MPL-50
Literally: small infantry spade
Also known as: saperka
A Soviet and Russian small infantry spade 50 cm long, used by Spetsnaz units to train close combat and aimed throws.
Quick Facts
RussiaAbout the weapon
MPL-50 is a steel small infantry spade 50 cm long; that is exactly how Russians read its name, and they still use it today. The first forerunner of modern army spades is considered the tool of the Danish officer Johan Linnemann, patented in 1870 and supplied to the Danish army. Only Russia recognized Linnemann's patent rights, paying him 30,000 rubles and ordering 60,000 spades. Besides digging, the spade also serves as an axe, a hammer, an oar, or a cooking pan. Soviet Spetsnaz units were well trained in combat with the short army spade, nicknamed saperka. Alexander Popov, writing on its use in close combat, states that the spade extends the effective reach by 30 to 40 cm, whereas a knife extends the arm's length by only 15 to 20 cm. Sliding the palm along the handle, he says, lets the weapon be shortened for combat at the closest range, and a well-trained soldier can throw it accurately ten meters or farther. We know these claims only from a single blog article devoted to Russian combat systems; we have not found them in encyclopedic sources.