Now, if I ask you what you first think about when I mention hand weapons in World War II, you probably think of the trusty rifle and bayonet. Regular viewers of this channel might immediately think of the Girka cookery. But if I specifically mention the Commandos, then you’ll probably immediately think of the Fairburn Sykes dagger.
The commandos also had access to another fearsome hand-to-hand combat weapon of the Second World War, and that is the Smatchet, which is a pretty incredible weapon in itself. So, why on earth did commandos need a weapon like this? And let’s find out some more about it. Hi folks, Matt here, scholar glow. Now, before we delve into the smatchet specifically, we’re going to set some context. Very important.
And it’s really important to mention at the outset that the standard weapon for most infantry and in some cases marines and navy as well of the Second World War was a boltaction rifle. Okay. So this is a magazine rifle in most most nations. So for the British this is an SMLE which is what we started the um Second World War with which was a First World War uh rifle.
In fact it predates the First World War but we’re still using it in the Second World War. And most other militaries, whether we’re talking about the Italians or the Germans or or the French or whoever else, started the war with bolt-action rifles. And many of us finished it with boltaction rifles. Now, when you have a rifle at this time, the bayonet was still a surprisingly important thing, and they certainly trained bayonet fighting across all the militaries of the world.
Bayonets had been rather important in World War I and in the inter war years and were still being used extensively in World War II. And of course, in an environment where you might be storming buildings or trenches, fortifications with a bolt-action rifle at close range, having a spiky thing on the end of your rifle is really quite useful for keeping people at bay or simply because you haven’t managed to chamber another round yet.
So, bayonets were still super super important. And indeed, the bayonet, whilst it is usually fitted to the rifle, could be detached and used as a hand weapon. And so in fact if we look at Bidd’s work for example with the US Marines then he was teaching them large knife fighting based on his extensive experience. Very cool uh manual he made as well using the bayonet.
So using large bayonets essentially like a bowie knife was a thing in World War II. And of course there were certain specialized and in some cases sort of ethnically specific units for example the girkers who made use of their own regional weapons. So for example in the British army we commonly find the Girka cookery being used and not just by the Girkas.
In fact my own great uncle was in the Royal Engineers in Burma. In fact two of my great uncles were in World War II and uh we still have the family cookery. So he had a cookery even though he was in the Royal Engineers. Most of his soldiers were Indian. And so things like the cookery used a lot in the British army, a little bit in other armies.
But if we go over to the US Army for example, we find things like bolo knives and even bow knives being used. But now we come to the very specific type of troop known as commandos. Okay. Now I’m not going to give you a potted history of the commandos. Obviously we’ve got um we’ve got paratroopers, we’ve got Royal Marines commandos, and then later on we’ve got the SAS and the SPS.
But the Commandos, at least in British service, and also in fairness uh with uh the American copy of this, the V42, they are famous for a certain type of dagger, which is commonly referred to as a stiletto. I’m not a big fan of this term because technically this is not really a stiletto. It’s a dagger.
But anyway, um this is a specialized thrusting weapon. Not to say it’s only thrust. And if we look at uh Fairburn’s own training manuals, he does also cut with it and the edges are there for other purposes as well, but is by and large kind of like an assassin’s weapon. And that was often how it was used.
Now, we’ve talked about these in previous videos. I have of course in the past done videos about cookery versus um fairbins and of course they’re completely different things. Okay, so generally speaking the cookery is a sort of thing that will accompany a rifle and be used to take machine gun nests by frontal charges or flanking charges and things like this.
Whereas the commando dagger, as you’ll see from this blackened third pattern one, is often used stealthily. It’s used at night. It’s used for creeping up behind centuries, but it could be used in a pinch in a close in brawl. Now, obviously, if your primary weapon is a rifle and someone you go into a building to clear a building, um you’ve thrown some grenades in, but there’s still some people alive in there, and you go in with your rifle either with or without the bayonet, and someone jumps on you, you might find out that you’re in asituation whereby the best thing you can
do in that situation is to pull out whatever type of knife or dagger you have, which if you’re a commando, very likely will be the Feben Sykes, and use that at close range in order to free yourself so that you can go back to using your firearm again. So these have a very important function in World War II.
So the real question here is I guess if all commandos in British service and in many other militaries in the world had some form of stiletto dagger type weapon in addition to whatever uh firearms they were carrying and in many cases those firearms would have a bayonet either attached or in the hand as well. Why on earth does this amazing weapon known as the smatchet exist? Well, we’re going to get to that at the end, but first of all, let’s have a look at what the smatchet is.
So, our primary source for the Smatchet is actually Fairburn’s own manuals. Now, he supposedly designed this himself. I don’t know if anybody else was involved in designing this. We’ll talk about its inspirations in a second, but fundamentally it is a chop and thrust um weapon which has a strap at the back and is worn on the left hand side in the same place that you might wear a sword fundamentally.
So it is a bit like a short sword and in fact there are a couple of sources referring to it as a Roman type sword. Um so they very much viewed this as a small compact sword rather than a dagger. It’s a very different thing to the uh typical FS commando dagger. So looking at the form of it. So it is dictated by having this leafshaped blade which is edged on the front and then edged partially on the back.
Now, many sources that you read on the internet will describe this as being edged for half of the back. In fact, the ones I’ve seen are more like a third. Okay? So, this is what we would call a false edge up here. And that’s really to assist in penetration of the thrust more than cutting with the back edge. However, you could do that.
Um, so it’s edged at the back for about a third and fully down the front. And you’ll notice that it is a leaf shape. We’ll come back to that in a second. Next up for its features, we have a guard here, which is nickelplated steel. I believe it’s certainly plated. Um, some sources might refer to this as a nickel uh as a nickel silver guard, which it’s not.
It’s nickelplated. It’s very clearly uh steel underneath. Could possibly be brush, but I think it’s steel. So, it’s plated steel. And of course, why plated? Well, it stops it rusting. Then we have a hardwood grip. Now, it should be pointed out there is a earlier version of this and a later version of this.
This is the earlier star one where if I just come in close, you can see it’s got multiple pin rivets through here. The later one has just two big brass ones. And then we’ve got a pummel. And again, some of them have a brass pommel. This actually has the aluminum alloy pommel, which again is um secured via rivets through the side and a lanyard.
We’ll get to the lanyard in a second. Through a hole in the pommel. The pommel is quite heavy. The grip is quite um fat and sturdy. It’s made in two halves, riveted either side of a fairly sturdy tank. But one of the important things to say about this is this is not as heavy as a weapon, not as blade heavy as a weapon as you might think. It actually balances.
If you have a look here, right next to the guard, which is really, really interesting because it was certainly something that was in Fairburn’s mind. If we just go over to the commando dagger, this is a very unusual dagger. um this design of dagger in it actually balances behind the guard. Now most historical knives and daggers balance in front of the guard somewhere up the blade here or at most in the guard.
So the fact that this is balanced in the hand is a very specific thing that Fevven talks about for retention for keeping it in your hand. is clearly something he liked from a knife and comes from his time in the Shanghai municipal police getting into knife and pistol fights in with hoodlams in as a policeman in Shanghai for a couple of decades before the second world war.
So when we come to this um smatch it this is not exactly like a machete or a bill hook in terms of how it feels in the hand. In fact, although it looks like a very big blade, the blade is actually quite thin and is distally tapered. So, it comes down to maybe one and a half millimeters at the tip and it is only around maybe 4 mm at the base here.
So, it’s actually although it’s very broad, it’s really really thin. So, don’t for a second think that it is I just happen to have a World War II bill hook here. This is primarily a tool. Now, could this be used as a weapon? Of course, anything can be used as a weapon. From a kitchen knife to a rolling pin to a broom handle, uh to a chair, anything can be used as a weapon by the determined enough.
Um but the bell hook, which this one’s actually dated to, um 1943 and isa military one. This is primarily for cutting wood and brush and stuff like this. It is a tool. Yes, you could use it as a weapon. And while you might think that the Bill Hook superficially looks similar in size and perhaps weight to the Smatchet, in reality it they’re nothing alike.
The Smatchet is very lightbladed, more like a machete or what I think it’s based on a baron. So here we get into challenging some of the I would regard them as misconceptions of this. There are many sources in books and on the internet that regard this as being based on various things that went before it.
One of those things is the Welsh trench uh fighting sword of World War I used by the Welsh fusers, I think it was. Um I don’t think it’s based on that. It’s very different size, different shape. It doesn’t have the same blade cross-section at all. Different kind of thing. Although Feben probably was aware of them. Um I don’t think this is particularly based on some people say on the bolo either.
I think this is specifically based on the Filipino Bong. Okay. which was one of the main weapons used by the Mororrow during for example the um the Filipino USA war in around 1900. So I think this is absolutely based on bong but of course it has the addition of a guard which is a very European thing to do and means that as a thrusting weapon it’s now much safer to use because the hand can’t ride up onto the blade as it could do with some Filipino designs.
And very importantly, the pummel. We’ll get to the use of the pummel in a second, but this is a very heavy pommel and that is for a reason and it has a specific purpose. So, let’s see what does Feburn actually say about using this thing. So, we’re very lucky as well as a few um films, for example, that have been filmed of Feburn actually training people both in America and over here in the UK, particularly in Scotland, we’re very lucky to have a series of manuals from Feburn, which teach all sorts of things, including commando combat, but
even for women in self-defense and even for shooting styles to be used by police. So, as I mentioned, he had been very prominent in the Shanghai Municipal Police, and he’d been involved in shooting and knife combat and everything else for many, many years. And this why he was why he was recruited in World War II to train soldiers.
And what I’ve got here is a compendium of his works. The two principal ones relating to the smatchet being called Get Tough and All-In Fighting. Now, just before we delve into what he says about the use of the Smatchet, its name, what on earth does smatchet mean? So again, I’ve seen lots of explanations online and in written books about the word smatchet, and most people conclude that it’s a combination of the word machete and hatchet.
Do I think that’s correct? I think it’s partially correct. But in my researches, I found an interesting nugget of information. And now William Fairburn was Scottish. He was the youngest of 14 children bought born to a very poor working-class family in Scotland. And in old Scottish slang, a smatchet was a naughty child or small person.
Now I do think that when he named this the smatchet, he must have been aware of that. And so I suspect that yes, while the word is related to machete and hatchet, I’m not disputing that. I think the fact that he probably brought a smirk to his face to know that a smatchet was also a a rambunctious and naughty little child, which I think is a little bit what this weapon is like.
Anyway, let’s see what he says in his book. So, first thing to say is that Feban doesn’t give a huge amount of detail about the smatchet. It’s of course three pages, but there’s not an awful lot on those pages. So, here you can see some pictures of the smatchet being worn and held. We’ll talk about in a second.
But first of all, he begins the smatchet, which is spelled in a couple of different ways. But anyway, the smatchet, the psychological reaction of any man when he first takes the smatchet in hand, is full justification for its recommendation as a fighting weapon. I understand what he’s saying. Hopefully, you will do as well.
In other words, it gives someone confidence. Much like the cookery or having a a knife on your belt, if your job is to storm into a building or take ground and capture a trench, then having something on your in your hand or on your belt which makes you feel confident is a very useful thing for a soldier. He will immediately register all the essential qualities of a good soldier.
Confidence, determination, and aggressiveness. Its balance, weight, and killing power with the point, edge, or pummel, we’ll get to that in a second, combined with the extremely simple training necessary to become efficient in its use make it an ideal personal weapon for all those not armed with the rifle and bayonet.
We’ll come back to that point at the end. So, he then goes on talking about carrying and drawing it. I’ve already told you about carryingit and wearing it. So, it’s worn down on the left hand side in the same place you would have a sword. And now we finally get to the lanyard. So, you put your hand through and hold it there.
And this is how he shows it being held. And he specifically says to hold it as near to the top. In other words, as close to the point of balance of the grip as possible. So, you don’t hold it down here. Personally, if I was um doing bow knife dueling, for example, which is something we do in my club, I would actually hold it down and I put my thumb at the back.
But that’s not what Feben wants. What Fairman wants is a good solid hammer grip right the way up at the top by the guard with the lanyard around the wrist. So this is a weapon which is very securely firmly and determinedly held in a way that you can’t drop or lose it. Moreover, having the lanyard around here means that technically you can drop it and operate a rifle or do something else, open a door, whatever you need to do, and you can easily get it back into your hand again.
So, the modes of attack with this matchet are described very clearly, concisely, and they’re quite basic uh in the manual. So, number one, you can either drive the point into the stomach as shown there. So, a thrust to the middle of the body, dead easy. Number two is a saber cut, as he calls it, to the right low neck. Okay? And the next one is a cut to the low left of neck.
So, what he’s talking about here is chopping down onto the side of the neck. Bear in mind that your enemy Nazi here is wearing a um wearing a helmet and they have a chin strap. So, and they’ve got a high collar. So, actually down here is above the level of the uniform but below the level of the helmet. And you’ve got to bear in mind the equipment that’s being worn in relation to where the attacks are being given.
In addition to this, Feben gives a lot of information about the placement of arteries and it should be fairly obvious why necks are a very vulnerable target. And four, smash up with the pummel under the chin. So essentially, um, and other people have done uh, videos about this online, so I won’t go into a huge amount of depth. We’ve got the thing here.
We’ve essentially got the thrust to the stomach. We’ve got a chop down to one side. We’ve got a chop down to the other side. And then we’ve got the ram up with the pommel here. So four very simple attacks. In fact, it’s quite like some of the cutless material we’ll see in the Victorian period.
It might be related to it. So you’ve got chops here, stab here, pommel here. And you can imagine in any any of these positions or situations, depending on what you’re doing and when you go in to say storm a trench or something, this weapon might be in a position that dictates which attack come first.
If your hand is low, then you might come up with the pummel to make space and then you might come down with a chop, for example. That’s just one example. So a fairly simple but also very brutal weapon. Now the only additional subtlety that Fairburn gives is actually looking at chopping of arms. He looks at the wrist and he also looks at the inside of the elbow.
And again this relates to his wider um work where he talks about uh arterial um attacks with any type of knife really. And you’ve got to bear in mind as well that your opponent isn’t going to be standing there unarmed. In a World War II scenario, they’re usually going to be holding a rifle. So very often the arms will be if you come on this side, you’ll get a chop there.
If you’re on this side, you’ll get a chop there. So very often these attacks at the arms are dictated by what the opponent’s holding um and where they’re holding it. So, let’s just come back to that little part of a sentence where Feburn says, “This is a perfect weapon for those not armed with a rifle and bayonet.
” Now, I’ve noticed looking around both on the internet and also in published books that a lot of people take this to mean this is a great weapon who for someone who isn’t armed. Now, it’s very clear actually when you start researching it that that this isn’t the case. This isn’t what he meant. I’ll go into what he meant in a second with the thanks with the um thanks to a newspaper source that I found while researching this.
Now, obviously, most soldiers, whether you’re a commando or anyone else at this time, are going to have a rifle and bayonet. Okay? So, if that’s the standard arament of most commandos, also of most Vermach or Italian or Axis French or whatever soldiers that you’re coming up against, that’s the standard armorament.
However, not all soldiers, particularly as we go later in the war, not all soldiers are actually armed with a rifle and bayonet. Some people are armed with other things. So, this really comes back to answer the question of why would you have a smatchet? If you’ve got a rifle and bayonet and you’ve got a commando dagger, why on earth would you want to smatch it? Well, this newspaperum extract actually gives us the answer.
So this is taken from the Sunday Post of Sunday the 20th of February 1944 and it’s a commando describing how him and his um group of men were captured by the Germans. Um and the article is titled Shot in Cold Blood. It says after about 20 minutes three German SS police soldiers advanced and covered us with their m machine pistols shouting harass her house.
They adopted a most menacing attitude. The soldier with me stood with his hands up. He was shot dead from a range of one yard by all three men. Luckily, I could not move and they carried me to a French cafe where I was left under guard with several wounded commando soldiers. So, he says, “A number of German soldiers entered the cafe with smatchets.” There we go.
Long knives used by our Tommy gunners in lie of bayonets. Okay, we’ll come back to that in a second. They began to abuse me, calling us um shrine shrine horn England and made as if to slash us with the smatchits, but some of the others prevented them from doing so. Now, obviously it goes on, I won’t read the whole account, but there it explicitly states in February 1944 that the smatchets are long knives used by our Tommy gunners in lie of bayonets.
So really there’s the answer to the question and I don’t think I haven’t seen anywhere published this before that this was the reason that they were carried. This is a large assault weapon akin to a cookery or indeed akin to a bayonet on the end of a rifle. It’s not comparable and doesn’t take the place of the commando dagger.
If you were in the commandos, you’d have one of these and a smatchet. If you didn’t have, and again this is explicitly from the newspaper source, if you didn’t have a rifle and bayonet, why? Well, quite simply, the bayonet fits on the end of the rifle. In this case, SMLE, short magazine, Leenfield, later on the number four with the pig sticker bayonet.
So, if you have a rifle, you have a bayonet on the end, and that’s what you charge into a trench or into a building with primarily. you don’t charge in waving around one of these FS daggers cuz that’s really for shanking people at very close range when you’re sneaking up on them. But if you don’t have a rifle, if you have a Tommy gun, and we’ll come back to that in a second, then you need a hand weapon because yes, you could just hit someone with your Tommy gun, but it’s not a very good hand weapon.
It’s far more effective to have something that’s actually made as an effective hand weapon like a bowie knife, a machete, a bill hook, a cookery, or a smatchet. So, this is what commandos were given if they didn’t have the rifle and bayonet. Now, why didn’t all of them have the rifle and bayonet? Well, quite simply, within the squads of soldiers, whether it was commandos or any other soldiers at this time, some people’s job was to not have a bolt-action rifle, but was to have a submachine gun.
Now, you can’t fit a bayonet to a Thompson submachine gun, at least not usually. Later on, um there are certain types of submachine gun you can fit bayonets to, and probably in those cases, they therefore no longer need the smatchet. But if your primary armorament is a Tommy gun, a Thompson submachine gun, or perhaps even a pistol in some cases if you’re an officer, then you need something as a hand weapon because you don’t have a bayonet on the end of your rifle.
This would also go perhaps for light machine gunners, people with brain guns, perhaps people operate operating mortars. So now we come back to this specific smatchet. Now I’m in the process of researching this because I actually know who owned this during World War II and it was actually owned by someone who was in the Army Service Corps who was initially a driver but was later on with the long range desert group. Okay.
So, essentially with the precursors of what became the SAS. So, it’s very interesting that he ended up with this. He owned this all the way until his death since he served in World War II. So, I suspect that these smatchets ended up in the hands of people who weren’t even necessarily commandos, but people who weren’t carrying around a rifle and bayonet because they had another job to do.
whether it was operating a vehicle it probably in that case or whether it was someone who had a Tommy gun instead of a rifle with a bayonet on the end. So there we go. I hope I’ve answered a few points about the Smatchet. Other people in the past have looked at how these were used and the origin of them, the fact that they were designed by Fairburn, much like the more famous uh Commando dagger. Uh but it’s great.
I think that these should get more more love. But I think what I’ve hopefully covered in this video are a couple of points. his name. The fact that smatch it is old Scottish slang for a naughty child, which I don’t think is a coincidence. But in addition, the fact that these were specifically carried by Tommy gunners or people who didn’t have the rifle and bayonet. So it wasn’t thatthey were otherwise unarmed.
It was just that you needed a essentially assault weapon for going straight into uh into combat. You needed something pointy on the end. And really a little uh commando dagger doesn’t quite cut the mustard for that. But something bigger like a cookery or a smatchet does. So there we go. Hopefully you now have been introduced to the smatchet and a little bit of its history.