Austro-Hungarian Hand Grenades of the Great War Part One – The Rohr Stielhandgranate

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 handles for easier throwing.  The Austro-Hungarian Army was no different, but by the spring of 1915, these improvised hand grenades were being replaced by not only the German Stielhandgranate, which the Austrians soon began importing in large quantities, but by other Austrian-manufactured stick grenades, and in particular the Rohr hand grenade.
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The Rifle Grenade Part Three – The German Karabingranate M17

The Germans’ response to the French Viven-Bessière grenade we looked at last time was the Karabingranate M17, introduced in 1917.  Continue reading

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The Rifle Grenade Part Two – The French Viven-Bessière Grenade

Here’s a neat, but deadly, little thing.  Continue reading

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The Men Who Came Home – A Memorial Part Ten – The Scottish, Irish & Welsh Regiments

Here’s a postcard I haven’t shown you before, with plenty of tam o’ shanters on view – or are they Balmoral bonnets – I believe there is a difference, but being a Sassenach, what would I know?  Continue reading

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The Rifle Grenade Part One – The Italian Benaglia Rifle Grenade

This is the Italian Benaglia rifle grenade, actually a rod grenade, there being different ways of launching a grenade from a rifle. Continue reading

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British Hand Grenades of the Great War – The Mills Bomb

It would be remiss of me not to include the ubiquitous Mills Bomb in this series of posts about Great War hand grenades, although I am not a collector of British grenades per se, and wouldn’t pretend to know as much about them as perhaps I do about those of some other nations.  So just the basics this post, illustrated by the two examples I own, interspersed with some pictures of grenade production, preparation & training.  Continue reading

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Mystery Item No. 3 – The Answer & Other Russian Miscellanea

For those of you still wondering – well done to Andrew and in particular Walter – exactly what this little bottle is, let’s not string it out.  Here’s the answer.  Continue reading

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