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Unknown designation
- Thread starter Fragman
- Start date
Jolly Green
Well-Known Member
Looks like the Zeneva.
http://www.lexpev.nl/grenades/sovietbalkan/bosniaherzegovina/zeneva.html
Thanks to Lex!
http://www.lexpev.nl/grenades/sovietbalkan/bosniaherzegovina/zeneva.html
Thanks to Lex!
It is the Zeneva as mentioned. I have an identical one to the one on the URL above. Same markings except the two letters "IP" on that one are "FE" on mine. They are obviously hot stamped into the plastic and I assume are some sort of inspector's marking. Anyone verify that? Also has anyone ever seen a green plastic bodied Zeneva that was identified on the URL webpage? Seen a lot of them and they were all black defensive types.
The bottom 2 on that page are not the same as the Zeneva. I was packing some stuff up today and came across both (still haven't photo'd them yet I think) but the are definitely different. The green one is defensive and the black is offensive.
The two larger grenades on the web page are not Zeneva's. The green one is identical to one in an Egyptian catalog I have that is identified as the No. 1 Defensive grenade. I took one of these and melted the plastic and recovered 7,643 steel balls 2.1mm to 2.6mm in diameter. The black one is identified as the No. 1 Offensive, pure blast, no pre-formed fragments. I have one of each of these grenades in my collection, each with the wide style black plastic fuze. No markings on nthe fuze or body. They were recovered post DESERT STORM in Iraq. Most examples of the bodies encountered had the Yugoslav fuze from the M-75, complete with Yugo markings. There were several other types of Egyptian grenades recovered in Iraq so these could well be No. 1's. Whether the Egyptians bought Yugo fuzes for some of theirs or the Iraqi's mixed and matched I do not know. If anyone can shed some light I would appreciate it.
Francesco_Dif
Well-Known Member
This is a intricate question.....and I'll add an extra problem: the fuze of the egyptian grenade is the same of a not-adopted austrian grenade DNW-Glock HG81....
Excellent point and one I had not thought of about the Austrian fuze connection. I have attached photos of my grenades. I discovered I did also have one with the Yugoslav M75 fuze that I had forgotten about. The body of the grenade is the same for all three, except for the pre-formed fragements in the green body. The top unscews to allow a cast explosive charge to be inserted. The only difference other than the fuze is the one with the Yugo fuze has the numbers "02-88 270" embossed in the base of the grenade body. The numbers are positioned and spaced very irregularly. Still a mystery to me as to the origin of all the bits and pieces.
Attachments
Francesco_Dif
Well-Known Member
Wouldn't surprise me if the Egyptians bought an assembly line from Austria and had it set up in Egypt to produce these grenades. I know the Egyptians have done that before with other ordnance items. Saves them years of development and the expense of designing and producing the equipment to produce and assemble. Not cheap to "buy someone else's line", but still less expensive in the long run.