German WW1 Granatenwerfer Projectile

[spotter]

This German WW1 Granatenwerfer belongs to a friend of mine,Its in very nice condition with quite a lot of the original paint finish.
The inerted fuze unscrews and is marked on top P W H
The segmented boy is also stamped
at the fuze end it is stamped F
At the tail end it is stamped 12
The tail section does not unscrew,there is no cartridge present.
Because it does not strip fully a small hole has been drilled and clearly marked to allow the round to be visually proven fully inert if required.
Can anyone add more info on this round its markings ,method of firing etc
Also what category does this fit into..grenades,mortars ??
Thanks spotter

 

[waffenamt]

Thats a lovely round.I let one go on ebay last year as i only try to collect ww2.
I always thought the tails were repros as the original ones made from thin stell would have rotted ages ago?
I will try and find some pics of it for you to compare with?

best

waff

 

[spotter]

This is all original waff its not a dug example,any idea what the markings previously mentioned on the fuze are ? is it the fuze maker ?

 

[Fuzeman]

Guernsey police used one for training and it was found to still have a live cartridge in place

 

[waffenamt]

Hi Spott,

I would be certain that said letters would be the fuze maker.Im afraid i dont have a list from ww1 but i bet its the same boys who made fuzes in the second WW?


Update..
P W H doesnt seem to be on my code list but its an old one not updated in 3 years.
best

waff

 

[TonyE]

Warning!!

Re. the previous post.

Nearly all of these have the live launching cartridge still inside at the top of the tail. There was a very serious accident a few years ago at the MOD Pattern Room when a bomb on a launcher spontaneously launched and hit a member of staff. A subsequent inspection of all museum examples proved the great majority still had a live launch cartridge inside.

Whilst if the bomb is not on a launcher it is less of a danger, the cartridge could still go off!

Check it very carefully.

Regards
TonyE

 

[spotter]

There is definately NO cartridge inside ,i thoroughly checked this item at the request of my friend prior to posting the images on site.From the reference sectioned drawing i had ,i noticed the cartridge position and was able to check ,

 

[Burney Davis]

Whilst I would whole heartedly agree that this type of item, as with all ordnance, should be checked carefully please let us not scaremonger. I have handled and examined two or three dozen examples of this model of Granatenwerfer over the past few years and not one has had a live cartridge in the tail. Admittedly my personal experience, but clearly the term 'nearly all' is alarmist.

BD

 

[spotter]

Totally agree with you BD ,
and just to clarify i did say in my first post that there was no cartridge ,when you look through the tail tube with the fuze removed you can see all the way through,going by the drawings this also indicates to me that the piece the cartridge fitted into has been chopped ,as on the drawing it looks to be a sealed end..

 

[Gspragge]

Granatenwerfer Launcher

This is the first pattern, kind of scary !

 

[Gspragge]

Granatenwerfer & Signalwerfer

This is the next pattern as is commonly found with out it's base plate. The other device is the Signalwerfer, it fires the finned flare projectiles. The Signalwerfer has a spigot hidden by the sheet metal cup, the flare projectiles can also be fired from the Granatenwerfer but the heavier HE projectiles can not be fired from the Signalwerfer, the tail fins are to wide on the HE projectiles to go into the cup and they are too heavy to be fired from it. It is cocked with a bolt action like mechanism and fired with a thumb rotating catch devise.

 

[TonyE]

Whilst I would whole heartedly agree that this type of item, as with all ordnance, should be checked carefully please let us not scaremonger. I have handled and examined two or three dozen examples of this model of Granatenwerfer over the past few years and not one has had a live cartridge in the tail. Admittedly my personal experience, but clearly the term 'nearly all' is alarmist.

BD

I was not trying to be alarmist, merely realistic. Ask the guy who lost his leg and part of his pelvis.

I said "nearly all" because after the accident all examples in military and regimental museums were FFE checked and something like 17 of the 21 exhibits were found to have a live cartridge.

These grenatenwerfers were distributed to military museums as war trophies immediately after the end of the war and had probably not been looked at in detail until then.

regards
TonyE

 

[MissingSomething]

Curiosity

So I have been reading.... as you know I recently obtained a large number of things.... Looking at my Granatenwerfer...

Marked "A" on the body (upside down):

Marked III on the inside "spigot""

 

[dano1917]

Granatenwerfer

Awesome round, definate in the mortar catagory (spigot mortar), even though called a grenade-mortar. Here's mine

 

[dano1917]

Granatenwerfer rounds

There are quite a few variants of granatenwerfer rounds out there. Dano