"Turked 1907"

[4thGordons]

The Turks appear to have been the one nation that reused bayonet blads with some frequency. It is not unknown elsewhere but the turks seems to have done it more both recycling older patterns of their own bayonets and modifying blades obtained elsewhere.

P1907 blades that have been shortened, fitted with a sheet metal scbbard and had the muzzle ring replaced so they fit Turkish Mausers are relatively common. Often (I think with an eye to the Australian collector market) these are advertised as "Gallipoli capture" bayonets (with a suitably elevated price tag). This ignores the fact that many of them have post 1916 modifications (clearance hole etc) and post 1915 manufacture dates (!) and so must have been obtained elsewhere.

That beings said, I recently saw this and could not resist....its ugly, battered but was cheap, and.....

Chris

[shippingsteel]

The Turks appear to have been the one nation that reused bayonet blads with some frequency.

P1907 blades that have been shortened, fitted with a sheet metal scbbard and had the muzzle ring replaced so they fit Turkish Mausers are relatively common.

That beings said, I recently saw this and could not resist....its ugly, battered but was cheap, and.....

You're not wrong.! That first line is quite an understatement - they were the 'serial killers' of bayonet conversion - and probably did nearly as much damage.!

Of course all these conversions and modifications were undertaken in the '20s and '30s, when the Turks were busy rearming with anything they could get hold of.

They procured quantities of Enfield rifles and bayonets as surplus after the war's end, and as you know went on to make some quite disturbing 'Enfauser' hybrids.

Basically nothing was ever obsolete with the Turks - not while it could be reused for some constructive purpose. They were never pretty but they got the job done.!

Yes the 'Gallipoli capture' bayonets can usually just be written off as a clever marketing ploy, but in this case there is a strong possibility of some truth to that story.

I've been doing a bit of study into the 'blocks' of British production bayonets that were shipped out to Australia, and which made up the bulk of the early war stocks.

This Enfield bayonet fits into that range of dates and with the Australian use symbol on the pommel, could well have been used and 'captured' by Turks at Gallipoli.

I have seen a number of its 'stable mates' with one of mine shown below. It's a shame yours has had the crossguard removed - I would have liked to see its stamps.

Cheers, S>S