Hitler Youth Dagger

The Hitler Youth (Hitlerjugend) was one of the first Party organizations to acquire an edged weapon in the form of a camping knife (HJ-Fahrtenmesser). During the first heady days of the Nazi Party, uniforms, equipment, and insignia were in great demand and many variations were manufactured and sold without restriction. This same phenomenon occurred with the HJ knife. Before the RZM established quality benchmarks and licensed manufacturers, a number of variation HJFahrtenmesser were produced. Some of these knives (Messer) were made up of old stocks of existing hilts and blades which simply had the enameled HJ diamond, or other HJ insignia, placed on the grip, pommel, or scabbard. Some of these knives were made up with bayonet style hilts which had an inoperative press button, but no lug slot, which were left over from Weimar times. These hilts had either double-edged or slab-sided knife blades attached to them and they were sold to HJ members to fulfill the pressing demand. These Messer are simply early variations of the HJ-Fahrtenmesser, and should not be confused with Seitengewehre.

The Hitlerjugend did wear an authorized Seitengewehr which was simply a standard KS 98 which had an enameled HJ diamond inset into the obverse grip. The bayonet was officially termed Seitenwaffe der Wachgefolgschaft. The bayonet first appeared in the 1943 edition of the yearly Party organization book, "Organisationsbuch der NSDAP," but there is no mention of the duties of the Wachgefolgschaft. As its name implies, the group was a security or guard unit of the HJ. The HJ was, by then, supplying older personnel to the military to serve as flakhelpers, laborers, air raid helpers, etc. By the end of the war HJ members were under arms and serving in self defense units as the front closed in upon their towns and cities.

HI Seitenwaffe hilt. This Hitler Youth Seitengewehr has an unmarked blade with a wide fuller.
It is a late bayonet with a white metal hilt that has a plated finish which is proper for these bayonets. The enamel HJ insignia is properly inset into the black plastic grip as it should be.
The reverse of an HJ grip insignia with two pins is shown to illustrate the proper method of attachment.

The HJ Wachgefolgschaft Seitengewehr was a late model KS 98 which had the enameled HJ diamond inset into the obverse black checkered plastic grips of the bayonet in exactly the same manner as on the HJ-Fahrtenmesser. The only known official illustration of the bayonet shows it with a 20cm blade, but examples with 25cm blades have been observed. As with all bayonets with grip insignia, the insignia should be properly mounted to the grip with pins. In this instance, the insignia should be inset into the grip, just as on the HJ knife. Reproductions of this rare bayonet have been made for many years.

Original examples of the bayonet have late white metal hilts which have been nickel-plated. Since the bayonet was not authorized until 1943, early steel-hilted examples should be viewed with suspicion. Examples which evidence removed rivets or surface-mounted insignia should also arouse suspicion. The blades on observed original examples all have wide fullers (on both 20cm and 25cm blades) and no maker markings. The scabbard is black-painted steel, as normally found on all KS 98s. The bayonet was worn in a black leather frog and had a Portepee attached in the old Imperial manner, by threading it through the belt. The Portepee has a black leather strap with three aluminum stripes. The slide is black leather and the stem, crown, and ball are aluminum. The insert of this generic knot is black.

George T. Wheeler: "Seitengewehr: History of the German Bayonet 1919-1945", R. James Bender Publishing, 1999

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