WW1 wooden handles grenades. How were they held and thrown?

[gothica7]

Hi all,

just a quick question for the forum experts. How were the WW1 stick/cane/wooden handled grens held and then thrown? Maybe a silly question but they came with long tails attached to the handle. This would have made them quite awkward to carry, prepare for throwing and then actually throw them during the stress of a battle.
Was there a specific way to throw them, care taken about the back of the trench of course? They came with the tails neatly rolled around the handle or tied up and down it. Must have been a damned awkward weapon until the arrival if the Mills gren.

Andy

 

[dano1917]

Don't quite know how to answer that one Andy. I do know that until the arrival of the Mills and F1's and such that all grenades were awkward in one way or another. WW1 was a period of much experimentation in the grenade area and there were very many simply oddball and dangerous designs. I know the long handle models were dangerous to heave from within a trench with the danger of the grenade (especially percussion) hitting the trench wall before ever leaving the confines of the trench. I guess that's why bombers were nicknamed "The Suicide Club". Dano

 

[gothica7]

Hi Dano,

not an easy bit of kit to throw by any means, especially any distance from a trench. Especially in the heat of battle, being shot and shelled at and having to think about the tails of the gren, where to put them in the hand thats holding the stick and then throw it far enough away and on target without clouting the back of the trench. No wonder the troops liked the Mills bomb so much. I bet there was a huge sigh of relief when the early grens were done away with.
I wonder how far you cold actually throw one with the tails flowing behind? Would it be far enough to escape the blast?

Andy

 

[dano1917]

Add to all that, one nearly needed a degree in engineering to even arm some of the early units and as Andy mentioned in the heat of battle, one would have needed "nerves of steel" to be a bomber. Yes much progress was made in the years of the First World War, and I think that is one of the things thas fascinates me about WW1 the most is the fact that progress in the area of ordnance grew by leaps and bounds out of mainly necessity (the mother of invention)...Dano

 

[pointblank0]

Hi all,

just a quick question for the forum experts. How were the WW1 stick/cane/wooden handled grens held and then thrown? Maybe a silly question but they came with long tails attached to the handle. This would have made them quite awkward to carry, prepare for throwing and then actually throw them during the stress of a battle.
Was there a specific way to throw them, care taken about the back of the trench of course? They came with the tails neatly rolled around the handle or tied up and down it. Must have been a damned awkward weapon until the arrival if the Mills gren.

Andy

Can't find the book! No idea what I have done with it! It is the book on British bombing tactics and instruction manual for issued grenades. It says that the streamers are unwrapped and then placed in the palm of your hand and then the stick is grasped with the same hand and tossed wherever you want to.

 

[gothica7]

Cheers bud,

its how i expected them to be thrown, not an envious task though.

Andy

 

[dano1917]

Many of these early streamer handle models were designed before the war into the very early stages of the war. One must remember, WW1 was to be a swift war of movement and no one expected it to bog down to digging in to a trench war so throwing from a trench was not an issue when designed. WW1 was supposed to be over by Christmas of 1914, well that didn't happen. Still even when not in the confines of a trench these early bohemeth monsters had to be cumbersome to use in the heat of battle...Dano