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Austro-Hungarian Grenades of the Great War Part 1


Achtung Spitfire!

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So I'll start this off with Schwere Hand Grenades. Heavy iron often roughly cast grenades produced in many different sizes & styles. Most of these grenades have been salvaged from the Alps I'm lead to believe. My knowledge on them is very limited so feel free to firm up the detail or correct any errors. I just find their 'ugliness' appealing.

Starting off with what I think is the oldest in my collection a 'medium' Schwere'. It weighs 10 ounces & would have contained gun powder. It has a delay friction fuse & a fuse protector. Note the uneven body casting & heavy fragmentation.

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Here we have a 'small' Schwere with a strike on a hard surface percussion fuse. The fuse body itself has a left hand thread & so screws into the grenade body anticlockwise. The safety cap has a right hand thread so you couldn't unscrew the fuse in error given this thread combination. This is my favourite Schwere as it has an improvised belt hook which made it a nice find. 

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Another heavy Schwere here. A big heavy beast of a grenade. Again with the same left hand right hand thread combination. It has a percussion fuse.

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Finally we have what is the most common Schwere on the market. The fuse is incomplete, complete fuses are hard to find.This was a late war grenade and is much more uniform in appearance with a more 'modern' appearance. The fragmentation is noticeably smaller and has the look of a Mills Bomb it could be said.Gone are the rough uneven heavy iron edges.

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All 4 seen here together with a Number 36 Mills to give them scale.

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In part 2 I'll be covering Universal Grenades that could either be thrown or launched from a rifle.

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Nice items, I have a Schwere model as well. I am working on the threaded fuse portion, restoring the threads, but I have also made a replacement wood cap for mine. 

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You're pretty handy at recreating fuses. You also made an excellent job of that egg grenade chest plate that was a fine piece of work. 👌 I'll post my Austro- Hungarian universals shortly. 

Here's an example of that later Schwere in my original post with what looks like an original fuse. What do you think?

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Picture source Internet 

Edited by Achtung Spitfire!
unfinished
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Looks very nice! Thanks for the compliments, I have a machinist who lives across the street from me and we are good friends, so that helps, lol.

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

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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. 

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  • 3 weeks later...

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 

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M16  Rod Grenade. The second and later version. Gone is the heavy fragmentation giving it a smooth body.

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Here are my two Rohr Hand Grenades, the round top is the older model, and the slender can type is the later model. These work basically the same as the German stick type, below the cast head was a fuse with a pull string that was in the handle, pull off the handle cap, pull the string, throw the grenade. These grenades, unlike the German type had cardboard handles and caps that were held on by tape. The items show below have original heads with reproduction handles and labels, as original ones did not hold up over time very well. 

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First image you can see the older model Rohr grenade.

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Second image shows the new model  on the man second from the right.

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I also have both, well one head is on route. Replica sticks also though originals pop up once in a while against the odds. Your 'round head' is an fine example with its very clear manufacturers stamp 👌

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I see the Rohrs in those photos. Great historical  pieces.

I also have this universal  grenade.Just  missing the propeller component but a nice find just the same.Probably a hotch botch of components or part repro given the heavy pitting on the outer body compared with the rest of it 🤔

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Nice items A.S., I don't have a universal yet, been waiting for a real nice example to surface, most encountered here extremely bad condition. The universals could also be used as a rod grenade. The propeller is often missing from the universals.

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  • 5 months later...

Image of my Zeitzunderhandgranate, this is the type with the fuse in the rear area by the carrying hook. The other type has the fuse in the front, opposite the handle. 

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Period image of the Zeitzunderhandgranate being used by German troops. 

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  • 1 month later...

Image of the Austrian stick grenade, lying next to a memorial for a fallen comrade. These stick grenades are similar to the German types, however they are slightly different, late war examples could have cardboard handles versus wood as well. Second image shows a example from the internet. It is hard to find period images of these grenades.

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Here is one I just got done restoring, a Zeitzuender gewehrgranate, which was an incendiary/illumination flare. It was launched from a rifle using a special blank cartridge. The fuse for the flare was ignited first then fired from the rifle. It was typically filled with white phosphorus. The steel Rod and base of the flare are original, the rest is new made. I have never seen these for sale before, so I grabbed one up for the collection. WW1 flares in general don't usually show up as most were used during the war or others that followed or recycled in some fashion. I am planning on making a full size flare replica used in the trenches as well.

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  • 8 months later...

3 M16 ‘Cigaros’. Almost identical apart from the pins and release mechanisms. If I’ve posted these before you have my apologies.

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The rarest of the 3. There is another version with an even larger release handle but they are extremely rare.

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  • 2 years later...

Here is an Austrian Lakos grenade, these models had many variants. These were basically improvising explosives using a pipe and filling. There are some variants that have segmented grooves on the exterior of the pipe, and this can vary depending on the model. 

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