Rare German model 1898 quillback long bayonet sword carl eickhorn, recovered in an old German Trench line near the village of Mametz on the Somme battlefield of July 1916

This is a rare and very nice battlefield relic German model 1898 quillback long bayonet sword carl eickhorn. The bayonet is complete other then missing its wooden handles it is rusty and in relic but solid condition it has been very well cleaned it is perfect for display or a nice bit for any collection and a rare pattern to get this complete from the battlefield now these days. The bayonet was recovered in an old German Trench line near the village of Mametz on the Somme battlefield of July 1916..The bayonet comes with 2xA5 laminated information cards with pictures and map.

In June 1916, the British preliminary bombardment cut much of the barbed wire protecting the Mametz defences and destroyed many of the trenches in the first position occupied by Reserve Infantry Regiment 109 of the 28th Reserve Division. On the 1st July 1916 when the British 7th Division advanced behind a creeping barrage, much of the German front line was quickly overrun and many prisoners taken; delays further forward caused the infantry to lag behind the barrage and suffer far more casualties. Mametz was occupied during the morning by the British 20th Brigade but a German counterattack forced most of the British troops out, until a second attack during the afternoon, when the advance of the British 18th Division on the right flank, had cut the Germans in the village off from Montauban to the east. The German defence collapsed, and the 7th Division reached all its objectives on the right and in the centre and began to consolidate, ready to receive a German counterattack.