No. 76 S.I.P. grenade with label with Dutch text

[Antoon]

Found these photographs in our EOD archive.
No. 76 S.I.P. grenades found in 1981 in the Netherlands.
The special thing is that there are labels on it with text in Dutch (partly readable).

I never heard that these No. 76 grenades were dropped for the resistance / SOE during WW-2.

So could this be a leftover from the former "Stay Behind" organisation during the Cold War?

 

[millsbomber]

from my fading memory i think the No76 was used in balloons and sent across to Holland.

 

[Mr.Roboto]

Interesting stuff. Apparently it was common practice to not store these types of grenades inside of a building. Also the home guard buried these types all over Great Britain.
What makes these interesting is that the label text is in Dutch.
This is very intriguing If you ask me.

If they were transported by balloon to the Dutch resistance during WW2, someone took the effort to produce Dutch labels, which in my mind doesn't really make sense.

And considering the fact that there was (maybe still is) a 'stay behind' organization (Gladio) and secret companies like 'Quia Opportet' which is latin for 'in case of'.
Who knows why there were No.76 S.I.P. grenades with labels in Dutch buried in the Netherlands.

 

[Chris]

Antoon, I think it is the early version of EOD beer

 

[Alan1]

Even more intriguing is the possible Australian production connection, and the possible red colour of the crown cap, wch would indicate use for hand throwing only.
Those produced in the UK for projection by Northover (and for hand use as well) were fitted with a green cap.
Either way, I have certainly never heard of supply to our friends in the Dutch resistance during the Second War, but it makes sense that a handy Molotov Cocktail that was already in production would have been of significant value to them for their clandestine work.
Alan1

 

[millsbomber]

Barrage Baloons with Grenades ?

Late night discussions bring up many subjects. Maybe someone has heard of this. Has anyone has ever heard of grenades being attached to the tether wires on barrage balloons to do more damage if aircraft flew into them? If not grenades then explosive charges with a contact fuze perhaps? John

www.bocn.co.uk

none of the links work now.


Operation Outward

Operation Outward was the name given to a similar program of free balloon weapons. In 1937, the British determined that the damage that may be caused by a balloon-carried wire hitting power lines was not inconsiderable. In the winter of 1939-1940 the idea of using balloons as floating weapons was proposed. The concept was that balloons, launched from France , would carry transmitters and their position would be tracked by radio triangulation. The bomb would be released by radio control when the balloon was over enemy territory. Defeat in the Battle of France put possible launch sites out of British control, and the idea was shelved for a while. It was well known that a loose barrage balloon dragging its cable across the country would cause mayhem particularly to electric cables, shorting out circuits every where. In the winter of 1939-1940 the idea of using balloons to carry bombs was proposed. It was known that one of our balloons had become loose and had drifted off to the North Sea where it had landed in Sweden and the cable caused much damage to electrical services. The gem of an idea was forming in the minds of the scientists: the concept was to produce free balloons that would have one of two systems added. One was a long spool of cable that would release after so many hours over the enemy target area, as this cable dropped down it would be dragged by the balloon in the wind and hope fully hit power lines and cause electrical shorting and much inconvenience to the enemy. The second was to have three incendiary devices each weighing some 6lb, These were SIP (Self Igniting Phosphorus Grenades (Allbright & Wilson Bombs/No 76 Grenade), fixed in a sock, as these fell to the ground they would cause fires and damage enemy property. The balloons flew at a height of 16,000 feet and were simple to make and each cost around £1/- 15s in those days. The design of the German power grid was ideal to damage it by short-circuit. Germany countryside consisted of large areas of pine forest and heath land, making it vulnerable to incendiary attack and the Germans would have to use many people on fire watching, possibly diverting them from more productive war-work. In addition winds above 16,000 feet tended to go from west to east, making it harder for the Germans to consider a similar balloon weapon. In September 1941 the British Chiefs of Staff settled the bickering between the Admiralty and the Air Ministry and ordered a trial of the incendiary balloons and trailing cables. Landguard Fort at Felixstowe in Suffolk was chosen as the launch site. The first balloons were launched on 21st March 1942, using a mixture of Balloon Barrage personnel and it seems they caused forest fires near Berlin and in East Prussia . So concerned were the Germans that they gave orders for their fighter planes to shoot down any balloons. This gave the Admiralty what they wanted as they claimed that these balloons cost the Germans a lot of time and money to fly fighters against these simple, cheap balloons. In July, a second launch site was set up at Oldstairs Bay near Dover . On 12 July, 1942, a wire-carrying balloon struck a 110,000-volt power line near Leipzig . A failure in the overload switch at the Bohlen power station caused a fire that destroyed the station. This event was thought to be Outward's greatest success. Balloon launches continued, though they were frequently suspended when there were large air-raids on Germany as it was feared the balloons might damage Allied bombers. Sadly, they continued to cause damage in neutral countries - on the night of January 19-20, 1944, two trains collided at Laholm in Sweden after an Outward Balloon knocked out electrical lighting on the railway. The last "Outward" balloons were launched on 4 September 1944. A total of 99,142 Outward balloons were launched: 53,343 carried incendiaries and 45,599 carried steel cables designed to damage electrical equipment.

 

[Antoon]

I think this has nothing to do with operation OUTWARD. Why put labels in Dutch with instructions for use on a glass bottle that wil be dropped from a balloon and falls apart when it hit the ground.

 

[Millsman]

According to the Landers book, the red cap 76s were produced between August and October 1940 in the UK whilst the Australian 76s only had red caps as they didn't have the Northover Projector. It's possible these were repackaged with Dutch labels for resistance use possibly after 1941 though how they got there may be open to debate. You probably wouldn't want to air drop them. So perhaps delivered by a fishing boat?