page_title: Rifle grenade
section_title: World War II
hierarchical_section_title: Rifle grenade / History / World War II
caption_attribution_description: 日本語: 89式小銃に06式小銃てき弾を装着した自衛隊員
context_page_description: A rifle grenade is a grenade that uses a rifle-based launcher to permit a longer effective range than would be possible if the grenade were thrown by hand.
  The practice of projecting grenades with rifle-mounted launchers was first widely used during World War I and World War II and continues to the present, with the term "rifle grenade" now encompassing many different types of payloads including high explosive, fragmentation, and anti-tank warheads as well as concussion, smoke, incendiary, and flare missiles.
  Rifle grenades have largely been supplanted in the infantry fire support role by a combination of grenade launchers and disposable anti-armor rockets.
context_section_description: After World War I, the rifle grenade was steadily modified to increase its effectiveness when launched from the rifle.
  In 1928, the Italian Army adopted an unusual cup-type 38.5 mm rifle grenade launcher bolted to the side of a normal Carcano 6.5 mm carbine, the Moschetto di Fanteria Mod. 91/28 con Tromboncino. In use, the rifle's bolt was removed and installed in the launcher chamber. The rifle was placed butt-first against the ground, a grenade loaded down the launcher's muzzle and standard rifle round loaded into the grenade launcher's chamber. When fired, the bullet was trapped, the neck of the cartridge case expanded and the gases passed into launcher's barrel through four holes providing the energy needed to launch the grenade. After the grenade was launched, the chamber was opened, ejecting the spent cartridge case and making the bullet fall out. The necessity of changing the rifle bolt kept the rifle out of use until the bolt could be replaced, a slow and clumsy procedure. The bolt-changing procedure could also result in lost rifle bolts in the heat of battle, putting the weapon out of action completely. As a result, this design was not adopted by any other nation. Today, it can be seen as an early, if unsuccessful ancestor of modern under-barrel grenade launchers such as the M203.
  The Japanese military continued to experiment with rifle and hand-thrown grenades between the wars and would adopt a family of fragmentation grenades with almost universal adaptability. Introduced in 1931, the Type 91 fragmentation grenade could be thrown by hand, fired from a cup-type grenade launcher (the Type 100), discharged by a lightweight mortar-like projector (the Type 89 grenade discharger, or knee mortar). or fitted with tail-fin assembly and fired from a spigot-type rifle grenade launcher.
  The spigot-type grenade launchers were used by Japanese Special Naval Landing Forces to launch an anti-tank (hollow-charge) finned grenade. They were also used to propel Type 91 hand grenades fitted with tail-fin assemblies. These grenades had wood-bulleted launching cartridges stored in their tail-fin assemblies. The cartridges are fired from the rifle and the wooden bullets are trapped by the tail-fin assemblies launching and arming the grenades. These launchers are not numbered, and production figures are not available and examples of spigot grenade launchers are rarely encountered.
  In 1939, the Japanese introduced the Type 89 grenade discharger, the Type 91 fragmentation grenade was fitted with a propellant base and time fuse. It did not explode upon contact, but was designed to ignite its fuse while in flight. A weak creep spring inside the grenade firing mechanism allowed the firing pin to be thrown back upon launching, igniting a time fuse with a 7-8 second delay. Using this system, the Type 91 grenades could be launched through jungle cover or through small openings without the danger of premature detonation in the event the grenade struck an object on its way to the target.  Although the Type 89 could be fired by a single person, it was typically operated with a crew of 3, enabling it to reach a rate of fire of about 25 rounds per minute.
  In 1939, The Japanese also introduced the Type 100 grenade discharger for the Type 38 and Type 99 Arisaka Rifles. It launches standard Type 91 and Type 99 hand-grenades. The launcher is somewhat unusual in that rather than using the more common cup designs it is a gas trap system, meaning that it incorporates a barrel extension which taps off excess propellant gases to launch the grenade from a cup offset from the barrel. This has the advantage that standard rifle cartridges could be used along with the standard hand-grenades which simplified logistics, at the expense of increased weight and decreased efficiency. The effective range is approximately 100 yards.
  In 1940, Britain put the first anti-tank grenade into the field during World War II the No 68 AT Grenade, which was one of the first "of any" type anti-tank weapons with a shape charge or HEAT type warhead. The design of the warhead was sim
caption: Japanese Type 06 rifle grenade attached to the barrel of a Howa Type 89 assault rifle
exif: {"Image Make": "Canon", "Image Model": "Canon EOS 40D", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image DateTime": "2010:08:24 10:52:51", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image ExifOffset": "226", "GPS GPSVersionID": "[2, 2, 0, 0]", "Image GPSInfo": "8598", "Image CustomRendered": "Normal", "Image ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "Image WhiteBalance": "Auto", "Image SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "8710", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "6450", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/400", "EXIF FNumber": "63/10", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "100", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2010:08:24 10:52:51", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2010:08:24 10:52:51", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "69/8", "EXIF ApertureValue": "43/8", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "250", "EXIF SubSecTime": "01", "EXIF SubSecTimeOriginal": "01", "EXIF SubSecTimeDigitized": "01", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "2592", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "3888", "EXIF FocalPlaneXResolution": "2592000/583", "EXIF FocalPlaneYResolution": "324000/73", "EXIF FocalPlaneResolutionUnit": "2"}