And a black knife stabbed the fascist
I hold a knife in my hands
He is in a black wooden sheath. This is HP-40. A scout knife, model 1940, made at the Zlatoust tool plant - combine named after V.I. Lenin.
The handle of the blade is painted black. These knives were handed over to the border guards before being sent to the front.
Combat blades for NKVD officers and border soldiers appeared as early as 1935. And at first they resembled the Finnish cold weapon.
But after the Soviet-Finnish war of 1939-1940, a new knife was adopted, called the HP-40. Its handle was made of wood, carbolite or ebonite and, as a rule, was painted black.
The blade was well placed in the hand with any grip, had a handle that was comfortable with the length and thickness, and was well balanced. Pleasant to the eye and to the touch.
Border veteran Vladimir Korolev, in his book "Border Guards at the Kursk Bulge", published in 2006, tells about these black knives. For the first time in 1996, veterans of the 162nd Central Asian Division told him about the blades.
After Tashkent in 1942, this military formation was sent to the Ural city of Zlatoust to receive equipment and equipment. All fighters received (including without fail) and black knives.
It was on the Kursk Bulge
Veteran Aleksey Komarov also collected a lot of interesting information about the 162nd Central Asian Rifle Division.
He recalls that in the battles on the Kursk land in July 1943, the division became part of the 19th Rifle Corps and concentrated in the area of the village of Mikhailovka.
From there, they had to attack the village of Chern, about 50-60 kilometers from Teply and Molotychey. The division quickly broke through the defenses and began to push the Fritzes to the north.
And during the battles, it was noticed that in this sector the enemy was retreating faster than in front of other formations. The thought crept in that the Nazis were luring the fighters of the division into a "bag".
It was not immediately possible to find out the reasons for the panic retreat of enemy units. But soon the captured fascist testified that during the battles for Samodurovka, their commander told the higher authorities:
- The Central Asian Senchillo gang is operating in my direction.
(The division commander is Colonel Sergei Yakovlevich Senchillo, later Major General, Hero of the Soviet Union - author)
- They don't take prisoner! Cut with knives!
The soldiers are in a panic, demoralized and retreat.
I ask to transfer my division to any other sector.
(The division commander is Colonel Sergei Yakovlevich Senchillo, later Major General, Hero of the Soviet Union - author)
- They don't take prisoner! Cut with knives!
The soldiers are in a panic, demoralized and retreat.
I ask to transfer my division to any other sector.
Hitler's 31st Infantry Division was transferred. But - the irony of fate, and by order of the commander of the 70th Army of the NKVD troops, units of the 162nd division are being transferred to the same area.
Schwarzmesser Panzer – Division
Translated from German, it is "Black Knife Division". Moreover tank... This name appeared when the Soviet border guards again met in battle with the Nazis, who had previously fled from them in panic.
The Red Army men fought valiantly against the enemy, and when they met hand-to-hand, they snatched their black knives from their scabbards.
And they cut, cut mercilessly all who dared to invade the Kursk land.
So the border guards came in handy with the blades from the workers of Zlatoust. It was they who forged the knives and presented them to each soldier of the 162nd Division.
"A knife will come in handy at the front,"
- they said to the border guards.
Indeed, the daggers from Zlatoust were seriously needed by the Soviet fighters in hand-to-hand combat on the Kursk Bulge.
There were such black knives and the Kursk Panfilov platoon of Lieutenant Alexander Romanovsky. On the Kursk Bulge near Samodurovka in July 1943, 18 border guards met hand-to-hand with the Nazis.
The fight was merciless. All the fighters were killed, but about a hundred enemy corpses were left lying in the dust. And most of them - with stab and cut lacerations, mortal wounds.
They are from Zlatoust
In total, more than 900 thousand black knives were made in Zlatoust, which were handed over to the military units that were formed in this city. Yegor Shchekotikhin also writes about black knives from the Urals in his book “The largest tank battle of the Great Patriotic War. Battle for the Eagle ".
“Our tanks have passed the defensive line.
The submachine gunners jumped off the armor, began hand-to-hand combat with the Nazis.
Here knives specially made by the workers of the city of Zlatoust from special Zlatoust steel came in handy ...
The Germans recognized the "invulnerable" Urals by these black knives.
Seeing the attacking warriors with such knives on their belts, the Nazis in panic began to shout: "Schwarzen Messer!"
The submachine gunners jumped off the armor, began hand-to-hand combat with the Nazis.
Here knives specially made by the workers of the city of Zlatoust from special Zlatoust steel came in handy ...
The Germans recognized the "invulnerable" Urals by these black knives.
Seeing the attacking warriors with such knives on their belts, the Nazis in panic began to shout: "Schwarzen Messer!"
As soon as the Ural volunteers arrived at a new sector of the front, the Germans informed their command and neighbors:
"A body of black knives has appeared before us!"
So Yegor Schekotikhin writes about the Volunteer Tank Corps, which was formed in Zlatoust in March 1943. And he received his first baptism of fire on July 27, 1943 during the liberation of the Oryol and Bryansk regions.
And the song is about black knives
And also about the black Zlatoust knives, the soldiers of the tank corps in 1943 composed a song.
The author of her words is Rosa Notik, who went through the entire combat path with the tankers, marked with military awards: the Order of the Red Star, the Medal for Military Merit, the Order of the Patriotic War, II degree.
Composers - Ivan Ovchinin and Naum Komm. Unfortunately, they have not been with us for a long time. And the song is alive. And here are her words.
Fascists whisper in fear to each other,
Huddling in the dark dugouts:
Tankers appeared from the Urals -
Division of black knives.
Selfless fighters squads,
Nothing can kill their courage.
Oh, do not like fascist bastards
Our Ural steel black knife!
As with armor, machine gunners jump off,
You won’t take them with any fire.
Volunteers don't crush the avalanche,
After all, everyone has a black knife.
Rush tanks of the Ural communities,
Enemy force throwing a shiver
Oh, do not like fascist bastards
Our Ural steel black knife!
We will write to the gray Urals:
"Be assured of your sons,
We are not in vain gave daggers,
That the Nazis were afraid of them. "
We will write: “We fight as it should,
And the Ural gift is good! ”
Oh, do not like fascist bastards
Our Ural steel black knife!
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