From there towards Ardennes and then Germany. 155MM M1 towed Artillery.

[Terry K.]

Nice piece of your dad's history.

[Frank Trzaska]

Very Cool and the photo is impressive!

 

All the best

Frank Trzaska

[Backtheattack]

Great piece of history. Interesting knife.