Not sure where to put this: Grenades

[Nightcrawler]

I'm trying to dig up information on the hand grenades used by the US, Britain, Germany, and Russia during the Second World War.

I know the US had the Mk.II grenade, and the Brits had their Mills Bomb. What was the proper German spelling for that stick grenade they had?

And what kind of grenades did the Soviets use? I believe they had both stick grenades AND regular grenades.

To what extent were rifle grenades used during the Second World War?

[El Tejon]

P-o-t-a-t-o-e

[SDC]

The German "potato-masher" was the "Steilhandgranate 35"; I've got a book on WW2 ordnance at home, and I'll get you some more info later.

[spacemanspiff]

yep, stielhandgranate.....thats how it shows up in MOHAA.

[zahc]

...so it must be true.

[SDC]

Here's the info I could find:

German: Steilhandgranate 35
Eiergranate (egg grenade)
US: Mk 2 "pineapple"
Russia: F1 (imagine a Mk 2 without the "spoon", but with an igniter rod out the top)
RGD33 (a stick grenade that has to be fused from the top)
UK: Mills Bomb
Gammon Grenade

Also, you can check out this page for more info on all types of grenades.
http://members.shaw.ca/dwlynn/tgrm.htm

[JShirley]

Hard one to place, but I'm thinking Harley's bailiwick.

What about sticky bombs?

[ACP230]

Small Arms Review, www.smallarmsreview.com, has done several articles on grenades from various countries. There's an article index on the website.

[Mike Irwin]

OK, now that I have a little time, kick back and enjoy the list...


United Kingdom

Grenade, hand or rifle, No. 36M -- Popularly known as the Mills Bomb.

Grenade, rifle, No. 68 -- The first hollow charge weapon to enter service in any military.

Grenade, hand, No. 69 -- Black plastic casing filled with explosive and an all-ways fuse. Designed as a blast grenade, but later was supplied with fragmentation sleeves.

Grenade, hand, No. 70 -- Designed to replace the Mills Bomb, entered service in the Pacific late in the war. Troops preferred the familiar Mills Bomb.

Grenade, hand, No. 74, AKA the "Sticky Bomb" -- A soft bag in a case with a resinous substance on it. Developed privately, improved in service. Designed to be stuck in place. Supplied mainly to partisans.

Grenade, anti-tank, No. 75 (Hawkins Grenade) -- Designed to be tossed in front of a tank, which hopefully would run over it and set off the crush igniters, blowing off the track. Looked not unlike a canteen. Also useful to partisans for cutting railroad tracks under the train.

Grenade, hand or projector, No. 76 -- Essentially a self-igniting phosphorus grenade that lit off when the glass flask broke against the target. Supplied mainly to the Home Guard, which used the Northover projector to deliver it. Many were apparently cached underground during the war, and are occasionally uncovered during construction projects with a nice gout of flame when a bulldozer breaks them.

Grenade, hand, No. 80, white phosphorus -- One of many similar smoke grenades.

Grenade, hand, No. 82 (Gammon Grenade) -- The "do it yourself" grenade. A small stockinette sack with a fuse on one end. Designed for airborn use, where soldiers would already have plastic explosive in stick form. Fill the bag with as much explosive as you need, and use it like a hand grenade.

Grenade, rifle, No. 85 -- British copy of the American M9A1 grenade.




United States

Fragmentation grenade, Mark 11A1 -- The classic Pineapple grenade of all the war films. Also found use as a rifle grenade with a launch holder.


Offensive hand grenade, Mark 111A2 -- Essentially a cardboard tube filled with a lot of explosive. Blast does the job. Originally touted as a demolition grenade, found a lot of use as a room, bunker, pillbox, and cave clearing grenade.

Antitank grenade, M9 -- The classic rifle grenade

Smoke Grenade, white phosphorus, M15 -- Exaclyt what it says it is.


USSR


Grenade, Model 1914/30 -- Stick grenade with a fly-off handle igniter. Had a supplemental fragmentation sleeve, was normally considered a blast grenade.

Fragmentation Grenade, F-1 -- Looked something like the American pineapple.

Anti-tanke grenade, RPG-43 -- An overgrown stick grenade that was actually a hollow-charge anti-tanke grenade.


Germany

Steilhandgranate 39 -- The classic German stick grenade. Numerous variants to improve framentation performance.

Eihandgranate 39 -- Blast grenade, shaped not unlike a large egg.

Heft Hohladung granate 3KG -- Anti-tank hollow charge grenade. Magnetic, it had to be applied to the tank by a brave soldier. VERY effective. Also effective against up to 20 inches of reinforced concrete. Nasty creature all around.

Nipolit grenades -- Various variants. Explosives made from unstable smokeless powder, it was very effective, could be machined like brass or iron, and resulted in stick grenades where the head and the handle were all explosive.

The Germans also had quite a variety of rifle grenades, or Gewehr Sprenggranaten.

They also had small grenades that could be launched from the standard flare pistols, the Kampfpistole and the Leuchtpistole.

[JShirley]

Thanks, Mike. I appreciate all the info.

[Sunray]

Nightcrawler, they have that building, downtown, full of books. It's called a library. You can also go to www.yahoo.com, type what you're looking for and press 'enter' and get all kinds of info. WW II is the most written about war in history. Hit the library.

[Jim Keenan]

FYI, Stielhandgrenate just means "stick hand grenade". The word for stick or handle is "stiel" (i before e), not "steil".

Jim

[Mike Irwin]

"The word for stick or handle is "stiel" (i before e), not "steil". and the ending period goes inside the quote in American usage. )

Yep, looks like the copy editor fell down on the job. I was quoting from Ian V. Hogg's "The Encyclopedia of Infantry Weapons of World War II."

There's a picture of a Nipolit stick grenade in which stiel is spelled stiel...

[Jim Keenan]

Actually, some usage manuals say to put the quotes outside for a quotation, but inside when putting quotes around a word or term. The rationale is that the period is part of the quotation, where it is not part of the term.

John wrote, "That is correct." (The period is part of the sentence John wrote.)

The barrel is marked ".45 Colt". (The period is not part of the marking on the barrel.)

Jim

[Mike Irwin]

"some usage manuals..."

Yeah.

The BAD ones.

[Jim Keenan]

OK, Mike, but just curious. How would you do a quote like the example of the barrel marking and be accurate?

The barrel is marked "NEW MODEL COLT." This style would lead the reader to assume the period is part of the marking, when it is not. (This would not matter most of the time, but it may be of concern in determining whether a marking is authentic.)

The barrel is marked "NEW MODEL COLT". This better (to me) indicates the actual marking, but does violate the "good" style manuals.

In the interests of accuracy in such cases, I think I will continue to use the latter style, even though (horror!) I am in violation of the style law and may be arrested by the proper writing enforcement police.

Jim

[Mike Irwin]

"In the interests of accuracy in such cases, I think I will continue to use the latter style, even though (horror!) I am in violation of the style law and may be arrested by the proper writing enforcement police."



If you're truly interested in accuracy, you won't inject confusion over whether the quote marks are part of the marking or not by sidestepping the issue altogether...

Here's how you do it when you're trying to describe markings on a gun...

The barrel is marked NEW MODEL COLT.

That's a LOT clearer than using quotes to offset markings.

That avoids the confusion of whether the quotes are part of the marking or not.

If the marking IS quoted on the barrel of the gun, then it would look like this: "NEW MODEL COLT".

In this case, since the quote is part of the marking, the period necessarily comes outside the quote mark, because the quotes are part of the barrel marking.

See? No more confusion.

Now up against the wall and spread'em. You're under arrest by order of the Commisar of Grammar.

[Johnny Guest]

Heck, I thougt M.Erwin WAS thecommissar.

You know, except when I need information on S&Ws, I LOVE to argue with Mike. This is a major problem, here, because I completely agree with him on this matter. This is scary. . .


Johnny

[Mike Irwin]

Who the hell is M.Erwin?

I've never heard of this person before.

[Riphalman]

That's good. You musta been skooled in Huntington.