"Russian "bullet cutter"" Topic

This device was created in 1943 by one of the Soviet engineers – Guards Engineer Captain Sergei Mikhailovich Frolov. Captain Frolov himself served in the tenth assault engineer-sapper battalion of the second Guards special purpose engineer brigade.

The main idea of ​​​​S.M. Frolov's project was to create a means for cutting wire based on the standard weapons of an infantryman. Instead of separate scissors or other special devices, the soldier was offered to carry a submachine gun with a small additional device installed. The latter was designated as a "device for cutting wire". If it was necessary to silently overcome the enemy's obstacles, this same device could be used as a spacer to raise the wire above the ground.

Such devices were made directly in the troops, in army field workshops. There were many variations of such a device.

interesting piece of kit. I presume it didn't alter the firing ability of the weapon to which it was attached.

It looks like it's the bullet that does the wire cutting so presumably it has to be able to continue on after doing so (or else cause havoc with the bullet causing the barrel to explode or bullet in a random direction as possible friendly fire. I would certainly guess that the bullet would fly pretty much normally if no wire is in place to be cut.

Would think it isn't a fool proof device, either to cut wire or hazard to personal using it

Bit noisier than a conventional wire cutter too. "Silently" seems odd. Add to that the muzzle flash. Wonder why the idea did not develop further…..naw?

But a great posting for its novelty. Thanks

I read reports from assault engineers about the use of these devices in combat. The soldiers were happy and used them with pleasure. The main purpose of assault engineers was to attack fortified areas. They had to quickly overcome the area under enemy fire in order to get closer to a pillbox or something similar. On any part of the route they could encounter wire fortifications, and at that moment being under powerful machine-gun fire. Any delay threatened many casualties. This device allowed any soldier to cut the wire almost instantly and organize a passage. I think in such a situation noiselessness did not matter at all.

I presume it didn't alter the firing ability of the weapon to which it was attached.

From the photo images, the way it was mounted might have altered the muzzle flash a bit – venting more to the sides and top, with less going forward. Doubt that would have altered the path of the first bullet(s), but it might have actually stabilized the gun a bit more, as the PPSh (which it appears to be mounted to) did have a tendancy towards muzzle climb (as almost any SMG did).

It looks like it's the bullet that does the wire cutting … cause havoc with the bullet causing the barrel to explode or bullet in a random direction as possible friendly fire.

Yes clearly the intent is to bring the wire directly in front of the muzzle of the gun so that the bullet cuts the wire. The bullet(s) that did the cutting would probably indeed go off in random directions, but all would be in a frontal arc, where presumably there were no friendlies to hit.

I don't see any likelyhood of bursting a barrel, as the device is mounted to the flash deflector on the barrel shroud, not to the barrel itself. There is already an inch or so of clear air between the device and the actual muzzle of the barrel.

Bit noisier than a conventional wire cutter too. "Silently" seems odd. Add to that the muzzle flash. Wonder why the idea did not develop further…

If I were charging across a field of fire assaulting an enemy position, and came upon a wire entanglement, I don't think I'd be too concerned about making noise. The reference to "silent" was that, IF silence was necessary (ie: on a night patrol perhaps) you could use the device to brace a wire upwards to crawl under it. That would indeed be reasonably silent (providing the enemy didn't hang noisemakers on the wire).

Probably not developed or deployed too much further because large-scale positional warfare with troops charging at entrenched positions protected by wire entanglements are just not very common these days.

At least that would be my reading of it. Interesting and simple approach. Never saw it before.

-Mark
(aka: Mk 1)

Simple and brilliant.

Lifting the wire instead, now that is clever for silent attack. I didn't fink of dat….der