Fighting knife

An assortment of fighting knives

A fighting knife has a blade designed to most effectively inflict injury in close-quarters physical confrontations.[1][2][3][4] The combat knife and the trench knife are examples of military fighting knives.[1][5]

Fighting knives were traditionally designed as special-purpose weapons, intended primarily if not solely for use in personal or hand-to-hand combat. This singleness of purpose originally distinguished the fighting knife from the field knife, fighting utility knife, or in modern usage, the tactical knife. The tactical knife is a knife with one or more military features designed for use in extreme situations, which may or may not include a design capability as a fighting or combat weapon.[6] Since World War I, the fighting knife in military service has gradually evolved into a dual-purpose or "fighting-utility" knife, suited for both knife fighting and utility roles. As a consequence, the terms "fighting knife" and "tactical knife" are frequently employed interchangeably.

  1. ^ a b Burton, Walter E., Knives For Fighting Men, Popular Science, July 1944, Vol. 145 No. 1, p. 150
  2. ^ Hunsicker, A., Advanced Skills in Executive Protection, Boca Raton FL: Universal Publishers, ISBN 1-59942-849-0, ISBN 978-1-59942-849-9, p. 51
  3. ^ Thompson, Leroy, Fairbairn–Sykes Commando Dagger, Oxford, UK: Osprey Publishing, ISBN 1-84908-432-7, ISBN 978-1-84908-432-1 (2011), p. 71
  4. ^ Lee, David, Up Close and Personal: The Reality of Close-quarter Fighting in World War II, Naval Institute Press, ISBN 1-59114-907-X, 9781591149071 (2006), p. 117: "At the top of the list is the fighting knife. Using this weapon requires the soldier to close right in with his enemy. The fact that its use is going to be bloody and horrible means that only a strong or well conditioned individual is going to be able to use it in anger."
  5. ^ Peterson, Harold L., Daggers and Fighting Knives of the Western World, Courier Dover Publications, ISBN 0-486-41743-3, ISBN 978-0-486-41743-1 (2001), p. 80: "Right at the outset trench knives were introduced by both sides during World War I, so that the common soldier was once again equipped with a knife designed primarily for combat."
  6. ^ Shideler, Dan, Sigler, Derrek, and Ramage, Ken (eds.), The Gun Digest Book Of Tactical Gear, Krause Publications, ISBN 0-89689-684-6, ISBN 978-0-89689-684-0 (2008), p. 7