German hand grenades 1914

[truthergw]

Reports of the battle of Loos, mention the problem with the British grenade as being that it was 'lit' by striking the fuze on a prepared surface worn as an armlet. Unfortunately, continuous rain had made many of these strikers useless. I believe that Mills bombs were used at Loos but they were scarce. I wonder if the main problem with British grenades in the first year was not scarcity as much as design?

[Cnock]

Uploaded with ImageShack.us

Zonnebeke 1915

British nr.2 Percussion handgrenade

Cnock

[bob lembke]

As an early post suggested, at first only the Pioniere had issued grenades, and I read an interesting passage that indicated that the general German infantry only started being issued grenades at the time of the Battle of Verdun, although that was not a flat statement, but an observation that reasonably suggests that. (Troops were being issued grenades at Verdun and were afraid of them and throwing them away, the officer making the observation then suggesting that the men be given better training in the use of the grenades.) The German Pioniere had a much more prominent role as assault troops than the corresponding Royal Engineers and UK Pioneers, I believe, and it was a traditional role, certainly to the Franco=Prussian War, and they had other explosive and incendiary weapons (e.g., Brandrohren), even before the practical deployment of the flame-thrower. Often, for important attacks, infantry would be "stiffened" by the addition of Pioniere for important attacks, perhaps a platoon per every one or two infantry companies.

For this reason, early in the war, German grenades were always being handled by people trained in their use, unless they were improvised devices fashioned by the infantry. Some of the German explosive devices that look home-made were standard weapons pictured and explained in manuals that I have seen or possess, but fabricated at the front, such as geballte Ladung.

Bob Lembke