Stick grenades were transported either in a case of 15 (with 15 corresponding detonators) or in a sleeveless jacket worn by a soldier. These jackets allowed 10 grenades to be carried with five across the front and the remaining five across the back. Grenades were inserted with the heads facing down. A third option was a basic belt with loops which allowed several grenades to be inserted handle first.
A trained German grenadier could lob a stick grenade generally out to 35 yards depending on situation and environmental factors. Usually, such an infantryman was crouched or laying prone which reduced the overall range of the throw somewhat. The blast radius of the detonated grenade varied from situation to situation but its lethal range was as good as any other grenade in use - ranged out to approximately 14 yards. "Soft" targets clumped together were proper targets and grenades thrown into fortification openings benefitted from the shot trap inherent in such structures. As the overall length and (365mm) of the stick grenade was longer than a traditional "pineapple" or "egg" of the time and this meant that an infantryman could actually carry less of these weapons into battle - and this often at the expense of extra ammunition for his service rifle. However, stick grenades were generally lighter than, say, the British "Mills Bomb" of World War 1 which evened out the playing field in a direct comparison.
The German stick grenade remained in wide circulation throughout the interwar years following World War 1 and leading up to World War 2. As such, it held its place as the standard German hand grenade during this volatile period and, during World War 2, it became as much a "collectible" item to Allied soldiers as the Luger pistol. To make for a more effective anti-personnel/anti-fortification weapon, six stick grenade heads were attached to a single stick handle (containing its own original grenade head). In this fashion, the weapon's firepower was multiplied considerably and could even be fielded as an anti-tank measure - though its vastly increased weight limited actual throwing ranges. This modification was known as "Geballte Ladung". It was also not uncommon to use the stick grenade in a booby trap fashion to which the delay fuse was removed. If the friction wire were pulled, the grenade detonated instantly (sans its 5-second delay). One other additional use of the stick grenade was as a bangalore "torpedo" to disrupt or destroy barbed wire or similar obstacles. A complete stick grenade was set upon one end of a long board or pole to which three or more grenade heads were affixed (with gaps in between), all mounted in line. The operator need only actuate the complete grenade via a long cord or wire to detonate the remaining grenades.
Several other experienced-based modifications soon arose including a cold weather variant for use on the Eastern Front. It was found that original Model 24 grenades had a tendency to fail in the unforgiving Soviet winter which plagued the Germans attempting to reach Moscow and other strategic strongholds. As such, a new filling was engineered for the Eastern Front and appropriately marked along the grenade head with "K" for "kalt" (meaning "cold") to differentiate their cold weather operation. Beyond that, the Germans also engineered a smoke-producing variant (Nebelhandgranate 34) which could be used to screen movements and a non-detonating trainer variant educated up-and-coming grenadiers in the finer points of the weapon. The original Model 24s were fielded alongside the more compact (and traditional) Model 39 egg grenades (Eierhandgranate 39) which began appearing with the German Army in 1939.
The original Model 24 was eventually superseded by the streamlined Model 43 of 1943 (during World War 2). The type was simplified in terms of production cost so, theoretically, more could be made in less time and in the required quantities of the German Army. Both served until the end of the war in 1945 to which Germany - yet again - was restricted in her war-making capacity.
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