Chekists with Nagants.
Officers of the Soviet Security Service (NKVD) practicing shooting with Nagant M1985 revolvers. The Nagant M1845 was a revolver extensively used by the pre-Revolutionary Tsarist army and police, and continued in production and extensive use in Soviet Army and Police units well into the 1950s. The Nagant 45 had an interesting - perhaps unique - feature, in that it the cocking of the revolver projected the chamber forward onto the facing surface, The result was to eliminate the "flash zone", typical of revolvers, resulting in higher muzzle velocity and less noise. This feature also allowed suppressors/silencers to be used - again, pretty well unique for revolvers, and a feature that would have made the weapon very attractive to police forces, including the NKVD. As for the NKVD - the Soviet Secret Police had a major role in WW2, and in the leadup to the war. Under Beria, they were a major contributor to Soviet terror. Their role in the Katyn massacre of Polish officers is well known. It is sometime forgotten that something close to double the number of Polish officers "vanished" at more or less the same time. The NKVD was (eventually) succeeded by the KGBV, which did much the same thing as its predecessor. The name of a member of the KGB, of considerable influence, drifts at the back of my mind. Could his name begin with "P" ? Best regards, JR.
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://www.ww2incolor.com/gallery/soviet-forces/53620/chekists-with-nagants.
