The German hand grenade (long) the US (mini-pineapple) shapes. Which was superior, why didn't either change styles? What did Russia and Japan use. What could be thrown further, and blasts/projectile potential. Or was it just available materials, or we liked baseball. Do we even use them today, if so, what and why? Could the German style be launched, maybe?

I guess my myth would be. The US WWII Hand granade was superior to the German style.

I guess you are compairing the "stick" to the "pineapple". The stick will go farther, but the pineapple is more accurite.

The Potato masher had a handle on it which enabled the thrower to put a little more momentum behind it. And the pineapple was a bit stronger in the area of explosives. Those were the main differences.

The German item was also a concussion grenade in it's standard form, with little shrapnel effect. A shrapnel-producing faceted metal cover was available to slide on when shrapnel was desired.

Designed that way as part of the "Blitzkrieg" philosophy of rapid advance; troops could throw the grenade and immediately charge without fear of getting hit by shrapnel from their own weapon.

The Greman grenade was conseder a assalut grenade which killed on exsploseve to kill while the U.S used lots of sharpnel so if u want a lot of death us a U.S.

POTATO MASHER, RUN!
Anyways. it has been pretty much covered. The "stick" allowed you to throw farther.
EDIT:
I am going to add that grenades could be launched. special barrel adapters could be attached to the Garand (and axis rifles) to allow the grenade to be fired from a rifle. These were called "rifle" grenades".

As noted above, this is an "apples and oranges" kind of question. The German Model 24 and Model 43 Stielhandgranaten were essentially offensive grenades (concussion) whereas the US Mk II was what we'd call a defensive grenade (fragmentation). Since they were designed to perform different tasks, comparing them may be instructive but fruitless in terms of better or worse.

Might want to point out too that the German grenade could employ an optional "slinter ring" to convert it into a frag grenade. It was basically a cylinder with serrations that would slip over the case of the grenade, thereby providing the frafmentation mass. Points to the Model 24 & 43 for flexibility in this regard.

As noted above, the US Mk II could be fired through the use of a rifle grenade launcher, providing range and coverage of dead space. Points awarded for that - I dont believe the Germans fielded such a device on a general basis.

The Germans also fielded the Model 39 egg grenade, which was a concussion grenade, too, but did not use a stick. The advantage was that many more could be carried by the average soldier because there was no stick to lug around - an advanatge it shared with the US Mk II.

Points should also be awarded to the German grenades for fuze flexibility. The Model 39 had a choice of four separate fuzes, with delay times ranging from 1 to 10 seconds. The Model 43 stick grenade used the same fuzes as the Model 39, so it could be employed as a self-contained grenade with or without the stick. Points also to the German grenades as the Model 24 could be easily converted to booby trap use by removing the delay fuze, which would result in immediate detonation when tripped. Given the defensive nature of most later German operations, this flexibility to convert to booby traps was a major benefit to their troops.

Points to the US for ease of employment. While the US Mk II lacked the fuze options, it was shipped as a complete unit. The German grenades where shipped in two parts, the grenade and the detonators. (Or three parts, if you consider the splinter rings.) Before using the German soldier would have to unscrew the wooden handle, either remove or leave the delay fuze, then insert the detonator.

Both worked well for their respective armies. You might say that it was ironic that in the last couple years of the war, the army (generally) on the defensive was using an offensive grenade, and the army that was (generally) on the offensive was using a defensive grenade. Yeah, it's kind of a simplistic view, but serves to make a point. Then again, the US primarily uses a frag grenade in its offensive battles even today, and tends to leave its offensive grenades on the shelf, so intended grenade function vs. actual use to task isn't so clear cut.

I stand corrected.

I have a post coming, but it seems to have been diverted for mod review, so this correction refers to that - when/if it shows up.

The Germans *did* have a variety of pistol and rifle grenades. As far as grenade flexibility goes in the contecxt of this thread, however, only the grenade pistols seemed to have used the Model 24 and 39 grenades as projectiles, and their production ran only during 1941 and 1942. The other grenade launchers used specialized munitions which aren't within this "potato masher vs pineapple" discussion.

The stick grenade contains more explosives and can be thrown over greater distances. Accuracy is very good, too.
The problem with the stick kind is carrying them around, arming them (unscrew cap at the end, pull string and throw IMMEDIATELY!!!) indoor fights and attacking fortified positions.

The pineapple can be prepared (pulling the pin) and then you can wait for a good moment. It will be triggered the moment you release the "spoon". The stick kind is triggered as soon as you pull the string, so you can't wait and you can't disarm it any more!

The pineapple is more compact and will penetrate a window "for sure" if thrown hard enough. The stick kind might bounce or won't make it far after hitting window glass.

The pineapple can be thrown trough smaller holes and ventilation shafts which is very important when fighting against bunkers.

The stick kind can be thrown over great distances with good accuracy and got a good "dead zone range", so it is perfect for open outdoor fighting.

I sometimes wonder how much influence baseball had on our grenade design. Most WWII era men knew how to throw a baseball with speed and accuracy. I could be way off.

One possible disadvantage to the potato masher... if one landed in your foxhole, that stick might allow you to grab it quicker and throw it out before it detonates. A pineapple, on the other hand, might roll around for a second too long.

Isaac. Yes, a good number of our WWII service men knew how to throw a baseball.
There is a story of a solder, sadly I forget his name. He supposedly took a whole hill on his own. He could throw a baseball (and grenade) with deadly accuracy, and he was able to take over a number of bunkers.

[quote]I sometimes wonder how much influence baseball had on our grenade design. Most WWII era men knew how to throw a baseball with speed and accuracy. I could be way off.[/quote]

This is a tempting conclusion, but perhaps a bit over-stated. The Brits, Germans, Russians and Japanese all used a variety of round-ish grenades in WWII, even though baseball wasn't a major sport in their cultures. The Brit Mills bomb, the French Model 1914 and the German egg and ball grenades of WWI show that round was a practical design, regardless of culture. And of course, historically, the good old round grenade with the lit fuze predates baseball by hundreds of years (remember the origin of the term grenadier?).

I suspect it was simply a matter of finding a good, general purpose design with a long history of effectiveness and sticking with it. Round was a tried and true design.

Oh duh. I was thinking only in terms of the German potato masher vs. the US pineapple. Then along comes a grenade historian and throws Occham's Razor at me. Haha.

Be very afraid if the Canadian military issues grenades shaped like hockey pucks.

[quote]Be very afraid if the Canadian military issues grenades shaped like hockey pucks.[/quote]

don't know if it is factual or anecdotal, but I also heard about American grenade designers thinking "ball" and German grenade designers thinking "stick" the original "grenade" was pomegranate shaped (and presumably sized), filled with powder, and ignited with a pyrotechnic fuse.

Though it is true that the British do not play Baseball, we do however play a lot of Cricket.
The size and weight of both balls is roughly the same, British Grenade drill taught its men to throw the grenade as if they were usingthe Overarm Bowling action that is usedd in cricket. It`s upight straight armed action howver exposed those how used it to enemy fire so Tommys soon dicarded it in the field.