Entrenching Tool & Helve
An essential tool carried by both infantry and cavalry soldiers.
Trenches were used as protection in the battlefields of the First World War.
Although entrenching tools were not necessarily used in the creation of trenches, they were useful for digging latrines or shallow graves for the burial of dead soldiers. These entrenching tools were carried by all non-commissioned ranks of the British Army as part of their personal kit. When not in use the tool can be broken down into two different components with the metal head stored within a canvas web carrying case and the helve carried beside the bayonet in a webbing carrier.
Date:
1914-1918
Did you know?
These entrenching tools could also be used by soldiers as weapons during the vicious close quarter combat that would sometimes occur in the confines of the trenches.
