No. 69 grenade
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| British No. 69 | |
|---|---|
| Type | Anti personnel |
| Place of origin | United Kingdom |
| Service history | |
| In service | December, 1940 - 1945 |
| Production history | |
| Designed | 1940 |
| Number built | many thousands |
| Variants | Mk. 1 |
| Specifications | |
| Weight | 383 |
| Length | 114 |
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|
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| Diameter | 60 |
| Filling | High explosive |
| Detonation mechanism |
Impact |
The British No. 69 was an offensive (as opposed to defensive) grenade developed and used during World War II. It was adopted into service due to the need for a grenade with smaller destructive radius than the No. 36M "Mills bomb". This allowed the thrower to use a grenade even when there was little in the way of defensive cover. In contrast, the much greater destructive radius of the Mills bomb than its throwable range forced users to choose their throwing point carefully, in order to ensure that they would not be wounded by their own grenade.
The shell of the No. 69 grenade was composed entirely of the hard plastic, Bakelite which shattered without producing fragments like a metal bodied grenade. However, metal fragmenting sleeves were available to increase the grenade's lethality.
The No. 69 used the same "allways" fuze as the Gammon grenade. Like the Gammon grenade it was withdrawn from service soon after the Second World War ended.
[edit] External Links
| British Grenades of World War I & World War II |
|---|
| Anti-personnel |
| Grenade, No 1 Hales | No.s 5, 23, 36 Mills | No. 69 | No.s 8, 9 Double Cylinder Jam Tin |
| Anti-tank |
| No. 68 AT (Rifle) | No. 73 Thermos | No. 74 Sticky bomb | No. 75 AT Hawkins | |
| Special Types |
| No. 82 Gammon | No. 76 (WP) | No. 77 (WP) |
