Antitank Hand grenades and incendiary devices.

Site Issues 2008 Archive Room
#1

Panzerhandgranaten

The first special AT hand grenade was the Panzerhandgranate 41. It weighed 2kg and was effective against armor of up to 30mm thickness. 504,600 were produced in early 1943. Further developments of AT handgrenades utilising shaped charges had trouble stabilizing the flight which was necessary for the shaped charge to work (this lead to the development of the Panzerwurfmine).

SS-HL-Handgranate.

The SS-weapon’s academy then invented the HL-Handgranate that was also often referred to as the SS-HL-Handgranate to denominate it’s inventor (see pictures at left and right). It had a length of 19cm, weighed 420g including the shaped charge of 210g and had a diameter of 7.2 cm. It’s front consisted of a felt disc which was 6mm thick and drenched with glue. The idea was to run up to the tank and stick the grenade onto the armor. This method to attach the AT grenade to the tank proved to be less practical than intended, the weapon proved rather unsuccessful and unpopular, therefore further developments centered around the Hafthohlladung which seemed more promising.

Panzerhandmine / Hafthohlladung

Small early trials with Panzerhandminen with shaped charges of 300 and 400g did not prove successful. The first usable weapon, the Panzerhandmine 3 or PzHM 3, had a bottle-like shape with a length of 27cm and a diameter of 14cm. Three strong U-magnets were to fix the weapon to steel armor of the tank it was attached onto by daring infantrymen. It carried a shaped charge of 1000g capable of penetrating 130mm of armor. The successor model, the Panzerhandmine 4, was a little bigger and had stronger magnets and an improved penetration performance of 150mm.

Panzerhandminen 4.

The spikes in this weapons were used to attach the handgrenade to wooden pillboxes.

First use of the PzHM 3 was in the battles at the Wolchow in russia in May 1942 and the german coastal defense of Dieppe in the failed operation “Jubilee”.

The Panzerhandminen were succeeded by the larger weapon family of the Hafthohlladung (“attach hollow charge”) which were basically enlarged Panzerhandminen. The single important type, the Hafthohlladung 3, had a shaped charge of 1.5kg that could penetrate 140mm of armor, had a diameter of 15cm; with it’s three magnets the weapon was 27.5 cm tall. the complete weapon weighed 3kg;

The magnets exerted an attachment force of 45 kg. To arm the weapon, the Sprengkapsel 8 (“detonator cap”) detonator and the time fuse had to be inserted into the top. The weapon detonated after 7.5 seconds. The first shaped charges of the HHL 3 were hemispherical; later the shaped charge was improved to a more effective tapered / conical shape of 1.7kg resulting in a total weight of now 3.5kg. 553,900 were produced

HHL-3

A very useful tactic with the Hafthohlladung was to let it the tank overrun the position and then attach the shaped charge in the rear deck.

Images of the “Die Panzerknacker booklet” in his page 14 and 20 explaining the trench and best way and location to use the HHL.

#2

Panzerwurfmine L.

The “antitank trowing mine” was developed because of the problems to stabilize the dedicated anti-tank grenades for flight - the shaped charge needed to be pointed straight at the armor to work efficiently - the Panzerwurfmine (“tank throw mine”) or PWM (L) (L for “lang” = “long”) was developed by the Luftwaffe weapon’s bureau (the Luftwaffe also contained ground forces in the form of it’s field units and the paratroopers).

The weapon weighed 1.36kg, had a length of 53.3cm and used a stabilizing assembly of four fins made of canvas at it’s rear wich automatically deployed when lauch. It was introduced into service in May of 1943 but proved rather impractical. Still, 203,800 were produced in 1943.

It’s successor model was the Panzerwurfmine Kz (Kz = kurz (“short”)) that weighed only 1 kg. Flight stabilization now was achieved by a long canvas strip that rolled out when the weapon was thrown and extended from it’s rear. The warhead had a diameter of 11.4 cm and carried a shaped charge of 500g that had an armor penetration of 150mm.

#3

Another strange device.

Rollbomben

The Rollbomben (“roll bombs”) weapons are closely related to the Handgranaten, although they carried a considerably bigger punch. The smallest model weighed 1kg and contained 700g of explosive; bigger models contained 3 and 3.5kg of explosives respectively. A monster in this family was the Rollbombe 30kg, It was a large ball of 40cm diameter and weighing 30kg made of reinforced concrete with 4kg of scrap metal pieces cast in that contained 5.5kg of explosives. It’s detonation reportedly was of spectacular effect.
Nevertheless, the Rollbomben never grew beyond being a rather odd weapon and weren’t too numerous

RB 3kg.

#4

The Ruhrstahl X-7 “Rottkapchen”

A tank killing rocket with better range than the panzerfaust/panzershreck was requested by the Heereswaffenamt in 1944.
Ruhrstahl solution was a scaled down version of their X-4 AAM, the conventional HE warhead was exchanged for a 2.5 kg shaped charge and with 2 wings with parabolic leading and trailing edges, with spools from which the control wire paid out located at their tips. It revolved slowly in flight, both pitch and yaw being controlled by a spade-like vane or fin mounted at the end of a curved arm which when the missile was launched, hung down and behind the body. The missile rotated at a rate of about one complete round per second, this was able to excercise control over both pitch and yaw, a gyroscopic switch transferring the signals to acute the simple spoiler as it turned from the vertical to the horizontal plane and so on.
The X-7 was powered by two WASAG solid-fuel rockets whose diglycol propellant was in the form of two concentric tubes. The first charge gave a thrust of 68 kg for 2.5 seconds to launch the missile into flight and and get it to its 360km/h operating speed; The second gave 5,5 kg of thrust for 8 seconds to sustain it. Maximum range was around 1200m. A few hundred was produced and most were used in testing but some was supposedly expended on the eastern front were it accoording to unconfirmed reports performed satisfactorily and was able to destroy even the JS-1 heavy tank.

#5

Interesting, probably this concept of Hollow-charge, wire guided missile was the inspiration for the French SS-11, russian AT-3 Sagger, TOW, etc.

#6

The Henschel Hs 293 was kind of like the begining of wire guided, in WW2. It was not anti tank, It was anti shipping, and used to attack bridges.

* Hs 293A. The original version.

* Hs 293B was wire guided to prevent jamming; it was never put into production, because jamming was never serious enough to prevent the radio-guided version from being effective.

* Hs 293C had a detachable warhead (designated when it entered production Hs 293A-2, making the original version Hs 293Ato be changed to Hs 293A-1)

* Hs 293D was television-guided. 20 were built and tested. It was never used operationally as the television equipment was unreliable.

* Hs 293E an experimental model to test spoiler controls as a replacement to ailerons; never put into series production. This modification was put into the final version of the Hs 293A-2 but by then the Luftwaffe had no aircraft available for anti-shipping operations and it was never deployed.

* Hs 293F a tailless variant; never got further than the design phase.

* Hs 293H an experimental variant designed to be launched from one aircraft and controlled from another. Abandoned because allied air superiority had reached the point where it was felt that the second aircraft would be unable to remain in the vicinity of the ship for long enough.

* Hs 293V6 designed for launch from the Arado Ar 234 jet bomber travelling at 200 metres per second. The main change was reducing the wing span of the missile to allow it to be carried within the aircraft. The missile did not proceed past the design stage.

Inventory

Over 1000 were built, from 1942 onwards.

Combat Performance

The Hs 293 was intended to destroy unarmoured ships. (Compare with the Fritz X, which was intended for use against armoured targets, i.e. warships).

One drawback of the Hs 293 was that, after the missile was launched, the bomber had to fly in a straight level path, and thus could not manouvre to evade anti-aircraft guns.

On August 27, 1943, an Hs 293 was used in the first successful attack by a guided missile, sinking the British sloop HMS Egret. On November 26 of that year an Hs 293 caused the sinking of the HMT Rohna.

Characteristics

* Primary Function:
* Contractor: Henschel
* Power Plant: liquid-propellant rocket motor, 5.9 kN thrust for 10 s; subsequently glided to target

* Length: 3.82 m
* Diameter: 47 cm
* Wing Span: 3.1 m
* Horizontal stabilizer span: 1.14 m
* Fusilage diameter: 0.47 m
* Underslugn rocket diameter: 0.33 m
* Launch Weight: 1045 kg
* Wing area: 2.4 square metres
* Wing loading: 441 Kg/sq. m at launch, 390 Kg/sq. m at target

* Speed: maximum 260 m/s, average 230 m/s
* Warhead: 295 kg explosive
* Range: at 2.2 km altitude 4.0 km; at 4.0 km altitude 5.5 km; at 5.0 km altitude 8.5 km;
* Fuzes:
* Guidance system: Kehl-Strassburg FuG 203/230; MCLOS using a Joystick
#7

is that the same weapon that the allies decide to jam its signal and thus reduce its efficent greatly?

i meant the weapon used on He 293

#8

Funny pic, an american GI trying the Panzerwurfmine L, the way of launching that he display is incorrect.

#9

Other of the most popular devices, the Molotov cocktail, easy to build and use , but not always effective.

#10

Very simple yet very effective.

#11

I will not say “very effective” it was effective under some conditions, but you can end like this if the defensive MGs get you, like this NCO of the waffen SS.

The T-34 was finally killed with sevral shots from the Stug III, the Panzerknacker ( comrade in arms) did not make it.

#12

Panzerwurfmine L.
The “antitank trowing mine” was developed because of the problems to stabilize the dedicated anti-tank grenades for flight - the shaped charge needed to be pointed straight at the armor to work efficiently - the Panzerwurfmine (“tank throw mine”) or PWM (L) (L for “lang” = “long”) was developed by the Luftwaffe weapon’s bureau (the Luftwaffe also contained ground forces in the form of it’s field units and the paratroopers).

The weapon weighed 1.36kg, had a length of 53.3cm and used a stabilizing assembly of four fins made of canvas at it’s rear wich automatically deployed when lauch. It was introduced into service in May of 1943 but proved rather impractical. Still, 203,800 were produced in 1943.

It’s successor model was the Panzerwurfmine Kz (Kz = kurz (“short”)) that weighed only 1 kg. Flight stabilization now was achieved by a long canvas strip that rolled out when the weapon was thrown and extended from it’s rear. The warhead had a diameter of 11.4 cm and carried a shaped charge of 500g that had an armor penetration of 150mm.

The images complementing this post, note the swingling movement for the correct use the Luftwaffe antitank grenade.

#13

I never knew about these gernades.

#14

Now you know. :rolleyes:

#15

Blendkorper 1 H

This munition consists of a tear-drop shaped flask, 6 inches long with a maximum diameter of 2-1/2 inches, sealed at the upper end by drawing out the flask. The sealed tip is protected by a cardboard sleeve, sealed with a plaster of Paris type material. The flask weighs 13.2 ounces with 10.6 ounces of amber-colored titanium tetrachloride, (FM).
The munition is used by throwing against a hard surface which breaks the flask. The titanium tetrachloride then vaporizes, forming a smoke cloud which varies greatly with the relative humidity, being dense at a high humidity and thin at a low humidity.
The grenades are individually packed in a hexagonal, three-ply, corrugated paper container 6-1/2 inches long, by 3 inches square, wrapped in a transparent cellulose material. The top of the box has a handle which when pulled, removes the cover and flask. A label on the box gives in German the following directions:
Smoke Grenade 1 H
(BK 1 H)
Directions for use.

  1. For carrying, leave the smoke grenade in the cardboard box.
  2. For throwing, remove the smoke grenade from the box; draw out the cover with the smoke grenade hanging in the band; take the smoke grenade in the throwing hand and remove the cover. 3. Throw the smoke grenade with force at the target, peephole, sights, etc.


Blendkorper 2 H
The grenade consists of a pear-shaped, glass outer flask, resembling a large electric light bulb, almost filled with a brown liquid. Inside is a long tube filled with a clear liquid; both are capped with a sulphur and plaster of Paris cement. The total weight is slightly over seven ounces.*
The outer flask is a pear-shaped glass bulb, 2-1/2 inches in diameter at the widest point, 3-15/16 inches in height to the neck, where it flares out 1/8 inch and forms a collar approximately 1 inch in height and 1-1/2 inch in diameter. This flask contains 8.75 ounces of titanium tetrachloride.
The inner glass tube is 3 7/8 inches long and 7/8 inch in diameter, resembling a test tube with the upper end sealed off; the weight is a little under an ounce. The upper end has a slight shoulder which rests on a rubber-like plastic washer; this washer in turn rests on the inside shoulder of the collar of the outer flask; thus, when the cementing material was poured, the inner tube was firmly sealed within the neck of the outer flask. The inner tube contains about 1.2 ounce of a 27 per cent solution of calcium chloride.
The smoke is produced by hydrolysis of titanium tetrachloride. The purpose of the inner tube of calcium chloride solution is to provide water to react with the titanium tetrachloride and produce an instantaneous smoke cloud in the desert or in cold areas, where the low humidity would cause a slow reaction. The calcium chloride is probably added to keep the water from freezing.
This grenade was received in a cardboard box, 6-1/4 inches high, 3-3/4 inches wide, and 12-1/2 inches long, with separate compartments for each grenade; capacity four grenades. A label on the front of the box gave in German the following directions for use:
4 Screening Devices - 2H
(BK 2H)
Useable and freeze-proof to -40°C**

  1. Carrying:
    Leave the Blendkörper in the closed carton.
  2. Taking Out:
    Tear where indicated around the top at 1. Lift up the top, and tear out the Blendkörper. Take Blendkörper 2, 3, and 4 in the same way. 3. Throwing:
    Grasp the Blendkörper in the hollow of the hand, the round part toward the index finger. Throw with force at the target.

*Apparently, this is the weight of the container. The total of all weights given is approximately 22 ounces.
**Equivalent to 40 degrees below zero, Fahrenheit - the only point at which the two scales coincide.

#16

Continue…

Source:

www.lonesentry.com

The purpose of the Blendkorper was not to destroy the tank, simply because it cannot achieve that, the purpose was to blind the tank crew allowing the panzerknackers to move close in and destroy the armored vehicle by explosive or kinetic energie weapons.

#17

So…would the molotov cocktail prove somewhat effective against the crew of a tank if the gasoline (or whichever fuel was being used) got into the tank through port holes, copulas, etc. and the flame traveled with it?

BTW Panzerknacker, very good photos :wink:

#18

Yes, surprinsingly it may appear it the right use ( like urban enviroment) a Molotov coktail could effective.

However the problem with this crude weapon is the same of all the hand-launched ones…his very short range.

It really never was a important weapon in the german arsenal, there was better ones.

#19

Thankyou. So I suppose this weapon would be similiar to the use of an AT rifle…

Not to destroy the tank, but to kill the crew…

#20

Or at list made the combat vehicle so hot and smoky that the crew had to abandon it.

A improvised incendiary bomb was also included in the field manual “Die panzerknacker”, it consist in a normal stick grenade attached to a jerry can fuel tank. Like a super molotov.