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Vietnamese grenades.

N

navyman

Well-Known Member
Hello all,
Been hospitalised for a while so no communications. Now recovering at home, hooray!
Does anyone have any info regarding grenades used by the Viet Cong during the '60's conflict? All I know is that they used the Russian F1, and a short wooden handled stick type grenade of which I have only seen a repro and have no idea how it worked. Perhaps the repro with a cast iron head was just a fantasy piece?
Any help appreciated,
Cheers,
navyman.
 
Navyman,

They ended up using some manufactured grenades from North Korea, China and the Soviet Union Just about anything from the Japanese/Pacific theater as far as "Issued" items" were concerned and from the French in the early 1950's and from the Japanese.

They also used our captured Grenades. I read some where that on the average during Vietnam that the statistics were 1 out of every 240,000 was either a dud or would explode sooner than the 4.0 seconds which was considered standard at that time.


The jungle workshop grenades were made out of cast Iron using our duds bombs dropped via airplanes and Infantry units who have had a dud grenade(s) explosive. The explosive mostly used in the "Jungle Workshops" was TNT and most of that came from Dud American items such as arty shells, mortar rounds, bombs dropped from the airplanns that were also filled with TNT supplied from us. ComBloc nations also suppled some of their TNT and other explosives like RDX or their version of it.

However the true "Killers" Grenades came from Russia.



So any grenade from the Soviet Union or China that were made in each of these countries would be standard, such as your F1.

Let me know if you need further information on Vietname War "Grenades"?
 
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Thanks to Grenademan, Jolly Green, JCB99, and V40, for the useful information sent.
I will attach a picture of the repro short handled grenade. Can anyone let me know if these operated in a similar manner to the German stick grenades of WW1 and 2, ie having a pullcord to ignight the firing sequence? I'm guessing that there may have been a wooden plug in the base of the stick/handle as the German ones had a screw off tin cap?
Thanks all,
navyman.
 

Attachments

  • Short handle Viet Cong repro gren.jpg 1a.jpg
    Short handle Viet Cong repro gren.jpg 1a.jpg
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Absolutley, spot on. The "Sticks" with pull strings attached were mostly seen in the jungle worshops and from the Chinese. Most all of them had the string or else the following ways to ignite the grenade: Small cord, Booby-Trap wire, Nylon from a parachute, small wire like that found in electronic wiring. These I have seen in use from literature, Vietnam Mag, and many days of research. Accordingly, they had a bad performance due to the high Humidity and the plug not being as waterproof as it should of been.

They did use as much wax and other sealants to protect the detonators, and they still had the problem with moisture getting in through to the detonator hole in the bottom. That is sometimes the reason for failures of the entire system and low order explosions. Most of the injuries/deaths would occur from the concussion from it going off instead of the fragmentation pattern.
But back to your question they had the same ignition source as the Germans did in WWI-WWII.

The jungle workshops though could not keep up with the Q & C like the Germans did in both wars.

If you do not know by now, I can be usually long-winded in my posts. I apoligize a head of time. I usually give more information than probably needed to give on a subject from the Vietnam War.

NOTE: I only do this once in a great while though as others can attest to.
 
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