The NR-40 was a Soviet

Red Army

The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army started out as the Soviet Union's revolutionary communist combat groups during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the Soviet Union. By the 1930s the Red Army was among the largest armies in history.The "Red Army" name refers to...

 combat knife

Combat knife

A combat knife is a fighting knife designed solely for military use and primarily intended for hand-to-hand or close combat fighting.Since the end of trench warfare, most military combat knives have been secondarily designed for utility use in addition to their original role as close-quarter combat...

 introduced in 1940 and used throughout World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

. The NR-40 has a 152 mm blade with a clip point

Clip point

thumb|250px|A [[Bowie knife]] clearly showing the clip pointThe clip point is one of the three most common knife blade shapes used . Clip point blades have the appearance of having the forward third of the blade "clipped" off...

, a large choil, a black wooden handle, and an S-shaped guard. The guard is "inverted" (unlike most S-shaped guards, it curves towards the edge) because standard Soviet Army grips called for holding the knife with the edge towards yourself (most useful if you are, for example, trying to sneak up on a sentry from behind).

History

In the beginning of 20th century, Finnish puukko

Puukko

A puukko is a small traditional Finnish belt-knife with a single curving cutting edge and a flat back.- Design :The basic components of a puukko are a hilt and a blade along with a sheath, which can be attached to a belt. The blade is short, typically less than 100 mm.The flat back allows the...

 knives started becoming popular with criminals in major cities of the Russian Empire

Russian Empire

The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...

. 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

Soviet Union

The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....

 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

Switchblade

A switchblade is a type of knife with a folding or sliding blade contained in the handle which is opened automatically by a spring when a button, lever, or switch on the handle or bolster is activated A switchblade (also known as an automatic knife, pushbutton knife, switch, Sprenger, Springer,...

 would later be banned in the West.

The Winter War

Winter War

The Winter War was a military conflict between the Soviet Union and Finland. It began with a Soviet offensive on 30 November 1939 – three months after the start of World War II and the Soviet invasion of Poland – and ended on 13 March 1940 with the Moscow Peace Treaty...

 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 – essentially, a mass-produced version of the Russian gangster's "finka".

"Black knife" division

NR-40 was mostly produced at the ZiK (ЗиК) factory in Zlatoust

Zlatoust

Zlatoust is a city in Chelyabinsk Oblast, Russia, located on the Ay River , west of Chelyabinsk. Population: 181,000 ; 161,000 ; 99,000 ; 48,000 ; 21,000 ....

, Urals. Once the Ural Volunteer Tank Corps

10th Guards Uralsko-Lvovskaya Tank Division

The 10th Guards Uralsko-Lvovskaya Volunteer Tank Division, also known at the Ural-Lvov Tank Division, is a tank division of the Russian Ground Forces and part of the Moscow Military District's 20th Army, under the command of Lt. General Andrey Tretyak. The division traces its heritage back to 1943,...

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-40

NR-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 circumwent that, producers either use a thinner blade or remove the guard.