![]() ![]() ![]() Army Stryker Brigade in Afghanistan, the 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team based at Grafenwöhr (Germany), the 3rd Brigade, and the 2nd Infantry Division out of Fort Lewis began carrying and using tomahawks as part of a rescue kit and as “modular entry tool.” And soldiers aren’t the only modern users. This heritage tool had obvious utility as a back-up weapon for hand-to-hand combat but it was also a useful tool in the field. Jump forward a few decades from the Vietnam War, and the “tactical” tomahawk has enjoyed something of a resurgence among U.S. Some military and police forces still use this venerable chopper in modern times. The interest in tomahawks as a backup tool and weapon didn’t disappear at the end of the Vietnam War. ![]() A sixth century historian named Procopius once wrote of the francisca that: “…they are accustomed always to throw these axes at one signal in the first charge and shatter the shields of the enemy…” Axes like these continued to be popular into the late Middle Ages, being used by both lowly foot soldiers and knights. The Frankish warriors of the early Middle Ages were known to carry lightweight throwing axes known as “franciscas,” which were used as close-range projectiles and also employed as hacking weapons during hand-to-hand fighting. The design of the tomahawk isn’t strictly Native American. Native Americans had been making small axes with straight wooden handles for centuries, but so had the Europeans (especially the French). Iron pots could be dropped on the ground without shattering like an earthenware pot, and iron axes were much sharper than stone axes (cutting down trees in a fraction of the time). When iron tools and implements first came to the New World, the Native people must have been amazed. ![]()
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