The loss of life in World War I was enormous and the demand for weapons, ammunition and equipment exceeded all imagination. The capacities of the armament industry were insufficient in practically all areas - including the production of side arms. To compensate for the lack of bayonets, the Germans created highly simplified models, the so-called "substitute side arms". In his book, the author presents 300 different auxiliary side arms, explains their details with more than 850 colour photos and shows how the bayonets were carried and used with the help of a unique collection of more than 230 contemporary b/w photos.
