Original British WWI Flail Style Trench Club – Featured in Book At Arm’s Length Page 38 Original Items

Original Item: One-of-a-kind. Purchased directly from David F. Machnicki, the author of At Arm’s Length Trench Clubs and Knives (Vol. 1), where this very club is featured on page 38! Please note that the attached page image from the book is copyrighted material and the use of the page is done by permission of the author. A printed copy of the page will accompany the purchase of this club.

This British club’s articulated design gives it a unique appearance when compared with the other clubs from World War One. Its rosewood handle and head are joined together by pieces of forged iron hardware. The head for the club is shaped like a tejolote (ancient hand-held grinding tool) with an upper 44 mm diameter and a lower 38 mm diameter. The handle’s profile is fusiform (spindle-like in shape), with the middle of the handle being broader than its narrower top and bottom. Its grip has 46 encircling grooves. A 6.0-millimeter hole was drilled above its flat pommel for the placement of a lanyard. Four flat-headed nails (two on each side) were used to affix an iron bracket to the top of its handle. Housed within this iron bracket is a 6.0 mm thick rotating eyelet. A 5.0-millimeter thick fixed eyelet is anchored at the base of its wood head and linked using a 26 mm diameter iron ring to the top of the handle’s hardware (rotating eyelet). And when the club is used as a weapon, its design allows for the head of the dub to rotate freely about its axis Another version for this style of dub exists, which has an iron ring bearing four small conical points and an additional small terminal point affixed to the perimeter of the head’s surface. Note: There is evidence of a pre-1910 British publication that lists this style of dub for use by game wardens and retailed in Army & Navy stores. Note: Current literature on the topic of medieval weaponry has classified this style of club, which is constructed with a separate striking bead attached to its longer handle by a flexible leather strap or chain-link as a flail.

Total length: 523 mm
Head dimensions: 149 x 44 x 44 mm
Grip diameter: 26 mm
Pommel diameter: 26 mm
Lanyard: 6.0 mm hole
Terminal spike: N/A
Spring dimensions: N/A
Mass 416 grams
Other: forged iron hardware

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.