Whether it is in the military news or in film and television works, the M24 handle grenade has always attracted public attention for its unique appearance. In fact, its official name is the "M24 grenade".
Born in Germany at the end of World War I, this grenade was highly prized by the Allies during World War II and was widely used even after the end of World War II due to its unique shape and superior lethality.
This grenade was, and still is, known for its unique shape and powerful lethality.
In the war against Japanese aggression, the M24 grenade played an important role and was one of the most used and massively copied by the squadron. Even today, our ** team is training fighters to use this classic wooden-handled grenade.
So just how powerful is it? And why can we form an indissoluble bond with our army?
In 1915, the German army developed the earliest prototype of the wooden-handled grenade, the "Type 15 grenade". Compared to the classic grenade shape that everyone is familiar with today, it has a short wooden grip, does not have a design that matches the curvature of the soldier's palm, and the explosive filling barrel on the top is also quite bulky.
During the First World War, the German team produced and used a kind of grenade in large quantities, which was nicknamed the "potato mascher" by the British team because of its similar shape to a wooden mallet.
However, with Germany's defeat in the war in 1917, they had to destroy a large number of aircraft, tanks, warships and other military equipment in service in the army, in accordance with the provisions of the Treaty of Versailles, and retain their limited military strength.
Despite the rough look of the Type 15 grenades, they were fortunately forgotten in the German armory due to the neglect of the British and American, thus avoiding danger.
However, the time came to 1924, and the batch of Type 15 grenades gradually became useless due to a chronic lack of maintenance, and the Germans were forced to refine them for a year in order to restore their functionality.
Improvements to the Type 15 grenade: After a series of improvements, the more advanced and practical Type 15 grenade was born. The improved grenade features an extended grip and an ergonomic curved design that makes the grenade more comfortable and easy to hold.
At the same time, we have increased the amount of explosives on the top canister to increase the destructive power of the grenade. In addition, we have optimized the fuse to use a drawstring at the bottom of the grip to make the grenade easier to use.
M24 Handle Grenade: This M24 handle grenade, which was widely used in World War II, consists of a thin steel plate shell filled with TNT high ** charge on the head, an igniter and a detonator, a wooden grip, and a safety cap at the bottom of the grip and a long drawstring under the safety cover.
With its unique design and excellent performance, it became one of the most important and practical grenades in World War II.
Before the outbreak of World War II, the M24 grenade produced by the German army had a German phrase on the casing, "Vor Gebrauch Sprengkapsel Einsetzen".
This sentence is a grenade instruction that requires the user to insert a detonator, which is often referred to as a detonator, before using it. This shows that Nazi Germany had detailed instructions for the design and use of their grenades before the outbreak of the war.
On the battlefields of Europe, the wooden-handled grenade, once derided by the Allies as a "potato masher", is now in full swing. Compared with the ovoid grenades equipped by the Allies, the M24 grenade has a clear advantage in throwing distance and lethality.
The unique grip design of the M24 grenade allows soldiers to exert better force, thereby increasing their flight time in the air and achieving attacks on enemies at a longer distance, achieving the effect of "seeing the fire, not the person".
Secondly, the lethality of the M24 grenade does not come from the large amount of shrapnel produced by the grenade**, but relies on the strong heat and shock wave generated by the internal explosive**, which directly causes damage to the target.
This was specially designed by the German team to deal with the characteristics of the Allied trenches that were difficult to break through on the outside and narrow on the inside. In addition, the M24 grenade is not only effective against ordinary combatants, but also has a significant effect on heavily armored tanks.
Using the principle of the M24 grenade, the Germans skillfully put seven grenades together to create an anti-tank capable one.
On the battlefield, the Germans inflicted heavy losses on Allied tanks with their wooden-handled grenades, and the results were remarkable. In order to change this passive situation, the Allies began to add inclined armor to the shell specifically designed to defend against M24 grenades in order to counterattack.
During the Chinese period, the National Military Armorer had extensively purchased and equipped German M24 grenades.
Despite the excellent performance of the wooden-handled grenade produced in Germany, its 365 mm length is not suitable for the hands of a medium-sized person. However, the Chinese people still praise it.
As a result, after the research and test of the M24 grenade, the Gongxian Arsenal and the Taiyuan Arsenal successfully produced a Gong-style grenade that is more suitable for the use of Chinese people, with a total length of only 243 mm.
China began to independently develop wooden-handled grenades, and Gong-style wooden-handled grenades are more suitable for the needs of Chinese. Compared with the commonly used oval grenade, Germany's wooden-handled grenade production process is less demanding, which is also an important reason why China chose the M24 grenade and made a large number of imitations.
China at the beginning of the 20th century, due to the influence of foreign colonial forces and economic plunder, as well"Three mountains"The slow development of the national industry, the limitation of the technological level and productivity made it impossible for China to achieve independent mass production of oval grenades, and could only rely on imports.
Although the production of wooden-handled grenades was not difficult and could be made with a simple lathe and mold, this did not affect its important position in the Sino-Japanese War.
Whether it is the Kuomintang National Arsenal located in the rear of southwest China, or the "earthen workshop" of the Chinese Communist Party in the base area behind the enemy line of the Eighth Route Army, it can produce a large number of wooden-handled grenades.
This grenade with superior performance and good lethal effect has become one of the main ones of the Eighth Route Army in guerrilla warfare, winning them a huge advantage.
When the Eighth Route Army faced the invading Japanese army on the battlefield, it successfully created a powerful firepower coverage effect with its high-quality and large-quality wooden-handled grenades, thus successfully killing and wounding a large number of Japanese invaders before launching an attack, plunging the Japanese army into chaos.
This was due to the fact that the Japanese army only used traditional oval grenades, which could not be successfully thrown to the positions where the Eighth Route Army was located.
In the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, the Eighth Route Army under the leadership of the Communist Party of China won a major victory in the Pingxingguan victory, and this victory could not have been achieved without our army's tactics of "fighting high and fighting low."
This tactic made it possible for the Japanese army's oval grenades to roll down the hillside due to their rounded appearance, causing serious disruption and damage to their own friendly forces. According to statistics, during the entire War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, the anti-Japanese armed forces led by the Communist Party threw a total of more than 30 million grenades with wooden handles, and one-third of the ** suffered by the Japanese army and the puppet army were caused by this grenade.
After the founding of the People's Republic of China, China upgraded and developed the old-fashioned Gong-style wooden-handled grenade, and successfully designed the domestic Type 67 wooden-handled grenade, which inherited the style and performance of the German M24 grenade.
The Type 67 grenade stands out for its affordable **, which is cheaper to produce than the German M24 grenade. And all this is due to the fact that the Chinese industrial and manufacturing industry has got rid of its dependence on foreign technology and capitalists in the new society and has entered a stage of vigorous development.
Compared with the Gong-style wooden handle grenade in the Anti-Japanese War, the Type 67 grenade not only changed the shape of the wooden handle, but also added more lethal fragments, significantly improving the quality and performance.
It not only has excellent performance, but also is close to the people, so it became the equipment of choice for our army in the 60s.
The Type 67 grenade is one of the most important grenades of our military in wartime, and our idea is that each soldier can carry 20 during the battle, and the militia is equipped with 4, and we hope that each citizen can also have one in case of emergency.
Since the 60s of the last century, our country has been in full swing, producing a total of 2 billion Type 67 grenades with wooden handles. Such a huge production can easily fill 20,000 train cars, and is known as "enough to support the third world war" "national **".
After calculation, if all these grenades are detonated at the same time, its power can reach a hydrogen bomb with a 1.2 million tons of TNT equivalent.
In the context of today's comprehensive march towards military modernization in our army, although the troops are generally equipped with more advanced Type 86 oval grenades, wooden-handled grenades have not been completely eliminated.
Instead, it is still used as a training and training bullet for soldiers and continues to play an important role in military education.
The oval grenades of our army and the grenades with wooden handles have their own characteristics. Despite its unique shape and heavy weight, the wooden-handled grenade is inconvenient to carry, but its excellent throwing distance and the fact that it does not roll at will after landing make it a leader among grenades.
Whether it was in the European theater of World War II or the Chinese battlefield of the War of Resistance Against Japan, the wooden handle grenade played a vital role with its excellent performance.