Evolution of the German Stick Grenade 

Hey there, Just IMHO... you might slow down a bit. also leave the pics up longer maybe. Interesting.... thanks.

Thanks for the input. Always hard to find the perfect balance.

@@MilitariaReviewed So true. Good luck going forward. I'm off to the workshop.:-)

@@dr.johnpaladinshow9747 Sounds good. Thanks again for the feedback.

During world War one, French army (my country sorry for my bad English level), use '' stick'' grenade too, it' s called '' grenade a manche '' or '' grenade raquette''. A lot of them be used, and a lot of them buidt directly in the trench by soldier from scrap, unexploded shell give the explosive, wood scrap for the handle, and umpty case shell give the head of the grenade, or simple plumber pipe' s... They use simple fuse, fire with matchstick.... Frequently more dangerous for the luncher than the receiver...

Yeah i heard about this, something about a battle in DeGroot chateau in eastern france.

Yeah, legend says they named him “demo man”

What makes me a good demoman? If I were a bad demoman, I wouldn't be sitting here. Discussin it with ya now would I?

*BOOOOM* and thats wot chou get for touchin' that!

ayy

Arguably the Dreyse Needle Gun model 1841 is the weapon that started the trend of Prussian Wunderwaffe. It made the weapons of the US Civil War & Crimean War look archaic in comparison.

@@kinglouiev9530 Great point, although some US Civil War firearms were state of art, Henry, Spencer, etc.

As iconic as a Luger pistol or a Stuka bomber or a Tiger tank. They had good weapons but bad politicians.

4 US soldiers, 1 aircraft, 150,000 dead

@@halloschmitty Somehow lacks the mystique of a Luger, Stuka, Tiger tank or stick grenade.

I'm fortunate enough to have never heard about them claiming the stick grenade as theirs, but it wouldnt be the first time Ive heard a chinese claiming that they invented something they didn't. It's a common joke here in the Philippines.

@@WingMaster562 Look at any Chinese war movie, it is always the weapon that defeats the enemy or is the symbol of the last stand against an enemy force

@@ziangli4836 they also copied the german ww2 uniforms cuz their uniforms are so ugly

@@kriegsman9779 The Prussians aided them.

This is just a straight out lie No Chinese claims that the stick grenade was their invention. The reason why you see them so much in Chinese movies was because for a few decades and up to wwII the Germans literally supplied the Chinese KMT forces (google the sino-german cooperation). The use of stick grenades and German equipment is that way because THAT IS WHAT HAPPENED IN HISTORY. Saying that Chinese people take credit for the stick grenades because you see them used in movies is like saying Americans take credit for the invention of the tank because you see Americans using tanks in movies. Not only would that logic draw a silly conclusion, it’s just straight up wrong.

I assume your last name is pronounced "Fook" ?

Yeah, HG 43. These were in use even into the 90s. I only got to use the HG 85 and the newest model (the name eludes me right now).

you got that right,especially if you were at the end of the Line with plenty Grenades left,and the Ordonnanz-Officer not wanting to ship them back,so you had a Throwfest,with even the "Splitter-Mantel" getting used!

@@LMTDDS lol

Is Swiss military service required?

Nice

,,fusible plug"

The lead " pearl" was to aid with the threading of the cord though the handle and out of the threaded fuse opening in the top thread for the delay fuse to be attached, once it was through the small threaded hole the "pearl" was pushed through the delay fuse pull wire and was secured the cord to the delay fuse. Some were steel, glass and of course lead even wood. They were for no other function other than this. Hope this helps? Jeeeensy.

We had the HG-43 if I remember correctly.

@@ericgirardet1848 I think so. But they went boom anyway

Grass navy ;-) In Finland, we call our infantrymen "lawn drills".

@@midas1929 😂👍🏼 kaboum! Absolutely! But was fun to use them. Didn’t like the new model, more efficient, smaller but no imagination. The HG43 was like throwing some old relics 🤣

@@jebbroham1776 Two words. Red Army.

@@tsardeans1124 Fighting a war on four different fronts doesn’t help either

@@frankleespeaking9519 When the Germans began their assault on the Soviet Union it was a 1 front battle. Russians were able to beat back the Wehrmacht at Stalingrad and that began the inevitable defeat of Germany.

@@allanpotocki5972 True, But imagine a Full strength German army that didn’t have to tie down men and materiel in North Africa, Italy, Northern France, Norway,, and the Atlantic. The Soviets did the heavy lifting but they had a lot of help.

@@frankleespeaking9519 imagine we had no italian mouth heroes around.......o.k. that is since today.......😁✌

Boris ^^

heavy means expensive too. 😀They were able to carry them around. Unlike todays kid transgender soldiers

I found some in my old backyard 20 years ago. They was so old that the wood burned better then the gunpowder

You should try it out

The Germans also called them "potato mashers," in German of course.

Very useful.

@Woody Last Name My German is rusty, since my last class was in 1970------but I can still put brakes on a '65 VW!

It'll sure mash something if you use it that way

www.lexpev.nl/grenades/europe/germany/stielhandgranatebeton.html Another interesting type you might haven't heard of ;)

We in the Balkans dont have anithing "deactivated", if you do that you cant use it when you need it.

TheBraslovac I’m curious, where around your house would you store 75+ year old live grenades?

You need to tell us more about this!

@@MilitariaReviewed my grandpa had this grenades from battle of Crete..i m not sure if we ve some still..do u want one?

That would be awesome! If you still have them could you send me photos of them? I have an email in my channel description.

The German grenade on the stick wasn’t easier to produce then any other grenade. It wasn’t even the most produced grenade in Germany during the war. The German grenade that was produced and used the most, at least during the Second World War (I am not sure about the first one), looked much more like the Amarican pineapple grenade.

@@Julian-re2ey shouldn't the regular handgrenade-design require far more steps and machines? Especially the late war design seems to be really fast to make.

​@@edi9892 If the German hand grenade design would have been so much superior to any other grenade, why don't we see stick grenades today? The Allies looted every German technology they could find after the war. But no one bothered to produce the German grenade design. Instead, everyone copied the American and British design. Even modern German arms companies produce grenades like American grenades. Also the German design had way more parts then a normal grenade, which made it more vulnerable to failure and probably harder to produce. It came disassembled to the soldier, who had do assemble it in the field before using. So you needed an somewhat educated soldier, which at the end was very hard to find, because they were all dead. The American grenade was ready when ever. You also had to start the fuse on the German design before throwing. The American grenade would only start its fuse when its leaving your hand. When you pull the pin, the grenade wont start its fuse until the lever is removed, so even with a drawn pin, you could hold on the the grenade forever and it wont explode. This made the American design much more idiot proof. Just imagine starting the fuse on a German grenade, then getting shell shocked by an explosion which throws you to the ground, your grenade still in hand, that will now go off. As long as you hold on the lever on the American one, you have enough time to stand up, orientate yourself and then throw the grenade. I also can imagine that the weight of a big wooden stick on every grenade made the carrying capacity for every soldier way more difficult. I know that there were some German soldiers who only got issued those grenades, they got send into battle without a gun, only with a belt of 10 or so stick grenades. And those soldiers who got issued guns, most of the time didn't carry any grenades. And like I said, the pineapple version was produced more often in Germany in the second world war. I don't know if you speak the German language, but there are some very educational videos, even on RU-vid about that in German. If you understand Germany maybe this is something for you xD ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-iEdEsDcZ5y0.html It's a German veteran, who is very into historical warfare and commentates scenes from movies and stuff. Around the time stamp 19:14 in that video, he talks about exactly this topic. And in the video you also see the German grenade that got produced the most.

@@Julian-re2ey to my understanding, it was the lack of safety and the bulkiness that got them canceled. I still don't see them to be harder to make than the more advanced mills design though.

@@Julian-re2ey As far as I know the reason why stick handgranades are not used anymore is not because they were an inferior design, but the way that wars are fought changed. Stick granades are (at least sometimes) superior in offensive roles, because they are easier to be thrown over larger distances. Which is why the standard version wasn't a fragmentation device: They were offensive by default. As I see it, they were probably superior in the trench warfare of WW1 but gradually lost that advantage in WW2. And in modern warfare: How often does it happen that you depend on throwing hand granades in the open over a large distance? Never. That made the stick granades obsolete.

it wouldnt necessarily destroy a tank but what it could do was jam the turret,as with the T-34, a blast under the turret overhang could jolt the turret enough to jam it or the blast could concuss the crew, allowing attackers to get in close with mines or more grenades and damage the tracks, roadwheels or even the engine.

Clearly limited range owing to the weight.

@@jbuckley2546 except if you´re some ronnie coleman type of person, but then you barely would have stamina, but for that they had meth

Were all the 7 fuzes activated in this device?

Only the central grenade had a fuse, detonator, and pull cord. The other heads were set off by the central one.

Ouuuuu Captain K

lmao same

Jesus

Of course

ah shit not that unholy thing

Ah the modular unholy hand hand grenade

I believe they were for stun in close quarters...

@@fishyc150 It was just how they were made at the start they were changed later to be more destructive. What alerted me was a French movie one landed near a soldier and he through his Great Coat over it to smother he blast I thought surely this is movie magic. Checked it was an actual re enactment of what they did with German grenades in the early days.

You're reading an incorrect report then. Standard field artillery shells, which had more explosive content, didn't kill at that range with blast. I have a Canadian Army questionnaire which was issued to wounded platoon and company level officers recouping in hospital asking about weapon effectiveness. One officer, when talking about a British offensive grenade (No. 69 grenade I believe), states it was 'almost as useless as the German stick grenade'. Obviously not something that would be said of a weapon that had a 20ft kill radius with shockwave.

@@colinkelly5420 I recalled incorrectly- the kill radius for a German Model 24 stick grenade of the type they most commonly used in WWII was 14 YARDS, or 42ft., more than TWICE the 20ft. figure I stated earlier. www.militaryfactory.com/smallarms/detail.asp?smallarms_id=431 Where did the Canadian officers who answered the questionnaire see action? Because if it was during the Low Countries campaign, it would be quite understandable that the concussive effects of either sides's grenades would be greatly mitigated by the water-logged, marshy ground they were fighting on in the late winter/early spring conditions of 1945. Often they were knee-deep or deeper in water. In Holland, grenades were frequently thrown over canal roads at the enemy on the opposite grade. I'm sure more than a few were overthrown, landing to greatly reduced effect in the water.

Only downside to them is they were clumsy

@@tavish4699 disagree heavily, they were in no way clumsy, they were larger no dought, they had much longer range, greater explosive force and could be used as a club,

@@JoaoSoares-rs6ec ofcourse they were clumsy due to their size you couldnt carry as many and had to put them in your boots which was more then just a bit uncomfortable Them having a better explosive Radius doesnt change that

@@tavish4699 actualy they were carried in their belts, like the mills bombs and other similar grenades.

@@JoaoSoares-rs6ec to carry more they often put them in their boots look it up Also if you have a 30 cm stick on your belt movement isnt realy good just immagine leaning or laying down

Nein! Everything over-engineered. lol

Seems the opposite in my opinion, the head can be made of one Stamping instead of a casting and you can switch from an offensive to a defensive grenade with a simple sleeve. And instead of a spoon a spring and detent to activate a detonator its a rope activating a detonator.

There are a few cases that all look fairly similar in design, especially when they have been underground for 80 years. 5cm mortar, 8cm mortar, these grenades, etc. If the outside is degraded the best way to tell is by looking at the internal rack.

German use of the M24 ended after WW2. A few Asian countries based their grenades of the same general design.

@@MilitariaReviewed Thank you!

@@MK0272 there is also a comment thread on this video discussing post-war Swiss use of a similar design. Pretty interesting and not something I was aware of.

Easily double the distance; and, with practice, a soldier could execute a 'side-arm' throw accurate enough to send a stick grenade thru a window (at distance).

The pineapple grenade is about 6oz heavier than the ones I used...the MK-61 which weighs about 1lb and most Marines in my outfit could throw one about 30 yds. The pit at the grenade range went to 50 yds and back then I was a strong lad and held the record for a while at 70 yds. The Range Officer got really angry at me because I lofted it at a pretty high angle to get maximum distance and they were screaming 'Air Burst!!' over the speakers which got everyone's attention pretty well. The grenade exploded just as it impacted so 5 seconds or so in the air. The potato masher grenade was about the same weight with the long handle giving much better leverage and velocity so if someone wanted to I'm sure they could throw one farther than the average pineapple....but maximum distance throws were frowned upon and it was more important to throw it where you wanted most of the time.

@@recoilrob324 damned ROs always taking the fun out of training 🤪

When I re-enacted, we played around with homemade stick grenades. No large explosives of course, about as much as an M-150. The fuses were homemade too and lasted about 4-5 seconds. A guy with a good throwing arm could launch one so far it would air burst. I’d say 75 yards. Mediocre guys would have no problem launching one 40 yards.

Distance isn't anywhere near as important at accuracy. Being able to get it through a window or door is more important then 20% more range

You can mash a lot of potatoes at once, easily. The downside are the pieces of metal in your food.

I'd imagine so.

Used to throw both. I would say no, not on distance necessarily, as sticks are heavier. The flight characteristics are totally different though. If you are trained, you can be much more precise with the stick one. Less bouncing or rolling off. But I guess it is also personal preference. Safety for me goes to the pineapple, as the timer starts once you release the throw from your hand. If you pulled the stick, that's it and you have a few seconds to get rid of it.

I wonder if any yokel tried to take a bite out of the pineapple grenade thinking it was a pineapple, or threw an actual pineapple at the enemy thinking it would explode