"Mills bomb" is the popular name for a series of British hand grenades which were designed by William Mills. They were the first modern fragmentation grenades used by the British Army and saw widespread use in the First and Second World Wars.
A rifle grenade is a grenade that uses a rifle-based launcher to permit a longer effective range than would be possible if the grenade were thrown by hand.
The British No. 69 was a hand grenade developed and used during the Second World War. It was adopted into service due to the need for a grenade with smaller destructive radius than the No. 36M "Mills bomb". This allowed the thrower to use a grenade even when there was little in the way of defensive cover. In contrast, the much greater destructive radius of the Mills bomb than its throwing range forced users to choose their throwing point carefully, in order to ensure that they would not be wounded by the shrapnel explosion of their own grenade.
The RGD-5 is a post–World War II Soviet anti-personnel fragmentation grenade, designed in the early 1950s. The RGD-5 was accepted into service with the Soviet Army in 1954. It was widely exported, and is still in service with many armies in the Middle East and the former Soviet bloc.
The Mk 2 grenade is a fragmentation-type anti-personnel hand grenade introduced by the U.S. armed forces in 1918. It was the standard issue anti-personnel grenade used during World War II, and also saw limited service in later conflicts, including the Korean War and Vietnam War. Replacing the failed Mk 1 grenade of 1917, it was standardized in 1920 as the Mk II, and redesignated the Mk 2 on April 2, 1945.
The Type 97 81 mm infantry mortar was a Japanese mortar used primary by Imperial Japanese Army during World War II. The Type 97 designation was given to this gun as it was accepted in the year 2597 of the Japanese calendar (1937). It entered service in 1937. Japanese infantry units often are equipped with 81-mm mortars. The Type 97 81 mm mortar is very commonly used and is referred to by the Japanese as an "Infantry Gun", which breaks down into 3 sections for transport. The markings which appear on the base of the barrel read "97 model small trench mortar."
The Type 89 grenade discharger, inaccurately and colloquially known as a knee mortar by Allied forces, is a Japanese grenade launcher or light mortar that was widely used in the Pacific Theater of World War II. It got the nickname the "knee mortar" because of an erroneous Allied belief that these launchers could be fired by propping its plate against the leg. However, anyone trying to fire it this way would receive a severe bruise from its hefty recoil.
The M26 is a fragmentation hand grenade developed by the United States military. It entered service around 1952 and was used in combat during the Korean War. Its distinct lemon shape led it to being nicknamed the "lemon grenade".
The military of the United States has used many different types of hand grenades since its foundation.
The No. 77 grenade was a British white phosphorus grenade introduced in September 1943 and used during the Second World War. The No. 77 consisted of around 225 grams of white phosphorus, an impact fuze and a tin casing. It was intended for laying down smoke screens and as a signalling device. The grenade was also very effective as an anti-personnel, incendiary weapon. As well as being issued to the Home Guard, the No. 77 grenade was issued to the British army. This grenade was fitted with an "all-ways" action impact fuze designed to set the grenade off when it hit a surface - the fuze was called "all-ways" as it was designed to work no matter which way the grenade landed.
In military munitions, a fuze is the part of the device that initiates function. In some applications, such as torpedoes, a fuze may be identified by function as the exploder. The relative complexity of even the earliest fuze designs can be seen in cutaway diagrams.
The Energa anti-tank rifle grenade is a rifle-launched anti-tank grenade that is propelled by a ballistite-filled blank cartridge. The name Energa comes from the firm in Liechtenstein that designed it, the Anstalt für die ENtwicklung von ERfindungen und Gewerblichen Anwendungen, based in Vaduz.
The M7 grenade launcher, formally rifle grenade launcher, M7, was a 22 mm rifle grenade launcher attachment for the M1 Garand rifle that saw widespread use throughout World War II and the Korean War. The M7 was a tube-shaped device, with one end slotting over the muzzle of the rifle and attaching to the bayonet mount, and the other end holding the grenade in place. Blank cartridges were loaded into the rifle prior to firing. When fired, the expanding gases generated by the cartridges propelled the grenade forward with considerable force. The M7 could fire grenades up to 200 metres, compared with the maximum of 30 metres achieved by a hand-thrown grenade.
The M31 HEAT is a fin-stabilized anti-tank rifle grenade designed in the late 1950s to replace the Belgian ENERGA rifle grenade which was adopted by the US Army and US Marines as an emergency stop-gap measure during the Korean War. Like the ENERGA, it has a nose-initiated, based-detonated HEAT warhead, but unlike the ENERGA, the mechanical impact fuse system is replaced with a less complex and more reliable piezo-electric fuse system which also allows higher angles of impact, up to 65 degrees.
The Type 99 81 mm mortar was a Japanese mortar used by the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II. Its primary role was that of a lightweight mortar for airborne troops that could be quickly assembled or disassembled. The Type 99 designation was given to this mortar as it was accepted in the year 2599 of the Japanese calendar (1939). The Type 99 81 mm mortar is typical of the Stokes-Brandt type mortar. The Type 99 81 mm mortar differs from the Type 97 81 mm infantry mortar in the shortness of its tube and in the method of firing. The differences between the Type 99 and the US 81-mm mortar, M1 are pronounced.
The Type 3 81 mm mortar is a smooth bore, muzzle-loading 81 mm (3.19 in) infantry weapon used by the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II. The Type 3 designation was given to this gun as it was accepted in the 3rd year of Emperor Taishō's reign (1914).
The M1 grenade projection adapter was an expedient rifle grenade used by the American military in World War II, Korea, and Vietnam. It consisted of an add-on 22 mm (0.87 in) stabilizer tube and fins that converted a hand-grenade into a rifle grenade. It supplanted the M17 rifle grenade, and was eventually made obsolete by the 40 mm M79 grenade launcher.
The M9 rifle grenade was an American anti-tank rifle grenade used during World War II. The earlier-designed M10 grenade was too heavy to be fired an effective distance by a rifle; the M9 was conceived as a lighter version of that design.
The Gewehr-Sprenggranate was a high-explosive rifle grenade that was developed by Germany and used by the Wehrmacht during World War II.
