"B2" type Commando Knife belonging to Hugh Maines of No1 Commando.

Hi
Here are a couple of shots of my father's Commando knife, with a close up view of the underside of the blade guard clearly showing the "Crows foot and B2" stamped mark.

Cheers Andy

Hi Hugh
A very nice example hang onto it.

John M

That`s a lovely 2nd pattern there.

B2 designates a Birmingham Inspectorate mark. Nice example and even moreso that it was your father`s.

A rare piece of history.

Hi

Thanks for the replies, I know how lucky I am to still have my father's knife, unfortunately I don't know what happened to the scabbard. I think when my father was demobbed from the Commandos, he left all of his stuff at his parents house and some of it went missing ie scabbard, beret etc. Even more annoyingly for me one of his younger brothers decided to mount the knife on the wall, however he decided the best way to do this was to drill and tap two holes in to the handle. The idea of damaging any historical artefact fills me with absolute abhorrence, especially as it something so personal and precious to myself. What makes it even worse is that the two holes are not in line and are off centre, having said that I have to admit that I have found an old imperial screw and have used one of the holes as a means of mounting the knife in a frame as part of a group of four additional frames containing my father's other Commando artefacts. I will be posting images of this display in the memorabilia section once I have finished remounting the knife. Although utalising one of the these holes has proved to be a very elegant method of mounting the knife, in that the knife seems to float magically in the frame with no obvious means of visible support, I would rather they had never been drilled. Still it could have been worse he could have drilled through the blade tang that runs through the handle!

Cheers Andy

what a fantastic thing to have of your dads though ...glad it found its rightful home in the end ...

it could of been worse i remember my mom throwing the Japanese sword my dads kukri knife and scabbard out as she caught us playing with them in the street....lol

thanks for the pictures

Steve Silvester

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 13/02/2009 23:08:51

Hi Steve

My father aso had a a Japanese officers sword, I think acquired after the battle of Hill 170, the owner of the weapon actually managed to breach the Commando lines and was about to demonstrate its sharpness to my father, when somebody shot him. I am not sure if it was my father who did this or one of his comrades, any way after the battle my dad grabbed the sword. Unfortunately this and a German telescopic gun metal cosh (acquired in North Africa) went missing on one of my parents many house moves overseas in the 1950's during my dads service with the RWF (his parent Regiment).
I intend to eventually donate my father's Commando artefacts to either the Commando museum in Spean Bridge or to his parent Regiments museum in Caernarfon Castle.

Cheers Andy

He drilled thru the handle! Give him a slap from all of us ! As a kid I remember all sorts of souvenirs my dad brought back . Necklaces from dead Japs ,,a belt covered in army badges ,,all lost in time even one of my dad combined ops patches ,,arraghh

Hi Andy,
Personal items are the most treasured.

Another B2 example, I have no history but it's in good condition.

Regards
Scott

B2.

Hi Scott

Yes that certainly is a nice example, you've also got the scabbard, unfortunately I don't have my father's scabbard, I think it went missing when he left his Commando stuff at his parents house just after the war when he re-enlisted with his parent regiment.
Where did you obtain yours, I know original knives can sell for quite a lot of money, has it got the Crows foot B2 mark on the underside of the guard?

Cheers Andy

Hi Andy,

That's a shame a great many items. have been down the "chute" so to speak over the years & will continue to do so.
It came from a friend of mine, yes it has the marking however only part of it which is quite normal.

I'm sure your aware these are 2nd pattern daggers and yes can sell for good money say £250 - £350 depending on condition/history.

Regards
Scott

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 10/08/2009 21:31:45

Hi

As I have previously written in the above message I have not got the sheath for my father's Commando knife. Consequently I was recently contacted by Ron Lain (Hockmalain) of this site who very generously offered to give me one of his original sheaths. To say that I am deeply moved by his kind offer, would be an understatement in the extreme, especially as he would not take any payment. However in lieu of this, and to show my deep gratitude, I will make a donation to the CVA, again many thanks Ron for your extremely kind gift.

I have temporarily removed my dads knife from its display frame and have taken some photos of both knife and sheath together. I have now bought a picture frame and intend to mount the sheath and include it with the six other frames that I have put together to display my father's Commando artefacts.

Cheers Andy

hi

excuse the late reply to this thread, but just a word of warning about leaving blades in sheathes , they can be quite often damp and can easily permanently damage the blade

Oil the blade before you put it in and check it often!

I had a couple of FS knives but now have a nice collection of Japanese WW2 swords

cheers

chris

It is assumed that B2 stamped knifes were produced by BSA see page 75 of Robert Latam-Wilkinson excellent book.

Attached is a 1st pattern attributed to Ron Muddimer of 30AU that i won in an auction and was sold by his son.

Macdonald wrote:
That`s a lovely 2nd pattern there.

B2 designates a Birmingham Inspectorate mark. Nice example and even moreso that it was your father`s.

A rare piece of history.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 10/08/2013 09:56:07

Now then, those are fantastic knives.

Never thought I'd see the day when I'd covet anything, never mind a knife. :)