Airdropped pencil bombs?? information required.

[butterfly]

Hi all,

I have a collection of articles written by the local newspaper on the Grimsby Butterfly Bomb raid of June 13/14th 1943, much of which has been published already. Within these articles one thing has always fascinated me, pencil bombs??

A number of people living in Grimsby at the time reported seeing 'pencil bombs'. Or 'exploding pens'!! Although these claims have been dismissed, it appears that the myth (if that is what it is) is still in existance today.

So heres my question............Was there any such weapon in existance that could have been airdropped by the Germans in 1943??

Does anyone have any drawings of anything resembling a 'pencil bomb' or 'exploding pen'?

Will be interested to see if anyone can come up with anything.

Thankyou in advance
regards Kev

 

[spotter]

is it possible this was a generalised description ref the shape of the B1 incendiery bombs ?

 

[butterfly]

is it possible this was a generalised description ref the shape of the B1 incendiery bombs ?

Hi Spotter,

I don't think so.
I recently spoke to someone at a local event, who had on display some fragments of butterfly wings picked up during the raid. He mentioned these 'exploding pens' and I suggested to him that it may have been part of the butterfly bomb arming rod (which looks pencil/pen shaped) but he dismissed this idea and said they were definately pen shaped.

Other people who wrote into the local paper described 'pencil bombs'.

Personally I am a little sceptical about it, as there certainly would have been recovered items and if such a thing existed then surely it would have had to have been used in large quantities - (the chances of someone finding one otherwise would be extremely remote). Also I question the size of the item in relation to its effectiveness.

However, it would appear that its not just one person recalling these, hence my question as to wether anything relating to the description existed?
Of course there have been guns disgiuised as pens used by SOE, the time pencils (which initiate explosives) - but I have not come across anything bomb like.

regards Kev

 

[millsbomber]

There is a American TM booklet which has discriptions of exploding pens and Chocolate bars that were reputed being dropped on the UK, i have never seen examples of such things, who knows

 

[ArturSalus]

Hi!

I live in Estonia and have heard the exploding pen story as well.
The story goes that these "pencils" were dropped form airplanes or left behind by germans to be picked up by the local population - they were intended to injure the locals.
I have always tought that these were just ordnance parts - detonators ect, that were similar to pencils.

 

[butterfly]

Thanks guys. So it would appear that such an item 'might' have existed...??

Does anyone have any information in an official manual to confirm this?

regards Kev

 

[Anders]

Hi all,
So heres my question............Was there any such weapon in existance that could have been airdropped by the Germans in 1943??

Does anyone have any drawings of anything resembling a 'pencil bomb' or 'exploding pen'?

Will be interested to see if anyone can come up with anything.

Well I remembered having seen something about this and found in my archives a small note (see attached) from a big national Danish newspaper called Berlingske Tidende. The note is from April 30. 1943 and reads:

Explosives pencils
airdropped by planes.
--------
VEJLE, THURSDAY, RB.
Yesterday the police in Vejle
(town in Jutland) received a
messaged that several pencils
have been found in a valley
nearby. The pencils have
presumably been airdropped
by the British and without doubt
contain explosives. The police
have issued a warning in the
local newspapers against these
pencils. If the pencils are found
they should not be touched,
but place a guard at the location
and notify the police so no one
gets harmed. The pencils are
black and look like an ordinary
wooden pencil.

Printed April 30. 1943

What it was i don't know, but it is most likely standard Timepencils No.10 allthough that they are not Black, but the tin cointainer is.

 

[butterfly]

Well I remembered having seen something about this and found in my archives a small note (see attached) from a big national Danish newspaper called Berlingske Tidende. The note is from April 30. 1945 and reads: ...................

Thankyou Anders for your reply.

Very interesting to see that your reference refers to a British item. Maybe this was a universal concern!!

What I do find fascinating about this subject is that the reference to 'exploding pencils' is not an isolated incident. Although there is no proof (as yet) that anything like this existed as an airdropped weapon, it is evident that such an item was concieved in the minds of people living at the time.

regards Kev

 

[Bonnex]

Operation Braddock

There was a small British incendiary device fitted with a fuze comprising a time pencil with a match-head igniter. The incendiary was named after the intended Operation (Braddock). The original plan for Braddock (or 'Moon' as it was first called) was to drop incendiaries*, charges and Liberator pistols into Germany in the hope that disaffected Germans and migrant workers would use them against the Nazi administration (dropping them in occupied countries was also a possibility). For various reasons the plan was reduced in scope and although the devices were ready in April 1943 (Anders report) only a fraction of the stores, and only the incendiaries, were dropped on Germany in late 1944 by the US Airforce.

[*In this case the incendiary was not intended to function afer dropping]

 

[Anders]

There was a small British incendiary device fitted with a fuze comprising a time pencil with a match-head igniter. The incendiary was named after the intended Operation (Braddock).

Yes I though of that too, I have attached the manual a pictogram printed in 11 languages.

 

[millsbomber]

The booklet is a fm 5-31 page 89, it says the British made them, case of friendly fire perhaps

 

[Bonnex]

Braddock

The booklet is a fm 5-31 page 89, it says the British made them, case of friendly fire perhaps

They were certainly made in the UK Dave, but the Time Pencils were invariably from the stock made in the US for the SOE which, without wishing to cause a diplomatic incident, proved not to be up to standard for 'normal' SOE and COHQ purposes. About 4 million incendiaries were made by 1944 and only a quarter of a million used operationally. I guess the rest formed part of the VE day or VJ day celebrations.

I recommend 'SOE, the Scientific Secrets' by Fredric Boyce and the late Douglas Everett for further info.

 

[Anders]

Thankyou Anders for your reply.

Very interesting to see that your reference refers to a British item. Maybe this was a universal concern!!

What I do find fascinating about this subject is that the reference to 'exploding pencils' is not an isolated incident. Although there is no proof (as yet) that anything like this existed as an airdropped weapon, it is evident that such an item was concieved in the minds of people living at the time.

regards Kev

Well something new turned up during my search in the archives. A drawing of an exploding (Incendiary) pencil with the explanation in Danish, probably made by the Danish police in connection with the newspaper article I cited in my former post.

I have translated the text into English and added it on the drawing.

 

[spotter]

thank you Anders for showing this and translating the text

 

[millsbomber]

From FM 5-31,,,,,, Dave

 

[Ivashkin]

Well something new turned up during my search in the archives. A drawing of an exploding (Incendiary) pencil with the explanation in Danish, probably made by the Danish police in connection with the newspaper article I cited in my former post.

I have translated the text into English and added it on the drawing.

Very interesting. In Russian books it calls "Blue pencile", which produced during WWI in Germany. "Blue pencile" used for sabotage in USA by german agents.