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What knife is in the photo?


poch
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Can anybody help me indentify this knife? Unfortunately the quality is not good and I am not sure what are the lines of guard and handle and what are shadows. :-(
I have found this photo on the internet and I don´t know any additional info about it.

 

Thanks,

Pavel

 

post-10064-0-69878400-1450303449.jpg

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That picture looks familiar. I can't think of the gents name, but I believe he wrote a book called, "Your Silent Partner", about knife fighting for WW2 troops. He trained troops, and I believe the OSS folks. The original Fairbairn-Sykes knives as I recall, were made from British 1888 Lee-Metford bayonets. Ground down to size. It's been a while on this, hope my memory is not too far off track. The knife he holds looks remeniscent of those knives. SKIP

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The helmet and web gear look British also.

The guy getting stuck is a Marine and the combat suspenders are U.S.

The guy doing the sticking is wearing a Daisy Mae hat. The Marine Raiders had a Fairbain Sykes type knife also IIRC.

Ronnie

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Skip I think you are thinking about Rex Applegate. He teamed up with Bo Randall on a knife fighting book. IIRC.

Ronnie

 

Applegate first wrote his book on hand to hand combat in 1943, after collaborating and study with the likes of W.E. Fairbairn, E.A. Sykes, and Col. Biddle U.S.M.C., along with others. Bo Randall had decided that he wanted to include a short pamphlet on the basics of knife fighting with the combat knives he was producing for service men, and wrote Rex Applegate to get permission from him to include some excerpts from his book in the pamphlet. This started a long term relationship through correspondence with the two men that included Applegate sending Randall a sketch of a dagger that he felt would be an improvement over the FS knife. Bo Randall started producing these in 1944.

The two men first met face to face in March 1986.

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Frank Trzaska

It is a German WWI Trench knife, a Nahkampfmesser as they are called. The photo is from a Life magazine article on Yank in 1942.

 

The fellow is Bert "Yank" Levy. He authored a book "Guerrilla Warfare" in 1941 and taught his techniques for the US during WW II. He was a soldier of fortune having fought with the US in WW I, the British in Palestine 1919 and the Spanish in the 1937 era as well as throughout Central America in the 1920's. In any case he was a contemporary of Rex Applegate and they exchanged info on more than one occasion. Applegate mentions him in his book and also has a knife named after him in the display section he had hanging in his WW II era MITC office, we collectors would call it the V42, Applegate called it the Yank Levy Knife in 1944...

 

All the best

Frank Trzaska

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Frank

 

Glad you posted this.I agree ita a german knife.The Flat handles and the guard are what you see on the german knives.I have one and its stamped "germany" on it like the Commando knives that were sta,ped "England".Havent seen one import stamped before.

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Frank

 

Glad you posted this.I agree ita a german knife.The Flat handles and the guard are what you see on the german knives.I have one and its stamped "germany" on it like the Commando knives that were sta,ped "England".Havent seen one import stamped before.

I see what you guys see now. I couldn't tell the handle was flat but the blade did look short for a stiletto!

 

-Brian

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