VO7 – Gift Version from the VLTAVA 1966 Exercise

These knives are considered holy grails among VO-7 collectors and appear on the market extremely rarely. The knives were produced for this massive exercise as gifts for foreign and domestic dignitaries. The photographs show two variants of the VO-7 Vltava knife, differing in handle colour. All versions had the same sheath with the VLTAVA exercise emblem stamped on the front. From the photos you can notice that sheaths came with both two and three rivets on the belt loop.

Warning: due to their scarcity, these knives are frequently imitated and offered to collectors.

The VLTAVA 66 exercise, held in September 1966, was one of the largest and most significant strategic military exercises of the Warsaw Pact on Czechoslovak territory. It was a combined exercise of ČSSR, USSR, GDR and Hungarian forces.

The scenario reflected the Cold War doctrine of the time — repelling an attack and launching a rapid counter-offensive westward. The exercise simulated conditions of nuclear warfare, including the use of tactical nuclear weapons. Airborne drops behind enemy lines played a key role, testing the equipment of reconnaissance and special forces.

The exercise concluded with a grand military parade in České Budějovice, attended by the highest political leadership including Leonid Brezhnev and Antonín Novotný. For the public it was meant to demonstrate that the socialist bloc was invincible.