Original Item: One-of-a-kind. This is an outstanding trench raiding mace, having come from the collection of David F. Machnicki, the author of At Arm's Length Trench Clubs and Knives. This exact model is featured in David F. Machnicki’s At Arm's Length Trench Clubs and Knives (Vol. 2) on Page 34! Please note that the attached page image from the book is copyrighted material and the use of the page is done by permission of the author. This is not the exact example found in the book, but it is the exact same model.

This example of a World War One German trench club has a cube-shaped iron head with milled edges and was mounted to the top of the spring handle. This flexible steel spring was welded to the top center of the iron head, passes completely through its varnished wood grip and was anchored to the base of the grip using a convex pommel cap. The light-colored wood grip tapers away from the steel ferrule gradually widening towards its pommel. Twenty-five regularly spaced, 0.5-millimeter deep grooves are turned about the grip’s circumference.

The disk-shaped ferrule was staked to the grip’s housing to reduce the chances of splitting the grip when used as a weapon. This example retains a part of the leather lanyard wrapped around the indent near the pommel, but the majority of it has broken off. There is a long piece that was broken off that is included, but it is no longer attached to the club. The trench club has no known manufacturer’s mark, correct for this model.  The club measures roughly 17 ¼” long.

This is an outstanding example of a well-documented model of trench raiding mace. We haven’t had this particular model before, so don’t miss out on this one! Ready to display as the centerpiece of your collection!

Trench raiding clubs were homemade melee weapons used by both the Allies and the Central Powers during World War I. Clubs were used during nighttime trench raiding expeditions as a quiet and effective way of killing or wounding enemy soldiers. The clubs were usually made out of wood. It was common practice to fix a metal object at the striking end (e.g. an empty Mills bomb) in order to maximize the injury inflicted. Another common design comprised a simple stave with the end drilled out and a lead weight inserted, with rows of large hobnails hammered in around its circumference. Most designs had some form of cord or leather strap at the end to wrap around the user's wrist. Bosnian soldiers serving in the Austro-Hungarian army were fond of using maces. They were also used by officers to finish enemy soldiers wounded by poison gas attacks.

Trench clubs were manufactured in bulk by units based behind the lines. Typically, regimental carpenters and metal workers would make large numbers of the same design of club. They were generally used along with other "quiet" weapons such as trench knives, entrenching tools, bayonets, hatchets and pickaxe handles – backed up with revolvers and hand grenades.