French Foreign Legion Knife With Unusual Sheath

[Graciejane44]

[Graciejane44]

The sheath has a welder rod on the back to hold the from.  The frog has some letters and a date 1910.  Was told this was a knife from Indo-China war . 

[Graciejane44]

Here is a picture of similar knife from forum with same type sheath frog attachment.

[Graciejane44]

Anyone have and infor on this knife?

[Woodymyster]

Not my write up, but a lot of substantial amount of info from  http://www.usmilitaryknives.com/knife_knotes_4.htm

I think most will say these are not just French Foreign Legion knives, but rather French GI knives.

 

 

The French Connection! 

U.S. / French Foreign Legion Knife

The Remington made P1913 bayonet that was cut down to a fighting knife and termed a "French Foreign Legion Fighting Knife" is somewhat of a mystery, at least to me. After the British experiences fighting the Boers armed with the 7mm Mauser rifle they decided they needed to replace their SMLE in .303 with a new rifle and cartridge. The designers came up with the new P13 in a 7mm cartridge. When WWI was about to start they realized they could not change cartridges as they had large stocks of .303 ammo and the ability to easily produce more. Britain then modified the P13 rifle to fire .303 ammo and designated it the P14, a secondary rifle to the SMLE. When the U.S. entered WWI we had the M1903 Springfield but could not produce them fast enough at the current armories in Springfield and Rock Island. As the P14 was already in production through Remington and Winchester at three plants in the U.S. it would take less time and effort to convert those rifles to the U.S. standard 30-06 cartridge. The U.S. then modified the P14 to fire the U.S. .30-06 and designated the rifle the M1917. Well over 2,000,000 were made in a very short period of time and it became the most widely used U.S. rifle of that war. During the time in between wars the M1917 was usually left in storage in favor of the M1903 Springfield being fielded. In WWII several hundred thousand M1917's with bayonets were issued to the Free French Forces from U.S. stockpiles in the Lend-Lease program. After WWII the French continued to use the M1917 in both Indo-China and Algeria. The M1917 was used early in Vietnam to issue to forces friendly with the colonial French such as the Hoa Hao tribe. They also used vast numbers of M3 trench knives. I have always thought this to be the big reason that M3 knives were so rare to be found on the surplus market until rather recently. It wouldn’t surprise me a bit to find out the recently released M3 knives now being sold as "arsenal" refinished items were actually refinished as part of a French armory and under French ownership, but that is pure speculation. The 2d REP (Regiment Etranger de Parachutistes) are usually seen with the M1 Carbine and the M4 bayonet. They did possess the rare folding stock M1's as seen in pictures of the French forces at Dien Bien Phu. I have several books on the French Foreign Legion and almost every photo has a Para with a M4 bayonet. I believe that as the M3's and M4's were worn out, lost, broken and just through general attrition the supply dwindled. With this, there was a demand for a new fighting knife and the M1917 bayonets were cut down to fill this need. As for the Remington M1917 bayonet, I have both a bayonet and a cut down fighting knife. Both seem to be standard types encountered often enough. All I have seen are made from Remington bayonets although this could very well be, and probably is, a coincidence. The knife shown in the photos is U.S. marked and dated 1917 but I have heard of the British marked versions also having been used. Two distinct tip styles are to be encountered, the clip point, as shown and the spear point. Ron Flook shows a spear point in his earlier book "A Photographic Primer of Military Knives" as item number 46 on page 24. These cut down M1917 bayonets came into the US in the late 1980's and early 1990's advertised as "French Foreign Legion" fighting knives. I obtained my first example from Atlanta Cutlery. I wrote to the French Foreign Legion museum in Aubagne, France several years ago and received a reply from Adjutant-Chef Kaan, curator of the museum. (I also received information about the Mark 2 like knives being passed off as F.F.L. items, they are not associated in any way with the Legion and he stressed that point! Actually the companies involved have been told to stop using the Legion name or suffer the consequences.) He stated that these cut down M1917 bayonets were not Foreign Legion Fighting knives, that the Legion was issued the same equipment as the regular French Army. I have been told in the book "Zaire" about the 2nd REP jumping into Kolwezi on 19 May 1978 to rescue Europeans, there are numerous photos of Para's with the cut down M1917 bayonet. Operation 'Leopard' was launched on 18th May when 2d REP was dispatched on a mercy mission from Corsica to Zaire via Chad to rescue three thousand European residents caught up in the looting of Kolwezi by Katanga 'Tiger' rebels from Angola. They were transported to the drop zone in 18 C-141 Starlifters provided by the United States in an answer to a plea from Zairian President Joseph Mobutu. On the 19th of May, 500 men (the initial number was limited by the lack of available Zairian Army transport planes) were dropped over Kolwezi. The odds according to military estimates were 10 to 1 in favor of the rebels. That had never stopped the Legion before and they continued the plans for the drop. The town was largely secured within two hours during which over 100 rebels were killed. A second wave of Legionnaires was dropped the following day and the operation to clear rebels from the town was soon completed. Patrols were sent out in jeeps (more U.S. equipment) and the surrounding area was cleared by the 25th of May. The operation was completed with 5 Legionnaires killed and 25 wounded while the rebel kill was set at 250. The majority of the European hostages were released, though sadly the Legionnaires reached the Impala Hotel too late to save those held inside who had all been shot by the Katangese. This is exactly the mission the Legion excels in, impossible odds and a lightning quick, brutal strike. Just thought I would throw a quick history in there. Whomever did the work converting these items did a good job on the scabbard, which has the typical M1917 metal tip, throat and green leather body. The leather body was very professionally cut down and a thick leather belt loop and retaining strap was added at the top. In the several examples of this knife I have handled and owned the leather is of the same color and texture as the frog of the M1956 bayonet for the French MAS 49-56 rifle. The rivets are even the same in color and peening style. In most of the pictures I have seen the French were again using standard U.S. web gear. Why did they do away with the M1910 hook set up in favor of a leather belt loop? Doesn’t make sense on the surface. Perhaps they wanted it to fit on other belts as well. They may not have been made for the French Foreign Legion but they are the only ones I have heard of using them. If you have the book Zaire, I would love to see the pictures of the Legionnaires wearing the knives and post them right here.