Hello from north of Sweden (Pierre)

**parresurre** · 08-03-2021, 09:39 PM

[Hello friends!

My name is Pierre Persson and I live in north of Sweden. Im 47 and have been interested in ww2 history and items for whole my life.
I started collecting about 20 years ago. My main collection is knives from both axis and allied forces.

Its not a big or impressive collection by any means because life gets in the way and I always have to take care of my wife and 4
kids before spending any money on my collection.

I have some items I'm proud of though. For me the story is more important than that the item is in perfect condition.
I have put in countless of hours on every item to get the facts and provenance around them.

The centerpiece of my collection and the hardest to find was my 1943 Russian Scouts knife NR-40 Nozh Razvedchika made in ZiK (ЗиК) factory in Zlatoust, Ural. It is one of the knifes special issued to the Ural Volunteer Tank Corps and it is in good condition.

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).

The corps fought in battles at Bryansk, Lower Silesia, Upper Silesia, Proskurovo-Kamenetc-Podolsk, Lvov-Sandomir and during the Vistula-Oder, Berlin and Prague Offensives.

The NR-40 does not look impressive and few people would guess that it is the Jewel when they see my collection. But when you hold it in your hands....WOOOW! You can feel the history in your veins. It is something magical with this knife. It is not a dress knife,it´s a fighting knife ment to be with its soldier to the end of the war or till the end of his life.

It is a very very hard to find knife and took me a long time and Im very proud of it.

I hope I get the possibility to share some pics with you guys in the future

Have the best day!

Pierre from Sweden.