Unusual 21” WWI Carved Wooden Trench Raiding Club with Internal Lead Weighted Tip

Here on offer is what appears to be a WWI trench raiding club that has been skilfully carved from a branch of wood, possibly blackthorn. The tip has an internal lead weight fitted similar to the type fitted to officially issued British clubs, at the time.

The branch has been carved in the centre section, in such a way as to leave a dozen protruding ‘nodules’ distributed around the circumference.

A hole has been drilled through it near the end of the grip, which would have originally had a thin rope or leather strap/loop fitted.

The main section seems to have been painted in a dark varnish of some type, but this is missing from the head section where it has clearly been used, exposing the small branch stems that act as impact nodules, like hob nails did on other versions.

This is an exceptionally rare example of a nearly impossible to find WW1 trench club, that is perfectly weighted and could do some serious damage!


Trench raiding clubs were homemade melee weapons used by both the Allies and the Central Powers during WW1.

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.

Apparently, 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 clubs, from whatever materials where available at the time. They were generally used along with other "quiet" weapons such as trench knives, entrenching tools, bayonets, hatchets and pickaxe handles.


The club measures 21” (53cm) long and weighs a heavy 470g.

Please see my pictures for the details of the condition, which complement this description.

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Code: 51550