Stick Grenade filling

[JensF.]

Hi,

someone here knows the fillings (explosives) used for the German Stick Grenade M24 during the war?

[Terry K.]

Hi majorpayne,
I can't find it exactly, mine is marked in ink "K syn 30/1943", I was told that was the filling and date .. I think they were TNT or syntax?,

[Kurasier84]

Hi,
you might find this link interesting, altough it doesn't mention the M24 grenade.
http://www.r-haas.de/v11.html
Best Regards

[bhholst]

Hello.
The U.S. War Department Handbook on German Military Forces lists the bursting charge for the Stielhandgranate 24 as 0.365 pounds of TNT.
Bernhard H. Holst

[Matt L]

Hi Majorpayne,

My reference agrees with Bernhardt's- explosive filler for the StiHGr 24 was 170g of TNT.

[JensF.]

Many thanks for your replies!
Is there anything known about "replacement" explosives like black-powder due shortages later in the war?

[Matt L]

Hi again Majorpayne,

Black powder is a low-explosive - fine for uses like launching Panzerfaust projectiles (this was an actual use), but isn't useful as a main charge. TNT, PETN and Amatol were the primary high-explosives used during the war and while efforts were made to improve the efficiency of charges so as to use less explosive, there were no 'replacements'.

During the WWI the Haber Process was developed in Germany to produce the ammonia needed to make explosives from air (mostly nitrogen) and hydrogen gas (from water or methane), so natural sources like potassium and sodium nitrate weren't needed.

Matt

[Terry K.]

Hi All,
Somewhere, I have the story of how the US developed it's grenades. They used TNT at first and found that for the fragmentation to get the disired effect, it (TNT) was too strong, and they went to gunpowder, and it worked fine. That was for fragmentation grenades, not concussion grenades like the StiHGr 24.

[JensF.]

I know that the Germans used black-powder for the Model 1915 Kugelhandgranate and switched to smokeless NC-powder later.