13-040-916
NAME – Model 1916 Stick Grenade Small Bundle Charge
NAME (NATIVE) – Stielhandgranate M 1916 Geballte Ladung
COMMON NAMES – Potato Masher Bomb (Allies)
TYPE – Blast-type antitank stick grenade
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN – Imperial Germany
DATE OF MANUFACTURE – 1916
LENGTH – 35.6 cm (14 in)
WIDTH (DIAMETER) – 11 cm (4.33 in) 3 grenade heads in roughly triangular arraignment
WEIGHT – 0.816 kg (1 lb 13 oz) single grenade
WEIGHT – 1.456 kg (3 lb 3 oz) grenade with two warheads, not including minor weight of securing wire.
WEIGHT – 0.32 kg (11.3 oz) single warhead
EFFECT – Blast and light fragmentation
BURST RADIUS – 15 to 20 m (16.5 to 22 yards)
FUSE TYPE – friction wire pull igniter, Brennzünder 16 (B.Z. 16) with detonator
FUSE INITIATION – Pull string with porcelain ball in base of handle under metal screw cap
FUSE DELAY – 5.5 or 7 seconds
FILLER – German Military Powder – Ammonal variant (78% Ammonium Nitrate, 15% Tolite {TNT}, 3% Nitroglycerine, 4% Sawdust)
FILLER WEIGHT – 0.17 kg (6 oz) single warhead grenade
FILLER WEIGHT – 0.386 kg (13.6 oz) grenade with two additional warheads
FILLER EQUIVALENT TO TNT (R.E.) – 0.83
AVERAGE RANGE – 4 m
COLOR CODE – – Olive-drab metal head, plain wood handle, white markings
MARKINGS – VOR GEBRAUCH SPRENGKAPSEL EINSETZEN [Before Use Insert Detonator] – Printed on explosive head in white block letters, 5.5 or 7 Sec. – Printed on wood handle in black impressed lettering
STATUS – Obsolete
SERVICE – Imperial German Military
This grenade was among the first of the German Field-Improvised antitank grenades. When the British tanks arrived on the battlefield in September, 1916, the German forces were not ready to take on such a mechanical monster. There were no target-specific antitank weapons available but the German soldier quickly rose to the task. Taking the separate warheads of two M1916 Stielhandgranates, they were wired to the head of a complete M1916 grenade. The new weapon was a Geballte Ladung [Concentrated Charge], which effectively tripled the explosive charge of a single hand grenade. The new weapon was a bit heavy to use and the bomber had to get close to the approaching tank to properly attack it, but it was effective in penetrating the 6mm (0.24 in) top armor of the Mk I tank. The efficiency of the grenades was enough to force the British to place wire screen frameworks over the tops of their tanks to help deflect incoming grenades. Using a technique that worked to attack barbed wire entanglements, enterprising German soldiers would wire large fishhooks, including improvised version, to the heads of the Geballte Ladung. The hooks would tangle with the screens on top of the tanks and destroy them when the charge detonated.
The data above is for the later-production M1916 Stielhandgranate with the smaller warhead. When in the field, any available high explosive grenades would be used to assemble a concentrated change.
