Knives & Shovels.

This is coolbert:

Here are two more "silent weapons that would be carried and employed by Soviet/Russian Spetsnaz troopers. Ranger/commando/special operations type soldiers, raiders, attacking a facility or an installation, desiring stealthy and surreptitious entry, killing or disabling sentries, guards, dogs, in as quiet a manner as possible.

1. Soviet/Russian ballistic knife.

"A ballistic knife is a knife with a detachable blade that can be expelled from the handle/frame as a projectile by means of a spring-operated or gas-driven mechanism."



"Ballistic knives are used as covert 'stealth' weapons when a firearm is not appropriate. The Russian Spetznaz ballistic knife is a metal tube with a powerful spring to deploy the blade . . . The spring in these knives is powerful enough to propel the blade about 20 feet. When combined with an overhand throwing motion it will penetrate clothing and flesh. [and, reputedly too, body armor?]"

From Suvorov:

"he [spetsnaz troop] carries on his right calf a huge knife . . . and on his left calf four spare blades. The Spetsnaz knife is no ordinary knife. It has a powerl spring in it so that when you remove the safety catch and press the release button the knife blade shoots out with a terrible hiss . . . the blade can carry 25 meters. If It lands in a tree it is not always possible to pull it out"

I do recall very well the enormous brouhaha that erupted when these ballistic knifes found their way to the market. Seemed like a whole lot of people wanted to own one. Senator Moynihan was on record as saying that these "devices" needed to be banned, and promptly.

The thought was that every impressionable young man who read the magazine "Soldier of Fortune" would be buying and carrying a ballistic knife, a lot of mayhem being the result. Dead piles of stuck-though police and civilians laying around everywhere!

2. Spetsnaz fighting shovel.

The common Soviet/Russian entrenching tool. Sharp on three sides, a single monolithic object, unlike the current American entrenching tool. Used by Spetsnaz soldiers as a fighting weapon, silent, and in the right hands, downright deadly.

"In a combat training of Spetsnaz soldiers a great attention is paid to their ability to engage in hand-to-hand combat and to use hand-held weapon . . . an entrenching shovel is of special importance . . . it is a formidable weapon of the close combat."

"the entrenching shovel is an excellent throwing implement - the range of aimed throw made by a well-trained specialist is 10 meters or more."

A weapon used as a hand-to-hand fighting tool, and, WHEN USED IN THE RIGHT HANDS, A THROWING WEAPON ALSO!

Again - - from Suvorov:

"In the hands of a spetsnaz soldier the spade is a terrible noiseless weapon . . . The little spade can be used in hand-to-hand fighting against blows from a bayonet, a knife, a fist or another spade . . . Finally a soldier is taught to throw the spade as accurately as he would use a sword or a battle axe . . . As it spins in flight [the spade has] accuracy and thrust. It becomes a terrifying weapon. If it lands in a tree it is not so easy to pull out again."

Here, thanks to the Russian web site: "Entrenching Shovel in Close Combat. Version of Spetsnaz GRU. Basic Fighting Technique." you can see video clips of Alexander Popov [???], demonstrating the fighting shovel combat technique.

You see a lot of twirls, pirouettes, jumps, etc. Ballet-like in form??!! This is characteristic of Russian style martial arts? Russian All-round Fighting [RAF] DOES emphasize Russian folk dance as a basis for many martial arts "moves"!? An indigenously developed Russian close-quarters-combat fighting form that is very effective!?

I would ask the question too, HOW OFTEN WOULD SUCH WEAPONS BE EMPLOYED?
Martial arts as taught to special operations units the world over are obviously useful, to say the least, but how often used? I would think very rarely, if at all?

Such martial arts techniques are more than anything else an excellent way of developing physical fitness, building confidence, instilling aggressiveness, AND OF COURSE - - PERHAPS KILLING AN AMERICAN SENTRY - - NOISELESSLY - - WITH A KNIFE OR A SHOVEL!!
coolbert.