Archive for Grenades

Japanese Type 4 Ceramic Grenade

Posted in Grenades with tags , , on March 2, 2020 by The Dude

The late war and rather desperate innovation of the Type 4 hand grenade. These grenades were invented in late 1944 in response to Japan’s collapsing raw material supplies. The US submarine and air blockade had run the Japs out of steel at this point. The weapon is pretty simple, a ceramic or porcelain vase shape, with a crimped 5 second detonator made from a blasting cap. These were handed out to all the home defence organizations as well as to troops out in the inner chain of islands like Iwo Jima and Saipan. The style varies a lot because it was left to the individual pottery to decide.

Transport Container for Mod 40 Rifle Grenade

Posted in Grenades, Paper with tags , , , on April 10, 2016 by The Dude

Flag_of_the_NSDAP_(1920–1945).svgThis rather boring little cardboard tube is intended for the German Mod 40 Rifle Grenade (Große Gewehrpanzergranate). This tube is not marked for a manufacturer, just for the model grenade it contains. The grenade can be found here.

Transport Container for Mod 30 Rifle Grenade

Posted in Grenades, Paper with tags , , , on April 10, 2016 by The Dude

Flag_of_the_NSDAP_(1920–1945).svgThis is the transport container for the German Mod 30 (30mm) high explosive rifle grenade (Gewehrsprenggranate). My friend James is big into ordnance and insists on talking me into buying this stuff. The type-A in me agrees but I have to say that old cardboard gets right stinky. The grenade it held is here. The container is stamped COS 44 for Merz-Werke Metallwarenfabrik in Frankfurt.

Volkshandgranate 45

Posted in Grenades with tags , , , on July 30, 2015 by The Dude
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This grenade, the Volkshandgranate 45 is a product from the last months of the war. The body was made out of concrete, mixed with metal fragments, and formed in a paper mold. It held a 150-gram nipolit charge, held under a metal cover.
The charge held a threaded metal adapter, to accept the igniter. This particular one has traces of its original green paint however it appears the metal adapter is lost to time.

Japanese Type-99 Hand Grenade

Posted in Grenades with tags , , on April 18, 2014 by The Dude

Flag_of_Japan.svgThe Type 99 Hand Grenade (九九式手榴弾 Kyūkyū-shiki Teryūdan), also known as Kiska grenade by the American Army was an improved version of the Type 97 fragmentation hand grenade used by the Imperial Japanese Army and Imperial Japanese Navy SNLF during World War II.

The Type 99 was issued as a standard rifle grenade to Japanese infantrymen in the Second Sino-Japanese War and throughout the various campaigns of World War II. The first examples to fall into the hands of Allied military intelligence were captured at the Battle of Kiska in the Aleutian Islands, which gave rise to the nickname of “Kiska grenade” by American troops.

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Japanese Type-97 Hand Grenade

Posted in Grenades with tags , , on April 18, 2014 by The Dude

Flag_of_Japan.svgThis is a Type 97 Hand Grenade. The Type 97 (九七式手榴弾 Kyūnana-shiki Teryūdan) was the standard hand grenade in the Japanese Army and Naval Landing Forces from the 1936 Sino Japanese War until the end of WW2. The low power and unreliable fusing on this grenade made it as dangerous to the user as to the target.

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Stielhandgranate M1916

Posted in Grenades with tags , , on March 15, 2014 by The Dude

Flag_of_the_German_EmpireThis is a WW1 Imperial German stick grenade called the M1916. It’s an odd design since the base of the grenade doesn’t hold a porcelain ball like the M1917 but rather has a weight that falls out when the grenade is thrown. I think this is a water recovered one with a touch up on the paint job as although the manufacturer “R.C.W.N.” marking is still visible, there is wood loss where the fuse time was stamped and all I can make out is an 8.