Why were grenades important in ww1

Y Trotter, No. Arming a Mills bomb was straightforward, requiring only that the base plug be unscrewed, the detonator assembly inserted and the plug screwed back down. This was always done ahead of time and whilst in cover, but remained an inherently risky task. Private Curdie describes how to make improvised hand grenades out of jam tins mp3, 2 MB. He enlisted in and served on the Western Front. These grenades were an essential part of trench warfare, in particular during raids. Interestingly, notes from a bombing course that took place at the School of Arms in Hythe in January , still taught the tactics of bombing a trench.

It has to be concluded that the lessons learned from the War impacted on the future of bombing and what tactics to use to gain optimum effect. In order to storm a trench you would need eight men and one NCO in the following formation:. Like many of the weapons developed for industrial scale use during the First World War, the Mills bomb defined a class of grenade that remained the standard British fragmentation grenade for over 55 years.

Written by Lisa Traynor , Curator of Firearms. You can read more about the origins and use of the Mills bomb and other arms of the First World War on our collections online feature. These simple, hand-thrown weapons had been invented hundreds of years before, but had not been widely used since the Napoleonic era.

Reinvented by the requirements of trench warfare, the first grenades in were often hand-made, consisting of old cans filled with nails and bits of metal and packed with gunpowder. They often proved as dangerous to their makers as to their intended targets, due to the risk of premature explosion. By the end of , all armies were being supplied with hand bombs. Rifle grenadiers fired specifically modified grenades from rifles, while the infantry on both sides carried dozens of different types.

Offensive grenades used concussion, or shock-waves, to wound, while defensive grenades exploded, scattering shell fragments. Gas, smoke and illuminating grenades were also used in World War I. These grenades were made of brass, iron and steel, some with handles of wood and even cardboard. Some sources relate that the term is derived from the Spanish word granada or pomegranate, for the resemblance between the fruit and the weapon.

When grenades first came into use in warfare is unknown. The early grenades were made of glass globes, jars, kegs and firepots. A reference related that grenades were carried in a pocket called a grena-diere. By , the French army had regular companies of grenadiers. Grenades did not play a large part in warfare, although the French used some 3, of them at Sebastopol in , and got some Russian ones in return.

The Russians established three factories in Port Arthur, China to turn out a thousand grenades a day. On that fateful day of June 28, , when the Austro-Hungarian Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie were assassinated, several of the Black Hand conspirators carried and used Kragujevac hand bombs, named for the Serbian army depot.

I come here to pay you a visit, and I am greeted with bombs. It is outrageous! Soon two types of grenades became standard for the Germans: stick with the explosive can attached to a wooden handle and egg because it resembled an egg.

Early in the war, the French were not prepared for the use and production of grenades.