Stielhandgranate

Stick grenades on display at the National World War I Museum in Kansas City, Missouri
Type	Hand grenade
Place of origin	German Empire
Service history
In service	1915–1945 (Germany)
Used by	See § Users
Wars	World War I Spanish Civil War Second Sino-Japanese War World War II Cold War
Production history
Designed	1915–1943
Produced	1915–1945
Variants	See § Variants
Specifications (Stielhandgranate 15)
Mass	Template:Cvt
Length	Template:Cvt
Diameter	Template:Cvt
Filling	Ammonal
Filling weight	Template:Cvt
Detonation mechanism	5.5 or 7 seconds timer

(lit. "Stick hand grenade") is a series of World War I and World War II–era German hand grenade designs, also known as the Potato masher (), Doorknocker (), or Jam-pot and stick grenade (by the British in WWI), The first models were introduced by the Imperial German Army during World War I and the final design was introduced during World War II by the German Wehrmacht.

Background

Germany entered World War I with a single standard grenade type, the Kugelhandgranate. These grenades were heavy, weighing in 1 kilogram (2.2 lb) each and could not be thrown farther than 15–20 metres (16–22 yd), leading to demands for a lighter alternative.

Hairbrush grenade

Early in the war, German soldiers made use of improvised stick grenades commonly known as the 'hairbrush grenade', which were thought as having a longer throwing range and improved accuracy over the Kugelhandgranate, which would lead to the development of the introduction of the first Stielhandgranate in 1915, though these stopgaps (also known as the 'paddle grenade') remained in use until 1916.

The German hairbrush grenade was a metal box filled with explosives and nailed to a Template:Cvt wooden handle with a spring igniter, fuze, and detonator similar to the ones used on the Stielhandgranate. The early versions of these crude grenades had to be lit by hand (often with a smoking pipe, cigar or cigarette) before throwing. The British and the French also made their own copies, such as the Grenade No. 12 Hairbrush, and the .

Design

The original Stielhandgranate 15 relied on its blast effect, which had an effective radius of Template:Cvt on open field. The warhead was made of a thin sheet of steel approximately Template:Cvt long with a diameter of Template:Cvt and a metal clip to allow soldiers to carry the complete grenade on their belts, though soldiers frequently carried them inside empty sandbags tied in pairs and slung around the neck.

The Template:Cvt explosive filler composition varied between the various private manufacturers contracted by the government, usually black powder, potassium perchlorate, barium nitrate, or ammonium nitrate mixed with aluminium powder before they were replaced in 1916 with TNT.

The warhead was usually coated with paraffin wax to provide some degree of waterproofing and was mounted on a hollow wooden handle Template:Cvt long that housed the detonator and pull cord. The complete Stielhandgranate 15 weighted Template:Cvt. Subsequent versions featured improved fuses and a screw-cap cover on the detonator pull cord, while the warhead size was reduced. The model 1924 stick grenade used during World War II had a handle Template:Cvt long and weighing in Template:Cvt It was lighter than its predecessors. The end of the pull cord also had a small porcelain ball attached.

File:Stick hand grenade throw clip.gif

Demonstration of a German 24, 1946.

To arm the grenade, the soldier yanked the pull cord which in turn pulled a rough steel rod through the igniter within the fuse. The rod's abrasive contact would cause sparks and a flame to light, setting the fuse burning. The time delay fuse varied from 5.5 to 7 seconds as marked on the side of the warhead or the handle, although short burning fuses (2–3 seconds) were issued to Stormtroopers. The warhead was stencilled with the reminder ("Before use insert detonator").

Percussion fused versions of the Stielhandgranate were introduced in late 1915 with an improved version entering service in 1916. These grenades used a spring-powered plunger that was activated after the warhead hit the ground and had a safety lever fitted on the handle. When the grenade was thrown, the lever flew off arming the grenade. Due to the impact grenades' tendency of failing to explode after landing on mud or on their sides, they were not liked by the troops.

In comparison to the British Mills bomb, the could be thrown further since the handle imparted extra momentum. While the Mills was more lethal, producing over 700 fragments upon detonation, the stick grenade produced little fragmentation and a louder report, resulting in a greater morale effect. According to Saunders, the morale effect of the stick grenade was no less important than the lethality, since by 1917, the main purpose of the hand grenade became a matter of forcing the enemy into the lethal zone of small arms and machine gun fire.

History

German service

While the 'stick grenade' or 'potato masher' was possibly the most recognizable of the hand grenades employed by the Germans in World War I, they also employed a large variety of designs during the conflict, including the ball grenade (), egg grenade (), and the discus grenade (), besides improvised () designs using during the early years and closing months of the conflict, with the latter being made out a wide variety of materials such as wood or concrete. These emergency designs would reappear in the late stages of World War II, in Wehrmacht service.

File:Stosstruppen 1917.jpg

German stormtroopers posing with stick grenades, 1917

Unlike the British or the French, all German soldiers received training on grenade throwing, allowing regular riflemen to immediately lob grenades against enemy incursions, with the dedicated grenade thrower squad only entering in action if the riflemen failed to dislodge the enemy raiders. Stormtroopers carried dozens of stick grenades in empty sandbags slung across their chests when leading assaults.

The Germans often used the for assaulting enemy fortifications, where it proved to be effective when detonated within the confines of a trench system, building or bunker. When faced against well-defended positions, stormtroopers taped grenades together into bundle charges and planted them over the enemy parapets or into the slits of concrete bunkers. These improvised charges were also deployed as anti-tank weapons when more powerful weapons weren't available.

By 1918, the almost completely replaced all other types of grenades used by the Imperial German Army. It was considered as an effective design, though they were heavy and cumbersome to carry.

Austro-Hungarian service

File:Stosstruppen Isonzofront.jpg

Austro-Hungarian stormtroopers with stick grenades, 1917

The Austro-Hungarian Army started the war with several types of domestically produced hand grenades, but their unreliability often resulted in injuries to the thrower. In 1915–16, the army was re-equipped with German-supplied and grenades, which were more effective and safer to operate than the Austrian designs. In March 1915, the Austro-Hungarians officially issued their own egg grenade and the Rohr stick grenade, a short cast iron cylinder enclosed in a cardboard tube that served as a throwing handle.

Austro-Hungarian stormtroopers made effective use of bundle charges to breach enemy barbed wire emplacements and blockhouses, often wiring several grenades together to a plank of wood in order to create stronger charges. Elite assault mountain units scaled mountain peaks to infiltrate enemy positions and overrun them by throwing grenades from above and from the flanks of an enemy mountain outpost.

Hand grenades, including the remained the main weapon of the Austro-Hungarian stormtroopers until 1918, when the Maxim 08/15 light machine gun supplanted them.

Variants

File:German grenades WWI.jpg

Two WWI-era Stielhandgranate

• Stielhandgranate 15 − Introduced in 1915, it had a Template:Cvt long handle with a thin steel sheet head Template:Cvt long with a diameter of Template:Cvt containing Template:Cvt of explosive filler: usually black powder, potassium perchlorate, barium nitrate or ammonium nitrate mixed with aluminium powder. The warhead was coated with paraffin wax to provide some degree of waterproofing and a featured a clip to hang on a belt
• Stielhandgranate 16 − A modified M1915 with improved fuze and waterproofing, a screw-cap covering the ignition pull cord, and a more powerful trinitrotoluene filling. A variant with a steel handle was commonly known as the Wilhelm
• Stielhandgranate 17 − A modified M1916, the steel warhead was reduced in size to a length of Template:Cvt and a diameter of Template:Cvt. Construction of the head was also changed by using stamped sheet metal instead of crimped steel

File:Spränghandgranat m39.png

A Swedish Stielhandgranate 24 (spränghandgranat m/39)

• Stielhandgranate 24 − A further refinement of the WWI-era models. The handle is Template:Cvt long, while the warhead contained Template:Cvt of TNT or (substitute) black powder filling and overall weight of Template:Cvt. Maximum throwing range is up to Template:Cvt, depending on the strength and skill of the thrower

File:Stielhandgranate 43 MHM noBG.png

Stielhandgranate 43 with a splitterring fragmentation sleeve

• Stielhandgranate 43 − Similar to the M24, but with the pull cord igniter from the Model 39 grenade screwed on top the warhead and fitted with a solid-wood handle. The head of the grenade was fastened to the handle by four screws and could be removed for practice
• Nebelhandgranate 39 − Standard smoke grenade with the warhead filled with a chemical mixture to generate white smoke. The composition was powdered zinc and hexachloroethane that was released through eight holes located at the base of the warhead which also had a thin white band painted for identification
• Nebelhandgranate 39B − Virtually identical to the Nebelhandgranate 39, but with raised ridges on the handle and thicker white band

File:Övningshandgranat m39.png

A Swedish Übungs-Stielhandgranate 24 (övningshandgranat m/39)

• Übungs-Stielhandgranate 24 − Dummy grenade for practice. It can be distinguished by the bright-red perforated warhead. It could be outfitted with a special charge that produced a loud report and puff of smoke to simulate an explosion when used. It was also used by Sweden under the designation Övningshandgranat m39

• Behelfs-Handgranate Holz − A last-ditch grenade produced late in the war, it resembled the Model 24, but entirely made of wood. It used the same igniter system, but relied solely on its blast effect
• Behelfs Handgranate Beton − An improvised grenade used in the North African campaign, it resembled a M24 but it used a Template:Cvt thick concrete warhead filled with Template:Cvt of explosives

Derivatives

• China – The Chinese made a wide variety of defensive stick grenades featuring scored, serrated, and smooth warheads while the explosive filling ranged from picric acid, TNT or nitroglycerin mixed with potassium nitrate, or sawdust and Amatol; according to Janes, these grenades produce more dust than fragments while the picric acid grenades are dangerously unstable.
• China: Type 67 hand grenade
• China: Type 77 hand grenade
• Finland: Varsikranaatti m/32 – Finnish stick grenade, it was slightly smaller and lighter than the M24, while it retained the metal clip used on World War I-era models
• Finland: Varsikranaatti m/41 − Virtually identical to the m/32, but with the belt clip omitted
• Japan: Type 98 stick hand grenade − A Japanese derivative based on the Chinese stick grenades, it was smaller than the Model 24, but it produced more fragments since it used a cast iron warhead Template:Cvt thick
• Sweden: Spränghandgranat m/43 − Swedish all-metal stick grenade, featuring a more rounded warhead and other minor modifications

Users

The German Stielhandgranate-series has been used in many conflicts, including both world wars. Template:Table alignment

Official and unofficial users of all versions of the Stielhandgranate

User	Type of service	Self-manufactured	Type of model in use
			Model 1915	Model 1916	Model 1917	Model 1924	Model 1943
Official users
German Empire	Full military service	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No
Weimar Republic	Full military service	Yes	No	No	No	Yes	No
Nazi Germany	Full military service	Yes	No	No	No	Yes	Yes
Sweden	Full military service	Yes	No	No	No	Yes	No
Ottoman Empire	Yildirim Army Group (Stormtroopers)	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No
Template:Country data Nationalist government	German-trained divisions	No	No	No	No	Yes	No
Unofficial users
Austria-Hungary	Leased/purchased	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No
Template:Country data Kingdom of Hungary (1920–46)	Leased/purchased	No	No	No	No	Yes	Yes
Independent State of Croatia	?	No	?	?	?	Yes	Yes?
Finland	Leased/purchased	No	No	No	No	Yes	No
Soviet Union	Captured/scavenged	No	No	No	No	Yes	Yes
Latvia	Captured/scavenged	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No
France	Captured/scavenged	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes

Foreign designs

User	Type of service	Version
		Chinese copies	Type 98	Type 67
Empire of Japan	Captured/local design produced	Yes	Yes	No
Template:Flagcountry	Local design produced	Yes	No	No
	Local design produced	Yes	No	Yes
North Vietnam	Leased/purchased	No	No	Yes

See also

• List of World War II firearms of Germany
• List of German military equipment of World War II
• Model 39 grenade – German "egg" type hand grenade
• RGD-33 grenade – Early WWII Soviet stick grenade
• Splitterring – A fragmentation sleeve for the M24 and M43

References

Bibliography

• Bull, Stephen (2002). World War I Trench Warfare. Vol. 1: 1914–16. Osprey Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84176-197-8.
• Campbell, David (2020). Soviet Soldier vs Finnish Soldier: The Continuation War 1941–44. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4728-3828-5 – via Google Books.
• Drury, Ian (1995). German Stormtrooper 1914–18. London: Osprey. ISBN 978-1-85532-372-8.
• Hogg, Ian V. (1977). The encyclopedia of infantry weapons of World War II. New York: Crowell. ISBN 978-0-690-01447-1 – via Internet Archive.
• Jones, Richard D; Ness, Leland S, eds. (2010). Jane's Infantry Weapons 2010–2011 (36th ed.). Coulsdon, Surrey: Jane's Information Group. ISBN 978-0-7106-2908-1.
• Jung, Peter (2003). The Austro-Hungarian Forces in World War I (1): 1914–16. Oxford, United Kingdom: Osprey Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84176-594-5.
• Lai, Benjamin (2017). Shanghai and Nanjing 1937: Massacre on the Yangtze. Oxford, United Kingdom: Osprey Publishing. ISBN 978-1-47281-749-5.
• Miller, David M. O. (2007). Fighting men of World War II. Axis Forces : uniforms, equipment, and weapons. Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania: Stackpole Books. ISBN 978-0-8117-0277-5 – via Internet Archive.
• Morisi, Paolo (2018). Hell in the Trenches: Austro-Hungarian Stormtroopers and Italian Arditi in the Great War. Warwick, England: Helion and Company. ISBN 978-1-912866-16-8 – via Google Books.
• Nash, David (1980). Imperial German Army handbook, 1914–1918. London, United Kingdom: I. Allan. ISBN 978-0-7110-0968-4 – via Internet Archive.
• Ness, Leland (2014). Rikugun: Guide to Japanese Forces 1937–1945. Vol. 2: Weapons of the Imperial Japanese Army & Navy Ground Forces (ePub ed.). Solihull, UK: Helion & Company. ISBN 978-1-912174-58-4 – via Google Books.
• Rottman, Gordon L. (2015). The Hand Grenade. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4728-0735-9 – via Google Books.
• Saunders, Anthony (2020). Trench Warfare, 1850–1950. Casemate Publishers. ISBN 978-1-78159-876-4 – via Google Books.
• Smith, Bertram (1918). Bombs and Hand Grenades: British, French and German; a Handbook Showing Their Construction and Technicalities, Giving Full Instructions as to how to Use and how to Render Useless (PDF). New York: E.P. Dutton & Company. Retrieved 18 January 2026 – via Bulletpicker.
• Stone, David J. A. (2009). Hitler's army, 1939–1945 : the men, machines and organization. Minneapolis, Minnesota: Zenith Press. ISBN 978-0-7603-3750-9 – via Internet Archive.
• Stone, David (2015). The Kaiser's Army: The German Army in World War One. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 9781844862924 – via Google Books.
• United States Navy Department Bureau of Ordnance (1969) [1946]. German Explosive Ordnance. Vol. 1: Bombs, Rockets, Grenades, Mines, Fuzes & Igniters. Forest Grove, Oregon: The Combat Bookshelf – via Google Books.
• War Office, Great Britain (1918). Handbook of the German Army in War, April, 1918. General Staff – via Google Books.

External links

• German Mod.24 - Mod.43 Stielhandgranate
• German Grenades World War II
• German Hand & Rifle Grenades Bulletin No. 59, March 7, 1944 wartime intelligence briefing
• Model 24 Stielhandgranate Grenade—World War II Database
• Stielhandgranate 43