Cutaway model of a French WW1 Citron Foug grenade. The name Citron Foug is a merge of the name Citron for the Lemon shape of the grenade body, and Foug for the place in Northern France where the iron foundries that cast these pig iron grenade bodies was established. The Official French name was “grenade C.F”.
The casting is of the grenade body is rudimentary and the body of the grenade is filled with Cheddite, a chlorate based explosive. The fuze body is a wooden plug, placed in top of the grenade body, through which a stepped hole was drilled. In the wide part of the hole in top the firing cap was placed with a wooden cilinder above it housing the spring loaded firing pin; the spring keeps the firing pin away from the firing cap. A thin steel disc nailed to the top of the wooden fuze housing keeps the parts together. The smaller hole running down the wooden plug houses the pyrotechnic brickford fuze with a detonator at the end. A rounded sheet metal cap is placed over the fuze as a safety, kept in place by friction. This forms the simple safety. During WW1 different shapes of caps were used , with a rounded top (like tis one), with a flat top, or with a conical top.
When using the grenade, the sheet metal cap is removed -although it is stated that in a case of emergency the cap can be left on- , the firing pin is struck against a hard object moving it down -riding the spring- activating the firing cap below the firing pin that lights the brickford fuze. After approximately four seconds the fuze ignites the detonator that explodes the main charge in the grenade.
The grenade is of very simple design, reliabble, and is easy and cheap to manufacure and was therefore manufactured by a large number of manufacturers and used in great numbers during WW1 by the French army. It was still being used by the Vietcong against their former owners during the start of the Vietnam war.
Regards, DJH
The casting is of the grenade body is rudimentary and the body of the grenade is filled with Cheddite, a chlorate based explosive. The fuze body is a wooden plug, placed in top of the grenade body, through which a stepped hole was drilled. In the wide part of the hole in top the firing cap was placed with a wooden cilinder above it housing the spring loaded firing pin; the spring keeps the firing pin away from the firing cap. A thin steel disc nailed to the top of the wooden fuze housing keeps the parts together. The smaller hole running down the wooden plug houses the pyrotechnic brickford fuze with a detonator at the end. A rounded sheet metal cap is placed over the fuze as a safety, kept in place by friction. This forms the simple safety. During WW1 different shapes of caps were used , with a rounded top (like tis one), with a flat top, or with a conical top.
When using the grenade, the sheet metal cap is removed -although it is stated that in a case of emergency the cap can be left on- , the firing pin is struck against a hard object moving it down -riding the spring- activating the firing cap below the firing pin that lights the brickford fuze. After approximately four seconds the fuze ignites the detonator that explodes the main charge in the grenade.
The grenade is of very simple design, reliabble, and is easy and cheap to manufacure and was therefore manufactured by a large number of manufacturers and used in great numbers during WW1 by the French army. It was still being used by the Vietcong against their former owners during the start of the Vietnam war.
Regards, DJH
