personalized, soviet fighting knife

[Reibert-Austria]

Hi mates !

Wanna show you this, (personalized !), soviet, WWII -combat knife "NR 40" pattern.

This, soviet-russian, "NR 40", (нож разведчика = nozh razvedchika), was introduced in 1940.

Manufactured by "ZIK": Златоустовский инструментальный комбинат
имени Ленина, (Zlatoustovskij Instrumentalnij Kombinat, Imeni Lenina, Zlatoust, Region Cheliabinsk).

A collectors mate bought the estate from the son of an deceased veteran of the Wehrmacht.
The soldier served in an FLAK -unit, (antiaircraft defense), in the East.

The veteran told his son years ago, he captured the knife from an, (female), soviet (tank) radio operator, and, then he kept the knife.

My collectors mate is knowing the family very well, (he´s an quite good acquaintance), and he´s sure, the story of the veteran is true actually.
He only kept the awards and papers of the veterans estate, I´ve got the knife from him.

Wanna show you some images of the knife.
Sadly, it´s out of repair, but, (IMO), it´s still showin´ the, "been there, done that -look".

Best regards,
R.

[Reibert-Austria]

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[Reibert-Austria]

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[Reibert-Austria]

Images of an soviet issued, (non personalized), "NR40":

[Byzanti]

I think its really interesting, the replacement lucite grips, with the rings and (brass?) pommel...really common with usa capture pieces or field made trench knives, I never knew the germans did the same thing, with the same material- nearly same designs, even...as unlikely as it is- as they were allies during the war... is it possible that it could have been usa field/machine shop made?

[Reibert-Austria]

IMO this knife was personalized, (in this way), in the Soviet Union.

BTW, also the crossguard is made of brass.

[Viktor]

The clear grips show why the NR-40 is not a very strong knife.

[KLMKsunbunny]

Hi Reibert, interestingly this evening I watched the Tarkovsky film "Ivan's Childhood" and a Knife very similar features in the film, belonging to one of the scouts....

[KLMKsunbunny]

Have a look at the scene at 47 mins onwards...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0nx70hAqjM

[Reibert-Austria]

Very interesting !
Thx. !

[KLMKsunbunny]

No worries..! I also found this, featuring a knife just like yours, although it seems to state the handle was converted post-war:


http://nesusvet.narod.ru/txt/knife/schwarzmesser.htm