This knife, having a rather poetic name, was used by Soviet intelligence officers in the framework of the most difficult tasks that had to be performed during the Great Patriotic War. And although he was not the only weapon of this type that was used at that time, it is around him that there are a lot of rumors and discussions, and collectors are eager to get this copy. We are talking about the famous HP-43, better known as the scout knife "Cherry".
In fairness, it should be clarified that this knife was not the only one used by Soviet intelligence officers. Somewhat earlier, in 1940, another model was released - the HP-40. At the same time, both knives actually existed at the same time, and the predecessor was used by the army until the 1960s.
In the history of the HP-34 knife, there are many white spots, attempts to fill which led rather to the emergence of myths and disputes around them, and all of them practically did not have a reliable evidence base. So, for example, it is not known for certain exactly where this weapon was produced.
According to popular belief, several specialized enterprises, but most often two of them are named - Zlatoust Tool Plant-Combine No. 259 named. IN. AND. Lenin (ZiK) and Zlatoust Instrumental and Mechanical Plant No. 391. However, the employees of the enterprise themselves could not find evidence that the knife of this model was ever produced at their factory. At the same time, on many blades of the NR-43 one can find the ZIK mark or later, IMZ 1945, so the question of the place of release of this knife remains open.
In addition, the circumstances under which it was decided to create a new model of a knife for reconnaissance and other special units are not fully known. The most famous version says that it was designed as a more improved version of the HP-40, where they tried to correct the design flaws that were made when creating the latter.
During the design of the HP-43, some details were finalized. In addition, the handle was completely replaced, which was made of a non-standard material at that time - plastic. But the blade did not undergo significant transformations: only its shank was changed, which is required to connect with the handle. This design and appearance were approved from above, and the knife was put into mass production, after which was supplied to service various army units, first of all, of course, intelligence.
But a rather plausible legend has remained about how the scout knife of 1943 got its nickname. So, according to the surviving information, some of its owners began to call it "Cherry" HP-43, who drew attention to the brand located at the base of the blade. It was the letter "P", stylized as a handwritten, but upside down, it strikingly resembled a cherry fruit with a tail. It is because of this similarity that the blade was named after the berry, and this nickname has gained immense popularity.
Another famous detail of the Cherry knife is its handle. It, unlike most of its predecessors, is not "anatomical" made of wood, as on the same HA-40, but symmetrical, and besides, plastic. For comfortable grip, five transverse grooves were placed on the handle, covering the part and cut off flat side sections with three horizontal grooves. The color of the handle was also different: green is considered traditional for the HP-43, but black options can also be found.
Despite the obvious gaps in the history of the appearance of the knife, the accuracy of determining the technical characteristics is did not affect in any way: total length - 260 mm, blade length - 150 mm, blade width - 22 mm, blade thickness - 2.6 mm; total weight - 150 grams.
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Quite good technical characteristics and general efficiency of the HP-43 reconnaissance aircraft ensured him a long life - they were massively used by Soviet soldiers until the sixties of the last century, after which it was replaced bayonet knives. However, he went to special forces until the collapse of the Soviet Union. In addition, according to Novate.ru, there is a lot of evidence of the use of this knife during the war in Afghanistan.
The popularity of the scout knife "Cherry" turned out to be so huge that several years ago they began to produce modern replicas of the legendary Soviet weapons, and they are used not only in special forces, but also as a tourist sports knife. Ironically, one of the manufacturers today is the Zlatoust Arms Factory (abbr. ZOF). But the original blades are very rare today, so they are especially appreciated and are in great demand among collectors of edged weapons.
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A source: https://novate.ru/blogs/160820/55670/