A short dissertation on the history of the Seitengewehr 1911
The German Imperial Navy would discontinue the use of all boarding weapons (boarding knife/cutlass, boarding axe and boarding pike) in 1876 when they started using the Jägerbüchse 1871 and Hirschfänger 1871 as weaponry onboard of the ships. Boarding was becoming less likely due to modern ships and for landing parties, the rifle and bayonet combination was also better suited.
In the early 1890's the new Torpedo Boats played an increasingly larger role in the Imperial Navy. Since these "old" torpedoes didn’t have a large range, those boats needed to be very close to the large battleships of the line which meant that a broken or destroyed engine would make boarding actions more plausible again, plus the long combination of rifle with fixed bayonet was seen as too
long for the tight and small Torpedo Boats.
Therefore, the Torpedo Boats were equipped with a new cutlass again. The Entermesser 1861 or boarding knife 1861 was combined with the Reichesrevolver 1883 as the new weaponry for the Torpedo units. When the Gewehr 98 and Bayonet 98 were introduced in the navy in 1898/1899 the Torpedo units were once again ordered to send their weapons (cutlass 1861 and revolver 83) back to the arsenals and take the modern rifle and bayonet.
Note that there are two variations of the Bayonet 98, the Old Pattern with a single-piece wooden handle and the New Pattern with a two-piece wooden handle with the one-piece rather rare, being used only in the 1900-1901 Boxer Rebellion in China. Pictured is an Imperial German Seebataillon Marine with a Gewehr 98 rifle and an Old Pattern Bayonet 98. The history of the Old Pattern Bayonet 98 is excellently described in a video titled: Imperial German Bayonet 98, WW1 Infantry Bayonet, Episode 3.1 by Vincent of Imperial German
Bayonets.
In 1908 the Torpedo Boat units were once again complaining about the long and unwieldy rifle and bayonet and requested a cutlass plus pistole combination once more. There was also the need for an efficient cutting tool onboard and the bayonet 98 was definitely not suitable for this role.
During the early 20th century, before the trials which resulted in the Seitengewehr 1911, the navy tried to modify the Seitengewehr 1898 Old Pattern bayonets (manufactured 1898 – 1902) to better
fill the role of a cutlass. Very few exist and there is nearly nothing written about these trial bayonets, which were called "Seitengewehr 1898 mit Halbkorb" or Bayonet 98 Old Pattern with half hilt. [1] The design may have succeeded and become part of navy inventory, if not for the introduction of the Pistole 04/Carbine configuration that replaced the Gewehr 98 and Seitengewehr 98 with the stand-alone, belt carry Seitengewehr 1911.
Pictured are three bayonets [2]:
- Typical Old Pattern Bayonet 98
- Seitengewehr 1898 Old Pattern mit Halbkorb
- Seitengewehr 1911 mit Halbkorb
Number 2) is a badly done fake that was acquired in east Europe. Even with it being a fake, one can nicely see how the design of the hilt from these trial bayonets was used years later for the Seitengewehr 1911. Pictured is an alternate scenario of a Colonial Kaiserliche Marine, III Seebataillon Marine with a Seitengewehr 98 Old Pattern mit Halbkorb. Pictured together for size comparison are the above three bayonets.
Therefore, after several years of trials the Seitengewehr 1911 was born. Together with the renamed Pistole 04, it would remain as the standard weapon for the Torpedo Boat crews until the end of the war. The Seitengewehr 1911 was designed both as a weapon and tool. In semi-official letters and documents, it was also
sometimes called cutlass/boarding knife.
Interestingly, even though by 1909 the Torpedo-Divisions were equipped with the Pistole 04, apparently there were no separate, 1906 Selbstladepistole 1904 or any Pistole 04 instruction manuals issued and the instructions for the handling and care for the Pistole 04 were not part of the original 1909 Torpedo-Division service handbook printings until a modified, shorter version of the original 1906 Selbstladepistole 1904 instruction manual was later added in the form of an XXVII section titled: Die Pistole 04, pages 211 through 224 cut-and-paste section at the rear of the previously issued 1909 Torpedo-Division service handbooks with an added top page paste-in Table of Contents at the
front of the service handbook for the Pistole 04.
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This top half-page P04 Table of Contents section was pasted on the blank page immediately opposite the last original VII Table of Contents page, ending in paragraph XXVI. Unhang…. (p) 202 with the opposite page appropriately identified in this article for convenience to be assigned the next logical Roman Numeral being VIII with the P04 section starting with the first of three paragraphs XXVII. Die Pistole 04…. (p) 211. Pictured side-by-side are the VII and the added “VIII” P04 Table of Contents.
Evidently, the circa 1906 first printing of the Sebstladepistole 1904 instruction manual as written, apparently was not adequate for the needs of the Torpedo-Division as the Table of Contents of the 1906 manual was considerably different from the added P04 Table of Contents of the 1909 Torpedo-Division service handbook.
These P04 section add-ins, at least to the 1909 issued Torpedo-Division service handbooks, were done on an individual basis. Additionally, in the subject original 1909 Torpedo-Division service handbook, identified as I.T.5.-128-09, (5th company of the I. Torpedo-Division, Kiel-Wik., inventory number 128), V. Auflage or 5th edition and titled: Dienstunterricht or Service Training for the Torpedo-Division is a paragraph §165 on page 219 describing: Der Hirschfänger [71] as still in use, as the Seitengewehr 1911 wasn’t issued to the Torpedo-Divisions until 1912.
As of the 1916 printing of the II. Torpedo-Division service handbook the Die Pistole 04 XIV section starting on page 120 became an integral part of the original printing, of which the Service Training title page, in addition to the Torpedo-Division now included the Unterseebootabteilung or Submarine Department.
Also, by 1916 one would expect the mostly standard boilerplate Torpedo-Division service handbook publication to be updated with a paragraph describing the Seitengewehr 1911, yet that is not the case as an identical paragraph, now on page 125, paragraph §103 continues to describe the Der Hirschfänger [71] as still
in use.
The lack of reference to the Seitengewehr 1911 could be attributed to a simple omission, if it wasn’t for the fact that the 1916 service handbook was significantly modified to incorporate the Unterseebootabteilung or Submarine Department information and permanently include the P04 section, previously a cut-and-paste addition, at least in the 1909, 5th edition, I. Torpedo-Division service handbook. The permanent inclusion of the P04 instructions made sense with the Torpedo-Division service handbooks being hardbound documents, more preferable to the issue of softbound, individual P04 instruction manuals.
Leitfaden für den Dienst-Unterricht bei der Minen Abteilung [3] or a guide to service instruction/training in the Mine Department, printing date unknown, has been identified to also have a section at the end of the handbook dedicated to the P.04. It is unknown if the P04 section is a cut-and paste add-in or original to the printing, or if the handbook has a paragraph dedicated to the Hirschfänger 71 and/or the Seitengewehr 1911. Interestingly, the handbook cover is a later paste-over, possibly over an originally blank cover, similar to the 1909 I.T.5. / 128/09 Torpedo-Division handbook cover.
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It should be noted that, when (rarely) encountered, these early Imperial navy service handbooks are not cover page identified or dated by the printer, but are later either hand written, stencil or template overlay marked and dated on the inside cover with the assigned division and Company, given an inventory number, and sometimes signed by the owner and as stated, are generally not identified on the cover.
It is, therefore unusual that the Leitfaden für den Dienst-Unterricht bei der Minen Abteilung title is on the notebook style cover, albeit pasted over a blank cover and that the title description is different than the 1909, 1913 and 1916 service hand book, inside cover page descriptions featured herein, rather being similar to other, later 1920s – 1930s published navy handbook, unclassified cover title descriptions. Unfortunately, the inside cover page is not available to determine if there is an added issue date and if the inside cover page is titled and if it matches the added past-over hardbound cover page title. It is possible that this was an initially, unissued service handbook with added cover title for identification. It would be against Imperial navy regulations to issue such a document with a title on the cover. [4] For more information on these Imperial navy hardbound service manuals, click here.
Regarding the 1909 I.T.5. / 128/09 Torpedo-Division service handbook, it is one document of a complete ensemble or grouping of rare Kaiserliche Marine documents belonging one man, Oberst Bernard H. A. Shultz, which includes two sheaths-in-one for a Militärpak. The first, outer sheath is made of fine fabric, possibly leather, dyed red with black lettering with fine line, red linen stitching at the top and bottom edges, with access from the right side.
The second, inner sheath is a simple manila type folder titled Militärpapiere, accessed from the top, which contains the 1909 Military pass, along with two folded documents relating to Oberst Bernard H. A. Shultz with one document titled No. 128 der Marine Steamrolled für 1909 or No.128 of the personnel roster for 1909 and the other a 2-sided document being his ‘military” driver’s license, issued by the Kaiserliche
Marine. Side 1. Side 2. Pictured together are the outer and inner sheaths, the Militärpak and the I.T.D. 128/09 service handbook. For more information on these documents and the Kaiserliche Marine, click here.
Seitengewehr 1911 – How many
Up to the start of the war in late 1914 roughly 5,000 Seitengewehr 1911 were produced. All of these were issued together with the leather scabbard and many were unit marked to the first or second Torpedo-Division (I. T. D. / II. T. D.) or Mines Department (Minen Abteilung). As early as 1914 the Seitengewehr 1911 was also issued to either the Seeflieger Abteilung (Naval Air Service) or the Marine Luftschiff Abteilung (Navy Airship Department) and the Unterseeboots mit Seitengewehr 1911 or Kommando der Unterseebootstabteilung (Command of the Submarine Division).
Due to the order to stop unit marking weapons during the war, no unit markings can be found other than those Seitengewehr 1911 that were stamped before the war. In approximately mid 1915 they changed the scabbard to all metal due to leather shortages, like they did with the scabbard of the S98/05 new pattern and S84/98 new pattern. Throughout the war 5,642 new Seitengewehr 1911 were produced and sent to the troops.
As of this article only two Seitengewehr 1911 examples of the post-1915 second batch manufacture with all metal scabbards have been identified, the first example has a brown leather frog, which has been determined to be incorrect and the other example has a slightly different shape or style black leather frog, which has been determined to be
correct, based on the identification three original leather hangers or frogs with at least three, example 1, example 2 and example 3 pictured with a Seitengewehr 1911. The most unusual feature of example 2 though, is that the metal portion of the handle and guard appear to be painted black.
Note: There is a lot of confusion between those leather hangers for the Seitengewhr 98/05 bayonet and those navy ones for the Seitengewhr 1911 boarding cutlass, as the Seitengewhr 98/05 and the Seitengewhr 1911 basically have the same scabbard and blade dimensions at the crosspiece or hilt interface that both leather hangers kind of fit. Pictured is a is an example of the last year of manufacture of a 1916 dated Seitengewhr 98/05 with correct metal scabbard and correct leather hanger or frog. Click here for bayonet terms and definitions.
Another example, this time a pre-1915 first batch example with leather scabbard has been identified with a metal portion of the handle and guard definitely painted black, along with the metal ends of the leather scabbard. With the blade and handle of both batch 1 and 2 examples looking in great condition, with very little corrosion, it is possible that the addition of the black paint was not aftermarket applied by a collector, but was done early on, possibly to others, after being issued to the navy, perhaps to minimize reflection.
After the war the Seitengewehr 1911 was issued to several municipal police units in both Germany and the Netherlands. In some cases, the carry hook of the scabbard was removed [5], but is unclear whether this was done in Germany or the Netherlands. The Seitengewehr 1911 was used until the early 1930's by the German municipal police, but it is not known how long the Seitengewehr 1911 was used by the Netherlands.
So, in total somewhere close to 11,000 Seitengewehre 1911 were produced, half with leather scabbard and unit markings, the other half with steel scabbards and without unit markings. If an example doesn’t feature a unit marking it simply means that it was a wartime production. All pieces were manufactured by Simson & Co. Suhl.
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It is also noted that the Seitengewehr 1911 was sometimes called a cutlass. This is due to the navy traditional language which sometimes was used even though official terms were different. There is even a document known from WW2 where the captain of a ship calls the bayonet 84/98 III form a cutlass. The Hirschfänger 1871 was also referred to as boarding knife, albeit never official. Also, the term boarding knife is just the literal translation of Entermesser and means the same thing as cutlass.
Featured in this article is a post 1915 made Seitengewehr 1911 with only a single C/M property mark on the top of the blade, near the hilt, and the maker SIMSON&Co./SUHL
on the blade with no added unit marks. The distinguishing feature is the Scheide or scabbard, which is not original to the subject Seitengewehr 1911, being an earlier modified, Dutch saber leather scabbard. The identification of the subject scabbard as Dutch is based on other period, similar verified Dutch saber scabbard examples. Pictured side-by-side is the subject Dutch saber scabbard with an unmodified Dutch example.
Based on the lack of unit markings on the subject Seitengewehr 1911, the original issued, all metal scabbard would also lack unit marks. On the replacement Dutch metal and leather scabbard is a small crown over “L” Dutch property or inspection mark on the upper brass metal section. Immediately under the upper brass metal section, stamped longitudinally on the leather is 1832 and 722. There are other similarly stamped Dutch leather scabbards.
Pictured are three views of the subject one with the Boarding Cutlass and Dutch
saber scabbard and the second with period Imperial German accessories.Also pictured is a multiple, close-up view of the subject Seitengewehr 1911 boarding cutlass handle.
The subject Dutch saber leather scabbard or Geniesabelschede has been period modified with a professional replacement of the original brass metal
tip with a leather tip, believed to be done to accommodate or allow the full sheathing of the “wider at the tip” Seitengewehr 1911 blade. Based on the period, professional replacement of the Dutch saber scabbard,
brass metal tip with a leather tip [6], it is difficult to envision the subject Dutch saber leather scabbard, as configured and the Seitengewehr 1911 being coupled together in modern times.
Until proven otherwise, the Dutch saber replacement leather scabbard supports the post war use of the Seitengewehr 1911 with the Netherlands Municipal Police as stated in the 1983 Hans Reckendorf private publication: Die Handwaffen der Koeniglich Preussischen und der Kaiserlichen Marine.
One would think that every Seitengewehr 1911 would be sheathed with their original German leather or all metal scabbard of those that were captured, but maybe the Dutch police wanted to use the Dutch way of carrying the short sword and the German style of scabbard would not fit their leather gear. The Seitengewehr 1911 is an extremely rare collectible, and as such, very few have been identified in collections and publications, with interestingly, a full third of those identified are without their original scabbards.
More on the Hirschfänger 1871 and the Kaiserliche Marine
While the very rare Seitengewehr 1911 takes the spotlight with Imperial German navy Luger collectors, being prominently featured in most 1912 and later post cards and pictures of German sailors with M1906 German Luger rigs, it is the Hirschfänger 71 pictured in the same type of navy pictures with M1906 German Luger rigs,
prior to 1912 that deserve more attention.
The rare Seitengewehr 1911 is relatively common when compared to the ultra-rare, Imperial navy Hirschfänger 71 marked on the crosspiece, on one side with the navy unit markings and the opposite side crosspiece with the KM property markings. As of this writing only one has been identified in a collection and even then, it lacks a scabbard and leather hanger.
Apparently, the use of the Hirschfänger 71 in the Imperial Navy continued into the post WW1 Weimar era navy as another, equally “ultra-rare” Hirschfänger 71 has been recently be discovered with Weimar navy property markings. The Weimar navy property marking of 0.1905, indicating Marinestation Der 0stsee (Baltic) is on the crosspiece and on the scabbard upper metal fitting, making it a matched assembly. As a variation, the Reichsmarine property marked Hirschfänger 71, considering the rump Weimar navy or Reichsmarine (1919-1935) would certainly be categorized as an extremely desirable collectible.
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The Hirschfänger 71 was the most important bayonet for the Imperial Navy as it was used throughout its history. It was adopted in 1875/1876 together with the Jägerbüchse 1871 to replace all other rifles and bayonet plus the boarding weapons. This adoption followed the Prussian navy tradition to use rifles and bayonets of the light infantry (fusiliers or jägers).
Most of the below information was obtained from correspondence with Vincent of Imperial German Bayonets, the author of a series of excellent videos on Imperial German Bayonets, two of which were dedicated to the Hirschfänger 71. Video 1 and video 2.
Over the following decades the Hirschfänger 71, a.k.a. HF 71 was the favorite navy bayonet for the Jägerbüchse 1871 as well as the Infanteriegewehr 71/84. The navy liked the HF 71 because it could be used as a bayonet as well as an edged weapon on its own. The HF 71 was used until the start WW1 in great numbers. During the war this would even increase due to the army ordering the navy to give up their modern Mauser 98 rifles and bayonets and send them to the frontline army troops. To make up for the lost modern 8mm rifles the navy started to reissue their old and trusted Jägerbüchse and Infanteriegewehr 71/84 together with the HF 71.
Two number examples: In the 1908 weapons archives of the Imperial Navy there are 24,279 HF 71 listed in comparison there were only 18349 S98 bayonets. In 1913 the
navy-artillery-departments were still exclusively armed with the Infanteriegewehr 71/84 together with the HF 71. In conclusion one can state that the Hirschfänger 71 was more important to the navy then it was for the jäger battalions. To the frustration of collectors all Hirschfänger 1871 are tough to find.
Pictured is an Imperial Army issue M1871 Seitengewhr bayonet and an M1871 Seitengewhr Dress bayonet.
A few thoughts about the (navy) markings on the HF 71:
Very few "true" HF 71's with army markings have been observed because the jägers used a lot of the Hirschfänger 65/71, of which most HF 71 out there are actually navy marked. Please see Video 1 about the HF 65, HF 65/71 and HF 71 where differences are explained. Although adopted in 1875/1876 no navy HF 71 has been observed, marked earlier then 1882.
The C/M marking was never used with the HF 71. This navy property stamp was only used with some of the later naval weapons such as the S98 new pattern bayonet, the Seitengewehr 1911 or the (super rare) Artillery sabre new pattern for the navy-artillery-departments. Instead, the early navy weapons featured the KM + number marking as
seen with the HF 71 featured in video 1. This was not a unit marking but rather a property stamp/inventory number.
This KM marking can be found on weapons until the mid-1880's, in some cases until the early 1890's. At this point the army dropped the concept of using property markings for some years. This means that a lot of Hirschfänger 71 don’t feature the KM marking or any navy property stamp. They can only be differentiated to army ones via their unit markings since all HF 71 also have the army property marking on the back of the blade. This means that they were first produced and payed for by the army and only afterwards they were given to the navy. The earliest use of the C/M are the S98 (05) new pattern bayonets marked with M under Crown plus the year 06 or 07 for 1906/1907 on the back of the blades. They are very rare as well and none as of this article have been located or observed.
Below is a discussion describing and picturing of other examples of bayonets with Kaiserliche Marine markings. Particularly interesting are the featured FüsS60 or Füsilier-Seitengewehr 1860 Bayonets. [7]
The Imperial Navy used many different types of bayonet. During the early colonial period they carried the Füsilier-Seitengewehr 60 and the Hirschfänger 71 bayonets. Later photographs and surviving examples show they were also issued S71/84, S98, S98/05 and S84/98 bayonets at different times. As sailors were not usually prioritized as front-line fighters, they were sometimes issued with mismatched, obsolete or even captured weapons. One series of photographs of the crew of the SMS Emden shows them on Direction Island in 1914 with Pfm 71 bayonets and Mauser G98 rifles, the combination of which would not have fitted together.
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Several different patterns of markings have been seen on naval bayonets, the simplest of which had KM (for "Kaiserliche Marine") and a weapon number for example "K.M.6593" seen on an HF71. Some bayonet markings denoted the "Werft" depot from which they were issued. The earliest naval bayonets were marked simply "O" or "N" (for the "Ostsee" base at Kiel or the "Nordsee" base at Wilhelmshaven) followed by a weapon number, for example "O. 1905" seen on an HF71. Later naval markings showed the same depots with different markings: "WK" for "Werft Kiel" and "WW" for "Werft Wilhelmshaven" (for example "W.K.2500" and "W.W.8902" both seen on S98/05aA bayonets).
Other naval bayonet markings for land-based personnel denote the unit such as the two Sailors Depot Divisions (for example "I. M.D.2305" for the
"I. Matrosen Division"), the two Technical Depot Divisions (for example "II. W.D. 1643" for the "II. Werft Division"), Naval Artillery (for example "II MAA 3911" for the "2. Matrosen Artillerie Abteilung") and Marine Pioneer Companies (for example "2. MPK. 29" for the "2. Marine Pioneer Kompanie").
The Imperial monogram and date of manufacture markings appear on the blunt side of the blade as usual on most naval bayonets. However, S98aA and S98/05aA bayonets made by Simson & Co in Suhl specifically for naval issue do not appear to have date markings from the few examples that have been noted. S98nA bayonets made by Simson & Co for naval issue in 1906-07 had an imperial crown above the letter "M" (for Marine) above a two-figure date.
[1] Information and pictures generously provided by Vincent of the You Tube video series titled: Imperial German Bayonets.
[4] This type of property identification, at least for weapons issue, was discontinued by the Ministry of War – General War Department memo dated November 1916.
[5] It is not certain if the hook was removed from a German or Dutch style scabbard. There is no evidence or pictures to support this claim.
[6] Jerry Burney of Luger Holster Repair. Sewn with linen and in the fashion of most all leather scabbards. I doubt there is anyone in the last 50 or so years that is capable of this. I can’t date it exactly of course, but it is without doubt well before the 1930’s.
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