Page 85 - History of War - Issue 05-14

Hand grenade

The first example of hand-thrown incendiary devices dates
back to Byzantine soldiers in the 8th century. The original
devices were stone or ceramic jars containing “Greek Fire” – a
combination of various chemicals, including naphtha, sulphur,
pine resin and quicklime. The device was wrapped in a burning
cloth, and thrown. The container shattered on impact, and is
contents would ignite, spreading sticky burning fluids.
Naturally the first explosive devices can be traced back
to China in the 10th century, where small containers were
crammed with gunpowder and detonated by a lit fuse. These
were called Zhen Tian Lei – or “Sky-Shaking Thunder”.
Europe caught on to the idea in the 1600s, when the term
“grenade” was coined during the war between King James II
of England and forces led by William of Orange. However the
weapon wouldn’t prove its worth until the Crimean War, where
its effectiveness in trench warfare became evident.
The hand grenade as we know it today was first patented
by Nils Waltersen Aasen of Norway in 1906. By the outbreak
of WWI, he had 13 factories with 13,000 workers churning
out grenades for French Army (the diagrams opposite are
from the French Platoon Leader’s Manual of 1917, showing
the correct method for launching a grenade at the enemy).

nicknamed “Tickler’s Artillery” after a well-known
jam manufacturer – that predominated, which
consisted of a tin can, packed with dynamite or
gun cotton, with a detonator attached to a fuse
that projected through the top. Fragmentation delivered in wooden boxes of 30. Battye was
could be improved by adding pieces of scrap also celebrated for his efforts in bringing electric groups of grenadiers worked together would it
metal or fragments of barbed wire. lighting and heating to dugouts. be possible to develop new tactics, and this had
Notes From the Front recommended practice The so-called “Mexican” grenade – later known commenced by the beginning of 1915. In Notes
with dummy bombs, and testing of fuses to as the “No 2” – was a type of British explode-on- on Attack and Defence it was recommended
determine burn time. Fuses were to be long impact stick grenade seen in small numbers. Its that attacks should always be well supplied with
enough that the bomb could be thrown, but not strange name came about because it was being bombs, and that there should be “an organised
so long that an alert enemy could dive into cover produced for a commercial contract for Mexico plan” to keep the defenders “of a captured
or even hurl the missile back. Jam Tins were by the Cotton Powder Company of Faversham in trench amply supplied with these missiles”.
made in many different places, but one of the Kent at the outbreak of war. By May 1915 an ideal “Trench Storming Party”
earliest venues that could claim the title “factory” Though Feld-Pionierdienst had envisaged had been devised by the British. This was to
was the village of Gorre behind the Givenchy- that grenades would be used in the clearance comprise upwards of 14 men commanded by
Festubert sector where the sappers and miners of fieldworks, quite how the grenadier would an NCO. The men of the party would be divided
of the Indian Meerut Division were ensconced achieve this in practice was not immediately into four distinct tasks: “bayonet men” to cover
from November 1914. apparent. Grenades were quickly used in raids, the group and take the lead in winkling out the
and grenadiers were put in the front line ahead opposition; grenadiers; grenade carriers; and
Hairbrush grenade of attacking infantry. Another tactic used at a “sandbag men” whose duty was to follow up,
According to Notes From the Front the British very early stage was to open rapid fire with other block side entrances, and finally form a barricade
improvised “Hairbrush” was about 20 inches weapons, so allowing bomb throwers to creep in the trench at the furthest point of the advance.
in length, with a slab of explosive surrounded forward: but none of these methods yet exploited To provide manpower for these storming parties
by metal fragments within a sacking cover, the grenade to its fullest potential. Only when the “very best, bravest and steadiest in an
attached to the wooden handle, again with a
fuse and detonator. An Imperial War Museum
variant has a tin attached to the backing board. British WWI grenades (l to r):
French examples from the Les Invalides musem, No 27 phosphorous bomb
No 34 Mk III, No 36 (an
and seen in photographs, vary in detail. Some improved version of the Mills
have nails tied around the explosive, others bomb), Battye bomb and Jam
feature a slot in the wooden handle by means of Tin (or more precsiely Milk Tin)
which they can be slung from a rope around the
bomber’s body for easy carriage. The German
emergency grenades were commonly known
as Behelfsmäßige Handgranaten. Two models,
approximating to the Jam Tin and Hairbrush,
were depicted in the 1915 Dienstunterricht des
Deutschen Pioniers (For Education of the German
Pioneer). The tin type was about 4 inches in
diameter, closed with a wooden lid, and contained
fragments of iron weighing about 0.2oz. The
German Hairbrush type was 20 inches long with
a large slab of explosive.
Another type devised in the winter of 1914-15
was the British “Battye” or “Bethune” bomb,
produced in army workshops in France. Named
after its inventor, Major Basil Condon Battye RE,
it consisted of an externally segmented small
cast iron cylinder filled with explosive, a detonator
and an igniter, usually of the “Nobel” type. It was
HISTORY WAR 85
of