Original Item. Only One Available. The San Marco Battalion are the Italian Marines. They trace its history back to the La Marina Regiment, formed in 1713. During the Wars of Italian Independence the Italian Marines were known as the Fanteria Real Marina, units of specially selected sailors who were skilled marksmen. The regiment also played an important role in Peking during the Boxer Rebellion and in the Italo-Turkish War. At the beginning of the Second World War it became a two battalion regiment and later increased in size, and prepared for amphibious landings at Cape Martin in France which never happened.

When Italy attacked Yugoslavia in April 1941, the San Marco Marines carried out successful landings on several islands in the Adriatic and seized ports against minimal resistance. The regiment expanded to seven battalions before the final desert battles in 1943, including the Battaglione Nuotatori who were trained as parachutists in 1941. The 3rd Battalion of the 'San Marco' Regiment, which became known as the Tobruk battalion, repelled landings by British Commandos at Tobruk during the night of 13/14 September 1942, in the course of the botched Operation Agreement. As a result, 200 British Commandos were taken prisoner. The regiment fought at Tobruk and Tunisia, where it defended the Mareth line during April and May 1943. The Tobruk Battalion was later destroyed on the night of 5 April 1943 while defending the Oidane-el-Hachana line against an attack on Wadi Akarit by the British 69th Infantry Brigade and Gurkha units from the Indian Army 4th Infantry Division.

This is an exceptionally scarce “San Marco Dagger” as used by Marines of the San Marco Battalion during the Second World War. In 1936, this dagger was developed for the Marines and distributed to the personnel of the San Marco Battalion. The double edged, 7 3/16 inch long, spear point blade on this example looks great. It shows age grey, spotting and surface scratches throughout. The blade is inserted against a surrounded oval brass guard. The hilt is constructed out of two pieces of molded black bakelite. There is a fasces to each side and the pommel top features the identifying “Lion Head” with a waved mane (representing Venice).

The original steel scabbard would have been painted black, but this example was overpainted in red. We aren’t sure when it was one, but thankfully only the scabbard was painted so it could be stripped. There are some dents in the scabbard as shown but it still works well.

A very nice example of an extremely scarce dagger, ready for further research and display.

Dimensions:
Blade length: 7 3/16”
Blade Style: Single Edged Knife
Overall length: 11 7/8”
Crossguard: 1 3/4”
Scabbard length: 7 3/4"