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Kugelhandgranate Model 1913

1913 WORLD WAR 1

History

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The Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905 was the first war in the 20th century that relied on modern weapons. This included development on land and at sea, and led to Imperial Japan's victory over neighboring Russia.

The weapons and doctrines used in this conflict greatly influenced the direction of a larger war, World War I (1914-1918).

Some observers believe that the new looming war in Europe will turn into a quick imperial war - Austro-Hungary will punish the Serbs for their role in the assassination of his heir. By the end of 1914, however, all major European countries were engaged in the war, and all sides were caught in what would become "trench warfare." As such plans derailed, weapons specifically designed to clear or eliminate entrenched enemy forces emerged, evolving from earlier designs into infantry grenades.

The infantry grenade is not new, it has been around for a while, but by the 18th century it was an almost forgotten weapon in the West. The Russo-Japanese War brought his role to the fore again as the stagnant nature of trench warfare required his services.

France, Great Britain and Germany all modified the weapon types accordingly and planned field use.

This led to the use of a variety of grenade-type weapons in the conflict by the great powers of World War I - egg, disc and stick grenades were all involved. Several other unique shapes appeared in Germany on the eve of World War I, including the "Kugelhandgranate 1913". Spherical grenades have a basic spherical shape, although their body has raised sections for maximum fragmentation. There is a fuze on top that deploys when a grenade is needed - otherwise a transport plug is placed here while driving.

The igniter is bronze and tubular with black powder for the ignition process. The action is triggered by the operator pulling a brass wire that is scraped along the friction block. There is a red coated fuze with a 5 second fuse and a basic fuze design with a longer 7 second fuse. As the name suggests, the Kugelgranade was launched in 1913 and became available in limited quantities during the First World War in mid to late 1914.

The grenade is designed to explode into dozens of metal shards and deal maximum carnage (rather random) damage at close range and in a continuous radius. The total weight is 1 kg.

In the early days of the war, these shells performed quite well. They are inherently lighter and more reliable than other types, performing well in harsh battlefield conditions.

However, they're still hand-thrown weapons, and they're only as far as they can be thrownabout 50 feet or less in most cases. Their tactical value could be increased to some extent through the use of launch vehicle systems, but such arrangements were not readily available.

Various types of fuzes were installed throughout the grenade's service life - all with a 5 second delay - and newer variants appeared between 1913 and 1917.

The main development of the line took place in 1915. At this time, German industry was firmly rooted in wartime production and its resources were marginalized. As a result, a more refined and budget-friendly version of the Kugelgranade was developed as the 1915 model. It was more or less a cleaned-up version of the 1913 model to accommodate a larger quantity available for war work.

Fragmentation slots along the sphere have been redesigned and simplified for mass production, but the grenade itself remains largely the same in form and function.

Over time, the value of the Kugelgranade gradually declined, so much so that newer, more modern grenades replaced them - especially the 1915 grenade, which was also the German standard during WWII (1939-1945). However, the Kugelgranade was still available in large quantities, ensuring that it remained in German inventories during the First World War.

Some specimens were used for further testing with few results.