Luftwaffe boot knives collection

[shellmac]

Hi, here my Luftwaffe boot knife collection. There are all known variants with this marking on the blade:

1) Luftwaffe acceptance stamp eagle 5
2) Luftwaffe acceptance stamp eagle 6 (i have two pieces)
3) Luftwaffe acceptance stamp eagle 5 from one side and from the other side is etched RBNr. 0/0561/0020. It is code for Weyersberg factory. This is the only one known original RBNr. marking on this Luftwaffe boot knife. Exactly the same style marking was also used on gravity knife type II.
4) Acceptance stamp letter S
5) Acceptance stamp lette W

These all markings were used for these knives. Also exists original pieces without any marking on the blade, what we can consider as sixth variation of this knife.

There are of course also a lot of fakes/copies on the market. But they are not so good quality like original pieces and they have mostly bad markings like "hat1942" or logo of "Anton Wingen" and bad RBNr. 0018 on the other side of blade.

I am sorry if the photos are not so sharp. It is because of the resizing for upload to this thread.

Jiri

IMG_0133.jpg

IMG_0135.jpg

IMG_0136.jpg

IMG_0137.jpg

IMG_0139.jpg

IMG_0140.JPG

IMG_0144.jpg

IMG_0145.jpg

IMG_0146.jpg

IMG_0148.jpg

[sniper11]

Thats a nice collection and those blades look in very good condition.

Troy

[NikiT]

Impressive
Thanks for sharing

[Lutfen]

Thats a nice collection and those blades look in very good condition.

Troy

+1 - excellent set of knives!

Michael

[mwl]

Beautiful collection

[John Hodgin]

Thanks so much Jiri, this is exactly what I was looking for. Very fine collection.

[Serge M.]

Nice collection.

[AndyC]

Great looking collection.
I have only one LW boot knife and that one is marked with 6




Andy

[Willi Z.]

Very nice Jiri!

[Humble480]

Beautiful collection! Those blades are in mint condition as well. Very nice

[Humble480]

Here are a couple of blades that I have in my collection that you might find interesting and some pictures.

My theory is that (at least in part) these "Eagle 6" blades were distributed to the Fallschirmjager Divisions (like the 1st and 4th Divisions) in Italy.

The blade on the right-hand side (with the broken tip) was brought back by my grandfather who was a Captain and company commander in the 135th Regiment / 34th "Red Bull" Infantry Division (U.S.). It probably belonged to a Fallschirmjager and was brought back from Monte Cassino or the Gothic Line.

The blade on the left-hand side was brought back by Lieutenant Colonel Robert Moore, who was the commander of the 2nd Battalion, 2nd Regiment of the famous First Special Service Force (FSSF) in Italy. I purchased this from his family and was told that he took it from a POW near Anzio. You can see that he inscribed his name on the handle.

Both of these blades are marked Luftwaffe Eagle 6.

The picture with the knocked out Sherman tank is of Lieutenant Colonel Robert Moore with Brigadier General Robert T. Frederick during combat near Ceretto Alto, Anzio, Italy.

I've also uploaded some pictures of this combat knife being used in Italy. One is a famous picture of the Gran Sasso Station during the famous raid. The other is another picture in Italy.

The last picture is of my grandfather, Joe Humble, on the right side (with the Captain’s bars) in San Remo May 30, 1945.

[Humble480]

One more thing I just noticed. I think the Fallschirmjager from the Gran Sasso Station with the combat knife is the same soldier (far left side) in the second picture. The photos look like they might have both been taken the same day.

[shellmac]

Thanks to all

Interesting note and photos Humble ;-)