Argentine Type C Socket Bayonet for the FN FAL, Falklands War Memento Engraving
Tubular steel one-piece bayonet with flash ports and spear-pointed blade with semicircular profile. Blade length 6½ inches (16.5cm), 11 3/8 inches (28.9cm) overall. Black plastic scabbard with eyelet chape, circular frog stud and steel throat piece, green leather frog with buckled retaining strap and belt loop.
The bayonet is stamped on the blade at the forte with the serial number ‘01-79266’ (some digits difficult to read). The ’01‘ prefix specifies allocation to the Argentine Army. The blade is inscribed lengthwise with the commemorative inscription ‘FALKLANDS . 21ST MAY – 14TH JUNE . 1982’.
The engraving is not professional work – it appears to have been done by hand with an electric pencil, is not perfectly central on the blade and varies slightly in letter size and spacing. It is reminiscent of numerous examples of First and Second World War bayonets captured and inscribed as mementoes. Such items are usually produced by veterans themselves to mark their dates of service, or specific campaigns therein, and this is probably the case for this bayonet.
It should be noted that these are not the usually accepted dates of the conflict as a whole, but specifically of the main ground campaign by British forces on the Islands: on the 21st May the British Amphibious Task Group conducted the first landing in force, deploying troops of 3 Commando Brigade at San Carlos on East Falkland in what was codenamed Operation Sutton. 24 days of fighting later the Argentine forces on the Falklands surrendered on the 14th June. The conflict is usually described as beginning with the Argentine invasion on the 2nd April in which there was brief fighting with the British garrison, followed by numerous air and naval actions as the British Task Force approached the islands as well as special forces raids on specific targets preceding the main amphibious assault. It is possible therefore that the former owner was thinking specifically of his own service experience, meaning that he was with those forces that landed.
The FN FAL infantry rifle and its bayonet were adopted by Argentina in the late 1950s, initially purchased from FN in Belgium but later made domestically by Argentine manufacturers. Several types of bayonet and webbing attachments were used by the Argentinean Army and Marines during the Falklands conflict: the tubular model was the ‘Type C’, compatible with later models of the FAL (post 1962) which had a 22mm muzzle device. This was used side by side with the ‘Type A’ knife bayonet, which fitted to the early FALs. The scabbards are not interchangeable between Types, the blades being of different shapes.
Belt frogs for these bayonets are made of either leather or nylon fabric: the ‘Correaje Argentino de Cuero’ (Green Leather Belting) load-bearing system was introduced around 1970, but incorporated some preexisting elements including leather frogs and pistol holsters, which were then painted green to match. The nylon ‘Correaje Tempex’ (Tempex Belting) was introduced in the early 1980s to replace it which included a new frog. Both forms of load-bearing system were still in use by 1982 so both were carried in the Falklands. Either frog will fit either Type of bayonet.
After Argentine forces surrendered to the British on June 14 1982 their small arms were piled up by the thousand in the Islands’ capital Port Stanley, where most Argentine forces had been deployed or driven back to. A large quantity of arms had also been captured earlier at Goose Green, which was a key ammunition dump for the Argentine forces, and still more were gathered later from unengaged Argentine garrisons on the island of West Falkland. The FAL rifles became British government property and were either brought to the UK or dumped at sea, while bayonets and the short machete-like officer’s sidearms frequently became personal trophies or souvenirs for British soldiers as they would not be illegal to own in civilian life. This example is most likely one such ‘bring-back’ converted into a memento.
The bayonet is a good example of its type with little service wear and is paired with an M1909 frog, which was originally supplied with bayonets for the series of Argentine Mauser rifles but was one of the elements reused with a new coat of paint for the FAL in the Green Leather Belting scheme. They are not often seen paired with the Type C, supplies perhaps having been mostly used up on the earlier Type A. These had a distinctive modification done to them tucking the seam on one side to accommodate the flash hider prongs of the Type A. This frog is unmodified, more suitable for the Type C and pleasingly symmetrical.
The bayonet and frog stud of the scabbard have a black lacquered finish, with some rubbing at raised edges revealing bright steel and a few spots of chipping on the socket. I believe from examination that this lacquer was applied after its service, probably to improve its appearance before the inscription was added – most noticeably there is a single small chip to the side edge of the blade which appears to have been lacquered over.
Light scratching to the plastic scabbard body. Surface level cracking to the leather of the frog on one side (front face, below the frog stud). The leather remains flexible and all the frog’s stitching is intact.
