Category Archives: Austro-Hungarian Hand Grenades

This is the third, and largest, example of a Schwere hand grenade that I can show you, and this is a seriously heavy piece of kit, weighing in at just under three pounds.

This is a medium Schwere hand grenade, weighing in at about ten ounces, considerably heavier than the previous Schwere I showed you.

Schwere hand grenades, made of cast-iron, and in quite a number of different styles and sizes, were used by Austro-Hungarian forces throughout the war.

Three examples of what are known as Lakos hand grenades, named after the man who developed them, one Captain Róbert Lakos, pioneer officer of the Royal Hungarian 4th Honvéd Infantry Regiment. The Lakos was basically an improvised grenade made in … Continue reading →

This is the Ball Rohr hand grenade, also once attached to a cardboard handle, remnants of which you can still see inside the ball.

Many of the early hand grenades in use during the first few months of the war, across all the combatant nations, were improvised explosive devices, tins full of bits of metal or anything likely to cause damage, often attached to … Continue reading →