Disc grenade. Unusual WWXNUMX grenade
Disassembled German disc grenade, photograph from the First World War, photo: greatwarpostcards.blogspot.com
The First World War on the Western Front quickly took on a positional character. Under these conditions, it was required weapon, helping to knock out the enemy from well-fortified positions. Hand grenades, which appeared in European armies at the end of the XNUMXth century as a weapon of grenadiers, turned out to be very useful here.
Hand grenades of a modern type, which we are all familiar with, began to be massively used in all armies during the First World War. These were egg-shaped grenades or long-handled grenades equipped with a lever or removable safety catch. By the way, one of the most famous pomegranates in stories - German "mallet" - fought in both world wars with minor changes. The pomegranate got its name for its well-recognizable wooden handle.
But, in addition to hand grenades of the usual form, the howling countries already during the First World War began various experiments. In Germany, the result of such experiments was the emergence of a disk grenade, designated Diskushandgranate M.1915.
For its shape, the grenade was nicknamed the disc, and also "lentil". In addition, the very shape and structure of the hand grenade resembled the shell of a turtle, so the soldiers sometimes called it a "turtle" grenade.
The appearance of the Diskushandgranate M. 1915 hand grenade
The creator of the disc grenade was the German company Dynamit AG, which received a patent for an unusual invention several years before the start of the world conflict, this happened in 1911. In addition to its unusual shape, a feature of the grenade was a shock fuse, which was made in the shape of a six-pointed star.
Before the war, the grenade, which can be safely attributed to a strange military development, was not particularly interested in the German army, although they managed to release a certain number of grenades in 1913. After the outbreak of the First World War, as the situation at the front worsened and the conflict slipped into the stage of trench warfare, interest in the grenade arose again. As a result, in 1915, on the basis of a pre-war patent, a disk hand grenade was created, which received the designation Diskushandgranate Model 1915.
The military got interested in the grenade for two reasons. The disc shape, in theory, provided the possibility of a long-range throw, giving the grenade a predictable flight path. In addition, already in the course of hostilities, it became clear that grenades must be provided with the possibility of instant detonation after meeting an obstacle. The battles showed that the enemy was able to "throw" a grenade back or, noticing a falling hand grenade in time, to hide from damaging factors.
They tried to increase the effectiveness of weapons by introducing instantaneous fuses, but they were distinguished by high complexity in production, enormous cost and insufficient reliability when dropped into soft soil or water. All this did not allow instantaneous fuses to completely displace remote ones. In turn, the disadvantage of remote fuses was that the grenades were not detonated at the time of the fall, which gave the enemy time for some countermeasures.
It was an attempt to solve this problem that the work on the creation of a disk grenade, which should not have had the above disadvantages, began. The Diskushandgranate hand grenade was equipped with an unusually shaped instant-action fuse that was supposed to detonate the grenade when it hit any solid object or ground.
Characteristics of the German disc grenade
The pomegranate, nicknamed the lentil or tortoise at the front, received a pronounced disc shape. The body of the grenade, in which the shock fuse in the shape of a six-pointed star was hidden, formed two cast iron cups with a wall thickness of approximately 3 mm. When a 130-gram explosive charge was detonated, such a grenade could provide from 70 to 90 fragments.
For the most part, the fragments flew to the sides, and only a small number flew forward and backward, which, along with a high throwing range (about 30-40 meters), made it possible to use this hand grenade as an offensive weapon. Such dispersal of the fragments was laid by the shape of a hand grenade. The main scattering of the fragments went towards flat surfaces.
German disc grenades of different diameters in a carrying case
The most common disc grenade was the 1915 model of the year. Such a hand grenade had a diameter of 100 to 110 mm, and its weight reached 420 grams, which made the Diskushandgranate one of the lightest German hand grenades. The explosive charge in a similar grenade was 130 grams.
In addition to this model, there was also a disk grenade, which was supposed to be thrown at the enemy with the help of special devices. Such a grenade had a larger diameter - 180 mm and, as a result, carried more explosives. It was specially designed not for throwing by hand, but for use with various slings and catapults.
For example, a special throwing machine from Bosch made it possible to throw up to three such grenades at once at enemy positions. The maximum throwing range at the same time reached 155 meters.
The main feature of the disc grenade was not the shape, but the fuse
It should be admitted that the main highlight and real "design feature" of disk grenades was not even their shape, but an unusual fuse.
The fuse, assembled in a disc-shaped body of a hand grenade, consisted of six radially arranged tubes, resembling the shape of their location with the letter "Ж" and converging in the center of the grenade.
Four tubes were equipped with primers-igniters, in one tube there was a rod with a striker in the form of a four-ray star attached to it. A tube with a detonating compound was located directly under the tube with the rod. The entire cavity of the body of a hand-held disc-shaped grenade was filled with an explosive, the role of which was played by trinitrotoluene.
Immediately before throwing a grenade, the fighter had to pull out the pin, which fixed the rod with the drummer. The shape of the hand grenade also dictated the method of throwing - like a disc for sports competitions, with a grenade spinning around its own axis.
Disc grenades were distinguished by good aerodynamics, which allowed soldiers to throw them at a sufficiently long range in comparison with cylindrical or egg-shaped grenades. When the edge of the body struck an obstacle, the drummer impaled the capsule in one of the tubes, which led to the detonation of a hand grenade.
Despite the obvious advantages, the unusual grenade had a lot of disadvantages.
In the "Basic Provisions for the Training of the Reserve in 1916," it was noted that it makes no sense to use a disc-shaped grenade on soggy or soft ground due to frequent cases of failure with insufficient force of impact on the ground. The same, in fact, applied to the fall of the grenade in the snow and water.
The hull itself didn't actually make throwing easier either, especially in wet weather.
For the correct and effective use of such grenades, soldiers had to undergo training and develop the necessary skill.
At the same time, the scattering of the fragments also raised questions. When a grenade was triggered, almost flat, the bulk of the fragments could go into the ground and into the sky.
Also, when falling flat, a hand grenade might not explode at all. In this case, it practically turned into a mine of dubious effectiveness. There was no self-detonation device in the hand grenade, so one could only hope that someone would accidentally kick it or stumble over it.
Considering all of the above, the real front-line life of disk grenades was short-lived. The mass production of such weapons in Germany was quickly curtailed.
Information