Solingen ID

[Sullyman]

This was my fathers a WWII vet, European theater, 1135th Combat Engineers, 3rd Army.
Its worn and been used. There are decorative engravings on it. You can see part of an eagles head, part of what looks like an S and other floral designs. They don't appear to be SS or other Nazi type designs.

Any help or thoughts is appreciated.

 

[content]

Nice to have the family history...not an expert but it looks like a cut down sword...stopping at the eagle.
Solingen is a city in Germany with many knife makers.

Thanks for sharing.

 

[hso]

I think it is a "theater knife" that was made from a salvaged blade. The file marks and solder at the guard and the nut on the butt aren't something you'd see a cutler turn out.

Are there any family members you could ask?

 

[Sullyman]

Father passed about 15 years ago, mother last year. No one to ask. Never got around to asking my father as it really didn't surface until after he was gone.

 

[hso]

Uncles? Aunts?

 

[Sullyman]

Nope, no aunt or uncles, he had a brother who died in the late 20's or early 30's. Mother was an only child.......unusual for Irish Catholics.........

 

[rcmodel]

I think it is a "theater knife" that was made from a salvaged blade.

That's exactly what it is. A cut down Solingen sword blade.

Here are some other examples:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/US-WW2-Cust...710?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3a7b98b1be

http://www.ebay.com/itm/US-WW2-Cust...553?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3a7dfaff69

http://www.ebay.com/itm/RARE-US-WW2...525?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3cb1c4adbd

http://www.ebay.com/itm/US-WW2-Cust...965?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3a643cf63d

rc

 

[Sullyman]

So were these originally German swords of some sort? Given the Solingen mark I would think a German sword or some other blade. Did the GI's cut them down to a knife or did "locals" make them for GI's? I read somewhere some were made on the home front, but a German marking modified in the U.S.????

Thanks for the info I never heard of this type or designation. Would have been nice to have some history from my dad......

 

[rcmodel]

It's hard to say who did it?

The name 'Theater knife' means it was made in the theater of war, usually by a GI with access to power tools. Sea Bee's, ships machinists mates, those sort of guys.

The sword blade knives most often encountered in the USA were not actually theater knives, and were made from scrap steel, or cut down Patten Sabers that were sold as surplus during the war specifically for converting them into fighting knives.
There was a cottage industry in the USA of hobbyists, one man companies, and even high school shop classes making fighting knives out of them to supply the troops.



Yours could have been made during WWI by a German for a German solder and passed on down to be used again in WWII. Then captured by an American solder?

Or, it could have been made from a captured WWI German sword brought home by a doughboy, and turned into a fighting knife for use in WWII?

Unfortunately, there is just no way to know for sure at this late date.

The sheath with yours does show all the earmarks of being an American factory made sheath though.

rc