Chapter XXII: Hand Grenade Work

There are two kinds of hand grenades, offensive and defensive. The first is employed in all offensive operations and to explain its use more clearly it is well to start with the bombers, popularly known as the suicide club.

Before an attack is made, in most instances, a barrage fire is put over on the enemy trenches and the length of this preparation depends on the extent of the offensive and on the area over which it spreads. The purpose of this barrage fire is to blast out of existence all of the enemy machine guns on the parapet of the trenches that are to be attacked.

It must be understood that with a heavy barrage fire on their front-line positions the enemy would be unable to keep many men in readiness at the guns, and the machine guns themselves would be endangered if they were left exposed. Therefore they take to the dug-outs with guns and all other equipment.

Chosen from the regiments, there are certain men known as bombers, who are ready, at a specified time, with another kind of equipment—a large basket-shaped pocket swinging at their waists filled with hand grenades. They are always ready in the front-line trench to go over at the time set by the command. The barrage fire still plays on the enemy lines when the bombers charge across “No Man’s Land.” It is their task to keep the enemy and their machine guns in their dug-outs so that they cannot drag them to the parapets of the trenches for use against the infantry, which invariably follows the bombers “over the top.”

The grenade used by the bombers in an offensive of this kind is a trifle larger than a good-sized lemon; projecting from one end is a pin, on which there is a touch button.

Touch the button and the pin does the rest. It ignites a fuse on the end of which is an explosive cap, similar in design to the caps we use in this country for dynamite blasting. The cap sets off the charge which is supposed to be one of the most powerful and deadliest of explosives.

The shell of the grenade is corrugated into little squares that break up and fly in all directions when the charge is exploded, and covers a large area on its mission of destruction. Much care and skill is required of the bomber, since he must be able to throw a grenade with great accuracy and always far enough to keep himself from being injured.

There is a common notion abroad that bombs are thrown like baseballs, but this idea is erroneous. The method employed is radically different. Grenades are timed so that they go off quickly after reaching their objective and within five seconds of the time when the first throwing motion is made and the time fuse is going.

During the early part of the war the moment a grenade was started fusing it was the desire of the bomber to get it on its way as quickly as possible. The Germans noticed that the grenades did not go off for several seconds after they landed, and, in many instances, picked them up and hurled them back. Many of our men were killed in this way before they learned to measure the time accurately.

All along the front, in back of the lines, are fields where one may see companies of men practicing daily with grenades. Their work is a most important factor in modern warfare, as the defenders of a trench rely chiefly on their machine guns to resist infantry attacks. Should the bombers contrive to hold the enemy in their dug-outs, their own infantry can cross over without having to face a death-dealing stream of bullets that would be poured into them by three or four machine guns.

Strange to say, of all the men making up the different branches of service around base and army hospitals one rarely ever sees a maimed bomber. It is one thing or the other with these fellows. They come back whole or not at all. A most dangerous work is that of the bomber, as he is always the first to go over, and, of course, offers a tempting mark for whatever machine guns are not in the dug-outs but remain on the parapets of an enemy trench.

Defensive grenades have a different classification and are employed in a distinctive way. Any or all infantrymen of an army may be equipped with this form of grenade. They are made on a principle diametrically opposite to that of the offensive grenade. The best of these are manufactured by an English concern and are very reliable. The element of danger in its operation is very slight. They are used principally for the destruction of barbed-wire entanglements, in order that infantrymen may make a quick passage over “No Man’s Land.”

Should one of these grenades land alongside of a post supporting the enemy barbed wire, the explosion which follows is so tremendous that it will shatter that post into bits, causing all of the wire to drop to the ground. This will afford enough gaps to make passage free and easy.

The defensive grenade is vastly different in structure and function, as the jacket containing the charge is a tin composition, very light in construction, so that every particle of force will be effective at a given point, without the necessity of having to break through a heavy iron shell. Just enough weight is used in the body of this type; it is devoid of the pin and the button, but has a handle held in place by a cotter pin on the end of which is a ring. When the ring is pulled it draws the cotter pin from the locking device on the body of the grenade, which holds the handle in a safe position.

Before the pin is pulled the bomber must have the handle clamped down securely in the palm of his hand with the grenade, for the moment the handle is allowed to fly up the grenade begins fusing and must be thrown.

As long as the handle is held securely in its original position, even though the pin be drawn, it is harmless. It is, however, ready for service in the fraction of a second, and makes an ideal defensive weapon for instant use. It can be thrown directly in front of a man rushing at you with a bayonet, and it will blow him into fragments. At the same time there will be perfect security to the one who launches it, but, at five times the distance, an offensive grenade would prove a boomerang. For cutting down enemy barbed wire, there is nothing so effective, except heavy artillery, which can compare with this high explosive hand grenade for terrific power of destruction.

There is a newer form of grenade now in use, which is fired from a regular rifle. An attachment like a cylinder is fastened to the barrel of the rifle and a regulation cartridge inserted into the cartridge chamber, as when it is to be ordinarily fired. Then a grenade is placed in the cylinder and the gun is discharged while held at the height of the waist line, the muzzle being elevated or lowered according to the distance the grenade is to be thrown. There is a gauge showing where the grenades will approximately strike at different elevations of the muzzle, and it is surprising with what accuracy they will reach their objective. This method is used where the distance is too great for throwing by hand. The ball, when fired, passes down the rifle barrel and through the grenade, striking a contact spring, which starts it fusing. The gas from the explosion of the powder in the chamber forms the propelling power.

A great many other contrivances are used for the launching of grenades, such as various forms of spring traps. The French have a pneumatic device,—a cylinder in which the grenade is placed, and the pressure for launching it is produced by means of a pump, not unlike in design that of the automobile tire pump. All these different devices, while serving a purpose, do not meet all requirements as effectively as does the grenade which is launched by hand. It is a most dangerous missile and hard to get away from.

One serious danger to which consideration must be given and into which Americans are apt to be tempted is the collection of souvenirs of war. All along the front one sees many things that are of interest,—unexploded shells, hand grenades, and the like. The inexperienced, unsuspecting the danger of such things, are tempted to pick them up and examine them.

This has caused many a death. It is a risk that should never be taken, for it is only another way of courting death. Not every shell or grenade that is sent over explodes, and many actually lie intact for days only to explode at some slight disturbance. One only needs to observe the French, who are familiar with all angles of the game through their three and a half years’ experience, to learn what they think about tampering with shell heads.

A regular corps of men, appointed generally from some artillery battery, make it their duty to look after unexploded shells, either by setting them off, or by carting them away and burying them,—likewise unexploded hand grenades. These are collected and buried, but many an experienced man has come to his death while clearing up roads and fields of these unexploded missiles.

There have been instances known on different fronts where the Germans have “fixed” everything they leave on the field, allowing shells and grenades to lie there for someone to pick them up. An attractive officer’s helmet might catch one’s eye and appear to be just about the most harmless thing in the world. But to touch it more than likely means death.