Ardite dagger
The Arditidolch , in Italian pugnale ardito called, is one in the First World War developed combat knife , a so-called. Grave dagger . The weapon was used by the soldiers of the Italian Army for close combat . Sometimes it is also referred to as the Italian combat knife model 1916 .
History and background
In the course of the First World War it turned out that the traditional equipment of the soldiers only partially matched the requirements of the trench warfare. This point in the war had been massively underestimated in all army commandments. A handy stabbing weapon was needed in close combat. There were no such weapons in the Italian army. The soldiers had to equip themselves as far as possible with kitchen knives from local production. The German and Austrian weapons such as B. the dagger knife pattern 1917 were extremely popular booty weapons among the soldiers of the Italian army.
Around 1917, the army leadership forced its own trench dagger. The Arditi (storm troops) were equipped with the new Arditi dagger towards the end of 1917. The arditid dagger was also a workaround. The weapon consisted of shortened blades of the Vetterli 1870 bayonet. During the war, the weapon was changed several times. The Arditi (stormtroopers) are said to have been specially trained for knife fighting, based on the basic works of the Fiore dei Liberi .
literature
- Trench daggers: Military combat knives from the First World War by Wolfgang Peter-Michel.
- Italian website about the Arditi dagger
Individual evidence
- ↑ see Illustrated Lexicon of Weapons in the 1st and 2nd World War, Dörfler-Verlag
- ↑ Wolfgang Peter Michel: Trench Daggers: Military Combat Knives of the First World War , 2017, ISBN 978-3-8423-7719-6 , p. 122.
- ↑ Cesare Calamandrei: Armi bianche militari italiane 1814-1950 , 1987, ISBN 978-8-8253-1639-1 , p. 165.