u/DisastrousWorking

Today I finally got around to taking a few more photos, so I’d like to present the next part of my collection. This time, the focus is on German rifle grenades from the Second World War. As always, all items shown are completely inert and comply with German law. For those interested, I’ve included some additional information below.

Picture 1: Overview of the entire collection. Unfortunately, the glass display case caused heavy reflections in the photos, so the remaining pictures were taken outside the cabinet.

Pictures 2 & 3: Early variant of the high-explosive rifle grenade for use against living targets. This model could be employed either as a rifle grenade or as a hand grenade.

Pictures 4 & 5: Later variant of the high-explosive rifle grenade, which could only be used as a rifle grenade.

Picture 6: Training version of the high-explosive rifle grenade, fitted with a smoke charge instead of an explosive filling.

Pictures 7 & 8: “Weitschuss” (“long-range”) variant of the high-explosive rifle grenade, with a maximum range of up to 500 metres (compared to roughly 300 metres for the standard model).

Picture 9: Special rifle grenade used to disperse propaganda leaflets.

Picture 10: Rifle grenade fitted with a magnesium flare attached to a parachute instead of an explosive charge, intended for battlefield illumination.

Picture 11: Early shaped-charge anti-tank rifle grenade with a penetration capability of approximately 40-50 mm of armour steel. Due to its limited effectiveness against newer tanks, it was quickly replaced by improved designs.

Pictures 12 & 13: Improved anti-tank rifle grenade with a penetration capability of up to 80 mm of armour steel.

Picture 14: Shaped-charge rifle grenade developed by the SS Weapons Academy in Brno, capable of penetrating up to 90 mm of armour steel.

Pictures 15-17: Second type of shaped-charge anti-tank rifle grenade developed by the SS Weapons Academy. This model was capable of penetrating up to 125 mm of armour steel and existed in two variants with either a pointed or hemispherical warhead.

Picture 18: Schießbecher (“shooting cup”) used to launch the various rifle grenades from the Karabiner 98k. Also visible on the left is one of the propelling cartridges with its wooden projectile.

Hope you find this interesting. As always, I’m happy to answer questions or provide additional photos.

Hi everybody, as requested in one of my previous posts, here’s part 3 of my collection. This time, the photos focus on various hand grenades and anti-tank weapons used by the Wehrmacht and/or SS. As before, all items shown are completely inert and comply with German law. For those interested, I’ve added some additional information below.

Picture 1: Overview of various egg-shaped grenades, smoke grenades, and improvised designs. Also visible (left, background) is a 3 kg demolition charge („Geballte Ladung“), primarily used by engineers but also employed (with a short fuse as shown) against armored vehicles.

Picture 2: Close-up of the Model 39 grenade, the most common German egg grenade. The cutaway shows the Brennzünder 39 friction igniter, activated by unscrewing the cap and pulling the cord.

Picture 3: Model 42 smoke grenade, the last wartime type. It used a simple igniter without detonator; the lower section contained the smoke compound, with vents at the top.

Picture 4: Blendkörper 2H, a smoke grenade used to blind tank crews. It contained titanium tetrachloride, which produced dense white (and irritating) smoke on contact with air.

Picture 5: Volkshandgranate 45 („people’s hand grenade“), a late-war simplified design made from a cardboard body filled with concrete and scrap metal. The two front examples are original; the rear one is a repro.

Picture 6: Improvised concrete stick grenade that contained a 100 g charge. Likely used for training and possibly in North Africa; very little documentation exists.

Pictures 7-10: Variants of the Stielhandgranate.

Foreground: Stielhandgranate 24, the standard German stick grenade. This example is in rough condition but rare, marked for SS-Totenkopfverbände („SS-TV“, see picture 8).

Middle: Stielhandgranate 43, a simplified version with the fuse mounted directly on the head.

Background: Cutaway of the smoke variant (Nebelstielhandgranate).

Picture 11: Hafthohlladung (magnetic shaped charge) for anti-tank use. This example is missing the fuse and has reproduction magnets made from wood.

Picture 12: Another shaped charge designed for anti-tank warfare, which was developed by the SS Weapons Academy. This one uses an adhesive pad instead of magnets and contained a much smaller charge, which made it signficantly less effective than the Hafthohlladung.

Pictures 13-15: Improvised Geballte Ladung made from six stick grenade heads wired to a seventh with handle. Commonly used against tanks and bunkers. This example was probably assembled postwar, but from original components. The two tank-destroyer badges (awarded for destroying armored vehicles in close combat) are reproductions.

Hope you find this interesting. As always, I’m happy to answer questions or provide more photos.

Following up on my previous post, I wanted to share another part of my collection. This time, the photos focus on various anti-personnel and anti-tank mines used by the Wehrmacht. As before, all items shown are completely inert and comply with German law. For those interested, I’ve added some more detailed information below.

Picture 1: Different variants of the S-Mine ("Schrapnellmine"), a type of anti-personnel bounding mine. When triggered, these were launched into the air and detonated at about one metre height, dispersing shrapnel in all directions. Also visible are a Schützenmine 42 (left) and an (incomplete) Flascheneismine 42 (bottle, background), which was mainly used to break up ice on frozen rivers to make them impassable.

Picture 2: Close-up of the S-Mine 35, often referred to as the "Bouncing Betty". The cutaway model on the left isn’t the most attractive, but it nicely illustrates the internal structure, with shrapnel packed around the central charge. The propelling charge sat in the cavity at the bottom and was ignited via the central ignition well, launching the mine upward. The main charge detonated about 0.4 seconds later via delay pellets and detonators in the side wells. As visible in the foreground, the shrapnel in late variants ranged from scrap steel to steel cores from infantry rounds (earlier versions used steel balls).

Picture 3: Training version of the S-Mine 35, fitted with a smoke charge and vent holes instead of an explosive filling.

Picture 4: S-Mine 44, the successor to the S-Mine 35. The main difference was that detonation of the main charge was triggered via a wire connecting the mine body to the casing that remained in the ground, rather than delay pellets.

Picture 5: Close-up of the Schützenmine 42, a simple wooden box mine with a 200 g charge and a Zugzünder 42 (pull fuse). Pressure on the lid released the striker and triggered detonation. Because of their low metal content, these were difficult to detect and often used alongside anti-tank mines.

Picture 6: Various concrete mines, captured enemy mines, and improvised designs.

Picture 7: Stockmine 43, consisting of a concrete cylinder embedded with metal fragments and containing a 100 g charge (Bohrpatrone 28). It was mounted on a stake or fixed to objects and typically used with Zugzünder 35 or 42.

Picture 8: Improvised concrete mine made from a French 50 mm mortar grenade, with fuse and fins removed, embedded in concrete, and fitted with a Buck chemical crush fuse. Mainly used on the Western Front.

Picture 9: Another concrete mine, captured from Norwegian stocks. Functionally similar to the Schützenmine 42, using a Zugzünder 42.

Picture 10: Italian mine used by the Wehrmacht, similar in concept to the Stockmine 43 but made of fragmented metal instead of concrete. Primarily used in Africa, Italy, and the Balkans.

Picture 11: Selection of improvised mines and booby traps. Left: signal cartridge with Zugzünder 35, possibly used as an alarm device (authenticity uncertain). Center: stick grenade 24 body with a pressure fuse 35. Right: SD-0.5 bomb converted into a booby trap with a Zugzünder 42.

Picture 12: Selection of common Wehrmacht anti-tank mines.

Picture 13: Tellermine 35 (training version), visually similar to the live version but fitted with smoke charges and reusable. A drawback of this design was the large pressure plate, which often caused detonation in front of the tank rather than beneath it.

Picture 14: Smoke charge cartridge for the Tellermine 35 training version (also produced in Bakelite).

Picture 15: Modified Tellermine 35 with a steel pressure plate and higher activation pressure, improving effectiveness. This example is unfortunately in rough condition.

Picture 16: Successor to the Tellermine 35, featuring a smaller pressure plate. This meant detonation occurred later (under the track rather than in front), increasing effectiveness.

Picture 17: Final Tellermine variant, nicknamed “Pilz” due to its mushroom-shaped pressure plate (incomplete on this specimen).

Pictures 18 & 19: Various fuses for anti-personnel and anti-tank mines. The rarest here is probably the (incomplete) electrical S-Mine fuse (picture 19), which allowed a single S-Mine 35 to be linked to up to 18 pressure triggers to cover larger areas.