So here’s the grenade that replaced the Model 1913.
This is the Kugelhandgranate Model 1915 ‘Na’, produced in large quantities from 1915 onwards.
By 1915 German industry was preparing for a long war and resources were already becoming stretched, making it beneficial, from both an economic and manufacturing point of view, to design a replacement for the Kugelhandgranate Model 1913, and thus the Model 1915, considerably easier to produce, was introduced.
Slightly smaller and slightly lighter, the Model 1915 nonetheless retained clear similarities with its predecessor.
The major differences between the two models were the seriously reduced and simplified fragmentation grooves which helped greatly in the mass production process,…
…and a new fuse or igniter, the M1915, made of zinc-alloy, specifically designed for the Model 1915 (but it could be used in the Model 1913, as we saw previously),…
…this example another with a five second delay, and another that has been used. At the top of the igniter on the left you can see the remains of another new feature, a twisted wire which had a ring-pull at the end which could be pulled using the index finger, negating the need for the leather wrist lanyard and hook used with the Model 1913.
The Model 1915 would itself be superseded by the stick grenades the Germans were already introducing, and later the Model 1917, but it was made in large enough numbers to remain in use throughout the war,…
…and so variations during the second half of the war included a version holding more powerful explosives designed for use in an anti-tank role, a percussion version, and, I think, a stick grenade version.
Stick grenades next.
Chaps, I believe I may have sorted it out – check the insert I have added to the picture of the igniter in the previous post, and the rewritten text beneath, and tell me if that makes sense now. It also goes to show that my original theory was incorrect. It’s the wire that was coated, not the friction block – once I discovered the ’embedding’ bit, it all made sense.
Happy New Year MJS and may it be healthy, wealthy and wise, continuing with many more of your most interesting and welcome posts.
Just returned from a visit to Broome and Derby in our remote Kimberley Region where we unexpectedly got caught up in Tropical Cyclone Hilda. Made for interesting driving. Fortunately the missus and I had a 4WD vehicle. I found a couple of sign boards to later send you photos – peppered with gunshot by gung-ho jackaroos (or perhaps jillaroos).
Now to your grenade – I cannot resist – it looks like the door handle knob when as happy-go-lucky country kids, my mate and I in the early 1950s made into a home made “gum nut bomb” (permitted back then – not these days) with safety fuse which from a jetty we threw into a shoal of fish in the ocean ….. resulted in fish washing up on the shore for the next couple of days … “it wasn’t us sir”
Hope a fine time was had by all Sid.