Model 24 Stielhandgranate (Potato Masher)

History

The grenade was the most important grenade of the Wehrmacht in the First and Second World Wars. The type became an easily recognizable weapon at the time, while its unique dimensions ensured a firm grip and impressive range. Although commonly referred to as a "stick grenade," it was also nicknamed the "potato masher" by the Allies due to its more kitchen-like shape. Hand grenades were used by the Wehrmacht during World War I in 1915 and retired in 1945 at the end of World War II.

During the second half of World War II, an improved, economical grenade appeared as the Type 43 grenade, designed to replace the original Type 24 series.

The battlefields of World War I produced a variety of new types of weapons, including tanks ("landing ships"), fighter jets, bombers, poison gas, light machine guns, submachine guns, and flamethrowers. The war has entered a stalemate of static warfare, requiring war planners to find new ways to repel their respective enemies. So the war becomes a "tech chess" where both sides try to outsmart the other. Another handy weapon used during this period was the grenade, a device that featured prominently on both sides.

Grenades have proven to be useful offensive and defensive weapons for psychoactive effects, suppressive effects, clearing entrenched enemies or maiming/killing enemies. Before the First World War, grenades were primarily considered a siege weapon, used to attack enemies behind a fortress, rather than directly touching the weapon. Given the nature of trench warfare at the time - and the thousands of craters left by shelling and bombardment - grenades proved to be extremely useful weapons in these areas.

Of course, in addition to the advantages of this weapon, there are its limitations - for example, environmental factors that may limit the usefulness of the grenade, or poor production quality or enemy firepower when trying to throw a grenade. Since grenades are "throwing" weapons, this also limits their inherent range.

The famous original German grenade became the Type 24. Its basic design basically consists of a hollowed-out wooden stick as a handle, which itself attaches to the bottom of a cylindrical metal canister, making the latter a real grenade. A pull cord is exposed at the bottom of the handle, and once pulled, the grenade's 5-second fuze timer is set and the grenade can be thrown at the target area. Its design ensures (to an extent) that a falling grenade does not roll back into the launcher (or on a relatively smooth, angled surface). However, their considerable size (for a grenade) allows the enemy to recognize a thrown grenade, recover it from the explosion, and throw the weapon back in the enemy's direction.

Of course, if dealt with in time, it could have a catastrophic effect on the location of the original transmitter. After some manipulative use, the Model 24 1916 was modified to add a nut on the underside of the joystick handle, which had to be removed to gain access to the pull cord. This was caused when the exposed drawstring tangles in the original design became quite a deadly problem in the field.

Also, grenades work the same way.

The detonating part of the grenade is its cylindrical "head" (iron or steel structure). It consists of a trinitrotouen filler - also known by the acronym "TNT". When the TNT exploded, the metal cylinder shattered into multiple fragments. However, the German grenade is not really a "fragmentation" grenade weapon - it relies more on the impact value of the explosion than the target's exposure to fragments. This was only a 1942 development and was essentially a metal sleeve over the head of the grenade, turning the grenade into a traditional fragmentation grenade.

The Type 24 grenade arrived not ready for use - the fuze had to be installed before use by unscrewing the wooden handle from the grenade head and inserting the fuze into the open end of the delay fuze. Then reconnect the handle and head as usual.

Grenades are carried in 15 boxes (with 15 corresponding fuses) or in sleeveless jackets worn by soldiers. These jackets allow 10 grenades, 5 on the front and 5 on the back. The grenade was used with the head down.

A third option is a simple belt with loops, allowing multiple grenades to be deployed first.

A trained German grenadier can usually throw a grenade up to 35 meters, depending on the situation and environmental factors. Often such infantrymen crouch or lie on their stomachs, which somewhat reduces the total range of the throw. The blast radius of the detonating grenade varies from situation to situation, but its lethal range is as good as any other grenade used - up to about 14 yards.

Clustered "soft" targets were the right target, and grenades thrown into fortification vents benefited from the inherent firing traps of this structure. Since the overall length of the grenade (365mm) was longer than the traditional "pineapple" or "egg" of the time, this meant that the infantryman could actually carry fewer of these weapons into battle - usually at the cost of extra ammunition for his service rifle . However, grenades were generally lighter than the British WWI Mills bombs, directly comparing the level playing field.

German grenades were still widely used during the two world wars after World War I and before World War II. As such, it retained its status as a standard German grenade during this turbulent period, and during WWII it became a "collectible" for Allied soldiers, much like the Luger pistol. To create a more effective anti-personnel/anti-installation weapon, six grenade heads were attached to a cane handle (containing its own original grenade head).

In this way, the firepower of the weapon is significantly multiplied, and it can even be used as an anti-tank measure - although its considerably heavier weight limits the practical throwing range. This modification is called "concentrated charge". It is also common to use grenades in booby traps with the delay fuze removed. When the friction line is pulled, the grenade detonates immediately (without a 5 second delay). Another additional use of grenades is as a Bangalore "torpedo" to disrupt or destroy barbed wire or similar obstacles.

A complete grenade is placed at one end of a longboard or pole, to which three or more grenade heads (with gaps in between) are attached, all mounted in a row. The operator only needs to operate the complete grenade through a long rope or a wire to detonate the remaining grenades.

Several other experience-based modifications came soon, including a cold-weather variant for the Eastern Front. The original Type 24 shells were found to have a tendency to fail during the relentless Soviet winter that plagued Germans trying to reach Moscow and other strategic strongholds. For this reason, a new filler was developed for the Eastern Front, and the grenade heads were appropriately marked with a "K" for "kalt" (meaning "cold") to distinguish them from operation in cold weather.

In addition, the Germans have developed a smoking variant (Nebelhandgranate 34) that can be used for shielding movements, as well as a non-detonating trainer variant for training aspiring grenadiers on the intricacies of the weapon. The original Type 24 was used with the more compact (and traditional) Type 39 egg grenade (Eierhandgranate 39) that appeared with the German Army in 1939.

The original Type 24 was eventually replaced by the streamlined Type 43 (during WWII) in 1943. The type was simplified in terms of production costs, so that theoretically more could be produced in less time in the quantities required by the German Army.

The pair served until the end of the war in 1945, during which time Germany was - again - limited in its war-fighting capabilities.

Specification

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