During the last century the United States has been involved in many conflicts. Military forces were searching for new ways to obtain an edge over the opponents. Governments also increased military funding during wartime. Increased funding and need to acquire deadlier weapons, than the opponent, drove military research during this time period. During this paper we will focus on improvements that were made to grenades. Extreme advancements, made to grenades, illustrates how quickly military advancement can be made during wartime.
The twentieth century brought immense developments in the field of explosives. Explosives come in many sizes. Sizes range from grenades to nuclear warheads. Military technology is driven by necessity. In peacetime governments may be reluctant to invest money into military technology. Erwin states “Getting programs funded can turn into all-out war. Many of the programs that do get funded subsequently get sliced, diced and stretched during yearly budget drills.” However, winning battles and decreasing casualties requires soldiers to be more technologically advanced than their enemy. When war is inevitable, governments loosen the purse strings. Military Commanders, intelligence agencies, and sympathetic politicians can use this to increase research and development at the same time waging the war.
Grenades are one of the smallest explosives in the soldiers’ arsenal. Modern soldiers take these for granted. Since World War II grenades have become standard issue for soldiers going to war. Today, we use small, explosives encased in metal. Eighteenth century grenades looked quite different.
Nineteenth century battlefields consisted of horse-mounted calvary, horse-drawn artillery pieces and grenades made of black powder and cast iron. Artillery pieces were aimed by sight. Once a shot was fired the crew would watch for it to land. Oops, the cannonball fell short of its target. Crews would adjust the canon’s angle and fire again. This process continued until the target was hit or had moved.
Events of early twentieth century produced an atmosphere conducive to military development. A series of wars would stretch from the Russo-Japanese war in 1904 to the Korean War in the 1950s. A short peace ensued before the Vietnam War in the 1960s and 70s. During these times, countries sought ways to ensure military supremacy. Trillions of dollars, many man hours, lives were spent to ensure their country’s supremacy on the battlefield. Research and development focused on all areas of the battlefield. Rapid changes and advancements would affect everyone from the smallest grenade to the largest battleship.
Grenades have become a common wartime explosive. Simple handheld casings containing an explosive. Upon detonation the outer casing shatters sending shrapnel tearing through the enemies flesh. Modern soldiers view grenades as standard equipment. However, modern grenades are the product of years of research and development.
Between 1900 and now grenades become one of many items caught up in the arms race. Grenades quickly moved from primitive “metal cans” filled with metal bits and explosive to highly technical items. By the end of the nineteenth century three types of grenades would be developed fragmentation, percussion, and concussion.
Fragmentation grenades are anti-personnel weapons intended to spread shrapnel over the surrounding area to inflict damage on enemy troops. Fragmentation grenades are the most widely known. Wikipedia states, “When the word “grenade” is used without specification, and context does not suggest otherwise, it is generally assumed to refer to a fragmentation grenade” (“Hand Grenades”, n.d.). These grenades often had a damage range larger than the distance a soldier could throw them. Some fragmentation grenades can spread shrapnel up to 200 meters. Safety required soldiers to throw fragmentation grenades from behind cover.
Concussion grenades are meant as anti-personnel weapons, similar to fragmentation grenades. However, concussion grenades do not kill by spreading shrapnel upon detonation. Wikipedia describes concussion grenades are designed “to damage its target with explosive power alone” (“Hand Grenades”, n.d.). Concussion grenades use thinner outer casing than fragmentation grenades. Thinner casing produce less shrapnel. Concussion grenades due produce a pressure wave. When hit by the wave the body experiences a violent “concussion”, thus the grenade’s name, that damages internal organ.
Concussion grenades damage radius is much smaller than fragmentation grenades. The damage radius is also smaller than the distance a soldier can throw them. Soldiers can use concussion grenades without the need for cover. For this reason, concussion grenades are also referred to as offensive grenades.
Eighteenth century grenades looked very different. Colonel Hugh Robert Hibbert wrote many letters home, to his sister, during the Crimera War. During one of these letters Col. Hibbert describes a new invention.
“We have a new invention to annoy our friends in their pits. It consists in filling empty soda water bottles full of powder, old twisted nails and any other sharp or cutting thing we can find at the time, sticking a bit of tow in for a fuse then lighting it and throwing it quickly into our neighbors pit where it bursts, to their great annoyance. You may imagine their rage at seeing a soda water bottle come tumbling into a hole full of men with a little fuse burning away as proud as a real shell exploding and burying itself into soft parts of the flesh.
These early grenades were unpredictable. Soldiers had little way to know how long the fue would burn. Soldiers would as likely to injure themselves as their enemy.
Military leaders did not have tanks or bullet proof armor. Wars were waged by hand-to-hand combat augmented with use of inaccurate field artillery. Soldiers were a critical resource that military leaders were unwillingly to lose to unpredictable explosives. For these reasons, grenades were lost favor with many countries. In the late nineteenth century grenades were in very limited use. RM Equipment notes “Germans were more likely to use hand grenades than any other nation.”
German grenades, of the nineteenth century, were similar to cannonballs used by artillery. Hollow outer metal shells were filled with an explosive, primarily gunpowder. Soldiers were required to light the fuse and throw the grenade at their enemy. Upon detonation the explosive would rupture the metal shell sending shrapnel into the surrounding area. Early grenades often weighed close to six pounds. Soldiers, with limited strength, easily found themselves facing their own weapon.
Percussion grenades were widely used during World War I. Wikipedia states, “One of the first … widely used percussion hand grenades was designed about 1903~1904 by a colonel of Serbian army, Miloš Vasić” (“Hand Grenades”, n.d.). Named after its creator, this grenade was known as the Vasic.
Vasic M12, a re-designed version of the earlier model, was used in the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand (“Hand Grenades”, n.d.). Vasic M12’s usage during Archduke Ferdinand’s assassination foretold their use during World War I. Morris (n.d.) writes, “It came into its own in the static, defensive trench warfare of World War I.” It took time to dig a trench and to overtake your enemy’s encasements. Soldiers knew where their enemy was and knew they could not easily change locations. Soldiers could charge their enemies trenches, throw in some grenades and retreat. Inflicting casualties with less risk than hand-to-hand combat.
Percussion grenades are designed to detonate upon impact with their target. Percussion grenades can be seen as early as World War I. In 1915, Martin Hale developed an early percussion grenade. Hale’s grenade was built with a detonation mechanism in the base and a metal “stick” was attached (Carmin, 2004). Hale added the steel rod to ensure the grenade’s head would strike the ground, thus activating the detonation mechanism. Carmin describes an additional feature of Hale’s grenade “the steel collar, the twenty four segments of each broke up at the explosion” (Carmin, 2004).
Hale was not the only person developing grenades with remote detonators. According to Carmin (2004):
The Aesen was another grenade with a wooden handle with a safety device inside. This was a piece of cord over ten yards long, one end of which was held when the grenade was thrown. At the end of its tether the cord pulled out the safety pin, making the grenade ready for detonating on impact. (p. 184)
Germans used Aesen grenades during much of World War I.
Hale’s grenade could also be fired from a rifle. This feature gave birth to the first grenade launcher. Although, the idea of a rifle powered grenade was not a new one. Museum at Warminster, England contains a rifle called “Tinker’s Mortar” (“Evolution and Rise of the Rod Grenade”, 2003). This rifle dates from 1681. Tinker’s Mortar is describes as:
A special channel ran from the flintlock pan to a cup built into the butt stock. A propellant charge was poured into a special powder chamber in the cup. A simple grenade was the projectile; the flash of the propellant ignited the fuse as it was fired. Other designs from the same time period have a cup permanently attached to the muzzle. A novel idea, but cumbersome and ineffective. (“Evolution and Rise of the Rod Grenade”, 2003)
Hale’s grenade re-ignited the pursuit of a rifle-propelled grenade. Russia began using a rifle mounted grenade launcher during World War I. The Mosin-Nagan 91 rifle grenade launcher was mounted on the bayonet. When the rifle was launched a delay fuse, on the bottom of the launcher, lit and launched the grenade.
Russia was not the only country seeking a rifle-propelled grenade. United States developed the M7 and M7A1 Grenade Launchers. These Launchers attached to the .30 M1 Garand rifle. Garand was standard issue between 1936 and 1957 (“A brief history of the grenade launcher”, n.d.). The following passage, by RM Equipment, describes the M7 and M7A1’s workings.
Using a hinged clamp, the grenade launcher was attached to the bayonet lug and gas cylinder valve screw. By firing a special rifle cartridge, the gas produced a thrust that sent the grenade down field. Later improvements added a propelling charge to the grenade that was ignited by the flame from the fired rifle cartridge to obtain greater range. This same ignition operation could ignite a time delay fuse for signal and illumination rifle grenades.(“A brief history of the grenade launcher”, n.d.)
M7 and M7A1were just the beginning of United States grenade launchers. M8 was attached to the M1 Carbine rifle. Soldiers used a wing nut to attach the M8 to the rifle. Some ordnance was made specifically for the M8. One example of this is the M9 anti-tank grenade. M9 anti-tank grenade had an effective range of 250 yards and could penetrate several inches of armor.
Between World War II and the Vietnam War other countries developed grenade launchers. TheSKS M59/66 was developed by Yugoslavia. SKS M59/66 used a front site that had several range settings. Grenade launcher fit on to a rifle barrel.
Grenade launcher underwent even further advancements during the Vietnam War. During this period the United States Army debuted the M79 Grenade Launcher. M79’s range fell between the 50-meter range of hand thrown grenades and 300-meter range of mortars. (“A brief history of the grenade launcher”, n.d.)
Fragmentation, Concussion, Percussion, and their launchers were not the only grenades developed. Smoke, riot control, incendiary, stun, sting, and anti-tank grenades were also developed. Each of these grenades served a different purpose and was used in different situations.
Smoke Grenades were not used to inflict damage on the enemy. Two types of Smoke Grenades were developed; colored and screening. Colored Smoke Grenades were used as signaling devices. Soldiers could use these to signal other ground troops or to signal airplanes. Screening Smoke Grenades were used to provide cover for troop movements or to confuse the enemy. Wikipedia (n.d.) states “Screening smoke grenades usually contains HC (hexachloroethane/zinc) smoke mixture or TA (terephthalic acid) smoke mixture. HC smoke is harmful to breathe, since it contains hydrochloric acid.”
Smoke grenades were not without danger. The chemical reaction, that produced smoke, also produces large amounts of heat. The intense heat could scald a Soldier’s exposed skin. The grenades spent casings were very hot. Soldiers had to be careful handling or around these spent casings.
Riot Control grenades were developed for civilian police use. These grenades often carry gas such as tear gas. Police use the grenades to create a barrier. These barriers are not meant to disperse a crowd but to direct the crowd’s movement. Throwing these grenades into a crowd is not a common practice. The amount of gas and noise created would cause panic rather than disperse the crowd.
Incendiary grenades use Thermite to create a chemical reaction. (“Hand Grenade”, n.d.) Thermite reactions produce intense heat. Once deployed, Incendiary Grenades are capable of producing heat up to 4000 degrees Fahrenheit. (“Hand Grenade”, n.d.) This level of heat is capable of destroying weapons cache, vehicles, equipment, and buildings. Soldiers also could use this to start large grass fires. Grass fires were unpredictable but could prove useful in forcing the enemy out of the area or covering a retreat. In recent years domestic terrorists and militia groups have used an improvised incendiary grenade known as a Malatov cocktail.
Over the last few decades “non-lethal” munitions have become increasingly important for civilian police. Sting grenades are one product of this movement. Sting grenades are similar to fragmentation grenades. However, they do not use metal to produce shrapnel. Sting grenades use two rubber rings that are torn apart and dispersed by the explosive. Sting grenades are capable of causing temporary and intense pain but are not lethal. These are used to inflict enough pain for a criminal to be apprehended or a crowd members subdued without permanent harm.
Grenades are one of many munitions used by police and military personnel. However, their development over the last one hundred years illustrates how quickly munitions have developed. In just over one century we have moved from primitive grenades, little more than hollowed out cannonballs, to sophisticated weapons capable of being launched from a rifle. Grenades have moved from a completely military use to assisting police subdue perpetrators and crowds.
What will the next one hundred years bring? Future military developments will depend greatly on the amount of conflict. As we have learned, military research and development are often under funded in peacetime. While increased conflicts leads to higher funding and research. Personally, I look forward to seeing what the next century brings.
References
Wikipedia (n.d.). Hand Grenade. Retrieved October 27, 2008 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grenades#cite_note-7
Inert-ord.net (2003). Evolution and Demise of the Rod Grenade. Retrieved October 26, 2008 from http://www.inert-ord.net/rod02h/index.html
Carman, W.Y. (2004). A History of Firearms. Retrieved October 26, 2008 from http://books.google.com/
R.M. Equipment (n.d.) A brief history of the Grenade Launcher. Retrieved October 27, 2008 from http://grenadelauncher.com/
Morris, M. (2002). Hand Grenade Information and History. Retrieved October 26 2008 from http://www.essortment.com/all/handgrenadeh_rgor.htm
