The saw-backs were designed to cut barbed wire. The Brit soldiers believed they were instruments of terror and torture, unbefitting of a soldier. Consequently, during WWI they threatened the'd shoot any german prisoner caught carrying these. It's said they did carry out this threat, which would help explain the saw-teeth being removed from the blades...
During the Spanish American War, the invading US troops thought the old .43 copper bullets were intentionally poisoned by the Spanish defenders, on account of the green deposits copper develops, specially on humid caribbean conditions. Many Spanish militia soldiers. who carried these old models, were killed after being captured, just because of the natural verdigris deposits.
Such is War...
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