The horrific Chop-Chop....

[Chris Boonzaier]

... or cut-cut, however you choose to translate the words "Coupe-Coupe"...

We often read of the fear the Gurkha put into their enemies when they pull out a kukri....

Germans in WW1 had a certain unsettled feeling when the French Colonial troops were in front of their lines.....

This is the famous Colonial "Coupe-Coupe" with a German bayonet for size. The one without the Sheath is 1916 dated and comes from Verdun...

[Chris Boonzaier]

The Tirailleurs had a fearsom reputation, the Germans hated them, but if they were known for (on occasion) not taking prisoners it can only be said that they themselves were often not taken prisoner. One German memoire describes how a soldier in the authors unit in 1914 was so "insulted" that a colonial would dare be on the battlefield that he hacked those surrendering to death with a pionier axe.

On top of that... their own commanders willingly threw them into the worst fighting.

[Chris Boonzaier]

Germans with a captured "Coupe-Coupe"

[Spasm]

They picked up other reputations as well

This is by Karl Goetz (who also did the Lusitania medal) - the Watch on the Rhine or Black Shame medal in the early 1920s

[Chris Boonzaier]

They picked up other reputations as well

This is by Karl Goetz (who also did the Lusitania medal) - the Watch on the Rhine or Black Shame medal in the early 1920s

Hi,

I am certain that incidents did occur... maybe more than in European occupied areas, but just how objective that coin is I am not sure. Having seem Pre 1930s Anti Legion German propaganda... I think they set no limits when it comes to laying things on thick...

[Paul R]

Damn! I bet they did a lot of damage up close!

[Spasm]

Karl Goetz plied his stuff to anyone who would buy. A good maker but pushed to make a name for himself. Hence the Lusitania medal (which was reproduced in Britain and proved to be great propaganda for the Allies) and this one amongst others no doubt.

I gather that the coupe-coupe were produced in France and were mostly used in their colonies. I assume as it was part of the soldier's kit, it came with him when he was posted to the Western Front. Very heavy blade used for chopping. Terrible.

[Bernhard H.Holst]

Hello readers.

Just my penny's worth of experience while on active duty in Vietnam in the 1950's.

I recall that coupe coupes were issued to my unit which was newly formed in the fall of 1951 but the local type which were somewhat narrower and therefor lighter. These proved impractical and were withdrawn shortly thereafter. Having operated with different formations which were components of French Forces deployed there from 1951 to 1953 and again from early 1954 to the end of hostilities I have no recollection of ever seeing them as personal equipment. This includes riflemen from the then Senegal colony which were the most feared opponents of German troops in WW I and so equipped, if memory does not trick me. Also photographs of the Indochina conflict do not seem to ever picture them. But I am ready to be proved wrong.

Bernhard H. Holst

[Chris Boonzaier]

Hi,

I am by no means an expert on these, but the latest dated one I have seen is 1924, so maybe they were phased out some time just before WW2 ? I cannot remember reading any mentions of them in WW2.

Best

Chris

[peter monahan]

Keep in mind that, like the Gurkhas, French [ and British] African troops would have been very familiar with coupe-coupe / machete type blades from rural agricultural life. When my students arrived at the boarding school in Nigeria where I taught [late '70s] they brought a bucket, mosquito net if they could afford it and a 'cutlass'. The latter was a strip of steel from am old oil drum, about .5 metres long with one edge sharpened and a strip of plastic wrapped round one end as a handle. Every Saturday some classes went out and cut grass around the compound.

The original 'cutlass' was a larger, heavier and sharper tool used for clearing brush and would also make a fearsome weapon in hand to hand combat. Read any account of sectarian riots in rural Africa or Asia and 'machete' / cutlass /' bolo' turn up regularly. A nineteenth century European 'pioneer' [soldier] carried a brush hook / bill hook which would do damage on people as well as on tree limbs. But, by the stilted logic of 1900, these were 'savage' weapons and their weilders were to be treated as less than human!

Edited May 11, 2014 by peter monahan

[Chris Boonzaier]

Germans with a captured "Coupe-Coupe"

I scratched some of the glue off the back, the photo was taken by Santerre in August 1916. (French sector of the Somme battle)

French Senegalese troops had fought in the area the month before. The Germans had used a ruse, pretending to surrender then attacking, retaking "La Maisonette"... The French General Fayolle wrote "The Senegalese kill everyone", their divisional commander wrote "Our native troops, having experienced two treacherous acts will not give quarter..."

I

[Brett Hendey]

Last year, there was a well-publicised massacre of 30+ striking miners by South African Policemen. This event had been preceded by the killing of two policemen by miners. The policemen had been hacked to death with 'pangas' (machetes) and their bodies burned. Gruesome photographs showing the horrific injuries inflicted by the 'pangas' circulated on the Internet. There was an element of 'a score to settle' in the subsequent massacre.

Brett