Vintage 1956 Scout Assault Knife wz55 Polish Army Poland ZIK NKVD USSR For Sale

Listed is a slightly used, issued Polish Wz55/56 combat and/or scout knife. Knife has a ergonomic wood grip with steel "S" shaped crossguard and steel pommel cap. The blade is white steel with slight clip point. The scabbard is heavy, blued steel with leather belt loop suspension as found on the same period Polish AK47 bayonet. The ricasso bears the Polish arsenal "11" manufacturing marking and date of 1956. The bayonet is serial #A17391 and scabbard #K07134. Bluing is very nice, with just a few lite spots on the scabbard. Overall a nice example of this ComBloc knife.
Based on Soviet Knife ZIK(ЗиК)/NR-40 нож разведчика, НР-40
HistorySoviet paratroopers, 1948. Note all-black NR-40s.In the beginning of the 20th century, Finnish puukko knives started becoming popular with criminals in most cities of the Russian Empire. Local knife-makers then began modifying the Finnish woodsman's tool to make it more useful for fighting; for example, making the blade longer, changing from a flat back to a clip point, and adding a large guard. The resulting weapon, still called a "Finnish knife" or "finka" in Russian, looked rather different from a typical puukko. "Finnish knives" were ubiquitous in the criminal underworld of Russia and Soviet Union throughout the first half of the 20th century. Because of the criminal association, the "Finnish knife" was banned in the Soviet Union in the 1930s, much like the switchblade would later be banned in the West.The Winter War revealed a number of deficiencies in Soviet weaponry; among other issues, the Soviet infantry lacked a good combat knife. As a result, in 1940, the Soviet Army adopted the NR-40, which is essentially, a mass-produced version of the Russian gangster's "finka".
"Black knife" divisionNR-40 was mostly produced at the ZiK (ЗиК) factory in Zlatoust, Urals. Once the Ural Volunteer Tank Corps was formed in 1943, all its soldiers and officers were supplied with a special issue of NR-40 (also known as "black knife"). The formation was later named by Germans as «Schwarzmesser Panzer-Division». The unofficial divisional anthem mentioned the nickname as well ("Дивизия черных ножей", Black Knife Division). Modern variants of NR-40NR-40 is no longer used by the army, but modern remakes and almost exact replicas of NR-40 are produced in Zlatoust to this day. A knife of exactly the same proportions would be legally a weapon, thus prohibiting free sale. To circumvent that, producers either use a thinner blade or remove the guard.
ZIK was adopted by polish army as nóż szturmowy wz. 43
In the People's Polish Army, the combat knife first appeared in the years 1943-1945 in reconnaissance units of the 1st and 2nd Armies of the People's Army. It was the Soviet ZIK assault knife, adopted into the Polish equipment under the name wz. 43 assault knife (nóż szturmowy wz. 43). Later, polish made version was adopted as wz. 55.

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