Pattern 1907 sword bayonet, 1916 (c)

Manufactured by J A Chapman, Sheffield.

The British soldier's main weapon of World War One, the Short Magazine Lee-Enfield Rifle, Mk III*, was designed to be fitted with a bayonet. The addition of this fearsome blade gave the Tommy a reach of over a metre in hand-to-hand combat. However, a rifle fitted with a bayonet could prove unwieldy in the close confines of a trench system. Many experienced soldiers therefore preferred to use improvised clubs, knives or knuckledusters. The bayonet was nevertheless a handy tool and soldiers were as likely to use them for cooking and eating as fighting.