AMERICAN M1 GARAND BAYONET ISSUED TO GREECE RARE

Greek issued bayonet for use on the caliber .30–06 U.S. M1 Garand rifle.

Great for US M1 Garand Bayonet collector. 

The USA provided 698,707 M1 Rifles to Greece between 1950 and 1963 under the Military Assistance Program.  These bayonets are believed to have been made under contract to the US Government and provided to Greece under the Military Assistance Program. They appear to have been made to US Government specifications, identical to those produced by US makers during the Second World War, save for the markings.

The maker is unknown, although believed to be European. 19,000 of these bayonets were imported into the US, along with M1 Garand rifles returned to the US Government by Greece. The scabbards produced along with the bayonets were also identical to the US M7 scabbard, with the Ordnance Department “shell and flame” marking except that it reads “E-US” instead of just “US.” Later, replacement scabbards like this example were procured.

These are simply marked “U.S. M7” on the steel throatpiece. A key to their origin is the mold mark in the scabbard body, which is identical to scabbards produced with bayonets made and used by Nationalist China.

Greece was devastated by a civil war from 1946-49, when communists encouraged by Marshal Tito of Yugoslavia attempted to take power. The beginning of the Cold War made ensuring that Greece did not fall to the communists a priority for the US and Britain. Unknown to western powers, Josef Stalin was trying to dissuade the Greek communists, recognizing that the world’s leading naval powers (U.S. and Britain) would not permit the communists to gain a foothold from which to contest the Mediterranean and not wanting Russia to be drawn into a fight they couldn’t possibly win.