Original Austro-Hungarian WWI Trench Raiding Club Mace – Circa 1915 Original Items

Original Item: Only One Available. Used in raids against the Imperial Russian trenches on the Eastern Front in WWI, this issued club is patterned after the Knight’s Maces of the 13th and 14th centuries. It features a heavy cast iron head, surrounded by circular type pyramid projections with one on the top, which could deliver a devastating blow to any foe. Certainly rendering an opponent wearing a Steel Helmet unconscious and suitable for taking back to friendly lines. Mounted on a 19¼” stout wood shaft and 1½” across, this was and is a formidable weapon. The wood handle is somewhat dried out, and the cast warhead shows some old rust deterioration. The head is attached by a single rivet on the side as shown. There are a good few dents and nicks in the metal, and the very tip of the club is flat, likely from service use. The shaft is likely a post war replacement, but the head is original to the World War One period.

Trench raiding clubs were homemade melee weapons used by both the Allies and the Central Powers during World War I. Clubs were used during nighttime trench raiding expeditions as a quiet and effective way of killing or wounding enemy soldiers. The clubs were usually made out of wood. It was common practice to fix a metal object at the striking end (e.g. an empty Mills bomb) in order to maximize the injury inflicted. Another common design comprised a simple stave with the end drilled out and a lead weight inserted, with rows of large hobnails hammered in around its circumference. Most designs had some form of cord or leather strap at the end to wrap around the user’s wrist. Bosnian soldiers serving in the Austro-Hungarian army were fond of using maces. They were also used by officers to finish enemy soldiers wounded by poison gas attacks.

Trench clubs were manufactured in bulk by units based behind the lines. Typically, regimental carpenters and metal workers would make large numbers of the same design of club.They were generally used along with other “quiet” weapons such as trench knives, entrenching tools, bayonets, hatchets and pickaxe handles – backed up with revolvers and hand grenades.

The Trench Club is so massive that we think it was intended to be wielded with two hands. It comes ready for further research and display!