Grenades and helmets....

Amsel,

The Stielhandgranate was primarily used as an offensive grenade, without the fragmentation sleeve, relying on the concussion effect to kill or subdue the enemy and not so much shrapnel. But since this was its' primary function it also meant that the explosive charge needed to be larger than in a defensive grenade in order for it to be effective. However the Germans simply supplied a thick metal sleeve to be put around the explosive container turning the offensive grenade into an even more lethal defensive grenade. (The British had a similar design, the No.69 offensive grenade, also supplied with a fragmentation sleeve if the situation demanded it)

Mostly the Stielhandgranate was used without the fragmentation sleeve, which would've made it less lethal than a defensive frag grenade, explaining what you've read.

As for the explosive charge:

Soviet RGD33: 80 gram
US Mk.II: 57 gram
German Stiel. Hdgr.43: 168 gram
British Mills Bomb: 71 gram
German Ei.Hdgr.39: 112 gram

That's some differences Soren!

Yeah, the Stiel. Hdgr. relied almost purely on the concussion effect to either kill or stun the enemy. If you were within 3 meters of one exploding you'd be in VERY bad shape from the blast alone, nevermind the shrapnel. However hitting the dirt will improve your chances drastically! And that goes against ALL types of handgrenades. You can survive being no more than 1.5 meters away if hit the dirt in time. Needless to say you'd be out cold for a few min though from the concussion of the grenade itself.

Put a fragmentation sleeve on the Mk43 and you have yourself a VERY potent handgrenade! Total overkill in most situations.

Great stats on the explosive charge Soren, hard to argue against that.

Messy1 said:

Great stats on the explosive charge Soren, hard to argue against that.

Click to expand...

Except for that a smaller charge does not necessarily mean a less lethal blast. The MK2 was tightly packed causing a stronger explosion then the potato masher. You can use a smaller charge if the grenade is made correctly to achieve the same or better results. American GI's learned to carry both the Mk2 as well as the potato masher, due to the longer distance it could be thrown, and the Mk2 for clearing bunkers and pill boxes.

With 168 grams of explosives vs the 57 grams of the Mk2 grenade, the Stiel.Hdgr.43 has a stronger blast no questions asked. The lethality is another thing however and depends on how much shrapnel the grenade generates, and without the fragmentation sleeve the Stiel.Hdgr. isn't as lethal as the Mk.2, but with it the Stiel.Hdgr.43 is more lethal than both the US Mk.2 and the British Mills Bomb. The problem was the bigger size of the Stiel.Hdgr. To solve this the Germans issued the Ei.Hdgr.39, which packed a smaller but still relatively big charge of 112 grams of high explosives.

I believe the German helmet was a better design since the new US hemet seems to be about the same shape. Not sure it would hold as much water for shaving as the US helmet did, though. The US helmet, though, because the steel pot fit over the plastic helmet liner which had the webbing to fit over the head, had a bad habit of falling off unless the chin strap was securely fastened. When guys would pass out from heat exhaustion you could hear their steel pots rolling down the road on the hills at Fort Knox.