Hand Grenades; Strange but True

[dragoon500ly]

In one of the other threads, we went off discussing the British Northover Projector, a crude anti-tank weapon that was developed in the dark days following Dunkirk when the British were scrambling to develop ANY type of anti-tank weapon.

This is the round that was used with the Northover...

The Grenade, Hand or Projector, No.76
Length: 6in
Weight: 1lb 3oz
Filling: a mixture of phosphorus, benzine, water and rubber.
Fusing: none

The No.76 is perhaps the easiest grenade to use, you simply throw it, hard enough to shatter its glass body, and it self ignities. It was first offered to the RAF, who turned it down stating "the carriage of spontaneously inflammable liquids in aircraft is not considered to be desirable." The body is a simple half-pint glass soda bottle capped with a Crown Cap. The hand-thrown version had a red cap and the Projector version had a green cap and differed only in that the glass bottle is made with thicker glass. Thankfully, the No.76 was never used in combat, being issued to the Home Guard and declared obsolete in 1944.

Another grenade that was issued and never used in combat...

The Grenade, Hand, No.74 (The Sticky Bomb)
Length: 9.5in
Weight: 2lb 4oz
Filling: 1lb 4oz of Nitroglycerin
Fusing: 5-second delay

Yet another of the "hasty" antitank weapons developed in 1940, the Sticky Bomb is a sperical glass flask filled with nitroglycerin; the neck of the flask was formed into a screw thread and a handle attached by a connecting ring. The handle contains a spring-driven striker, fuse and detonator, operated by a lever similar to that used in the standard No.36 Mills Bomb. The outer surface of the flask is covered in a stockinette material and coated with a adhesive similar to bird-line. Two thin metal hemispheres, spring-loaded to fly apart when a pin is released, encloses the flask and allows the grenade to be carried without sticking to everything.
To use this grenade required some serious balls, since it is preferable to place it in position for maximum effect. The user first releases the pin holding the hemispheres, allowing them to fall away and exposing the flask. You then run up to the tank, jab the grenade to the selected spot, release the handle and then have all of 5 seconds to take cover. Remind anyone of a certain scene in Saving Private Ryan?

The last of our strange but true grenades is the...

Grenade, Hand, No. 82 (The Gammon Grenade)
Dimensions: variable
Weight: variable
Fusing: Impact

This grenade actually makes sense. It is designed to be used by paratroopers and the object is to lighten the load carried by the trooper. Among the many items required is a supply of plastic explosives; whenever any demolitions was needed, you simply had every paratrooper in the area produce their load of C4. Another desirable item is a supply of hand grenades and the thought occured to someone in the War Ministry that a grenade was simply a container of explosive with a fuse attached and since the paratroopers were already carrying C4, then all they needed is a fuse.
The No.82 consists of an all-ways fuze attached to a cloth bag, open at the bottom and gathered in by a strong elastic band. A quantity can be carried crushed into a pocket. When the trooper was ready to use a grenade, a stick(s) is inserted into the bag; a half-stick for blowing in a door, two sticks to attack a tank, etc. The Gammon was actually used in combat by the British and American paratroopers, but was decleared obsolete in 1947.