Rifle grenades were designed to land head-first, but often failed to do so. The rod was inserted down the barrel of the service rifle and launched with a special blank cartridge. British development of rifle grenades early in the war was fragmentary. The early British front-made grenades were similar to the French, although few were as exotic as foie gras cans. After eating the delectables they took the cans, loaded them with stones collected from the trenches, shrapnel balls and explosive materials of all sorts, and inserted wick fuses that lasted less than 6 seconds. One report in January 1915 stated that while the soldiers were completely lacking in factory-produced grenades that they were not lacking in ingenuity in fabricating remarkable projectiles made from canned beef, sardines, tuna and foie gras cans. German stick grenades were also called “potato mashers” again for their shape.Įarly in the war, the French were not prepared for the use and production of grenades. Soon two types of grenades became standard for the Germans: stick (with the explosive can attached to a wooden handle) and egg (because it resembled an egg). At the start of the war the Germans only trained special infantry troops, or “pioneers,” to use hand grenades.
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