Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1917-03-16
Terrible Weapons When Charged
With High Explosives.
MERCILESS DEATH SPREADERS
They Are Made Now to Be Flung by
Hand at Close Quarters, to Be Shot
From a Howitzer or to Be Planted as
Mines and Fired by Electricity.

mains today, as in the sixteenth cen-
fury, one of the most effective weap-
ons of warfare. In the United States
Infantry Journal there is an article
dealing with grenades which is a trans
lation from the German military pub
lication, ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS.
Hand grenades," the article reads,
"as an implement of warfare date back
many centuries. History records their
use as far back as 1886 at the siege of
Aries. Up to the close of the eight
zenith century soldiers were trained in
the throwing of hand grenades. They
were for that reason called g~renadiers.
"The grenades were hollow balls of
iron or other metal about two and a
half inches in diameter. filed with
powder and provided with a fuse,
which was lighted before being thrown.
AT first there were a few in each regi-
ment, later entire companies were
formed, and still later every infantry
battalion had it's own grenadier COM
pany, which in the different armies had
precedence owe the other companies
at parades and other formations.
During the war between Russia and
Japan hand grenades were again used
in great quantities by both sides, espe-
cially in fighting at close quarters, and
so deadly effective were they that it is
not surprising the inventors mind &C.
cupied itself with this means of com
bat and endeayored to adopt it to the
requirements of modern warfare.
First of all, it was very important
to invent a projectile that would unite
deadly effectiveness with complete
safety of the thrower. Mr.. Assem-, the
Danish inventor, constructed a number
of hand. rife and mine grenades which
are said to fulfill these requirements.
THE hand %grenades are carried by
the man until required n then
thrown by hand. The rifle or 'howitzer'
grenades are fired from a firm rest
such as a wooden stand made from a
rifle placed on the ground and directed
at various angles of elevation by means
of stakes. The mine grenade is an
chored in the ground and discharged
by electricity upon approach of the en-
envy. In each case they are veritable
death dealers.
1.-THE rifle grenade weighs about $50
grams. 1t contains seventy-two bullets
weighing 30 grams and seventy-two
grams of explosives. The seventy-tWo
bullets cover a space of at least forty
to fifty square meters. The rifle gre
made may be fired from an ordinary
army rifle at any range up to about
400 meters. The great destructive eff
feet of the grenade is due to the fact
that the explosion takes place immedi-
ately after the grenade strikes the
ground before it has had time to bury
itself in the soil.
1.-THE 'howitzer' grenade weighs one
kilogram and contains 215 bullets and
a bursting charge weighing 200 grams.
1t can be thrown with the hand forty
meters or with a 'howitzer' 300 meters.
The 'howitZer' is a contrivance made
of a cylinder and weighs twelve kilo-
grams. 1t may be carried like a rifle.
The bullets of this grenade cover a
semicircular space of at least eighty
square meters and spread only to the
front and laterally, but not to the rear
toward the thrower. They are, there
fore, of especial value for fighting at
close quarters. They are constructed
so that they may be exploded only aft
er they have Travelled eight meters to-
ward the target.
1.-The hand grenade weighs one kilo-
gram and contains 100 bullets weigh
ing "a grams and a bursting charge
weighing 40 grams. In contrast to the
above described 'howitzer' grenade the
bullets fly III every direction, so that it
is only used for throwing from cover.
"The last kind of these grenades is
the mine grenade. 1t weighs about
four Kilograms and contains 400 3.3-
gram bullets and a 200 gram bursting
charge. The 400 bullets will cover a
space of al least 500 square meters.
These %grenades. together with their
electrical connections, are placed about
one-half meter under the surface of
the ground, so that they are completely
invisible to the enemy.
when it is set off the grenade rises
about three-fourths of a meter above
the ground. then eXplodes and throws
the bullets in all directions parallel
with the ground. At a distance of ten
meters the bullets will go through
wood at least a hundred millimeters
thick and retain deadly effectiveness
for a distance of fifty meters. A de-
tachment of a hundred men can lay a
line of these mines over a front of
1000 meters in less than two hours.
"In a test three mine grenades were
laid in the corners of a triangle whose
legs were thirty meters long among a
group of 145 wooden double ~silhouettes
hat were scattered over a space of
300 square meters. The grenades
were set off electrically one after the
other. The result was that 100 sill
houettes were hit roo tines
Serious.