No. 1 grenade

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No. 1 grenade
British Number 1 Grenade YORCM 1962 108 9.JPG
Hand grenade No. 1 Mark I
Type Hand grenade
Place of originUnited Kingdom
Service history
Used byUnited Kingdom
Wars World War I
Production history
DesignerRoyal Laboratories
Designed1908
Produced1908-1915
VariantsNo. 3 (shorter handle), No. 18 (different detonator)
Specifications
Mass2 lb (0.9 kg) [1]
Filling Lyddite [1] [ full citation needed ]
Detonation
mechanism
Percussion fuse (impact detonated)

The grenade, hand No. 1 was the first British hand grenade used in World War I. It was designed in the Royal Laboratory, based on reports and samples of Japanese hand grenades during the Russo-Japanese War provided by General Sir Aylmer Haldane, who was a British observer of that war. [2]

World War I 1914–1918 global war originating in Europe

World War I, also known as the First World War or the Great War, was a global war originating in Europe that lasted from 28 July 1914 to 11 November 1918. Contemporaneously described as "the war to end all wars", it led to the mobilisation of more than 70 million military personnel, including 60 million Europeans, making it one of the largest wars in history. It is also one of the deadliest conflicts in history, with an estimated nine million combatants and seven million civilian deaths as a direct result of the war, while resulting genocides and the 1918 influenza pandemic caused another 50 to 100 million deaths worldwide.

Russo-Japanese War war between the Russian Empire and the Empire of Japan

The Russo-Japanese War was fought during 1904-1905 between the Russian Empire and the Empire of Japan over rival imperial ambitions in Manchuria and Korea. The major theatres of operations were the Liaodong Peninsula and Mukden in Southern Manchuria and the seas around Korea, Japan and the Yellow Sea.

Aylmer Haldane British Army general

General Sir James Aylmer Lowthorpe Haldane, was a senior British Army officer with a long and distinguished career.

Contents

Detailed diagram and cross section of the No. 1 grenade HandGrenadeNo1Mk1.jpg
Detailed diagram and cross section of the No. 1 grenade

The grenade proper is a container of explosive material with an iron fragmentation band. The fuse was of the impact sort, detonating when the top of the grenade hit the ground. A long cane handle (approximately 16 inches or 40 cm) allowed the user to throw the grenade further than the blast of the explosion.

Fragmentation (weaponry)

Fragmentation is the process by which the casing of a projectile from a bomb, barrel bomb, land mine, IED, artillery, mortar, tank gun, or autocannon shell, rocket, missile, grenade, land mine, etc. is shattered by the detonation of the explosive filler.

Fuse (explosives) part of a device that initiates function in an explosive, pyrotechnic device or military munition

In an explosive, pyrotechnic device, or military munition, a fuse is the part of the device that initiates function. In common usage, the word fuse is used indiscriminately. However, when being specific, the term fuse describes a simple pyrotechnic initiating device, like the cord on a firecracker whereas the term fuze is sometimes used when referring to a more sophisticated ignition device incorporating mechanical and/or electronic components, such as a proximity fuze for an M107 artillery shell, magnetic or acoustic fuze on a sea mine, spring-loaded grenade fuze, pencil detonator, or anti-handling device.

To ensure that the grenade hit the ground nose first, a cloth streamer was attached to the end of the handle. When thrown, this unfurled and acted as a tail to stabilize flight. The grenade came with a metal loop so it could hang from a belt.

In the trenches

When the battlefield became confined to the trenches, the long handle became a liability, causing several accidents. Reaching back for the throw, the fuse could strike the trench side. [3] The No. 3, a variant of the No. 1, had a shorter handle for easier use in trenches.

Trench warfare type of land warfare

Trench warfare is a type of land warfare using occupied fighting lines consisting largely of military trenches, in which troops are well-protected from the enemy's small arms fire and are substantially sheltered from artillery. The most famous use of trench warfare is the Western Front in World War I. It has become a byword for stalemate, attrition, sieges, and futility in conflict.

Even with these adjustments, the No. 1 and its variants did poorly in battle. According to German prisoners captured at Ypres in January 1916, the No. 1 could be deflected by wooden boards. In some cases, the deflected grenade could be thrown back. [4]

Ypres Municipality in Flemish Community, Belgium

Ypres is a Belgian municipality in the province of West Flanders. Though the Dutch Ieper is the official name, the city's French name Ypres is most commonly used in English. The municipality comprises the city of Ypres and the villages of Boezinge, Brielen, Dikkebus, Elverdinge, Hollebeke, Sint-Jan, Vlamertinge, Voormezele, Zillebeke, and Zuidschote. Together, they are home to about 34,900 inhabitants.

Manufacturing the No. 1 was difficult, as it required a special detonator that could only be produced by the ordnance factories. Because of this, the British Expeditionary Force got far fewer No. 1s than were ordered. [5] A version that used a more common detonator, the No. 18, was designed, but by then battlefield experience had shown that the No. 1's design was ineffective.

The British Expeditionary Force (BEF) was the British Army sent to the Western Front during the First World War. Planning for a British Expeditionary Force began with the Haldane reforms of the British Army carried out by the Secretary of State for War Richard Haldane following the Second Boer War (1899–1902).

The difficulty of operating it in trenches plus the special detonator caused Britain to create several stopgap grenades, such as the jam tin grenade, until the Mills bomb was adopted. [6]

Jam tin grenade

The double cylinder, Nos. 8 and No. 9 hand grenades, also known as the "jam tins", are a type of improvised explosive device used by the British and Commonwealth forces, notably the Australian and New Zealand armies in World War I. The jam tin, or bully beef tin, was one of many grenades designed by ANZACs in the early part of the First World War in response to a lack of equipment suited to trench warfare.

Mills bomb grenade

"Mills bomb" is the popular name for a series of prominent British hand grenades. They were the first modern fragmentation grenades used by the British Army and saw widespread use in World War I.

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References

  1. 1 2 Ainslie, "Hand Grenades: A Handbook on Rifle and Hand Grenades". John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated, 1917. p.2.
  2. ↑ Anthony Saunders (1999) Weapons of the Trench War, Sutton Publishing, ISBN   0-7509-1818-7, p.2.
  3. ↑ Saunders, Weapons of the Trench War, p.3.
  4. ↑ Saunders, Weapons of the Trench War, p.6.
  5. ↑ Saunders, Weapons of the Trench War, p.5.
  6. ↑ Saunders, Weapons of the Trench War, p.7.
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