Combat knife

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US Marines practicing with knives attached to their rifles.

Combat knives are mainly used in close combat.

Modern combat knives come in many shapes and sizes. Most militaries today have standardized the types of combat knives issued to infantry soldiers.

In the United States Marine Corps, the standard issue combat knife is the KA-BAR, and has been since World War II. A typical KA-BAR knife has a 7" clip-point blade. It is made of 1095 carbon steel and features a leather-washer or synthetic handle made of Kraton (a substitute for rubber, non-slip grip).

The famed Gurkha regiments favor the Kukri, a bladed weapon that more closely resembles a machete or Filipino bolo sword than a knife. With quick, chopping blows, a well trained Kukri wielder is devastating in close combat.

One famous combat knife is the British Fairbairn-Sykes, which is very much like a dagger in its thin, double-edged design. Its specific purpose is silently killing an unprepared sentry or other foe, or knife fighting.

Col. Rex Applegate, an authority on close combat, made several recommendations regarding the use of the combat knife. The knife should be held in the right hand (assumes right is dominant), the body in a crouch, and the left hand forward to act as a guard and to create openings for attack. He states that the throat area is vulnerable to either thrust or slash attack, with the thrust being most effective when "driven into the hollow of the throat just below the Adam's apple." Further, he notes that it is possible to get an effective slash across the sides of the throat from the rear, but that a thrust to the kidney is very effective and more easily accomplished from that position. Slashing attacks to the extremities can sever tendons and render the limb useless; the limbs also contain major blood vessels that can be severed or punctured. Applegate recommends the following technique for removing a sentry: "Approach from the rear, grasp the nose and mouth with the left hand to prevent outcry, and thrust the knife into the kidney area...After a short interval, withdraw the knife and cut the throat."^[1]

[edit] Notes

^ Applegate, Rex: "Kill or Get Killed: Riot Control Techniques, Manhandling, and Close Combat for the Police and the Military" pages 67-96. Paladin Press, 1976