Grenade
A grenade is a small explosive device designed to be thrown by hand or launched with a device, primarily used in military contexts. Historically, grenades date back to the fifteenth century, when they were employed by soldiers to defend fortresses by tossing explosives at advancing enemies. Over the centuries, their design and usage evolved, particularly during the trench warfare of World War I and II, where infantry used grenades to attack enemy positions. Modern grenades typically contain an explosive charge, with iron casings that fragment upon detonation, creating lethal shrapnel.
There are various types of grenades, including those designed for specific purposes such as tear gas or smoke grenades used by law enforcement for crowd control. While some grenades are equipped with fuses that delay detonation for safe throwing, others may use impact fuses to explode on contact. The development of grenade launchers has also expanded the range and effectiveness of these weapons, allowing for greater distance in combat scenarios. Despite their military applications, the use of certain types of grenades, particularly those that deploy chemical agents, is restricted under international law.
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Grenade
A grenade is a small bomb meant to be thrown, either by hand or with a launching device. It is a short-range military weapon with about a four-second fuse.
Grenades are generally meant to cause destruction, including killing and disabling soldiers. Some are devised to release chemicals or poison gas and are used to kill people while leaving infrastructure intact. Chemical weapons are banned by international treaty, however, and the use of such devices is considered a war crime. Police use some grenades, such as tear-gas grenades, smoke grenades, and flash grenades, to quell riots or control crowds. These devices temporarily disorient or incapacitate people.
Overview
The first known grenades were used during the fifteenth century. Soldiers in a fortress used them to repel enemies by tossing the explosives into the troops as they advanced through ditches outside the walls. By the seventeenth century, European armies relied heavily on grenades. Weaponry was not advanced, and grenades were effective in short-range combat. Select soldiers, called grenadiers, were trained in how best to use the explosives.
As weaponry developed greater range during the mid-eighteenth century, hand-thrown grenades fell by the wayside. Armies began using them again in greater numbers as tactics changed. Trench warfare is a strategy of meeting superior firepower by digging fortified trenches, which provide cover for troops. Trench warfare began during the Russo-Japanese War of 1904 to 1905 and was important through World War I (1914–1918) and World War II (1935–1945). Infantrymen tossed grenades into enemy trenches.
A grenade usually contains an explosive, such as TNT, and has a shell of iron. The casing of most explosive grenades is designed to break into fragments when it explodes, creating lethal bits called shrapnel. Fragments of grenades from the early twentieth century could fly up to 656 feet (200 meters). Most grenades are rounded or egg-shaped. Some World War I soldiers made their own grenades, packing shrapnel, nails, and other objects into cans filled with gunpowder. The earliest grenades had wicks, which burned slowly, but engineer William Mills designed a safe bomb in 1915. This Mills bomb had a trigger with a four-second delay, which provided a reliably safe window for a soldier to throw it but not enough time for the enemy to pick it up and toss it back. The Mills bomb had a serrated casing that provided greater grip for the thrower and hurled fragments 80 yards (73 meters). Some grenades have impact fuses, which detonate when the device hits an object.
A person can throw a grenade such as the Mills bomb about 15 to 20 yards (14 to 18 meters). Some German-designed stick grenades of the early twentieth century, which had launching sticks like handles, had a slightly longer reach, but they were smaller and less destructive.
Grenade launchers have been designed to hurl grenades farther than a person can throw one. Some are mounted on a rifle muzzle and rely on cartridges for propulsion. Grenades used in these launchers look like small missiles and are aerodynamically designed for distance. Rocket-propelled or antitank grenades have tips with explosive charges that pierce tanks. They are shot from a long tube that a soldier rests on his or her shoulder.
Bibliography
Diagram Group. The New Weapons of the World Encyclopedia: An International Encyclopedia from 5000 B.C. to the 21st Century. Macmillan, 2007, pp. 84–91.
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"Grenade, Anti-Tank, Panzerfaust Klein, Launcher and Dummy Projectile." Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, airandspace.si.edu/collection-objects/grenade-anti-tank-panzerfaust-klein-launcher-and-dummy-projectile. Accessed 28 Apr. 2017.
"Grenades." Canadian War Museum, www.warmuseum.ca/firstworldwar/history/battles-and-fighting/weapons-on-land/grenades/. Accessed 28 Apr. 2017.
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