Hand Weapons of World War One: Knife, Club, & Spade
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 19 ก.พ. 2016
- / inrangetv
If you are interested in this subject, you should definitely go check out The Great War:
• Trench Raid Tactics - ...
Today we are discussing some of the hand-to-hand melee arms of the First World War - specifically trench knives, trench clubs, and field spades. The up-close confined nature of trench warfare in WWI was not anticipated by its planners, and the infantry rifle/bayonet combination which had been developed for use on the open field was of little use in the trenches.
In response, troops adapted a wide variety of improvised weapons that were more suitable. Some became issued formal items, and some remained ersatz and handmade throughout the war.
Perhaps the most effective was the field spade, which was often sharpened around its while perimeter and could be used as a very utilitarian hand weapon in a variety of situations.
"Go ahead, stab me with it."
Gun Jesus testing if he's immortal - circa 2016.
He would just respawn 3 days later
@@danielaramburo7648 Not to mention that only a moron would attack with a bayonet like that. Right off the bat I can say that you would be doing multiple quick thrusts. Unless you are drunk, then you might attempt a ram.
I want to give you another like but you’re currently on 269
I THINK THAT HE KNOWS WHAT HE'S DOING-!!
@@filetofish7858 it's on 665 now, so tempting
it's easy to forget the absolute terror of battle talking about magazine capacities, barrel lengths and interesting sight designs, but when someone's showing you a stick with nails in it...
@@anadventurousattackkitten779 wrong, even in the "close quarters" fighting of urban areas, actual, messy hand to hand is a very rare sight.
@@bryanbarcelo5440 In some countries where melee weapons are still common, maybe like South america with its jungles, I'd imagine it still happens. One could argue some areas might as well be a "battlefield". Although with how common handguns are not nearly often.
@@bryanbarcelo5440 Only nowadays ofc. Even then the combatants might still use them if they don't have small, some degree of automatic, firearm
Yeah i remember doing bayonet practice and it was a common consensus that if we were close enough to stick em with a knife its time to back off and relearn how to shoot😁
@@python27au if you're in hand to hand combat, something's gone terribly wrong.
It's like, nowadays SF guys carry knives to cut ropes and things, not to attempt to slit throats or duel with enemies
The one chilling thing that still holds true to certain warfare today is that the most effective combatant in close and clumsy combat is the person who is willing to bring maximum brutality without hesitation. I wonder how many nice guys perished merely because they hesitated, tried to negotiate, tried to escape somewhere inescapable, needed a second to think it though, or was just not instantly willing to destroy another person as means to resolve a bad situation.
underrated comment; I bet you that what you described was most often the case in each engagement...humans have a hard time putting their humanity away quickly, even after brutal conditions. The one to put it away slower, dies.
If ever put in this you will find out this works it's fight or flight, everyone talks but you will only know when mind takes over, my lower back would hurt like crazy , afterwards if I could I would take a knee or sit if possible, later on I found out it was my adrenal glands working over time.
@@jansonan6214 You have actual experience with this? Interesting! Were you in the military or something? Must have been a hell of a ride..
the depth of this comment is under appreciated by many and the truth behind it is probably to dark for people to realize
Yeah this is a great comment. That stabbing scene in Saving Private Ryan immediately comes to mind
"If he's inside me, the club is now worthless." 24:25
My Saturday night.
24:35 baaahaha!
24:35 baaahaha!!
Ooof XD
how sweet :')
@@Saintbow oh no
A saying with knife fighting is that the loser dies on the street and the winner dies in the ambulance. Knife fighting is a messy activity.
The best thing to learn about knife fighting is extensive first aid and then some.
That's a sobering thought George....
A sobering thought indeed...
But the true nature about a knife fight is that its not really fighting its assasination really, and sheer will, Guts and speed. Only rookies make the mistake of dragging it out and have a hesitant mind when proceeding with said "fight".
Well, nowadays there usually isn’t knife fights per se. Usually it’s one guy ambushing someone while using a knife and against a person without a weapon.
To get 'em good without gettin' gotten... it's a virtue. The alternative is seeing who has more blood in them. Parley?
" A bayonet is a weapon with a working man at either end" slogan of British pacifists WW1.
The whole war was a complete disaster for everybody involved. Once it settled down to a trench stalemate, they should have started peace talks.
Based quote
Still true. And not only in military.
@@SvenTviking Nah they should've just shot their officers and sodomized their generals.
@@Bowfella I think that's a bit too much. Let's do just the officers for now
It's amazing how you guys elevate the content while simultaneously not glorifying the brutality. It's hard to watch this and not come out more pacifistic.
Any good soldier or historian is anti war, killing is brutal and shouldn't be glorified. It is necessary to study and interesting to see what humans did in the past, but as a means of preventing conflicts from getting to that level again. Large groups of men killing each other, especially at close range, just because they're from different countries is the lowest point of human nature. The way war has escalated though the next grand scale conflict will possibly be the end of the world as nuclear weapons may be used, which is why the UN is needed as at least one deterrent to a world ending conflict.
The wars of Europe, and especially the world wars, are why I support the EU. For all its failures, the alternative is so much worse :/.
But what if your Capitalist masters need a fifth yacht? The military-industrial complex doesn't propagate itself. Oh no wait, that's exactly what it does
No it's not. respecting the methods though yeah, being more careful to consider other options certainly, but pacifists are a miserable useless bunch so I would hope not.
@@livecatgrenades Idk, living in peace is quite nice don't you think ;P.
As a deep stabbing survivor , watching you guys coming at each other makes my skin crawl w/ serious pucker goin on down below.
Made me an even more 2A fan
I hope you have fully recovered health wise as well as a life restored to better than ever.
@@bwca4454 thank you..time heals all wounds yet scars remain forever and life continues to progress naturally despite all odds by the blessings of family and other loved ones.
Live in peace love and prosperity and be prepared to defend it for evil still exists.
@@utoobuser206 I’m glad you made it through, hope you’re doing well
@@utoobuser206 glad you are ok. I would interested to know your opinion on the “Knfie fighting” or “Knife Defense” things you see all the time.
I now just have this image of a German trying to bayonet a British officer at close range in a trench, while the Brit keeps pushing it away saying, "Stop that! It's silly!"
"Hans! Hans! Use your E-Tool! Here let me show you!"
"Silly? Alright, alright, that's enough of that! You're hereby sentenced to a formal court-marshal for trivializing the war!"
*That a Monty Python reference... I'm sorry.*
Actually German shock troops carried stocked pistols, grenades and flame throwers as well as knives, clubs, etc. (later on early submachine guns too). They usually left the bayonet rifles back in their own lines. In a perfect raid there was little noise until the killing began. Woe to the inattentive sentry.
Destroyer_Radford Sounds like a Monty Python skit.
Destroyer_Radford
Is it just me or is WW1 basically medieval warfare with bullets.
Now that I think of it it kinda does remind me of medieval warfare. Not in tactics, not in weapons, but something about the feel/mood reminds me of medieval warfare.
Interesting to note that the designs of the British Brodie helmet and German Stahlhelm were heavily inspired by medieval Kettle Hats and Sallets.
Gareth Cushman-Reynolds that's exactly what it was like
It's began as 19th Century warfare with deadlier weapons that caused a regression to medieval weapons and tactics followed by rudimentaey maneuver warfare at the end.
+Microzombie *rudimentary. Sorry typing from a phone.
"In a knife fight there are no winners, only survivors."
the man who taught me sword fighting always said....the first rule of a sword fight is never let a sword fight break out
I've never been in a situation where I've been worried a Sword fight was about to break out.
@@dmd8552 The Idea of the comment is that in a fight with weapons you don't fight with the WEAPON you FIGHT with a weapon , head ,elbows , knee stomps , in a fight for your life there's no such thing as a low blow or cheap shot
@@1Okoya1 yep.
Primary weapon, secondary, tertiary, then your own body if yiu have to. Even the mind is a weapon
@@1Okoya1 I thought the idea was acually just "you dont want to fight if you dont have to".
I’ve forgotten the source, but I came across one story of raids having to bring back samples of enemy wire to prove that they had been in or close to the enemy trenches. However, one such raiding party managed to get their hands on an entire barbed wire roll and proceeded to simply cut samples from it instead of actual raids.
Their Momma's didn't raise no fools‼️
That could have backfired and the lack of reliable Intel could have resulted in successful enemy attacks. Dangerous behaviour but understandable, I don't envy those men at all m
@@zh2266 Yes and no. While some raids were conducted to procure intelligence (including prisoners), others were ordered to “keep up the fighting spirit” among the troops as officers were concerned about trench warfare “pacifying” the rank and file. It was also a way to counter any tendency towards the sort of “live and let live” informal limitations on warfare, or outright informal truces, that might develop in certain sectors.
I’m fairly sure that these “skulkers” were shirking the “show your mettle” type of raids; not least because the fabrication of actual intelligence would have been risky in and of itself, running the risk of being checked against and/or contradicted by other sources.
@@zh2266 yeah...no... I mean, from a soldier's point of view, 'screw the slime'.
@@dscrappygolani7981 look at the other guy's response then look at yours. I stopped reading at "yeah...no" but cheers for chiming in there
Great episodes guys, really turns your stomach around to just look at these weapons.
+The Great War hi,I really enjoy the series
+The Great War Indeed. So glad to see all my favorite channels (The Great War, Forgotten Weapons, and InRange) all teaming up like this!!
+The Great War This (as well as the episode you guys just uploaded), just nails what I experience horrendously often in Verdun (the game). Often playing as an officer, with a bayonet and rifle, rather than a close-quarters melee weapon. Stabbing around, but the enemy is too close... And it takes áges to kill someone like that.
I just switched but I did not predict that that would have happend
Did not espect to find you here but makes sense gotta love when 2 channels im watching closly make a crossover
I've heard stories about how my great grandfather was such a poor marksman he fought in the Great War with a shovel instead of a gun. It's little weird learning not only was this entirely plausible, it wouldn't have been unusual.
And likely just as much, if not more, a brutal existence. One would not normally associate a soldier with merely a shovel as being in such a deadly environment compared to one with a rifle let alone the distinct possibility of being the victor should the "shovel meet the rifle " combat situation exist between them. Thank you so very much for the eye opening lesson. But just one reason I love this channel. 👍👍
If your grandfather rather use a hand weapon than a rifle, that is a man who harnessed his primal instincts.
You hear stories about Canadians in WW1 being particularly fearsome trench raiders. At the time, Canada still had a pretty wild and ragged frontier. There was a plethora of woodsmen, hunters, and other types with the instinct and skills, and most other people were farmers or factory workers with the physique to match
I was in the German Army from 03 till 09. Interestingly enough, within basic defensice drills (defensive positions/ fox-holes), we still kept our E-tool (Klappspaten), folded out, ready and handy by our side in case of a close-combat situation. There was even an unofficial command of "Klappspaten frei" as an order for cqc, which pretty much meant: We're being overrun, every man for himself. Crazy how long these practises have lasted.
fascinating.
When I was at Marine OCS, a candidate across the squad bay from me forgot his locker combination and couldn't get into his own footlocker. The sergeant instructors came out of the office that night with an E-tool and broke the lock. I guess he hadn't been locking his wall locker, because they didn't have to bust that one open. :P
Fire frei = fire freely
Klappspaten frei = e-tool freely
Makes me think of a bunch of berserkers with garden implements
Smoking C96 because they have no sense of humor
germnbill in the Marine Corps we don’t really train with E-tools that much anymore but just fucking around in the field people can get creative with how to merc a motherfucker with your E-tool
"WHATS IN THE BAG?"
Its full of hand grenades.
WHAT?
lmao!
German Imperial Soldier style 🤣🤣🤣
When i saw that that reminded me of a story my dad told me about a guy who had stolen a bunch of blast caps from a quarry and had put them in his jaket pocket and for some reason he had manged to set some of them off and just blasted his whole stomach open and died...(i dont know anything about blast caps so maybe my dad was just lying to scare me because he knew i was a stupid idiot and i might want to steal some blast caps)
larsmonsen88 no, that’s pretty accurate to what happens when you put a bunch of those things in an enclosed pocket. Some of them have warning labels for that.
@@thebiggiron2269 they do now
I sharpen my shovels even though I’m rarely attacked by Central Powers soldiers. I do that because it cuts through roots much better that way.
So while I don’t doubt those shovels were sharpened for combat (especially on the sides), a proper gardening, firefighting or trenching shovel is sharpened on the leading edge.
"Go ahead, stab me with it." - Ian Mcallum
If you killed 5 men with a spade, would you become...
The Ace of Spades?
Unless you're German, you have to kill 10.
What a coincidence.
Or shovel knight
😂😂😂🤘🤘
if you kill 50 you get a free original french nail knife
They just needed to make the bayoneted longer, like 300 meters longer then they could have bayoneted the enemy in their own trench!
Lol.
That’s too short. Hear me out here, 5000 meter blade.
Wow...
Or shoot barbed wire from their own trenches over the enemy trenches, and make it land on top of them - by hitting it down with those bayonets.
Or dig tunnels - all from the position, and at the enemy trench, make a secret pit trench with spikes there, and pull the bottom away from them.
Or worst: send a company of mother-in-law to yack them death.
@@l0mama554 defuk? Pikeman medieval style hahaha
i just imagined thousands of people poking each other from their trenches ahahah
"...the icepick thing"
I remember when ladies carried icepicks in their purses. For breaking up ice and for turning away unwanted advances.
When was that, 80's?
Final Russian soldiers wielding hatpins were especially feared.
In the first “self defense” technique, the German was close enough to do a nice headbutt with the metal helmet straight to the nose.
Right. Especially since they had the spike on their helmet.
@@maximolopezjr2249 Is that satirical? In case it's not, he's probably refering to the steel helmets or STAHLHELMS the Germans carried from 1915 onwards. The picklehaube (the one with the nail on top) Was made out of leather except, of course, for the metallic parts, such as the coat of arms or the straps. They were taken from Prussia onto the most of the Imperial German infantry. We are talking about a helmet designed to be able to deflect a saber hit from the top of the head, that's what the spike is for. It was never used in combat again after they got the first stahlhelms to protect the soldiers from shrapnel, thing that the picklehaube, could not. So, no eye-stabbing with the picklehaube. Thanks for reading!
@@mayorgeneralramirez1997
The picklehaube is still used today by certain units of the Chilean Armed Forces for ceremonial purposes. The US Army used them for dress uniforms in the late 1800s. The pith helmet used by the British and others can in some ways be considered a close cousin of the picklehaube
I LOVE how everyone who does WW1 videos cooperates and advertises each other =) That is one of best things in internet.
Suomi PRKL!
TheRomanRuler Best thing in internet are potatos
When you spend your time studying and talking about how nations slaughter each other by the millions, mutual cooperation and support seems like a much better idea.
@@Ealsante
Indeed....
On the topic of the reality of knife fighting versus the lore- I had the opportunity to do a training day with a few special forces operators, including a retired Brazilian federal police officer and a retired scout sniper. They both had stories of friends being stabbed to death in ignominious ways. One got in a physical altercation with his kid's martial arts teacher, who drew a knife and stabbed him 60 times, the other was stabbed to death with a kitchen knife by his wife after she found out he was stepping out on her. their takeaway from those stories was essentially 1) there is no sure-fire defense against a knife and 2) knife fights end quickly one way or the other
Matthew Mudgett the two hispanic guys who worked at a sams club in miami got in a disagreement at work and decided to go out in the parking lot and have regular knife fight, they were all about it until they each got a couple cuts and realized that knife fighting sucks. About 6years ago. Thats my contribution to your comment.
"One got in a physical altercation with his kid's martial arts teacher, who drew a knife and stabbed him 60 times" yeah that only further confirms the image I have of Brazil
I think getting Stabbed 60 times is a bit excessive, i mean caesar went out from 28, I'm just imagining a dude lying on the ground in pain still getting Stabbed well after the fight is over
@@taloob493 I mean depending on where you're getting stabbed you'd probably just die of shock and pain after the first dozen stabs or so.
@@therustedshank9995 that is true
It's actually heart breaking that in some instances neither side wanted to kill the other, yet they were made to.
they are soldiers......
@@sibit1 Not by choice.
That’s anti-semitic
Thats like most wars. Thats why america today uses mercinaries is because conscripts didint want to fight a bullshit war in vietnam.
@@sibit1 they were conscripts. People forced to carry a rifle.
25:40 "They're gonna walk over guys who are hesitating, who really don't know..." Yep. Unless you're mean, brutal, and tough and know how to actually fight, in WWI you're living on borrowed time. And that tough guy? Machine guns are very effective against any signs of ambitiousness. This maybe one of the best anti-war videos.
Too bad they couldn't just hand the kaiser, the king and all the other muckymucks these tools and tell them, want a war? You guys fight the first battle: here're your shovels.
Underrated comment right here folks.
I would agree with you if we could be sure that without kings and other "muckymucks" everybody would live in "eternal peace". That is not the case though is it?
How many times have you read in news or heard stories of people killing each other over "peanuts"?
Some neighbors arguing over whose fence is the whitest and one of them pulls a knife? some edgy teenager who does not understand the world and thinks he is "gods vengeance" and starts a school shooting? have you ever seen the video of Goebbels asking "do you want Total War?" and the public crying out "YES"?
No, I am sorry but its not just the "muckymucks" that start wars, they just make sure its more "organized".
Dont get me wrong, I would love sending all our politicians against an encamped Machine Gun Nest, purely for the Entertainment value alone but that wont solve the problem unfortunately.
Yeah, it's never the senator's sons who fight and die in their wars...
@@loganvanderwier8866 For most of human history it was precisely the sons of nobility that fought in wars. I mean heck, for most of the Roman Republic it was illegal for commoners to fight in wars.
@@attalan8732 Even so, Commoners had their farms burned and women ravaged.
"Yup" -InRangeTV, 2016
Yep.
Mhm.
4:39
for those who's asking it says
"club used by the austrians to finish our soldiers suffocated by asphyxiating gas"
They were Hungarians too...
i just translated the text
Ah so that club was captured by Italian forces then. Interesting. I like seeing the differences in languages back then compared to now.
Honestly, given how horrific it was to die of WW1 era gas attacks, I'd rather be clubbed in the head and put out of my misery.
no thanks i just ate
you're right about the ice pick grip. The medieval manuals all focus super heavily on it. It's just easier to get a much more devastating stab in that way. This holds true for both armored and unarmored fighting. Far more material on icepick knife wielding than standard, and knives are one of the most common weapons we find historical manuals for, as easy to carry and common as they are.
I find it cute that despite Ians best efforts, he can't fight the impulse to not instinctively block their demonstration sparing blows, it takes a lot of mental fortitude to do nothing while someone swings or thrusts objects into your personal space, even if you trust that person completely.
I almost thought this was Forgotten Weapons, lol. I'm here from the Great War though.
They fooled me too!
+Václav Fejt Same here. I love the fact that they freely share research, experience, and anecdotes. A vast improvement on television.
GunFun ZS Thanks for the explanation. I've been a fan of Forgotten Weapons for a while.
GunFun ZS Interesting. I seldom leave youtube for any reason . . .it's a big world out there, full of internet surprises (like viruses) . . . maybe I'll have to pull my head out of the sand and look around? Brrrrr . . .
GunFun ZS Thanks for the recommendation.
A British General remarked after WW1 that no man was killed with a bayonet unless he had his hands up first!
A while ago I read an anecdote that just the sight of the sun gleaming off of the bayonets of a unit that were in the process of fixing them was enough to halt an enemy advance. I think this was in the American civil war but I am not to sure now.
There were quite a few instances of bayonets actually working, in weekly episodes of TGW and (as as far as I can recall) most of those were during forced advances. It's really not surprising considering a rifle with a bayonet is an alternative to a spear formation and shorter melee weapons wouldn't work. You can't close in if there's another guy next to your enemy who's holding a bayonet and doesn't run.
Tell that to the argies in the Falklands,,the British are the best bayonet fighters in the world,,
I remember hearing that they unearthed two soldiers in sralingrad not that long ago that had bayoneted each other. I think they were then covered with dirt from explosions.
Obviously he never was in combat.
"First rule of karate... guns beat karate."
eli dennison Stan is one of the smartest people on tv. A very true quote
Not if you are kung-fu master
Guns beat meelee weapons, meelee weapons beat karate
@@rafaelz1580 But this video was about when melee weapons beat guns.
@@5000rgb i was just following the trend that OP started... Its not meant to be taken too seriously
“Just go on and stab me with that“
The single best way to show how and why bajonettes where ineffective in trenches.
My Great uncle was in WW1 . He gave me a French nail over 50 years ago and I still have it . Razor sharp with a carved wood and leather sheath - nude female . On the back of the sheath is engraved "lucky lady" .
and then you woke up.
you tell 'em mac
>French knife
>Naked woman
Checks out
Badass
@@kameraddog624 Soviet dogo
What's even more terrifying is that men killed each other with there bare hands and anything they could get there hands on.
whats terrifying about that? humans been doing that from the very beginning...
KommissarBanx
Of course. I understand the sentiment, I was merely trying to point out that in the big picture this is nothing new.
l33tsamurai
I believe it's more like for some people.
It can be more disturbing cause modern days we're used to seeing war as getting shot or blown up.
cqc deaths isn't as mainstream now in war.
So to some, learning that back when guns were still invovled then, men would actually still punch,stab,bash etc each others heads in.
You personally get to see and feel your enemies anger,fear,shock,determination etc etc right up in your face and vice versa.
That guys face would be the last thing you see as you are dying in a cqc fight.
If there was a handy dandy rock lying next to you while in a fist fight, you bet that youre gonna pick it up and beat your opponent to death with it.
imagine having to walk over germans still alive with their limbs blown off by grenades and you have to stomp on their faces with your nail cleets to stop them from grabbing your pants and pulling them down as they scream in german for their mothers.
It makes me sick to my stomach to imagine the combat with these weapons. But I’m so intrigued and curious and interested in WW1. It fascinates and scares me equally
Respect to you sir !
What’s up fellow krieg boys
Not sure of the validity of it, but one account I heard of British soldiers getting out of doing trench raids: They were required to come back with a snip of German wire, to prove they had been to the other trench. So they simply traded with the Germans for a spool of wire and sent a snip back with each report.
+MrDoctorCrow I'm sure stuff like that happened a lot. Or somebody dragged a lot of wire to a certain location and they would just go get a piece from it every night.
+MrDoctorCrow I've heard that too! I think it was in a documentary somewhere. Ingenuity at it's best!
There's something very, very perverse about that whole "combat by quota" phenomenon. Just goes to show that the military, for all its glamor, is just another bureaucracy.
The Codex Astartes does support this action
Krieg Aprove
Happy gas-mask noises
When I was in the Austrian army the sharpest thing in my gear was my spade. it still has the same shape. Some things never change.
The triangular knife is actually quite similar to some of the European bayonets from the 1800s. They were triangular in shape as that way they were easier to force through an enemy and they would take a chunk out of them. Some of these triangular bayonets were hollow as well so that way when you stabbed someone, it worked almost like a cookie cutter, taking a very thick chunk out of them.
Triangular bayonets were used by American troops at least as far back as the 1700's. The Revolutionary War was fought with them.
They were triangular due to a simple engineering reason: mechanical and material strength. So the bayonet could be made as light as possible without bending in use.
lol all the Battlefield 1 enthusiasts suddenly swarming these videos. At least WWI gets some attention finally.
I find it extremely curious that even though the firearms had gone ahead by leaps and bounds even since American Civil War, hand to hand just became even more savage.
Nobody was cutting heads and legs with doublehanders so id say it actually reduced
I think two handers limb chopping is less savage than peppering some poor dude who is fighting against their will will 1 to 3 inch deep puncture wounds that are likely to get painfully infected
Tomais before gun powder, EVERYBODY fought like that.
Its amazing what can happen when you give a man with some pent up rage a weaponized shovel and unleash them into a mob of other desperate men with other weaponized shovels fighting for their lives.
@@Stellar001100 *Well when you put it like that*
19:55 -happy gasmask noises
Emperor Protects
Dear God imagine being whacked or stabbed by these weapons. Sheesh
I imagined whacking or stabbing someone else but hey-ho some people were born to
Imagine sleeping in your trench and being slapped with a shovel
@@lacquerthinnerlarry4546 Pretty merciful way to go
Kinda why they made them.
I like to imagine there was at least one instance in WWI of someone being fatally wounded by a trench spade where he had enough of a sense of humor that his last words were "Sheesh".
war is hell and not to be glorified. great job as always
To quote fallout new Vegas:war...war never changes...but men do through the paths they take.
+Jonas Kilian War is hell, and WW1 specifically turned parts of Europe into things previously only found in the minds of the deranged. The battlefields eclipsed the Hell imagined by Dante as the years went on.
+Baker Tankersley any fallout series starts with that phrase actually. Maybe except fallout tactics
Duke nukem I'm saying the second part added in is what it is
+Baker Tankersley You like new vegas I already like you
reminded me of the opening scene of battlefied 1 where a harlem hellfighter soldier managed to evade a bayonet charge and then stab him with his trench knife.
Death Korps of Krieg reporting in for mandatory training video. Entrenching this section here.
FOR THE EMPEROR AND KRIEG!
This shows that you CAN study the history and usage of military weapons without glorifying war or combat. Great job.
@Papa Legba does this video make you have a rosey vision of beating someone to death or something?
I found this commentary to be equal parts hilarious and absolutely terrifying...
No way in hell I would've lasted very long in WW1
It’s wild how friendly & gentlemanly you both talk with admiration of such brutal weapons.
In this video ive learned to never bring a gun to a knife fight
And don’t bring a gun to a shovel fight
At least not a long gun
@@seanmccready9564 a pistol sometimes cant be drawn fast enough to face someone running at you in close quarters with intention of stabbing you to death before he gets shot. this kind of situation is in police training
@@theshankman8682 which is why police have habit of drawing preemptively at the slightest hint of a threat, something a lot of casual observers fail to appreciate is that it's way to late to act if they wait to see the blade.
Bring a shotgun instead and thr knifepeople call you inhumane.
I find the trench nail beautiful in its simplicity.
I use it in battlefield 1. A WW1 video game. I’ve taken over 200 lives with it. In several different take down moves. It’s simplistic beauty is what drawn me in. And it’s fast and effective
If Apple made weapons...
I imagine a piece of rebar could be easily fashioned into one. The loop handle then wound with paracord for better grip.
They are high carbon steel
I've made a few. They're really cool
I see a bright future in real TV for this two guys. The BBC should hire them.
4:37
Top text: "Iron mace used by the Austrians to finish off our soldiers who were stunned/incapacitated by the effects of asphyxiant gas"
Bottom Text: "The Children of Italy, raised at the school of love know that the hatred of barbarians who trample civilisation is holy - 1916"
Greetings fellow Kriegsmen.
7:31 Fun story about that. Apparently there was a formation of soldiers (can't remember which side) who were ordered to do trench raids and bring back proof in the form of a piece of enemy barbedwire. So they went out one night into the enemy trench, picked up a whole roll of enemy wire and proceeded to send in a piece of that wire every so often without actually having to go on a raid to get it! :D
I always found it comforting to know men would get creative like that in order to avoid having to kill other men. It says something about human nature and our natural disgust of indiscriminate killing.
i mean lets be honest it was liely more so they didnt get killed
Bunch of pussies... execute them!
@cr is a keyboard warrior
Something else pushing for the spade as a weapon. Everyone who digs for a living knows a sharpened shovel does a much better job of digging hard earth than does a factory dull one. I am reasonably confident that those who actually dug those WWI trenches with their shovels (no back hoes existed in that time frame) routinely kept their shovels sharp. Discovering that made an effective weapon encouraged more folks to sharpen their shovel.
It's amazing how few people know about sharpening shovels, I've worked at farms where I sharpened some shovels before a big project and people's minds were blown!
I find it ironic that the Great War brought so many new machines to the battlefield that were ahead of their time only for the men who fought up close and personal to revert to brutal and animalistic warfare, a reminder that no matter how advanced we get we will always revert to beasts
Had a father in law who collected this stuff, the one I remember was like that standard one you showed around 13mins, but the blade was set at 90degrees to yours, he opined the owner had decided that in a close confined trench fight, in a thrusting attack the blade wouldn't jam in the ribs but slide between them.
No idea if true, seems logical, and someone took the effort to do it.
We learned how to strike with our entrenching tools in basic training in '99.
I'll admit I also like the look and style of the ice pick/reverse grip, but in reality it's entirely situational and for extremely close quarters where two peoples' bodies are basically already touching, or one person is on top of the other, before the knife has even been drawn (because it's possibly faster to draw and stab like an ice pick depending on the location of the sheath, and you definitely wouldn't really switch grip from forward while closing distance), whereas regular grip is significantly more likely going to be the dominant strategy in the majority of situations at much more common ranges. The fight in Under Siege was decent, but still it's a movie.
Also Steven Seagal is a nutbag.
Yeah icepick is a really poor knife-fighting technique, it limits your power and mobility massively. I know in WW2 they trained Commandos on knife fighting and it was always done with a standard grip, they were taught that "ice-pick" grips were useless. Of course the average soldier in WW1 wasn't being taught knife fighting, but the techniques the Commandos were trained with were developed from Great War and Far Eastern policing experience. Ice pick looks cool, doesn't really work
1. Steven Seagal is very entertaining, but not in the way he would like.
2. I agree that the regular grip would probably be way more common because the soldiers wouldn't be doing anything fancy. They'd probably rush a guy and shiv him with that bent nail.
I'll say, with the knuckle duster knives ice pick makes sense as a very defensive sort of brawling/stabbing stance. Most people can throw a punch and the one two punch and stab is a pretty simple move when in really close quarters.
love the episode! small note. blocking a club in motion with a shovel, would most likely result in the impact knocking your shovel out of your hand, or the club simply "breaking the guard" and continuing on its path of painful death. parrying with it though, entirely possible
I’m here for vraks and the death korps of krieg
"Clubs wrapped in barbed wire" the original Lucille
@@alexrentz5191 i bet one would rip a face half off aswell as smash the skull in
Baseball bats Are a registration required weapon to own one.
Lucille's nana
"Mick Foley has entered the chat....."
The spade was probably the best tool for killing a corpse rat too. easier to target then a knife or bayonet, quiet unlike a shot, and if you only got a glancing blow, more likely to still injure or kill than just provide a momentary shock like a club.
FIX SHOVEL BAYONETS! BY THE EMPEROR, CHAAAAARRRGE!
Ernest Motherfucking Borgnine had the great joy of delivering that line in the 1960's remake of the film. Worth a watch.
THE SHOVEL GUY!!!
Iain Looks like he would fit right in at an Officer's Mess
+Adanski's HDGaming Well, except for the ponytail.
+Forgotten Weapons your wrong about the swords in duels it could last longer than knife fights but in combat scenario in reenact I've seen the highest number I saw 10 but usually 1-4
There are a lot of interesting parallels between the knives that were developed in response to trench warfare and earlier fighting knives, in particular the 15th century rondel daggers. A rondel dagger is very simple, it has a trefoil or crossed blade design, often not sharp save for the tip, a very wide guard and a broad, flat pommel. This gives you excellent longitudinal grip on it, because it's designed for knights in armour to use when fighting each other, so you would be fighting with it using heavy gauntlets. And the reason for the blade and pommel designs is because there's not really much finesse with it, you wrestle the other guy down and then stick it in a joint in the armour, and then whack the pommel with your other hand to drive it in.
When considering, as you say, the realities of fighting in a mud and rain soaked trench against men wearing heavy clothing, it's not surprising that the end results tended to favour stable, easily gripped, tough stabbing knives.
World War 1 combat manuals: "Don't forget to restomp that groin" -22:55
This was the video that introduced me to Indy and the Great War when this video first released. I know these collaborations don't generate the views you guys were looking for, but its still really awesome when you guys do these kinds of videos. It does introduce some of us to great channels we never heard of before.
This is what I wish was on the history channel. Thanks for making this content.
Great collaboration! The Spaten is still the melee weapon for units that are not equipped with a combat knife (paras etc) in the Bundeswehr.
I remember that we were trained to always have it ready in an entrenched position.
Very good exemplifications of hand to hand combat weapons! Truly brings to light exactly how brutal this kind of combat is/was. Inflicted horrible wounds, on both the victim and the user. Those memories stay with one forever. Chilling. Thanks much guys! You’ve moved me a few steps closer to my goal of eventually collecting all WWI & II edged weapons. I believe that is a worthwhile effort.
Me: Expecting to see to see weaponry video with responsible adults
"GO AHEAD STAB ME WITH IT"
sir that was clearly in jest
I have one of those spetznas shovels from cold steel, love it.
WW1 introduced two of the greatest weapons the world has seen.
Tanks... and Shovels
I go back to these iconic videos every time I’m madder then a weasel.
These amazing vids with Karl and Ian always calms me down.
"They did most of the good work with this. I'd like you to see what it does to a side of meat, because in hand-to-hand combat, that's all a man is."
- James Burke demonstrates a medieval sword such as were used at the Battle of Hastings, in _Connections_ episode 3, "Distant Voices" (1978)
i'll translate the writings on the image at 4:37 for anyone interested(it is italian)
-upper right corner
"bludgeon used by the austrian soldiers to finish off our own soldiers stunned by the effects of the asphyxiating gasses"
-lower left corner
"The childs of italy
grown up in the school of love
have to know
that holy is the hatred towards barbarians
that stomp civilization
---
1916"
You guys are awsome! Best channel regarding weapons!
17:17 Ive been meeting people in my profession from all walks of life. And some old soldiers share when they get old. Incidentally one time after helping this particular old Swedish soldier for some time he gave me a short snippet into his past after looking dreemily at a wall of photos. He was a rather large fellow, long and still relatively strong for his age (+90).
He said something in the lines of;
-"when i was a tad older than you i was on the karelian ishtmus"
Seconds world war, i was a volunteer...
I was standing there killing russian boys with a shovel in a trench...
He said more things but yes, shovels have been used even in the second world war.
I love these guys. They are crazy informative and look rad doing it.
ww1 is probably the best example of the pointlessness of war
holy shit thats a lewd profile picture, can i have the sauce of it?
[ypreD yranidrO emoS tsuJ] the great you're pretty lewd if you know what it is. there's not really a sauce, because it's a shoop. i.imgur.com/OG6ooxF.png
Writefag Greens thank you my friend for the sauce, and that photos quite funny.
[ypreD yranidrO emoS tsuJ] the great Funny?
Writefag Greens nevermind.
I get the feeling this was released around the time Battlefield 1 came out and everyone was getting excited over all the interesting melee tools you could use
"In the back. That is practical knife fighting..."
Truth bomb.
Bayonets, entrenching tools, knives...
*Laughs in 12 gauge*
Yahegao you shouldn’t point a gun barrel towards you dude
Not to be a party pooper but they used paper shells for the shotguns and most of the time did not work
@@deleteduser87 they had all brass jacketed ones too
That’s a warcrime.
Source for your profile pic?
Clever use of slow-mo in the introduction. Nicely edited
You did your homework! Thanks for reminding me why they say war is hell. Great video.👍👍
This collab was awesome, every time this video shows up again in my timeline I rewatch it
I'm pretty sure I've heard that a triangular wound _isn't_ actually harder for a surgeon to fix, that's a myth, but it _is_ true that until you _get_ to the surgeon it can't be held closed like a wound from a flat blade can.
The thumbnail of this video makes it look like Karl has finally had enough of Ian's shit.
"auf wiedesheen" lmao
+MCGelloe *wiedersehen
+xXx_#420YOLOerMLG$wag69_xXx OOOO BABY, A TRIPLE!
SBwingman yes I know it's wiedersehen I'm making fun of his pronounciation
MCGelloe ah, roger that.
SBwingman jawohl
+saturdayocean that's not applicable, German is a very expansive language in central Europe so there's tons of variation of dialect and regions (Der Schweiz, Südtirol, Österreich, etc)
Danke "shane" is how some say it.
Thank you for this. Excellent historical material here.
Love this channel, love the history you guys recover.