Trench art paper knife

Brass paper knife cut in the shape of a scimitar from a section of brass shell case. The handle is formed from a German rimless discharged bullet and cartridge case with the ends of two German rimless cartridge cases soldered to it to form a cross piece. One side of the blade is hand engraved '20.9.17 NONNE BOSCHEN' and the other '4.10.17 ZONNEBEKE'.

This trench art paper knife commemorates the battles at Nonne Bosschen (Nun's Wood), part of a campaign during the 3rd Battle of Ypres in 1917, involving this wood and Glencourse and Polygon Woods, near the Menin Road; and at Zonnebeke, which was part of the battle for Broodseinde Ridge. The ground over which the battles took place changed hands between the Germans and the Allied forces, including Australians, numerous times and quickly became a muddy morass that was almost impassible. Photographs of the appalling conditions in which the campaign was fought have become some of the most enduring images of the First World War. The history of the knife is unknown but the maker is assumed to have been Australian as the knife was given as a souvenir, possibly by a family member, to Laura Savill (later De Martin) who was a young child during the war. Her own father, Sergeant Frederick Herbert Savill, was captured by the Turks while serving in Palestine with the 1st Anzac Battalion of the Imperial Camel Corps and died in captivity in November 1917.