The 98 (literally meaning 'sidearm'), also known as the ''"Butcher's Blade"'', is a

bayonet A bayonet (from Old French , now spelt ) is a -4; we might wonder whether there's a point at which it's appropriate to talk of the beginnings of French, that is, when it wa ... , now spelt ) is a knife, dagger">knife">-4; we might wonder whethe ...

used with the

Gewehr 98 The Gewehr 98 (abbreviated ''G98'', Gew 98, or ''M98'') is a bolt-action rifle made by Mauser for the German Empire as its service rifle from 1898 to 1935. The Gewehr 98 action, using a 5-round stripper clip loaded with the 7.92×57mm Mauser ...

rifle by

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. It was designed in response to the French .

Description

The 98 is a

that accompanies the

, a German bolt-action rifle made by

Mauser Mauser, originally the Königlich Württembergische Gewehrfabrik, was a German arms manufacturer. Their line of bolt-action rifles and semi-automatic pistols was produced beginning in the 1870s for the German armed forces. In the late 19th and ...

. It was superseded by the short-lived 98/02, with a shorter and sturdier blade. 98/05 followed shortly, with a still-substantial blade. All Mauser bayonets attached via a T-shaped bar fitted under the barrel. Although many bayonets of the time used a muzzle ring, Mauser avoided one since these altered the vibration harmonics of the barrel when fired, affecting accuracy. All the bayonets featured quillons that curved back towards the hilt. These were much less effective at catching the opposing blade than the forward-swept quillons used by some other nations. A small number of pioneers and certain non-commissioned officers of the German Army were issued a bayonet with a sawback edge, known as the S or m.S. ("", with saw). Many such bayonets had their teeth ground down in response to negative Allied propaganda. Some WW1 German bayonets had markings on the spine, on top a crown with a "W" under it and under that the last 2 digits of the year it was made in. It is balanced right in front of the guard. The first model had a grip made of one single piece of wood, which was wrapped around the tang. This is called a.A. which means in German “” (old type). At the turn of the century the Germans simplified and strengthened their bayonet grips. The new type is called n.A. () and the grip was made of two halves from wood. The two-piece grips were introduced in 1902.

References

Bayonets World War I German infantry weapons {{Germany-mil-stub