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The term “combat knife” was never an official designation in WWII, although several types of knives were designed and procured for use as combat weapons. In addition, numerous civilian hunting and pocket knives were used by the GIs throughout the war. This chapter is concerned only with those knives actually designed and issued for combat uses.

At the time of the America’s entry into WWII, the only knife designated as Standard Issue was the M-2 Pocket Knife, this was a simple folding design with two knife blades and a can opener.

At the start of the war (for the US), requests flooded the Ordnance Department for combat knives to be issued to special purpose troops, such as paratroopers and Rangers. The Army issued some 139,000 M-1918 Mark I Trench Knives from storage for use. There were no plans to reintroduce this knife back into production because it was not an effective combat weapon, in spite of its fearsome appearance. This was a brutal weapon with a 7-inch, double-edged blade, a heavy brass grip with a “knuckle” hand grip (the outer edges of the knuckles were fitted with cone-shaped points, as well as a larger cone on the pommel designed as a “skull crusher”. With its limited utility as combat knife (it could only be used in clenched-fist attacks) as well as its requirement of a large amount of brass, the M-1918 was soon withdrawn from service.

In December of 1942, the Army issued a requirement for a new combat knife with a 6.75-inch blade, leather handle and a steel pommel. This was standardized in January 14, 1943 as the Trench Knife, M-3. It was designed as a strong and rugged knife, yet capable of being efficiently mass produced. Some 2,590,247 were built between 1943 and 1945. The M-3 soon proved to be very popular with the troops and was later chosen to be redesigned with a bayonet attachment point as the M-4 Bayonet-Knife.