A report on Grenade

Demonstration of a German stielhandgranate (shaft hand grenade), a high explosive grenade with time fuze, the Netherlands, 1946.

M67 fragmentation grenade, a modern (1968-present) hand grenade in the US

Hand grenades filled with Greek fire; surrounded by caltrops. (10th–12th centuries National Historical Museum, Athens, Greece)

Mongolian grenade attack on Japanese during Yuan dynasty.

Seven ceramic hand grenades of the 17th Century found in Ingolstadt Germany

An illustration of a fragmentation bomb known as the 'divine bone dissolving fire oil bomb' (lan gu huo you shen pao) from the Huolongjing. The black dots represent iron pellets.

Earliest known representation of a gun (a fire lance) and a grenade (upper right), Dunhuang, 10th century AD.

A cross-section of a Ketchum Grenade, used during the American Civil War.

One of the earliest modern hand grenades. Fielded in the British Army from 1908, it was unsuccessful in the trenches of World War I, and was replaced by the Mills bomb.

The Mills bomb – the first modern fragmentation grenade – was used in the trenches from 1915

Cross section of the Model 24 Stielhandgranate

German DM51 hand grenade with blast core (top) and fragmentation sleeve (bottom)

Inert training grenade made from hard rubber

M61 grenade (1959-1968), with safety clip around the lever and the bent tip of the safety pin at top

Typical safety pin. A cotter pin with a ring attached

An infantryman throwing a hand grenade during training, 1942

Grenade immediately after being thrown at a practice range. The safety lever has separated in mid-air from the body of the grenade.

Hand grenade converted to booby trap with pull trip wire trigger

Explosive weapon typically thrown by hand , but can also refer to a shell (explosive projectile) shot from the muzzle of a rifle (as a rifle grenade) or a grenade launcher.

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Fuze

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Part of the device that initiates function.

SD2 Butterfly bomb c. 1940 - wings rotate as bomb falls, unscrewing the arming spindle connected to the fuze

Avro Lancaster at RAF Metheringham. Note the "Fuzed" status, chalked on the nose of each bomb

Cross-sectional views of QF 2-pounder naval gun shells, showing percussion fuzes.

Fuzes fitted to M107 155mm artillery shells, c. 2000

Fuzed 81mm white phosphorus mortar shell in 1980. Note spelling of "fuze" on adjacent boxes

An assortment of fuzes for artillery and mortar shells

British World War II 4-inch naval illuminating shell, showing time fuze (orange, top), illuminating compound (green) and parachute (white, bottom)

British No. 63 Mk I Time and Percussion fuze, c. 1915, used in shrapnel shells

British No. 100 Graze Fuze for high-explosive shell, World War I.

British Percussion Fuze No. 110 Mk III, World War I, used in trench mortars

British No. 131 D.A. (Direct Action) Impact Fuze, Mk VI, World War I, used in anti-aircraft artillery

British No. 16 D Mk IV N Base percussion fuze, c. 1936

British No. 45 P Direct Action Impact Fuze, World War I, used in howitzer shells

Cut-away diagram of Japanese Type 99 Grenade showing fuze mechanism. c. 1939

Cut-away diagram of a US M2A4 bounding mine showing the M6A1 pressure/pull fuze. c. 1950

USSR pull-fuze designed for booby-trap or anti-handling purposes. c. 1950s. Detonator assembly is inserted into explosives

Alternative design of USSR booby-trap pull-fuze, usually connected to a tripwire. c. 1950s

USSR pressure fuze for booby-trap purposes e.g. victim steps on loose floorboard with fuze (connected to TNT explosives) concealed underneath. c. 1950s

Italian TC/2.4 mine c. 1980s showing central location of mechanical pressure fuze

German S-mine dating from World War II showing fuze well into which a 3-pronged fuze would be screwed

Fuze for a German S-mine, which would be screwed into the fuze well on the mine

M4 anti tank mine, showing main fuze in the centre, plus 2 additional fuze pockets (both empty) which provide the option to fit anti-handling devices

Typical configuration of a pull fuze and/or pressure-release fuze attached to M15 anti-tank landmines

The problem-prone Mark 6 magnetic influence exploder for the Mark 14 submarine torpedo was secretly developed with limited testing between the world wars

In the United States and some military forces, fuze is used to denote a sophisticated ignition device incorporating mechanical and/or electronic components (for example a proximity fuze for an artillery shell, magnetic/acoustic fuze on a sea mine, spring-loaded grenade fuze, pencil detonator or anti-handling device) as opposed to a simple burning fuse.

Rifle grenade

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Mills bomb N°23 Mk II, with rod for launch by rifle

Mills N°36 rifle grenade, with its gas check disk for use with cup-launcher

Diagram of a Babbitt rifle grenade, as using in the Springfield 1903 rifle

French V-B rifle grenade, a bullet trap type. Top shows views and cutaway of the grenade, bottom shows the grenade and grenade launcher, which is affixed to the rifle. Cross-section shows that the grenade is a pass-through design, allowing the use of live ammunition. Arming tab, activated by the bullet's passage, can also be seen.

Japanese Type 91 50 mm grenade with screw-on propellant cartridge for use in a Type 89 grenade discharger

Japanese soldier demonstrating the correct use of the Type 89 discharger

A member of the British Home Guard demonstrates a rifle equipped to fire a No. 68 anti-tank grenade

Drawings of German Schiessbecher and grenades

Japanese Type 2 grenade launcher and a 30 mm Type 2 hollow charge grenade (top) and a 40 mm Type 2 hollow charge grenade (bottom) used during the Second World War

An M7 grenade launcher with M9 rifle grenade fitted on the end of an M1 Garand rifle

WWII American rifle grenades (From Left to Right): M1 Grenade Adapter with Mk.2 Fragmentation Grenade, M22 Smoke Rifle Grenade with Impact fuze, M17 Fragmentation Rifle Grenade with Impact-fuze, M2 Grenade Adapter with AN/M8 Smoke Grenade

Japanese troops launching practice ENERGA rifle grenades attached from Howa Type 64 rifles

Cutaway of M31 HEAT rifle grenade from US Army Field Manual FM 23-3 1972. The M31 warhead was adapted into the superseding M72 LAW single-shot disposable rocket system.

Yugoslavian SKS with 22mm launcher attached to muzzle, plus a flip-up grenade sight

Japanese Type 06 rifle grenade attached to the barrel of a Howa Type 89 assault rifle

A riot control grenade in a launching cup attached to a Mossberg 500 riot shotgun

Launching a dummy grenade from a Mossberg M500 with a grenade launching cup attachment

A rifle grenade is a grenade that uses a rifle-based launcher to permit a longer effective range than would be possible if the grenade were thrown by hand.

Smoke grenade

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British L83A1 Smoke Grenade manufactured in May 2008. This grenade has already been used.

Diagram and cross section of an AN M18 smoke grenade

A violet signaling smoke grenade being used during a military training exercise

Amphibious Assault Vehicles firing smoke grenades

A smoke grenade is a canister-type grenade used as a signaling device, target or landing zone marking device, or as a screening device for unit movements.

Mills bomb

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An officer of the British Salonika Army demonstrates how to "lob" a Mills bomb during the First World War

Mills bomb No. 23 Mk II, with rod for launch by rifle

Drawing of the Mills No. 36 rifle grenade, with its gascheck disk for use with cup-launcher

Lee-Enfield cup-launcher in the 1916 Somme Battlefield Museum, France

A case of derived type with special base plug

"Mills bomb" is the popular name for a series of British hand grenades.

Grooved body of a Second World War-era U.S. Mk 2 grenade. The grooves covering the exterior of the grenade are used to aid in the gripping of the grenade when throwing.

Fragmentation (weaponry)

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Diagram of S-mine in the delivery of steel ball fragments

An illustration of a fragmentation bomb from the 14th century Ming Dynasty text Huolongjing. The black dots represent iron pellets.

Early artillery shell, with the fragments it would generate. 1900

Artillery shell fragment from the Gulf War

$Grenade fragments in the soft tissue of the lower leg (along with an old fracture of the fibula)$

Fragmentation is the process by which the casing, shot, or other components of an anti-personnel weapon, bomb, barrel bomb, land mine, IED, artillery, mortar, tank gun, or autocannon shell, rocket, missile, grenade, etc. are dispersed and/or shattered by the detonation of the explosive filler.

Clockwise from the top: The road to Bapaume in the aftermath of the Battle of the Somme, 1916

British Mark V tanks crossing the Hindenburg Line, 1918

sinking after hitting a mine in the Dardanelles, 1915

A British Vickers machine gun crew wearing gas masks during the Battle of the Somme, 1916

German Albatros D.III biplane fighters near Douai, France, 1917

World War I

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World War I or the First World War, often abbreviated as WWI or WW1, began on 28 July 1914 and ended on 11 November 1918.

Rival military coalitions in 1914: Triple Entente in green; Triple Alliance in brown. Only the Triple Alliance was a formal "alliance"; the others listed were informal patterns of support.

, a, Germany's first response to the British Dreadnought

Sarajevo citizens reading a poster with the proclamation of the Austrian annexation in 1908

Traditionally thought to show the arrest of Gavrilo Princip (right), historians now believe this photo depicts an innocent bystander, Ferdinand Behr

Crowds on the streets in the aftermath of the anti-Serb riots in Sarajevo, 29 June 1914

Ethno-linguistic map of Austria-Hungary, 1910. Bosnia-Herzegovina was annexed in 1908.

Cheering crowds in London and Paris on the day war was declared.

German soldiers on the way to the front in 1914; at this stage, all sides expected the conflict to be a short one.

French bayonet charge during the Battle of the Frontiers; by the end of August, French casualties exceeded 260,000, including 75,000 dead.

The British Indian infantry divisions were withdrawn from France in December 1915, and sent to Mesopotamia.

Trenches of the 11th Cheshire Regiment at Ovillers-la-Boisselle, on the Somme, July 1916

Royal Irish Rifles in a communications trench, first day on the Somme, 1916

King George V (front left) and a group of officials inspect a British munitions factory in 1917.

U-155 exhibited near Tower Bridge in London, after the 1918 Armistice

Refugee transport from Serbia in Leibnitz, Styria, 1914

Bulgarian soldiers in a trench, preparing to fire against an incoming aeroplane

Austro-Hungarian troops executing captured Serbians, 1917. Serbia lost about 850,000 people during the war, a quarter of its pre-war population.

Australian troops charging near a Turkish trench during the Gallipoli Campaign

Mehmed V greeting Wilhelm II on his arrival at Constantinople

Kaiser Wilhelm II inspecting Turkish troops of the 15th Corps in East Galicia, Austria-Hungary (now Poland). Prince Leopold of Bavaria, the Supreme Commander of the German Army on the Eastern Front, is second from the left.

Russian forest trench at the Battle of Sarikamish, 1914–1915

Austro-Hungarian trench at 3,850 metres in the Ortler Alps, one of the most challenging fronts of the war

Romanian troops during the Battle of Mărășești, 1917

Emperor Nicholas II and Commander-in-Chief Nikolai Nikolaevich in the captured Przemysl. The Russian Siege of Przemyśl was the longest siege of the war.

"They shall not pass", a phrase typically associated with the defence of Verdun

President Wilson asking Congress to declare war on Germany, 2 April 1917

The Allied Avenue, 1917 painting by Childe Hassam, that depicts Manhattan's Fifth Avenue decorated with flags from Allied nations

French infantry advance on the Chemin des Dames, April 1917

Canadian Corps troops at the Battle of Vimy Ridge, 1917

10.5 cm Feldhaubitze 98/09 and Ottoman artillerymen at Hareira in 1917 before the Southern Palestine offensive

British artillery battery on Mount Scopus in the Battle of Jerusalem, 1917. Foreground, a battery of 16 heavy guns. Background, conical tents and support vehicles.

Ottoman troops during the Mesopotamian campaign

French soldiers under General Gouraud, with machine guns amongst the ruins of a cathedral near the Marne, 1918

British 55th (West Lancashire) Division soldiers blinded by tear gas during the Battle of Estaires, 10 April 1918

Between April and November 1918, the Allies increased their front-line rifle strength while German strength fell by half.

Aerial view of ruins of Vaux-devant-Damloup, France, 1918

16th Bn (Canadian Scottish), advancing during the Battle of the Canal du Nord, 1918

An American major, piloting an observation balloon near the front, 1918

Italian troops reach Trento during the Battle of Vittorio Veneto, 1918. Italy's victory marked the end of the war on the Italian Front and secured the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Ferdinand Foch, second from right, pictured outside the carriage in Compiègne after agreeing to the armistice that ended the war there. The carriage was later chosen by Nazi Germany as the symbolic setting of Pétain's June 1940 armistice.

The signing of the Treaty of Versailles in the Hall of Mirrors, Versailles, 28 June 1919, by Sir William Orpen

Greek prime minister Eleftherios Venizelos signing the Treaty of Sèvres

Dissolution of Austria-Hungary after war

Map of territorial changes in Europe after World WarI (as of 1923)

Emergency military hospital during the Spanish flu pandemic, which killed about 675,000 people in the United States alone, Camp Funston, Kansas, 1918

Tanks on parade in London at the end of World War I

38-cm "Lange Max" of Koekelare (Leugenboom),the biggest gun in the world in 1917

A Canadian soldier with mustard gas burns, c. 1917–1918

Royal Air Force Sopwith Camel. In April 1917, the average life expectancy of a British pilot on the Western Front was 93 flying hours.

Luftstreitkräfte Fokker Dr.I being inspected by Manfred von Richthofen, also known as the Red Baron.

Mobile radio station in German South West Africa, using a hydrogen balloon to lift the antenna

Austro-Hungarian soldiers executing men and women in Serbia, 1916

French soldiers making a gas and flame attack on German trenches in Flanders

Armenians killed during the Armenian Genocide. Image taken from Ambassador Morgenthau's Story, written by Henry Morgenthau Sr. and published in 1918.

German prisoners in a French prison camp during the later part of the war

British prisoners guarded by Ottoman forces after the First Battle of Gaza in 1917

Poster urging women to join the British war effort, published by the Young Women's Christian Association

Bermuda Volunteer Rifle Corps First Contingent in Bermuda, winter 1914–1915, before joining 1 Lincolnshire Regiment in France in June 1915. The dozen remaining after Guedecourt on 25 September 1916, merged with a Second Contingent. The two contingents suffered 75% casualties.

Sackville Street (now O'Connell Street) after the 1916 Easter Rising in Dublin

The Deserter, 1916: Anti-war cartoon depicting Jesus facing a firing squad with soldiers from five European countries

Possible execution at Verdun at the time of the mutinies in 1917. The original French text accompanying this photograph notes, however, that the uniforms are those of 1914–15 and that the execution may be that of a spy at the beginning of the war.

Bolshevik leaders Lenin and Trotsky promised "Peace, Land and Bread" to the impoverished masses

Young men registering for conscription, New York City, 5 June 1917

Military recruitment in Melbourne, Australia, 1914

British volunteer recruits in London, August 1914

1917 political cartoon about the Zimmermann Telegram. The message was intercepted by the British; its publication caused outrage and contributed to the U.S. entry into World War I.

The Italian Redipuglia War Memorial, which contains the remains of 100,187 soldiers

A typical village war memorial to soldiers killed in World War I

A 1919 book for veterans, from the US War Department

War memorial to soldiers of the 49th Bengalee Regiment (Bangali Platoon) in Kolkata, India, who died in the war.

Nedeljko Čabrinović threw a grenade at the Archduke's car and injured two of his aides, who were taken to hospital while the convoy carried on.

M67 grenade

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The M67 grenade is a fragmentation hand grenade used by the United States military.

Some sectioned shells from the First World War. From left to right: 90 mm shrapnel shell, 120 mm pig iron incendiary shell, 77/14 model – 75 mm high-explosive shell, model 16–75 mm shrapnel shell.

Shell (projectile)

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Projectile whose payload contains an explosive, incendiary, or other chemical filling.

US scientists with a full-scale cut-away model of the W48 155 millimeter nuclear artillery shell, a very small tactical nuclear weapon with an explosive yield equivalent to 72 tons of TNT (0.072 kiloton). It could be fired from any standard 155 mm (6.1 inch) howitzer (e.g., the M114 or M198).

155 mm M107 projectiles. All have fuzes fitted.

The 'flying-cloud thunderclap-eruptor' cannon from the Huolongjing

A mortar with a hollowed shell from the Boshin war

The Armstrong gun was a pivotal development for modern artillery as the first practical rifled breech loader. Pictured, deployed by Japan during the Boshin war (1868–69).

Early British "direct action" nose impact fuze of 1900 with no safety or arming mechanism, relying on heavy direct physical impact to detonate

Poudre B was the first practical smokeless powder

Sir James Dewar developed the cordite explosive in 1889

British gun crew preparing 155 mm shells at Vergato, Italy on 22 February 1945

155 mm American artillery shells, March 1945

Palliser shot for the BL 12 inch naval gun Mk I - VII, 1886

Picric acid was used in the first high-explosive shells. Cut out section of a high-explosive shell belonging to a Canon de 75 modèle 1897.

15 inch high-explosive howitzer shells, circa 1917

Typical World War I shrapnel round: 1 shell bursting charge 2 bullets 3 nose fuze 4 central ignition tube 5 resin matrix 6 thin steel shell wall 7 cartridge case 8 propellant

155 mm artillery shells containing HD (nitrogen mustard) agent at Pueblo chemical weapons storage facility – Note the colour-coding scheme on each shell.

Illumination rounds fired from a M777 howitzer

Corroded but live Iraqi artillery shell dating from the Gulf War (1990–1991)

M982 Excalibur, a GPS guided artillery shell

M712 Copperhead, a laser guided artillery shell, approaches a target tank

SMArt 155, an anti-armor shell containing two autonomous, sensor-guided, fire-and-forget submunitions

M1156 Precision Guidance Kit, an add-on GPS guidance system for artillery shells

XM1113 extended range artillery round, shown here at a range demonstration, uses a rocket-assist motor

Early grenades were hollow cast-iron balls filled with gunpowder, and "shells" were similar devices designed to be shot from artillery in place of solid cannonballs ("shot").