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F1 and OF1 Hand Grenades |
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Around May 1915 the "Grenade F1 Modéle 1915" was introduced to French troops, in limited quantities.
The robust segmented cast iron body was primarily for a good grip, as it was acknowledged that the fragmentation performance was poor, producing 10 fragments or less,
but dangerous out to 200 meters. It has a threaded base for a fill plug. The "Grenade OF1 Modéle 1915" was also issued. The body consisted of two tin caps. soldered together with tin. Useful for clearing close confines in the trenches. Both grenades were fuzed with the Mle. 1915 Percussion Fuze, which was large, fragile (cardboard tubes), and not very watertight. Furthermore, if the fuze was not struck perfectly vertically, the assembly twists, fails to ignite, and becomes unusable. | |
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The Mle.1916 Percussion Fuze (shown at far left) replaced the cardboard parts with brass tubes and the overall height was reduced. However, considerable skill was still required to use this igniter correctly; if struck too lightly, it fails to ignite, and if struck too forcefully, it extinguishes the flame as soon as it is produced. Dud grenades still littered the battlefields. The introduction of the Billant Automatic Fuze, Mle.1916 was a big improvement, equipped with a safety lever which, like that of the Mills grenade, automatically triggers ignition when the grenade leaves the thrower's hand. The functional components were were sealed inside the fuze body. Unfortunately, the metal alloys required for fabrication were in short supply so the new fuze was not generally incorporated for all grenade types, focusing instead on the F1. So, the Mle.1916 percussion fuze continued to be used, in parallel, up to the end of the war. | ||
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The French experimented with grenade fuze designs throughout the war, they had strategic material shortages and were constantly making adjustments. Fuze development progressed achieving six basic fuze design milestones for various hand grenades during the war, shown at right. The first two were associated with ball grenades and the last three for various oval types. A notable exception the Citron Foug, with its own unique percussion fuze, was extensively used but represents a side-step from mainstream grenade development. |
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Not to be Confused - The Belgian F1 |
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Often mistaken for the French F1 with the Billant fuze, is the post-WWI Belgian F1 & OF1 with a BR-24 Fuze. The body is very similar to the French F1 type but with a unique oversized copy of the French Billant fuze system. (Same thread size) Fuzes are marked on the bottom surface: "LOT No.21 3* ACEC 1938" / "LOT No.22 ACEC 1936" ACEC = "Atelier de Constructions Electriques de Charleroi" |
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| 25.12.29 |
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