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Here are are two model 1913 Kugel grenades of different designs notably at the 'neck' & in the fragmentation patterns. And one them seen here in a replica belt carrier. The cylinder at the base is just to keep it upright.

Austro-Hungarian Grenades of The Great War Part 2 - Universal Grenades These two grenades could either be thrown by hand discharged from a rifle. Both have the same inertial pull- fuse. When fired the weight of the end piece would activate the friction ignighter & initiate the time delay. Zeitzunder Rod Grenade M16 Rod Grenade. The second and later version. Gone is the heavy fragmentation giving it a smooth body.

Respected Sir, I Have Read your article about sappers and miner ... my great grand father had recieved gallant or something related to that .. and ive been searching for his contribution in WW1 .. i will be very happy if you could help me somehow

More info/photos added on Feuerwehr/Luftschutz helmets

The Panzer tunic would, quite honestly, need complete re-tailoring, you should see an example and compare it with an original! Then you would agree - however, the cloth is very good.

Yes, bondo is the brand name, basically automotive filler or putty, the stronger the better. Once you have it sanded to where you want it, I use model or hobby spray paint, typically with primer already mixed into the paint. Use several light coats to reach the desired look. Once the paint is done I use a coat of polyurethane or some other clear coat sealant to protect the paint.

The grooves you are referring to may simply be the result of the manufacturing process, as I have seen this and smooth sided versions. I don't believe the manufacturers wasted time milling them after casting, but the lines are the by product of the molds themselves, where the interiors were milled. I could be wrong, not an expert, but it seems to me they wanted these turned out as fast as possible, so different makers would produce different variants. As long as they met the basic tolerances for firing.

Roger all that thanks for the restoration info.

My VB that has a "C" looking letter, it is on the top right, where it shows all 8, this one I did refurbish. Around the rounded top, I used filler material such as bondo, applying a little at a time then sanding to get a smooth appearance. This does take some time by the way. The rounded body itself can be done in a similar fashion, fill the pits and holes with a filler then hand sand, or put in a lathe, to do this you insert a threaded rod through the middle of the grenade, securing the end to make the rod tight, then as the whole assembly spins, you can have the machinist use the cutter to m

Kavallerie Regiment der Gardes du Corps, 1740, Potsdam, Garde-Korps Garde-Kürassier-Regiment, 1815, Berlin, Garde-Korps Leib-Kürassier-Regiment Großer Kurfürst (Schlesisches) Nr.1, 1674, Breslau, VI. A.K. Kürassier-Regiment Königin (Pommersches) Nr.2, 1717,Pasewalk, II. A.K. Kürassier-Regiment Graf Wrangel (Ostpreußisches) Nr.3, 1717, Königsberg, I. A.K. Kürassier-Regiment von Driesen (Westfälisches) Nr.4, 1717, Münster, VII. A.K. Kürassier-Regiment Herzog Friedrich Eugen von Württemberg (Westpreußisches) Nr.5, Riesenburg/Rosenberg/Dt.Eylau, XX. A.K. Kür

It looks too far gone to me.How so? An overview of that restoration process would be good thankyou. Some the VB grenades have noticeable horizontal lines going around the body. Others don't appear to have them. Maybe its just the light. Any thoughts on that? And out of your collection do you have a personal favourite. Also, I've seen the red band before. What's it's significance? Too many questions so omit as you see fit!

I'd like your opinion on this please Gildwiller1918 as you are a bit of a restoration guru it has to be said. So here we have a rare M1939 Training Egg Grenade examples of which are pretty hard to come by. At some stage on its journey its been painted grey after starting out red. However on the plus side it is complete and in relatively good shape. The question is,what would you do with it restoration wise? Not mine by the way but perhaps

Garde-Infanterie 1. Garde-Regiment zu Fuß, Potsdam, 1688, G.K. 2. Garde-Regiment zu Fuß, Berlin, 1813, G.K. Kaiser-Alexander-Garde-Grenadier-Regiment Nr.1, Berlin, 1814, G.K. Kaiser-Franz-Garde-Grenadier-Regiment Nr.2, Berlin, 1814, G.K. Garde-Füsilier-Regiment, Berlin, 1826, G.K. 3. Garde-Regiment zu Fuß, Berlin, 1860, G.K. 4. Garde-Regiment zu Fuß, Berlin, 1860, G.K. Königin-Elisabeth-Garde-Grenadier-Regiment Nr.3, Charlottenburg, 1860, G.K. Königin-Augusta-Garde-Grenadier-Regiment Nr.4, Berlin, 1860, G.K. 5. Garde-Regiment zu Fuß, Spandau, 1897

Quite often the contribution of the commonwealth countries made, to WW1 is either forgotten or not given much space, on groups and publications,, this I aim to change in this post. This post is about a group of Indian soldiers,... and one in particular MEHAR DIN No 1064 AND THE 3RD BOMBAY SAPPERS AND MINERS, and their involvement in ww1 the first pic is of their battle honours, also a little known fact, they are shown in the order of battle for NEUVE CHAPELLE 10th to the 13th of march 1915 at arras they have an illustrious history in ww1, and their contribution shouldn't be forgotten. pics 2 a

Great find from a flea market

By letting the helmet rust, you are not gaining anything. A helmet like this can be several thousand pounds value, as a rusted relic, it will be practicly zero value. Under the wrong conditions, the decals will detiorate, then the paintwork and the steel itself, the leather liner and chinstrap also. A well known militaria dealer and established auctioneer stated that when valuable pieces are stored in a loft for years, they can go through temperature differences of over 50° C between Winter and Summer, which will cause irreparable damage to most materials. An original, intact paintwork and

Hi guys. i want to show you his badge I have in my collection & wanted to say watch out when buying. This a very impressive real looking badge,but the eagle does no fit the maker, so its probably a fake. Cheers Wolf.

Yes that's for sure Kenny. But having said that you get what you pay for, they are sold as genuine but sold for a quater of the genuine article. The trick is to be very wary when buying privatley & always run pics through a forum like this for scrutiny. Here is a fallschirmjager badge I bought a few years back. Cheers Wolf.

Sorry guys M18. The 2nd decal denotes Teno (technical emergency core). This one is rusting as well, even sitting on a shelf in my man cave,but not going to apply grease to this one. "It can rust in peace".Here are a couple of pics.

1939

Die Bundesstaaten des Deutschen Reichs ab 1871 Königreiche: Preußen (Wilhelm II., seit 1888) Bayern (Ludwig III., seit 1913) Sachsen (Friedrich August III., seit 1904) Württemberg (Wilhelm II., seit 1891) Großherzogtümer: Baden (Friedrich II., seit 1907) Hessen-Darmstadt (Ernst-Ludwig, seit 1892) Mecklenburg-Schwerin (Friedrich Franz IV., seit 1897) Mecklenburg-Strelitz (Adolf Friedrich VI., seit 1914) Sachsen-Weimar (Wilhelm Ernst, seit 1901) Oldenburg (Friedrich August, seit 1902) Herzogtümer: Analt (Friedrich II., seit 1904) Braunschweig (Ernst August,

Wow great looking helmets guys. Whished I had a M42, I like the design of the edge without the fold over. I have a M17 double decal with 1931/32 liner. Will post pics when I can find space to take picture. Wolf.

Feldartillerie 1. Garde-Feldartillerie-Regiment, 1816, Berlin, Garde-Korps 2. Garde-Feldartillerie-Regiment, 1872, Potsdam, Garde-Korps 3. Garde-Feldartillerie-Regiment, 1899, Berlin-Beeskow, Garde-Korps 4. Garde-Feldartillerie-Regiment, 1899, Potsdam, Garde-Korps Feldartillerie-Regiment Prinz August von Preußen (1. Litthauisches) Nr.1, 1772, Gumbinnen/Insterburg, I. A.K. 1. Pommersches Feldartillerie-Regiment Nr.2, 1808, Kolberg/Belgard, II. A.K. Feldartillerie-Regiment General-Feldzeugmeister (Brandenburgisches) Nr.3, 1816, Brandenburg a.H., III. A.K.

Nice job on the resto. So what did you use for the finish ? I'm assuming the bondo is a different colour to the body.Excuse my lack of knowledge but is bondo a brand name or a collective? In other words if I purchased it what would I ask for?

Interesting with the 2 different finishes.

Following units were raised 1914 - 1918 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, Infanterie-Regiment Jäger-Regiment 1, Jäger-Regiment 15 Reserve-Infanterie Reserve-Infanterie-Regiment 1-23 Landwehr-Regiment 1-15 Ersatz-Regiment 1-5 Reserve-Kavallerie-Regiment 1, 5, 6 19.-24. Feld Feldartillerie-Regiment Reserve-Feldartillerie-Regiment 1, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11 Landwehr-Feldartillerie-Regiment 1, 2, 6 Ersatz-Feldartillerie-Regiment 4., 5., 6. Fussartillerie-Regiment Reserve Fussartillerie-Regiment 1-3 All unit designations preceded with title "Königlich Bayerisches..

Die Königlich Bayerische Armee Infanterie Infanterie-Leib-Regiment, München, 1814, I. (Bayr.) A.K. 1. Infanterie-Regiment König, München, 1778, I. A.K. 2. Infanterie-Regiment Kronprinz, München, 1682, I. A.K. 3. Infanterie-Regiment Prinz Karl von Bayern, Augsburg, 1698, I. A.K. 4. Infanterie-Regiment König Wilhelm von Württemberg, Metz, 1706, II. A.K. 5. Infanterie-Regiment Großherzog Ernst Ludwig von Hessen, Bamberg, 1722, II. A.K. 6. Infanterie-Regiment Kaiser Wilhelm, König von Preußen, Amberg, 1725, III. A.K. 7 Infanterie-Regiment Prinz Leopold, Ba

French troops training on VB firing, January 1918

Another period image of a French Instructor with the VB launcher and grenade.

French instructors training US Marines on different grenade types. Note the VB launcher on the rifle and leather carrying case and VB grenade on the table.

Another image of the VB in use, Belgians with Mauser 1889 rifle in the foreground, the VB is on a Berthier M07/15 rifle.

The grenade body is not that bad, it could be fixed up if so desired.

Great collection. Well my grenade finally arrived. The body is very poor but at least it came with the very hard to find brass safety cap!

Very nice image of French troops practicing with the VB launcher on Lebel rifles, note the grenades and the leather carrier on the hip of the soldier with the rifle. Image source, National Archives

Thanks Fritz. I have been told because of the quality of the guilding they cold be from Dress/Parade uniform. Thanks again. Cheers Wolf.

Welcome to the forum Mbonney, if you post the photo's we will try and identify them for you.

Hey guys, I know nothing about helmets, but I found a box of different helmets, I’m thinking they are WWII era but I’m not sure. I took a few photos of the helmets and markings that I found and was hoping someone could help me with identifying them.

To Brexit or not to Brexit - Europe holds it's breath... What would the Scots say, who are as a majority voted against Brexit? In this exhibition (Ostpreußisches Landesmuseum Lüneburg) it can be seen that many Scots emigrated due to the situation in the British Isles - partly religious motivation, partly political (particularly the failed Jacobite Rebellion). Photo shows a Münzdeckelhumpen, the engraving on the lid reveals that a Scot, John Simpson (1695-1774) was Bürgermeister of Memel in his day and one of the wealthiest men in the town, his grandson Archibald MacLean (1772-1860) beqeathed

From the Museum's archive - estate of Herbert Wehrend from Bad Oldesloe, born 1. July 1913 Served with 2.Batterie, Artillerie-Regiment 48 in Schwerin. 1.11.1959 - 1.10.1936 His papers for SA-Wehrkampfabzeichen complete with a small card as Besitz-Zeugnis and the slide cover made of brown waxcloth, best condition. With Ausweis-Uniform-Photo in S.A. uniform

Part 4

Part 3

Part 2

Image of the VB message grenade, again from my source materials. The body was cast iron, with a light metal cap, shown on the bottom in the image. The cap unscrewed and the message was placed inside. During use, the whole grenade was inside a sheet metal container until use, inside was the grenade and a launching cartridge. The grenade was inserted with the flat metal end inside the launcher, when fired the grenade produced a small cloud of smoke for about half a minute. So in theory, the message would be visible to to sender, but also to the enemy as well. However these were not used much by

Here is an image of the training version of the US VB grenade, from one of my resource books. I have never seen one for sale, I have only seen these in museums and in private collections. It was made from cast iron, and had the same height, width, and weight as live version, and could be shot through and reused.

No problem, the fuse looks good. Normally it would not even be seen with the transit cap in place. Most Scwhere types you see only have the body, so any type you can find that is not too corroded and have the fuse assembly is a good find.

Its not my grenade I wanted your opinion on the fuse. I Should have made that clearer. Great friend you have across the street.

The Imperial War Museum, London had a nice example on display many years ago. The original paint finish on this was khaki and not fieldgrey.

Here is the late war Heer by the same maker, look at the rear profile and look at the ears, very distinct when sorting out from fakes

Heres a soldbuch iv'e been translating, it's not in the best of conditions, its for a soldier in infantry regiment 50 Stab 111 from 1.9.39 to 1.4.42 when he was in Res-Laz.Leipzig V11 till 9.9.43. He then went to Heer Training schule were he stayed till 1945, when on 9.3.45 he was asigned to Fortress Pak Ersatz and Training-Battalion Abteilung 101- General Infantry Company. Can anyone tell me what a Fortress Company was?.