Truncheons cannot be considered as one of the technological innovations dating from the years of the First World War. On the contrary, truncheons were very old weapons that had already been used as early as the second millennium BC because they are quite simple to build: it was sufficient to have a wooden (or iron) stick with a handle and to attach iron plates and metal studs at the end of the blades. Truncheons were very highly effective and for several centuries (until the late Middle Ages) were constantly built and used by warriors who were engaged in hand-to-hand combat. With the introduction of gunpowder and with no direct contact any longer with the enemy, this type of weapon began to lose its importance and was therefore gradually abandoned.
In the early 20th century, however, truncheons made an appearance and again began to have some importance. Despite long range guns with a range of several kilometres, planes, tanks and machine guns, the tactics that were deployed by military commanders were still based on an assault of enemy positions. In this way after having overcome all obstacles, soldiers found themselves in trenches, face to face with the enemy in a confined space in which it was not easy to move. This explains why truncheons were ideal for this type of situation since they were easy to handle and at the same time very dangerous (given that the uniforms of soldiers did not have any metal protection).
Of all the European armies, only the Italian army did not use truncheons and preferred instead daggers and hand grenades. Indeed, truncheons were one of the battle cries of the anti-Habsburg propaganda: on 29th June 1916, after the terrible attack with phosgene on Mount San Michele, the Hungarian troops Honved entered in Italian trenches to hit the wounded to death by using their truncheons. As from that moment these rudimentary weapons became synonymous with the “barbarism” and with the cruelty of the enemy.
