Rifle Grenades

Found the report. This is from a Battle Experience Questionnaire which the Canadians compiled in 1944/45. This is one filled in by Capt R R Bacon of the Calgary Highlanders. He served in NWE from August 1944 to April 1945.

Sometimes the PIAT is used as a mortar, by holding it at a very high angle. The blast and morale effect on the enemy is great, and it is particularly useful for firing over buildings, in street fighting....is also good for use in dead ground. it has been successfully used on snipers, by firing through walls and roofs. Any improvement on this weapon would only increase its usefullness, such as greater range and lighter weapon.

 

I have uploaded the whole document so you can see what one of these questionaires was like. Somone in Canada sent me some of these, but I don't recall who.

They used British forms so somewhere there should be a whole load filled in by British soldiers.

Added - the file is too large to be uploaded direct. I will try and post it all in another thread.

 

I read somewhere (can't quite remember where) that one of the problems encountered by the airbourne was that the PIAT was easily damaged, with the front "rails" (is that the right term?) getting bent, thus making the whole thing useless. Was that common?

 

I have posted it here:

http://www.ww2talk.com/forum/showthread.php?p=78990#post78990

 

I didn't know that there were pistol grenades (using adapted flare guns) too.:

Lone Sentry: TM-E 30-451 Handbook on German Military Forces: Grenades for Smooth Bore Signal Pistol (Leuchtpistole): Grenades: Weapons

German Wurfkörper 361 LP, WWII - Inert-Ord.net

Kampf

 

the german panzerfaust was standard issue, right?

 

It was to stop the stock from splitting, grenade blanks use a powder like shotgun powder
you need to generate a lot of gas at low pressure to push a heavy grenade any distance
the pressures are in the 12,000 psi range
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Interestingly - while the British developed the EY Cup that fitted in the end of an old MkIII SMLE....and the Mills Bomb had to have its pin pulled FIRST and the striker arm held down as it was placed in the cup...

The Indian Army seem to have in WWI developed a similar mechanism - but instead of a cup, it used a holder formed of strips of steel welded together...

Which to MY mind had the significant advantage that the Mills Bomb could be placed in the launcher....THEN the pin pulled! MUCH safer....and a "round" could be kept in the holder ready for some time

 

The British introduced the No. 68 anti-tank rifle grenade in November, 1940. It was the very first anti-tank missile using hollow charge technology.

 

I've always wondered about the No.68; the Home Guard seem to have got their hands on it too quickly...which usually means the Army DIDN'T want it! Nevertheless it went through four marks IIRC, with minor detail changes between each, and one of those marks redesigned for mass production in the U.S. and shipping to the UK.

I've always wanted to know if it was used in combat, but have never found any memoirs containing reference to it...and thus was it actually any good? IIRC there was only a small charge in it, so it may not have been very effective at all.

Unfortunately it DID use the same EY-cup/Mo.3 Lee Enfield combination as the normal Mills Bomb with the plate screwed into the bottom. A long time ago I read that one of the MAIN issues with this by WWII was that the EY cup couldn't be taken off/put on in a hurry or an the field, it was an armourer's job :mellow: Which means the guy with the wirewrapped rifle had to carry his OWN SMLE personal weapon in addition to the grenade thrower :p And then of course....with the bursting barrel issue, even if it HAD been an easy-on/easy-off job - he STILL couldn't have used it in his own rifle!

Nor had I ever seen film of one being used...or even a pic of one in the EY cup...until a few months ago, very late one night, I watched the old British sci-fi fim "Quatermass II" on the telly!



Next time its own, take a close look - at the end of the movie, when Profesor Quatermass and the villagers are trapped in the power house of the Alien's advance base they arrive with a handful of Thompsons and Stens taken off guards at the base. Once trapped in the power house, they open a cupboard and find it contains MORE weapons - including two No.3 Lee Enfields with EY cups and No.68 grenades in them!


In the plot, it's one of the No.68s, fired out of a window, that crackes open the pressure dome where the Alien group intelligence is acclimatising to Earth's atmosphere. Suddenly exposed without said acclimatisation to our normal oxygen/nitrogen/carbon dioxide/leavening of noble gases...the alien biomass expands, then explodes and dies LOL

(OK, I didn't say it was good...)

 

The British and Canadians used Rifle grenades in WW2. The used specific Rifles for that in fact. A "Wire Wrapped" lee-enfeild was used to launch grenades. It had a special sight and modified stock. Normally old N1 Mk 3's were used for this purpose as the now No4's were the standard issued guns. Now the purpose for the wire wrap on the guns? thats a question for the ages
To prevent splitting of the woodwork when firing the No36M grenade with the butt placed on the ground.

 

Ball ammunition could be fired through the launcher for the No94 AT grenade provided with the British No4 rifle and the SLR you just had to remember that your shots would strike approx. 12" low at 100 yds, firing with the bayonet fixed produced the same result as I remember.