Unbelievable as it seems now, at least to me, the British army went through the entirety of the first world war with no standard-issue, fighting knife. This fact, coupled with the realities of trench warfare, left the lads needing something to fill the gap, a situation exploited by many manufacturers.
Sassoon said that the war had been merely a "...matter of holes and ditches".
Thousands of miles of holes and ditches, calling for different techniques, necessitated by an environment where having one's head above ground was suicide.
The new tactics, for the infantry, took the form of nocturnal raids into enemy trenches and nighttime patrols of no-man's-land.
All of this required weapons that were a bit more up close and personal.
See left: A group of raiders - rather dressed-up, I should think - sporting clubs and, on the dapper fellow to the right, a Robbins Punch knife.
Click here for the knives.
