First World War German Mauser M1898/05 Bayonet with Scabbard

The M1898/05 Seitengewehr bayonet with scabbard was designed to fit the Gewehr 98 bolt-action rifle made by Mauser; the standard infantry rifle of the German army during the First World War. The M1898/05 was a common German bayonet of the First World War and also known as the “Butcher”. This is a fine example made by “Fichtel & Sachs Schweinfurt” and stamp dated 1916 with a scarce Bavarian Crowned marking.
Every combat rifle was designed to use the bayonet as weapon of last resort and the Gewehr 98 had a top barrel clip with a 45mm long bayonet lug. The rifle was originally issued with the Seitengewehr 98 type bayonet, a 500mm long quillback blade. This bayonet was found to be too long for trench close combat and so by the end of the war it was replaced with a 254mm Seitengewehr 84/98 blade.
In addition, at the beginning of the war it was found that this model of bayonet had a problem when used with the Karabiner 98 rifle, the shorter barrel on this model led to burning and damage to the grips as the barrel stopped short of the vestigial muzzle ring. Therefore in 1915, it was decided to fit a steel flash guard (Schutzbleche) to the back of the hilt to protect the grips. The bayonet was modified by removing most of the remaining muzzle ring, reducing the back of the tang, and adding the flash guard. Additionally, an all-steel scabbard was introduced to replace the more easily damaged leather.

This bayonet was manufactured by Fichtel and Sachs in Schweinfurt. The firm was founded in 1895 as precision ball bearing plant, but is considered as a pioneer and forerunner of the bicycle boom. During the four years of war, in addition to hubs and ball bearings of all kinds, armament products were manufactured in Schweinfurt.

The bayonet was brought back to Australia from the First World War by Private Holland and represents an example of soldiers returning home bringing enemies weapons as a ‘keep-sake’ of their war service from the Western Front