Grenade fuse f1. Hand grenades
F-1 lemon grenade / Photo: vlada.io
If we approach the issue formally, then the service life of this, without a doubt, an outstanding representative of the classic type of hand grenades, will be not one hundred, but eighty-nine years. In 1928, the F-1 hand-held anti-personnel defensive grenade, the “limonka,” was adopted by the Red Army. But let's not rush things.
A little history
The prototype of a hand grenade has been known since the 9th century. These were clay vessels various shapes, filled with energy-rich materials known at that time (lime, resin, “Greek fire”). It is clear that until the appearance of the first high explosives, there is no need to talk about the serious damaging effect of these ancient products. The first mentions of explosive hand-held projectiles date back to the 10th-11th centuries. The materials used for them were copper, bronze, iron, and glass. Presumably, Arab merchants brought them from China or India.
An example of such a device is the bann, developed in China in the first millennium AD. an incendiary grenade with a body made from a piece of hollow bamboo stalk. A charge of resin and black powder was placed inside. The top of the bann was plugged with a bunch of tow and used as a reinforced torch; sometimes a primitive wick containing saltpeter was used.
The Arabic "bortab" was glass bowl with a mixture of sulfur, saltpeter and charcoal, equipped with a wick and a chain. attached to the shaft. In any case, this is how the Nejim-Edlin-Chassan Alram manuscript “A Guide to the Art of Fighting on Horseback and Various War Machines” describes it. Such grenades provided not so much a damaging effect as a psychological and demoralizing effect on the advancing enemy.
More than a hundred almost intact blown glass hand grenades, some of which still have wicks / Photo: Archaeological Museum of Mytilene, Lesvos.
The era of classic fragmentation grenades began in 1405, when the German inventor Konrad Kaiser von Eichstadt proposed using brittle cast iron as a body material, due to which the number of fragments generated during an explosion significantly increases. He also came up with the idea of creating a cavity in the center of the powder charge, which noticeably accelerated the combustion of the mixture and increased the likelihood of pieces of the grenade body scattering into small fragmentation destructive elements. The weak blasting effect of black powder required an increase in the size of the grenade, while the physical capabilities of a person limited such an increase. Only very trained fighters could throw a cast-iron ball weighing from one to four kilograms. The lighter shells used by cavalry and boarding parties were much less effective.
Grenades were used primarily in assaults and defenses of fortresses, in boarding battles, and during the War of the Holy League (1511-1514) they proved to be very good. But there was also a significant drawback - the fuse. A smoldering fuse in the form of a wooden tube with powder pulp often went out when it hit the ground, did not give an accurate idea of the time before the explosion, detonating too early, even before the throw, or too late, allowing the enemy to run away or even return the grenade back. In the 16th century, the familiar term “grenade” appeared. It was first used in one of his books by the famous gunsmith from Salzburg Sebastian Gele, comparing the new weapon with a subtropical fruit that, falling to the ground, scatters its seeds.
In the middle of the 17th century, grenades were equipped with a prototype of an inertial fuse. During the English Civil War (1642-1652), Cromwell's soldiers began to tie a bullet to a fuse inside a projectile, which, when it hit the ground, continued to move by inertia and pulled the fuse inside. They also proposed a primitive stabilizer to ensure that the grenade would fly backwards with the fuse.
The beginning of the intensive use of grenades in field battles dates back to the 17th century. In 1667, the English troops were assigned soldiers (4 people per company) specifically to throw projectiles. These fighters were called "grenadiers". They could only be soldiers with excellent physical fitness and preparation. After all, the taller the soldier and the stronger, the farther he can throw a grenade. Following the example of the British, this type of weapon was introduced into the armies of almost all states. However, the development of linear tactics gradually negated the advantage of using grenades, and by the middle of the 18th century they were removed from equipping field units; grenadiers became only elite units infantrymen. Grenades remained only in service with the garrison troops.
War of Empires
The hand grenade greeted the 20th century as a little-used, old and forgotten weapon. In essence, it was the same black powder ammunition that was used by the grenadiers of the 17th century. The only improvement made to the design of grenades over almost 300 years is the appearance of a grating fuse.
French spherical grenade model 1882, used during the First World War. The body of the grenade is simple, spherical in shape (the diameter of the ball was 81 mm), made of cast iron, with a hole for the fuse. The grenade fuse could be either impact or a simple fuse, ignited with a match. But the most typical for a spherical grenade was a “bracelet” (grated) fuse / Photo: army-news.ru
English “ball” grenade No. 15, model 1915. The cast iron body, 3 inches in diameter, with internal notches for fragmentation, was filled with black powder or ammonal. The fuse of the No. 15 grenade was a typical grating fuse, which was developed by the designer Brock. The fuse was very sensitive to dampness and often failed, so it was often replaced with a piece of fuse cord / Photo: army-news.ru
In Russia in 1896, the Artillery Committee ordered hand grenades to be completely withdrawn from use “... in view of the emergence of more advanced means of defeating the enemy, the strengthening of the defense of fortresses in ditches and the unsafety of hand grenades for the defenders themselves...”.
And eight years later the Russian-Japanese War began. This was the first battle in the history of warfare in which mass armies, equipped with rapid-fire artillery, repeating rifles and machine guns, met. The presence of new weapons and especially the increase in the range of fire weapons increased the capabilities of the troops and necessitated the use of new methods of action on the battlefield. Field shelters reliably hid opponents from each other, making firearms practically useless. This forced both sides of the conflict to recall a forgotten type of infantry weapon. And given the lack of grenades in service, improvisations began.
The first use of grenades by the Japanese in the Russian-Japanese War was recorded on May 12, 1904 near Qingzhou. Japanese grenades consisted of shell casings, bamboo tubes filled with explosive charges, standard explosive charges wrapped in fabric, into the ignition sockets of which incendiary tubes were inserted.
Following the Japanese, Russian troops also began to use grenades. The first mention of their use dates back to August 1904. The production of grenades in the besieged city was carried out by the staff captain of the mine company Melik-Parsadanov and the lieutenant of the Kwantung fortress sapper company Debigoriy-Mokrievich. In the naval department, this work was entrusted to Captain 2nd Rank Gerasimov and Lieutenant Podgursky. During the defense of Port Arthur, 67,000 hand grenades were produced and consumed.
Russian grenades were cuttings of lead pipes, cartridges, into which 2-3 pyroxylin bombs were inserted. The ends of the body were closed with wooden covers with a hole for the ignition tube. Such grenades were equipped with an incendiary tube designed for 5-6 seconds of burning. Due to the high hygroscopicity of pyroxylin, grenades equipped with it had to be used within a certain time after manufacture. If dry pyroxylin containing 1-3% moisture exploded from a primer containing 2 g of mercury fulminate, then pyroxylin containing 5-8% moisture required an additional detonator made from dry pyroxylin.
Grenades produced in Port Arthur from scrap materials / Image: topwar.ru
The illustration shows a grenade equipped with a grating igniter. It was made from a 37 mm or 47 mm cartridge case artillery shell. A cartridge case from a rifle cartridge was soldered to the grenade body, which housed a grating igniter. A fire cord was inserted into the barrel of the cartridge case and secured there by crimping the barrel. The grater cord came out through a hole in the bottom of the sleeve. The grating device itself consisted of two split goose feathers, inserted into each other by cuts. The contacting surfaces of the feathers were coated with an igniting composition. For ease of pulling, a ring or stick was tied to the cord.
To ignite the fire cord of such a grenade, it was necessary to pull the ring of the grating igniter. The friction between the goose feathers during mutual movement caused the flaming compound to ignite, and a beam of fire ignited the fire cord.
In 1904, the impact grenade came into use for the first time in the Russian army. The creator of the grenade was the staff captain of the East Siberian mine company Lishin.
Staff Captain Lishin's grenade of an early type./ Image: topwar.ru
Lessons of war
Intelligence agencies from all over the world were interested in the developments and progress of hostilities in Manchuria. Britain sent the most observers to the Far East - it was tormented by the tragic experience of the war with the Boers. The Russian army received three British observers, and 13 British officers observed the fighting from the Japanese side. Together with the British, military attaches from Germany, France, Sweden and other countries watched the development of events. Even Argentina sent captain of the second rank Jose Moneta to Port Arthur.
An analysis of combat operations showed that significant changes must be made to the technical equipment, organization of combat training of troops and their equipment. The war required mass production of all types of weapons and equipment. The role of the rear has increased immeasurably. Uninterrupted supply of troops with ammunition and food began to play a decisive role in achieving success on the battlefield.
With the advent of more perfect weapon positional forms of struggle arose in field conditions. Machine guns and repeating rifles forced the final abandonment of dense combat formations of troops; chains became more rare. Machine gun and powerful fortifications sharply increased the possibility of defense, forced the attackers to combine fire and movement, make more careful use of the terrain, dig in, conduct reconnaissance, conduct fire preparations for attacks, widely use detours and envelopments, fight at night, and better organize the interaction of troops on the battlefield. Artillery began to practice firing from closed positions. The war required an increase in the caliber of guns and the widespread use of howitzers.
The Russo-Japanese War made a much stronger impression on German observers than on the French, British and the military of other countries. The reason for this was not so much the better receptivity of the Germans to new ideas, but rather the tendency German army look at combat operations from a slightly different angle. After the signing of the Anglo-French agreement (Entente cordiale) in 1904, Kaiser Wilhelm asked Alfred von Schlieffen to develop a plan that would allow Germany to fight a war on two fronts simultaneously, and in December 1905 von Schlieffen began work on his famous plan. The example of the use of grenades and trench mortars during the siege of Port Arthur showed the Germans that such weapons could be effectively used in the German army if it had to face similar tasks during an invasion of the territory of neighboring countries.
Already by 1913 military industry Germany began serial production of the Kugelhandgranate 13 grenade. However, it is impossible to say that it was a revolutionary model. The traditional inertia of thinking of military strategists of that time had an effect, which led to the fact that grenades continued to be considered only as means of siege warfare. Model 1913 grenades were of little use as infantry weapon, first of all, because of their spherical shape, which made them difficult to carry for a soldier.
Kugelhandgranate 13 Model Aa / Photo: topwar.ru
The body of the grenade was a reworked, but almost unchanged overall idea from three hundred years ago - a cast iron ball with a diameter of 80 mm with a symmetrically shaped ribbed notch and a fuse point. The grenade charge was a mixed explosive based on black powder, that is, it had a low high-explosive effect, although due to the shape and material of the grenade body it produced rather heavy fragments.
The grenade fuse was quite compact and not bad for its time. It was a tube protruding 40 mm from the grenade body with a grating and spacer compound inside. A safety ring was attached to the tube, and on top there was a wire loop, which activated the fuse. The deceleration time was supposedly about 5-6 seconds. An absolute positive was the absence of any detonator on the grenade, since its powder charge was ignited by the force of the flame from the remote composition of the fuse itself. This increased the safety of handling the grenade and helped reduce the number of accidents. In addition, the charge, which had low brisance, crushed the body into relatively large fragments, producing less “dust” that was harmless to the enemy than grenades in melinite or TNT equipment.
Russia also took into account the experience of the war. In 1909-1910, artillery captain Rdultovsky developed two models of grenades with a remote fuse - a small (two-pound) “for hunting teams” and a large (three-pound) “for serf war.” The small grenade, according to Rdultovsky’s description, had a wooden handle, a body in the form of a rectangular box made of zinc sheet, and was loaded with a quarter pound of melinite. Between the prismatic explosive charge and the walls of the body, plates with cross-shaped cutouts were placed, and ready-made triangular fragments (0.4 g each) were placed in the corners. During tests, fragments “pierced an inch board 1-3 fathoms from the explosion site,” the throwing range reached 40-50 steps.
Grenades were then considered an engineering tool and fell under the jurisdiction of the Chief engineering management(SIU). On September 22, 1911, the Engineering Committee of the State Research University examined hand grenades of several systems - Captain Rdultovsky, Lieutenant Timinsky, Lieutenant Colonel Gruzevich-Nechay. The remark about Timinsky’s grenade was typical: “It can be recommended in case the troops have to make grenades,” - this is how this ammunition was treated then. But greatest interest called up Rdultovsky's sample, although it required factory production. After modification, Rdultovsky’s grenade was adopted for service under the designation “grenade arr. 1912" (RG-12).
Grenade model 1912 (RG-12) / Photo: topwar.ru.
Just before the start of the First World War, Rdultovsky improved the design of his grenade mod. 1912, and the grenade mod. 1914 (RG-14).
Grenade model 1914 (RG-14) / Photo: topwar.ru.
The design of the hand grenade mod. 1914 was not fundamentally different from the 1912 model grenade. But there were still changes in the design. The 1912 model grenade did not have an additional detonator. In the 1914 model grenade, when loaded with TNT or melinite, an additional detonator made of pressed tetryl was used, but when loaded with ammonal, an additional detonator was not used. Grenade equipment different types explosives led to a variation in their weight characteristics: a grenade loaded with TNT weighed 720 grams, melinite - 716-717 grams.
The grenade was stored without a fuse and with the striker released. Before throwing, the fighter had to put the grenade on safety and load it. The first meant: remove the ring, pull back the firing pin, recess the lever in the handle (the hook of the lever captured the head of the firing pin), place the safety pin across the trigger window and put the ring back on the handle and lever. The second is to move the funnel lid and insert the fuse with the long arm into the funnel, the short one into the chute and secure the fuse with the lid.
To throw a grenade, the grenade was clamped in the hand, the ring was moved forward, and the safety pin was moved thumb free hand. At the same time, the lever compressed the spring and pulled the striker back with its hook. The mainspring was compressed between the clutch and the trigger. When throwing, the lever was pressed down, action spring pushed the drummer, and he pierced the igniter primer with the striker. The fire was transmitted along the threads of the stopin to the retarding composition, and then to the detonator cap, which detonated the explosive charge. Here, perhaps, are all the contemporary examples of hand grenades that were in the arsenals of the military when the Great War broke out.
First World War
On July 28, 1914, World War I began, one of the largest armed conflicts in human history, as a result of which four empires ceased to exist. When, after an extremely dynamic campaign, the front lines froze in trench warfare and the opponents sat in their deep trenches almost a stone's throw away, the history of the Russo-Japanese War repeated itself again, but with one exception - Germany. The Kugelhandgranate spherical grenade turned out to be the very first to be mass-produced in fairly large quantities and supplied to the troops. The rest had to improvise again. The troops began to help themselves and began to produce various homemade grenades. Using empty cans, wooden boxes, cardboard, pipe scraps and the like, often wrapped with wire or nailed, more or less effective explosive devices were produced. Also, the charges and detonators were very diverse - simple fuse cords, grating fuses, and so on. The use of such ersatz was often associated with risk for the throwers themselves. It required a certain dexterity and composure, and was therefore limited to sapper units and small, specially trained infantry units.
In relation to the effort spent on production, the effectiveness of homemade grenades left much to be desired. Therefore, at an increasing pace, more effective and convenient grenades began to be developed, suitable, in addition, for serial production. mass production.
It is not possible to consider all the samples that designers created during the First World War in the volume of one article. Only in German army There were 23 different types of hand grenades in use during this period. Therefore, we will focus on two designs that ultimately led to the appearance of the F-1 grenade.
Taking into account the experience of combat in 1914, the British designer William Mills developed a very successful, one might say, classic model of a grenade. The Mills grenade was adopted by the British Army in 1915 under the name "Mills Bomb No. 5".
Mills Bomb No. 5 / Photo: topwar.ru.
The Mills grenade belongs to the anti-personnel fragmentation hand grenades of the defensive type.
Grenade No. 5 consists of a body, an explosive charge, a shock-safety mechanism, and a fuse. The grenade body is designed to accommodate an explosive charge and form fragments during an explosion. The body is made of cast iron and has transverse and longitudinal notches on the outside. There is a hole at the bottom of the body into which the central tube is screwed. The central channel of the tube houses a firing pin with a mainspring and a primer-igniter. The fuse itself is a piece of fire cord, at one end of which an igniter cap is attached, and at the other a detonator cap. It is inserted into the side channel of the tube. The housing opening closes screw plug. To use the Mills Bomb No. 5 grenade, you need to unscrew the washer on the underside of the grenade, insert the detonator cap into it and screw the washer back into place. To use a grenade, you need to take the grenade in your right hand, pressing the lever against the body of the grenade; With your left hand, bring together the antennae of the safety pin (cotter pin) and, pulling the ring, pull the cotter pin out of the lever hole. After that, swing, throw a grenade at the target and take cover.
The British managed to create a truly outstanding weapon. The Mills grenade embodied the tactical requirements of “trench warfare” for this type of weapon. Small, convenient, this grenade was conveniently thrown from any position; despite its size, it produced quite a lot of heavy fragments, creating a sufficient destruction area. But the grenade's greatest advantage was its fuse. This was due to the simplicity of its design, compactness (there were no protruding parts), and the fact that, having pulled out the ring with the pin, the fighter could safely hold the grenade in his hand, waiting for the most favorable moment to throw, since the lever held by the hand would not rise , the moderator will not ignite. German, Austro-Hungarian and some French grenade samples did not have this true required feature. The Russian Rdultovsky grenade, which had this feature, was very difficult to use; its preparation for throwing required more than a dozen operations.
The French, who suffered no less than the British from German grenades in 1914, also decided to create a grenade with balanced characteristics. Correctly taking into account the shortcomings of German grenades, such as a large diameter, awkward body to grasp with the hand, like a grenade of the 1913 model, an unreliable fuse and weak fragmentation effect, the French developed a grenade design that was revolutionary for its time, known as the F1.
F1 with impact ignition fuse / Photo: topwar.ru
The F1 was originally produced with an impact ignition fuse, but was soon equipped with an automatic lever fuse, the design of which, with minor modifications, is still used in many NATO armies' fuses today. The grenade was a molded, ribbed, egg-shaped body made of steel cast iron, with a hole for the fuse, which was easier to throw than the round or disc-shaped body of German grenades. The charge consisted of 64 grams explosive(TNT, schneiderite or less powerful substitutes), and the mass of the grenade was 690 grams.
Image: topwar.ru.
Initially, the fuse was a design with a percussion igniter primer and a moderator, upon the burnout of which the detonator cap was activated, causing the grenade to explode. It was activated by striking the fuse cap against solid object(wood, stone, butt, etc.). The cap was made of steel or brass and had a inside a firing pin that broke the primer, similar to a rifle, and ignited the retarder. For safety, the F1 grenade fuses were equipped with a wire pin that prevented the firing pin from touching the primer. Before throwing this fuse was removed. Such a simple design was good for mass production, but using the grenade outside the trench, when it was not possible to find that very solid object, clearly made it difficult to use the grenade. Nevertheless, compactness, simplicity and high efficiency ensured the grenade's enormous popularity.
At the moment of explosion, the grenade body breaks into more than 200 large heavy fragments, the initial speed of which is about 730 m/s. In this case, 38% of the mass of the body is used to form lethal fragments, the rest is simply sprayed. The reduced area of scattering of fragments is 75–82 m2.
The F1 hand grenade was quite technologically advanced, did not require scarce raw materials, carried a moderate explosive charge and at the same time had great power and produced a large number of lethal fragments for those times. Trying to solve the problem of correct crushing of the hull during an explosion, the designers used a deep notch on the hull. However, combat experience has shown that with modern high explosives, a body of this shape fragments unpredictably during an explosion, and the majority of fragments have a low mass and are low-killing within a radius of 20-25 meters, while heavy fragments of the bottom, the top of the grenade and the fuse have a high energy due to its mass and are dangerous up to 200 m. Therefore, all statements that the notch is intended to form fragments in the shape of protruding ribs are, at a minimum, incorrect. The same should be said about the clearly overestimated destruction distance, since the range of continuous destruction by fragments does not exceed 10-15 meters, and the effective range, that is, the one where at least half of the targets will be hit, is 25-30 meters. The figure of 200 meters is not the range of destruction, but the range of safe removal for friendly units. Therefore, the grenade had to be thrown from behind cover, which was quite convenient in case of trench warfare.
The disadvantages of the F1 with its percussion fuse were quickly taken into account. The imperfect fuse was the Achilles heel of the entire design, and in comparison with the Mills grenade it was clearly outdated. The design of the grenade itself, its effectiveness and production features did not cause any complaints; on the contrary, they were outstanding.
At the same time, in 1915, in a short period of time, French designers invented an automatic spring igniter of the Mills type, however, in many ways superior to it.
F1 with automatic lever igniter / Photo: topwar.ru.
Now a grenade ready to be thrown could be held in one’s hands for an indefinitely long time - until a more favorable moment for throwing came, which was especially valuable in a short-lived battle.
The new automatic igniter was combined with a moderator and detonator. The fuse was screwed into the grenade from above, while in Mills the firing mechanism of the fuse was integral to the body, and the detonator was inserted from below, which was very impractical - it was impossible to visually determine whether the grenade was loaded. The new F1 did not have this problem - the presence of a fuse was easily determined and meant the grenade was ready for use. The remaining parameters, including the charge and burning rate of the moderator, remained the same, as with the F1 grenade with an impact ignition fuse. In this form, the French F1 hand grenade, like the Mills grenade, became a truly revolutionary technical solution. Its shape and weight and dimensions were so successful that they served as an example to follow and were embodied in many modern grenade models.
During the First World War, F 1 grenades were supplied in large quantities to the Russian army. As in the West, the fighting soon revealed the urgent need to arm the Russian army with hand grenades. This was done at the Main Military Technical Directorate (GVTU), the successor to the State Military Institution. Despite the new proposals, the main ones are grenades arr. 1912 and 1914. Their production is being established in state-owned technical artillery establishments - but, alas, too slowly. From the beginning of the war to January 1, 1915, only 395,930 grenades were sent to the troops, mostly mod. 1912 Since the spring of 1915, grenades gradually come under the jurisdiction of the Main Artillery Directorate (GAU) and are included among the “main means of artillery supply.”
By May 1, 1915, 454,800 model grenades were sent to the troops. 1912 and 155 720 - arr. 1914 Meanwhile, in July of the same year, the Head of the GAU estimates only the monthly need for hand grenades at 1,800,000 pieces, and the Chief of Staff of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief informs the Administrator of the War Ministry of the Supreme’s opinion on the need to procure “revolvers, daggers and, especially, grenades” with reference to experience of the French army. Portable weapons and hand grenades really become the main weapons of the infantry in trench warfare (at the same time, by the way, means of protection against hand grenades appeared in the form of nets over the trenches).
In August 1915, a demand was made to increase the supply of grenades to 3.5 million pieces per month. The range of use of grenades is growing - August 25 The Commander-in-Chief of the armies of the North-Western Front asks for the supply of “hand bombs” to the partisan hundreds for operations behind enemy lines. By this time, the Okhtensky and Samara explosives factories had delivered 577,290 model grenades. 1912 and 780,336 grenades mod. 1914, i.e. their production for whole year war amounted to only 2,307,626 pieces. To solve the problem, orders for grenades are being placed abroad. Among other samples, F1 is also supplied to Russia. And together with others after the end of the world war and Civil War inherited by the Red Army.
From F1 to F1
In 1922, the Red Army had seventeen types of hand grenades in service. Moreover, not a single defensive fragmentation grenade of our own production.
As a temporary measure, the Mills system grenade was adopted, the stocks of which in warehouses amounted to about 200,000 pieces. IN as a last resort, it was allowed to issue French F1 grenades to the troops. French grenades were supplied to Russia with Swiss impact fuses. Their cardboard cases did not provide tightness and the detonation composition became damp, which led to massive failures of grenades, and even worse, to bullet holes, which was fraught with an explosion in the hands. But given that the supply of these grenades was 1,000,000 pieces, it was decided to equip them with a more advanced fuse. Such a fuse was created by F. Koveshnikov in 1927. The tests carried out made it possible to eliminate the identified shortcomings, and in 1928 the F1 grenade with a new fuse was adopted by the Red Army under the name F-1 hand grenade with a fuse of the F.V. system. Koveshnikova.
Image: topwar.ru
In 1939, military engineer F.I. Khrameev of the People's Commissariat of Defense plant, based on the model of the French F-1 hand fragmentation grenade, developed a sample of the domestic F-1 defensive grenade, which was soon put into mass production. The F-1 grenade, like the French F1 model, is designed to defeat enemy personnel in defensive operations. When used in combat, the throwing fighter had to take cover in a trench or other defensive structures.
In 1941, designers E.M. Viceni and A.A. Poednyakov developed and put into service to replace Koveshnikov's fuse a new, safer and simpler in design fuse for the F-1 hand grenade. In 1942, the new fuse became common for the F-1 and RG-42 hand grenades; it was called UZRG - “unified fuse for hand grenades.” The fuse of the UZRGM type grenade was intended to explode the explosive charge of the grenade. The principle of operation of the mechanism was remote.
Image: topwar.ru
The production of F-1 grenades during the war years was carried out at plant No. 254 (since 1942), 230 ("Tizpribor"), 53, in the workshops of the Povenetsky shipyard, a mechanical plant and a railway junction in Kandalaksha, the central repair workshops of the NKVD Soroklag, artel "Primus" (Leningrad), many other non-core domestic enterprises.
At the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, grenades were filled with black powder instead of TNT. A grenade with this filling is quite effective, although less reliable. After World War II, modernized, more reliable UZRGM and UZRGM-2 fuses began to be used on F-1 grenades.
Currently, the F-1 grenade is in service in all armies of the countries former USSR, it has also become widespread in Africa and Latin America. There are also Bulgarian, Chinese and Iranian copies. Copies of the F-1 can be considered the Polish F-1, the Taiwanese defensive grenade, and the Chilean Mk2.
It would seem that the F-1 grenade, as a representative of the classic type of hand grenades with a solid cast iron body of virtually natural crushing and a simple, reliable remote fuse, cannot compete with modern grenades of the same purpose - both in terms of optimal fragmentation action and the versatility of the fuse action. All these problems are solved differently at modern technical, scientific and production levels. Thus, the Russian Army created the RGO grenade (defensive hand grenade), which is largely unified with the RGN grenade (offensive hand grenade). The unified fuse of these grenades has a more complex design: its design combines remote and impact mechanisms. Grenade bodies also have significantly greater fragmentation efficiency.
Image: topwar.ru
However, the F-1 grenade has not been removed from service and will probably remain in service for a long time. There is a simple explanation for this: simplicity, cheapness and reliability, as well as time-tested are the most valuable qualities for a weapon. And in a combat situation, it is not always possible to counter these qualities with technical perfection, which requires large production and economic costs. To confirm this, we can say that the English Mills grenade mentioned in the article is formally still in service with the armies of NATO countries, so in 2015 the grenade also celebrated its 100th anniversary.
Why “lemon”? There is no consensus on the origin of the nickname “limon”, which is used to call the F-1 grenade. Some associate this with the similarity of a grenade with a lemon, but there are opinions that claim that this is a distortion of the name “Lemon”, who was the designer of English grenades, which is not entirely true, because the F1 was invented by the French.
The name "F-1" comes from the French fragmentation grenade F-1 model 1915, weighing about 600 grams, which was supplied to Russia during the First World War. The origin of the slang name for the grenade - “lemon” - has many versions - among them, the similarity of the shape of the grenade with the citrus fruit of the same name, and the similarity of the F-1 grenade and the English Lemon system grenade are mentioned - however, there is no consensus today.
Initially, F-1 grenades were equipped with the fuse of F. V. Koveshnikov. Subsequently, instead of the fuse of the Koveshnikov system, the UZRG fuse ("unified fuse for hand grenades") of Soviet designers E. M. Viceni and A. A. Bednyakov was adopted to supply the F-1 grenade.
Story
In 1922, the artillery department of the Red Army began to restore order in its warehouses. According to the reports of the artillery committee, the Red Army at that time had seventeen grenades in service various types. There were no self-produced fragmentation defensive grenades in the USSR at that time. Therefore, the Mills system grenade was temporarily adopted for service, the stocks of which were in large quantities in warehouses (200,000 units as of September 1925). As a last resort, it was allowed to issue French F-1 grenades to the troops. The fact was that French-style fuses were unreliable. Their cardboard cases did not provide tightness and the detonation composition became damp, which led to massive failures of grenades, and even worse, to bullet holes, which was fraught with an explosion in the hands.
In 1925, the Artillery Committee stated that the need for hand grenades of the Red Army was satisfied by only 0.5% (!). To rectify the situation, Artcom decided on June 25, 1925:
- The Artillery Directorate of the Red Army to carry out a comprehensive test of existing samples of hand grenades currently in service.
- It is necessary to make improvements to the 1914 model grenade in order to increase its lethality.
- Design a Mills-type fragmentation grenade, but more advanced.
- In F-1 hand grenades, replace Swiss fuses with Koveshnikov fuses.
In September 1925, comparative tests of the main types of grenades available in warehouses were carried out. The main criterion tested was shrapnel damage pomegranate. The conclusions made by the commission were as follows:
...thus, the situation on the issue of types of hand grenades for supplying the Red Army currently appears to be as follows: a hand grenade of the 1914 model, equipped with melinite, significantly surpasses in its effect all other types of grenades and, by the nature of its action, is a typical example of an offensive grenade; it is only necessary to reduce the number of individual far (over 20 steps) flying fragments as much as the state of the art of this matter allows. This improvement is provided for in the attached “Requirements for new types of hand grenades.” Mills and F-1 grenades, provided they are supplied with more advanced fuses, are considered satisfactory as defensive grenades, while Mills grenades are somewhat stronger in action than F-1. Due to the limited reserves of these two types of grenades, it is necessary to develop new type defensive grenade that meets new requirements...
In 1926, tests were carried out on F-1 grenades from those available in storage (at that time there were 1 million grenades of this system in warehouses) with a Koveshnikov fuse developed in 1920. Based on the test results, the design of the fuse was modified and after military tests in 1927, an F-1 grenade with a Koveshnikov fuse under the name F-1 hand grenade with F. V. Koveshnikov system fuse in 1928 it was adopted by the Red Army.
All grenades available in warehouses were equipped with Koveshnikov fuses by the beginning of the 1930s, and soon the USSR established its own production of grenade bodies.
In 1939, engineer F.I. Khrameev modified the grenade - the body of the lemon became somewhat simpler and lost the lower window.
There is another version of the appearance of the F-1 grenade. In 1999, retired Colonel Fedor Iosifovich Khrameev said in an interview with Kommersant Vlast magazine that in 1939 he designed the F-1 grenade.
In 1942 - 43, the Koveshnikov fuse was replaced with a standard unified UZRG fuse; After the end of the Great Patriotic War, the fuse was improved, the reliability of operation was increased, and it received the designation UZRGM.
Design
The F-1 grenade has the following tactical and technical characteristics:
The F-1 grenade is a hand-held anti-personnel, long-range defensive fragmentation grenade. Its design turned out to be so successful that it has existed to this day without fundamental changes. The design of the fuse was slightly changed and modified in order to increase operational reliability.
Like most anti-personnel grenades, the F-1 consists of 3 main parts.
- Fuse. The grenade has a universal fuse UZRGM (or UZRG), which is also suitable for RG-42 and RGD-5 grenades. The UZRGM fuse differs from the UZRG by changes in the shape of the trigger guard and the design of the striker, which made it possible to reduce the frequency of weapon failures.
- Explosive. The explosive charge is 60 g of TNT. It is possible to equip with trinitrophenol. Such grenades have an increased lethality, but the shelf life in warehouses is strictly limited; after expiration, the grenade poses a significant danger. The explosive block is insulated from the metal body with varnish, paraffin or paper. There are known cases of equipping grenades with pyroxylin mixtures.
- Metal shell. Externally, the grenade has an oval ribbed body made of steel cast iron, the profile resembles the letter “Zh”. The body is a complex casting, poured into the ground, and possibly die casting (hence the shape). Initially, the fins were created to produce fragments of a certain size and mass during an explosion; the fins also perform an ergonomic function, facilitating better retention of the grenade in the hand. Subsequently, some researchers expressed doubts about the effectiveness of such a system for forming fragments (cast iron is crushed into small fragments regardless of the shape of the body). Cutting the body makes it easier to tie the grenade to a peg. The total weight of the grenade with fuse is 600 g.
Labeling and storage
The combat grenade is painted green (khaki to dark green). The training and simulation grenade is painted black with two white (vertical and horizontal) stripes. In addition, it has a hole at the bottom. The fighting fuse has no color. In the training-imitation fuse, the pin ring and the lower part of the clamping lever are painted in scarlet color.
F-1 grenades are packed in wooden boxes of 20 pieces. UZRGM fuses are stored in the same box separately in two metal hermetically sealed jars (10 pieces per jar). Box weight - 20 kg. The box is equipped with a can opener designed to open a can of fuses. Grenades are equipped with fuses immediately before the battle; when transferred from the combat position, the fuse is removed from the grenade and stored separately.
The purpose of packaging fuses in sealed containers is to ensure maximum safety during the entire storage period, to prevent corrosion and oxidation of the components of the detonating mixture.
Combat use
Tactical features of combat use
In open areas, the effective range of destruction of the enemy when a grenade explodes directly from the high-explosive action of the ammunition is 3-5 meters. The radius of continuous damage to manpower by shrapnel is 7 meters. The chances of being hit by grenade fragments remain at a distance of up to 200 meters, but this statement is only true for large grenade fragments. As a rule, these are fuse elements, less often - fragments of the bottom of a grenade; During an explosion, the main part of the cast iron body (more than 60%) is sprayed into small, harmless fragments. The larger the fragment, the higher its potential damage range. The initial speed of grenade fragments is 700-720 meters per second; The mass of fragments is on average 1-2 grams, although both larger and smaller ones are found.
The characteristics of the damaging factors of grenades naturally determine the areas of application in modern conflicts. Grenades have the greatest effect indoors and confined spaces. This is due to the following factors. Firstly, in a relatively small room, up to 30 meters in size, the entire space is in the destruction zone of fragments, and fragments can also ricochet off the walls, ceiling and floor, which again increases the chances of hitting the enemy, even if he is in cover. Secondly, the high-explosive effect of a grenade in a closed room is amplified many times over, causing concussion, barotrauma, disorienting the enemy, which allows one to take advantage of the moment to enter the room and use other weapons to destroy it.
The F-1 grenade is more effective compared to offensive grenades when storming confined spaces and premises; due to its higher mass, it produces a larger number of fragments and has a more pronounced high-explosive effect, all this makes it more likely to incapacitate the enemy.
Tactical features of sabotage use
Also, F-1 grenades are often used when setting tripwires, this is due to the number of fragments, which increases the chances of hitting the enemy, and a reliable fuse, which will not be damaged by prolonged exposure to unfavorable conditions before the trap is triggered. A combination of 2 F-1 grenades creates a tripwire that also has some anti-sapper properties - it explodes when the cable (wire) is cut.
In special forces, the fuses of F-1 grenades are “modified”; before installation as a tripwire, the detonating charge is cut off and the retarder fuse is removed. You can also equip the grenade with an instant mine fuse of suitable size. Thus, they achieve an almost instantaneous explosion and deprive the enemy of 3 - 4 seconds to escape.
Application in military conflicts
In service
F1 in cinema
In action films, you can often see grenades suspended from a safety pin ring on a belt or vest. In reality, a sane person will not do this: during a battle you have to move over rough terrain, where there is a high risk of something catching on a grenade and pulling the safety pin out of it. After this, the grenade will quite naturally explode, most likely destroying the fighter or at least unmasking him. During combat, grenades are kept in a grenade pouch or unloading vest, and in their absence, in clothing pockets.
In feature films you can often see the main character effectively pulling the pin of a grenade with his teeth. In reality, in most cases, such an action will lead to tooth loss. This is because significant physical effort is required to remove the safety pin: this is done deliberately to prevent accidental grenade detonations.
Also in many films you can see how a grenade falls on a group of people, scattering them into different sides, killing most of them. In practice this is far from the case. When a grenade is detonated, a powerful blast wave is not generated: indeed, people located within a radius of 2-3 meters from the explosion site receive barotrauma, concussion, and often fall to the ground, but no one is thrown ten meters away from the explosion site. The fragments only affect those directly close to the explosion site. Having a small mass and low penetrating ability, the vast majority of fragments are not capable of penetrating the human body. This is the basis of the principle of saving comrades by covering a grenade with your body.
In some films and many illustrations, the F-1 grenade is black, which creates the impression that the black color of the grenade is standard. In fact black color means that the grenade is training or is a dummy; combat grenades are painted green.
Fighter training
When hit by grenade fragments, there is a high degree of randomness: for example, in some cases, detonating a grenade in close proximity to a fighter can only stun him; however, there are cases when a single fragment of a grenade hit a soldier located in cover at a distance of 70-80 meters from the place where the grenade was detonated.
For recruits, throwing a grenade often presents a psychological problem: based on ideas received from militants, they consider a grenade a monstrous weapon destructive force and experience panic, which leads to stupid and absurd actions that can really pose a threat to their lives. So, for example, they can throw a pin instead of a grenade, but leave the grenade in the trench; drop an activated grenade at your feet and, paralyzed by fear, stand waiting for the explosion instead of running away and lying down. It is also important to follow safety precautions when throwing grenades in the winter: when thrown, a grenade can get caught on protruding parts of clothing and fly in a direction dangerous for the fighter, or even roll into the sleeve.
Project evaluation
Overall, this sample anti-personnel grenade should be considered successful. The F-1 has stood the test of time, has a simple, reliable design, is technologically advanced and easy to manufacture, and effectively copes with the tasks assigned to this type of weapon. It is natural that the shortcomings of the project flow from its advantages.
Advantages
Due to its simple and reliable design, the F-1 grenade has been in service for about 70 years without significant changes and will probably not be removed from service for a long time. The advantages that provide such long term services are as follows:
Flaws
The disadvantages of this grenade are due primarily to the obsolescence of its design, and not to design flaws. These include:
- Low efficiency of formation of fragments when crushing the body. Most of the body mass (up to 60%) forms fragments that are too small to kill. At the same time, several too large fragments are often formed, increasing the dangerous distance and reducing the number of fragments of the optimal size. The corrugation of the hull, which is generally random in nature, cannot ensure the formation of fragments of a satisfactory shape and their optimal distribution over the mass (the very idea of the formation of fragments of a predictable size due to the corrugation of the hull turned out to be not entirely correct).
- The remote fuse does not lead to an explosion when it hits the target, but fires after some time (this property any remote fuse, and not just UZRG).
- The grenade is relatively heavy, which somewhat reduces the maximum throwing range.
see also
Notes
- The Global Intelligence Files - Re: SITREP - INSIGHT - LEBANON - update on black market prices
- Shooting manual. Hand grenades. - M.: Military Publishing House of the USSR Ministry of Defense. 1965 - 65, p.15
- BRIEF DESCRIPTION of the device and use of hand grenades of the 1915 model F.1.
The F-1 grenade has French roots and a long history. Under this designation, but in Latin transcription - F-1 - the grenade was adopted by the French army in 1915.
The French F-1 grenade had a percussion fuse. The simplicity and rationality of the design of the grenade body played a role - the grenade was soon adopted for service in Russia. At the same time, the impact fuse was not sufficiently reliable and safe to use and was replaced by a simpler and more reliable remote domestic fuse designed by Koveshnikov.
In 1939, military engineer F.I. Khrameev of the People's Commissariat of Defense plant, based on the model of the French F-1 hand fragmentation grenade, developed a sample of the domestic F-1 defensive grenade, which was soon put into mass production.
For the F-1 grenade designed by Khrameev, the cast iron body of the grenade was somewhat simplified; it lost the lower window.
The F-1 grenade, like the French F-1 model, is designed to destroy enemy personnel in defensive operations. When used in combat, the throwing fighter had to take cover in a trench or other defensive structures.
Initially, the F-1 grenade used a fuse designed by F.V. Koveshnikov, which was much more reliable and easier to use than the French fuse. The deceleration time of Koveshnikov's fuse was 3.5-4.5 seconds.
In 1941, designers E.M. Viceni and A.A. Poednyakov developed and put into service to replace Koveshnikov's fuse a new, safer and simpler in design fuse for the F-1 hand grenade. In 1942, the new fuse became common for the F-1 and RG-42 hand grenades; it was called UZRG - “unified fuse for hand grenades.” The fuse of the UZRGM type grenade was intended to explode the explosive charge of the grenade. The principle of operation of the mechanism was remote. After World War II, modernized, more reliable UZRGM and UZRGM-2 fuses began to be used on F-1 grenades.
The F-1 grenade consists of a body, a bursting charge and a fuse. The body of the grenade is cast iron, with longitudinal and transverse grooves along which the grenade usually exploded into fragments. In the upper part of the body there was a threaded hole for screwing in the fuse. When storing, transporting and carrying the grenade, a plastic plug was screwed into this hole. The explosive charge filled the body and served to break the grenade into fragments. The body served to connect the parts of the grenade and to hit the enemy with fragments during the explosion. To increase the number of fragments, the surface of the body was made corrugated. When the hull ruptured, it produced 290 large heavy fragments with initial speed expansion is about 730 m/s. At the same time, 38% of the mass of the body was used to form lethal fragments, the rest was simply sprayed. The reduced area of scattering of fragments is 75 - 82 m2.
The fuse consisted of a fuse and an igniting (percussion) mechanism, assembled together in the frame of the fuse. In the walls of the frame there were holes for a safety ball and a safety pin.
The UZRG fuse consisted of an igniter primer, a remote composition and a detonator primer. The ignition mechanism consisted of a firing pin, a mainspring, a safety ball, a safety cap with an outer lever, a cap spring and a safety pin with a ring. The drummer was placed inside the frame. At the bottom, the striker had a firing pin, and on the side there was a semicircular recess for a safety ball. The deceleration time of the UZRG fuse was 3.2-4.2 seconds.
F-1 grenades were stored and transported without fuses, with blank plugs screwed in instead. The ignition mechanism of the fuse was always cocked, the firing pin was cocked, and the mainspring was compressed. The striker was held in the cocked position by a safety pin, which passes through the holes of the frame and striker, and by a safety ball, which with one half entered into the hole of the frame, and the other into the recess of the striker. The ball was held in this position by a safety cap.
To load a grenade you need: unscrew the blank plug, take the fuse and carefully screw it into the grenade hole.
To throw a grenade you need: take a grenade right hand and with your fingers firmly press the outer lever of the safety cap to the grenade body; while holding the lever, pull out the safety pin with your left hand; in this case, the firing pin and the safety cap are released, but the firing pin remains cocked, held by the safety ball; swing and throw a grenade.
The grenade was thrown from behind cover. Grenades were delivered to the troops in wooden boxes. In the box, grenades, handles and fuses were placed separately in metal boxes. There was a knife to open the boxes. The walls and lid of the box were marked, indicating: the number of grenades in the box, their weight, the name of the grenades and fuses, the manufacturer's number, the batch number of the grenades, the year of manufacture and the danger sign. All supplies of grenades and fuses, except for portable ones, were stored in factory closures. Soldiers carried grenades in grenade bags. The fuses were placed in them separately from the grenades, and each fuse had to be wrapped in paper or a clean rag. In tanks (armored personnel carriers, self-propelled artillery units), grenades and fuses separately from them were placed in bags.
The F-1 grenade was widely used during the Soviet-Finnish military conflict of 1939 - 1940, on the fronts of the Great Patriotic War, and in other wars and military conflicts. During the Great Patriotic War, soldiers affectionately called the F-1 grenade “fenyusha” and “limon” because it looked like a lemon in appearance. Usually when conducting assault actions There were five to ten F-1 grenades per soldier. The F-1 grenade was readily used as a trophy and German soldiers, since such defensive grenades were not in service with the Wehrmacht.
The production of F-1 grenades during the war years was carried out at plant No. 254 (since 1942), 230 (Tizpribor"), 53, in the workshops of the Povenetsky shipyard, a mechanical plant and a railway junction in Kandalaksha, the central repair workshops of the NKVD Soroklag, an artel "Primus" (Leningrad), other domestic enterprises.
During the war, many non-core enterprises and organizations were involved in the production of F-1 grenades. By order of the City Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks on December 28, 1941, production (casting and machining) of F-1 hand grenade cases was organized in the experimental workshops of the Leningrad Polytechnic Institute. In total, the workshops cast 11,000 cases. 5,000 unprocessed cases were delivered to plant No. 103, 4,800 of them were machined and transferred to the Pyatiletka factory. The order for the production of grenade casings was suspended on the instructions of the city committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks).
During the war, Leningrad enterprises mastered the production of a version of the fuse for a grenade using one of the brands of hunting gunpowder instead of special tubular gunpowder. In 1942, tests of such a fuse under the designation “PP-42” for the F-1 grenade were carried out at ANIOP (“Rzhev Test Site”). Grenades with RR-42 fuses were put into mass production only at enterprises in Leningrad. These implementations were temporary. There were other examples of unusual grenade production during the war.
Many inventions and design proposals are associated with the F-1 grenade. In August 1942, a sergeant from Mortar Battalion 284 rifle regiment N.K. Deryabin developed the “flea grenade” project. It was intended to defeat enemy personnel. The composition of the “flea grenade” included: an expelling charge, a firing pin with a striker and a nut, and an F-1 grenade with the fuse removed. The grenade exploded in the air at a height of 10-15 meters. It was proposed to use a grenade with a parachute for mining. But Deryabin's system turned out to be too complicated. According to military experts, the project was not implemented due to lack of practical value.
To train military personnel in the handling of remote-action hand fragmentation grenades, the techniques and rules for throwing them, a training and simulation URG hand grenade weighing 530 g was created, outwardly similar to the F-1 combat grenade. The URG grenade is equipped with a UZRG fuse simulator.
The F-1 combat grenade is painted green (from khaki to dark green). The training and simulation grenade is painted black with two white (vertical and horizontal) stripes. In addition, it has a hole at the bottom. The fighting fuse has no color. In the training-imitation fuse, the pin ring and the lower part of the pressure lever are painted scarlet. Externally, the grenade has an oval ribbed body made of steel cast iron.
Another training split grenade F-1-A (57-G-7214U) was developed by the Training Instruments Plant No. 1 in January 1940. The grenade had a quarter cutout of the body; instead of an explosive, plaster was poured. It was intended to demonstrate the design of the F-1 combat grenade. The F-1-A grenade was used for training in the Red and Soviet armies for a long time. The F-1 grenade was widely used in military conflicts of the 1940s-1990s in different parts Sveta.
The disadvantages of the F-1 grenade are not so much related to this sample, but are due to the general obsolescence of this generation. Corrugation of the body, as one of the methods of specified crushing, cannot fully ensure the formation of fragments of satisfactory shape and optimal distribution of fragments by mass. The crushing of the hull is largely random. The advantages of a remote fuse include failure-free operation, independent of the impact energy when a grenade falls, and whether it falls on the ground, in snow, in water or in swampy soil. But its drawback is that it cannot ensure an instant detonation of a grenade when it touches the target: the retarder has a specified burning time.
Performance characteristics of F-1 grenades
And the F-1 grenade, as one of the outstanding representatives of the classic type of hand grenades with a solid cast iron body of virtually natural crushing and a simple, reliable remote fuse, cannot compete with modern grenades for the same purpose - both in terms of optimal fragmentation action and versatility of action fuse. All these problems are solved differently at modern technical, scientific and production levels. Thus, the Russian Army created a grenade (defensive hand grenade), largely unified with the RGN grenade (offensive hand grenade). The unified fuse of these grenades has a more complex design: its design combines remote and impact mechanisms. Grenade bodies also have significantly greater fragmentation efficiency.
However, the F-1 grenade has not been removed from service and will probably remain in service for a long time. There is a simple explanation for this: simplicity, cheapness and reliability, as well as time-tested are the most valuable qualities for a weapon. And in a combat situation, it is not always possible to counter these qualities with technical perfection, which requires large production and economic costs.
Operating principle of hand grenade fuses
Unified hand grenade fuse modernized UZRGM
The UZRGM grenade fuse (modernized unified hand grenade fuse) (Fig. 7) is intended to explode the explosive charge in F-1, RGD-5 and RG-42 grenades.
The impact mechanism serves to ignite the igniter primer. It consists of a hammer tube, a connecting sleeve, a guide washer, a mainspring, a firing pin, a firing pin washer, a trigger lever and a safety pin with a ring.
The impact tube is the basis for assembling all parts of the igniter.
The connecting sleeve serves to connect the fuse to the grenade body. It is placed on the bottom of the impact mechanism tube.
The guide washer is a stop for the upper end of the mainspring and directs the movement of the firing pin. It is fixed in the upper part of the impact mechanism tube.
UZRGM device
It consists of a striking mechanism and the fuse itself.
In official use, the striker is constantly cocked and held by the trigger lever fork.
The trigger lever is connected to the percussion mechanism tube by a safety pin. Before throwing a grenade, the plastic plug is turned out and the fuse is screwed in its place.
After pulling the pin, the position of the fuse parts does not change.
At the moment the grenade is thrown, the trigger lever separates and releases the firing pin. The firing pin, under the action of the mainspring, pierces the igniter cap. A beam of fire from the primer ignites the moderator and, after passing through it, is transmitted to the detonator primer. The explosion of the detonator capsule initiates the detonation of the explosive charge. The explosion of the explosive charge crushes the grenade body into fragments.
Interaction of UZRGM parts(Fig. 10, 11)
1. The pin is pulled out, the grenade is thrown, the lever is separated, the firing pin has punctured the primer - the igniter.
2. The powder composition of the moderator burns out, the detonator primer fires
1 - impact mechanism tube; 2 - guide washer; 3 - mainspring; 4 - drummer; 5 - striker washer; 6 - release lever; 7 - safety pin with ring; 8 - connecting sleeve.
9 - primer - igniter; 10 - retarder bushing; 11 - moderator; 12 - capsule - detonator.
Shock- remote igniter UDS(Fig. 12)
Manual fragmentation grenades RGO and RGN are equipped with a shock-remote ignition device.
1 - body.
Safety mechanism:
2 - release lever; 3 - striker with a sting; 4 - mainspring; 5 - ring with a pin; 6 - bar; 7 - plug; 8 - primer - igniter.
Mechanism long-range cocking:
9 - powder fuses; 10 - primer - igniter; 11 - engine; 12 - spring.
Target Sensor:
13 - sting; 14 - spring; 15 - sleeve; 16 - bushing; 17 - cargo.
Self-destruct mechanism:
18 - moderator; 19 - capsule - detonator.
Detonation unit:
20 - capsule - detonator.
Interaction of parts and mechanisms
Initial position
IN starting position the striker with the sting (3) and the plug with the igniter capsule (7) are held by the trigger lever. The trigger lever is connected to the igniter body by a safety pin. The engine (11) with the igniter primer (10) is offset relative to the tip (13) and is held by the stoppers of the powder fuses (9), its spring (12) is in a compressed state. The bushing (16) under the influence of the spring (14) presses the load (17).
Position of parts and mechanisms in official circulation (Fig. 14)
When preparing a grenade for throwing, the trigger lever is pressed tightly with your fingers to the body of the grenade, the ends of the safety pin are straightened with the fingers of your free hand, then it is pulled out by the ring, while the position of the fuse parts does not change.
At the moment the grenade is thrown, the trigger lever separates and releases the striker with the sting (3) and the bar (6). The plug (7) with the igniter capsule comes out of the igniter housing socket. The firing pin, under the action of the mainspring (4), pierces the igniter primer (8) with its sting.
The fire beam ignites the powder press-fit fuses (9) and the pyrotechnic composition of the self-liquidator moderator (18).
After 1-1.8 seconds. The powder compositions of the fuses burn out and their stoppers, under the influence of springs, disengage with the engine (11).
The engine, under the influence of the spring (12), moves into the firing position.
The long-range cocking mechanism prevents the grenade from being detonated if it accidentally falls from the hand.
Interaction of parts and mechanisms when throwing and meeting a grenade with an obstacle (surface)
When meeting an obstacle (surface), the load (17) shifts in the direction of the inertial force component and acts on the sleeve (16). The bushing, overcoming the resistance of the spring (14), displaces the tip, which pierces the igniter primer (10). The fire beam is transmitted to the detonator capsule (20), which causes the explosive charge to detonate.
In case of failure, the fuse will operate in inertia after 3.3 - 4.3 seconds. the moderator composition burns out, the detonator cap (19) of the self-destructor ignites, causing the detonation unit to explode.
The success that accompanied the use of hand grenades during the First World War gave impetus to their mass production. Almost all armies of the world categorically adopted hand grenades into service, significantly increasing at one point firepower infantryman Infantry armed with hand grenades could solve many more problems on the battlefield. This was facilitated by the emergence of various types of these weapons. To enhance attack operations, high-explosive ammunition was used, where the main damaging factors were fire damage And shock wave. For defensive operations, fragmentation grenades were best suited. Such hand-fired ammunition includes the F-1 hand-held fragmentation grenade, which is familiar to the average person, popularly nicknamed the “lemon”.
This weapon can rightfully be called legendary. Armed with this type of grenade, Soviet soldiers fought in the Finnish campaign of 1939-40. “Limonka” went through the entire Great Patriotic War. At the same time, the strength and power of this ammunition, in addition to Soviet soldiers, was also appreciated by German soldiers. Even after the war, the Soviet Army for a long time was armed with F-1 hand fragmentation grenades, which became popular in the armies of other countries.
How did the legendary “lemon” appear?
The military was immediately able to appreciate the advantages that hand grenades had. Used as hand-fired anti-personnel ammunition, grenades radically changed close combat tactics. Shards that are the main damaging element these ammunition could instantly disable large group of people. This detail was very convenient for conducting defensive actions when it was urgently necessary to stop an enemy attack. In the Soviet Union, such ammunition was taken very seriously. The reserves of hand grenades, inherited by the Red Army from the tsarist army, were exhausted during the Civil War. The infantry units of the Red Army were in dire need of increasing the combat effectiveness of their fighters through hand-held fire weapons.
Having encountered during the suppression of the Basmachi movement in Central Asia With a shortage of hand grenades, in the mid-20s, on instructions from the Revolutionary Military Council, Soviet gunsmiths began developing new types of hand grenades. Two options for ammunition were considered at once - for offensive purposes and for defense. Already in 1926, the designer Dyakonov presented his development, a hand-held defensive-offensive grenade, to the high military commission. The finished sample received the index RGD-33 and was adopted by the Red Army. The defensive option was handled differently. Soviet designers did not reinvent the wheel. The French F-1 fragmentation hand grenade of the 1915 model was taken as the basis. It was this ammunition that the commanders and Red Army soldiers who went through the crucible of the fronts of the First World War and the Civil War were very familiar with.
Soviet gunsmith engineers, under the leadership of military engineer Khrameev, had to carry out an almost complete modernization of the ammunition. Original sample was released in 1939 and was called and received the index F-1. The design of the F 1 fragmentation hand grenade differed from the French-made product. The main emphasis was placed on the perfection of the fuse, which the French grenade had a shock action. Such a mechanism for putting into action in modern conditions has become extremely dangerous and not always convenient. Not always during a fight does a fighter have the opportunity to make a throw. The grenade designers were faced with the task of creating a controlled fuse. The grenade must be activated through certain time without mechanical contact of the body with an obstacle. A way out of the situation was suggested by engineer Koveshnikov, who managed to create a simple and reliable fuse.
The grenade was intended to destroy manpower. The main damaging element was body fragments that were formed during the explosion of the explosive charge. For this purpose, the designers created a cast iron body, artificially divided into ribs. The ammunition was activated using manual manipulation. The Koveshnikov fuse provided the remote action of the F-1 grenade. In other words, the detonation of the ammunition charge occurred with a time delay of 5-6 seconds. The lemon exploded regardless of whether it was thrown at the target or continued to be in the hands of the fighter. A distinctive feature of a defensive-type hand-held fragmentation grenade was that the fragments scattered over a distance exceeding the throwing range, so such a weapon required special knowledge and skills in the process combat use.
Characteristics of fragmentation hand grenade F 1
The invention of Soviet designers had the same characteristic body oval shape, made of steel cast iron, which is more hard and produces a huge number of fragments when broken. The body has special fins, thanks to which the fragments formed during the explosion have a certain size and weight. When loaded, the F 1 grenade weighed 600 grams. The main charge of the ammunition was represented by TNT weighing 60 g. This amount of explosive was enough to ensure the rupture of the cast iron body. The fragments formed at the moment of the explosion scattered at a speed of 500-700 m/s, flying away from the epicenter of the explosion to a distance of up to 200 meters. On average, when an F-1 combat grenade exploded, the number of fragments reached 300 pieces, among which the number of lethal fragments was 30-40%.
The combat grenade had the following device:
- frame;
- explosive charge;
- trigger mechanism (fuse).
The F 1 grenade in combat version was green in color. The training version of the lemon was specially painted black, having two intersecting vertical and horizontal stripes on the body. The fuse of the combat grenade had no color. The training ammunition had a ring and a scarlet pressure lever.
The fuse is screwed into the upper part of the housing. Ammunition and fuses were located separately during transportation and storage. The hole for the fuse in the body was closed with a screw-in plug - a plug.
Subsequent modernization
The F-1 fragmentation grenade had its first baptism of fire during the Soviet-Finnish War of 1939-40. The Red Army soldiers received a very convenient melee weapon. However, during the fighting, two serious shortcomings of the lemon were revealed:
- firstly, Soviet soldiers in most cases had no idea how a fragmentation grenade worked and did not always use it for its intended purpose. This naturally led to frequent accidents when the soldier throwing the grenade himself received mortal wounds and injuries;
- secondly, the remote fuse set the ammunition into action only after 6 seconds. Such a time delay was unacceptable in modern combat conditions.
Having assessed the results of the combat use of hand grenades, it was decided to improve the fuse, ultimately making a more reliable trigger mechanism of a universal type. Engineers Viceni and Bednyakov managed to as soon as possible create a simple and reliable fuse, which received the complex abbreviation UZRGM - unified manual grants modernized fuse. Due to its versatility, this fuse has become common since 1942 for all hand grenades in service with the Red Army. Now the time to detonate the main ammunition charge was 3-4 seconds. This type of fuse was subsequently modernized again, receiving the designation UZRGM-2.
Fundamentally, the device did not bring anything new. As in the previous modification, the main parts of the fuse were:
- hammer tube;
- impact mechanism;
- connecting part – bushing;
- guide washer;
- safety lever;
- check.
It was the pipe that was the main element, on the basis of which all other parts of the fuse were already mounted. The main action performed by the assembled mechanism was the ignition of the primer, after which further detonation of the main grenade charge occurred.
Using a connecting sleeve, the fuse was connected to the lemon body. It should be noted that in combat condition the firing pin of the UZRGM is cocked, held in this position by the trigger lever. The movement of the firing pin is ensured by a mainspring, which is held in tension by a safety or trigger lever. As a result of manual manipulation, the grenade, even with the pin pulled out, remains inactive. Only at the moment of throwing, when there is no pressure on the trigger lever, does the firing pin begin to move in the direction of the igniter. This element slows down the ignition reaction of the main detonator capsule. Only after this the main explosive charge of the ammunition is detonated.
F 1 grenades were stored in storage areas in wooden boxes, 20 pcs. in everyone. The fuses for the lemons, like other hand grenades, were stored there. In every wooden box there were two metal sealed containers with UZRGM fuses. The total weight of the grenade box was 20 kg. Even during storage, the fuse is cocked. To put a grenade into combat condition, it is enough to unscrew the plug from the ammunition body and screw in the fuse in its place.
Combat use of lemon juice F 1
The Soviet F 1 grenade is rightfully considered one of the most popular hand-held ammunition. In the form in which we know lemon, it went through all the military conflicts of the second half of the 20th century. This type of hand grenades was actively used during defensive operations, as well as during assault operations. The Soviet lemon was also used by German troops during World War II. The hand grenade "Stielhandgranaten" M24, which is in service with the Wehrmacht, nicknamed Soviet soldiers“beater” was not a defensive weapon. Soviet army warehouses captured by the Germans in the first months of the Great Patriotic War made it possible to provide German troops with Eastern Front the necessary supply of an effective defensive weapon.
In the USSR, during the Great Patriotic War, the F 1 hand fragmentation grenade was produced at several enterprises at once. The main defense order was carried out by factories No. 254, No. 230 and No. 53. Enterprises under the jurisdiction of the NKVD collected lemon in small batches. If the technical base and capabilities were available, F 1 grenades were assembled at ship repair and mechanical enterprises in the country.
The production of cast iron bodies was carried out in Leningrad, after which the blanks were distributed to assembly sites. After the blockade began, other plants and factories began to produce housings. In parallel with the release of combat grenades, the release was carried out training ammunition, thanks to which Soviet soldiers had the opportunity to train proper handling with a defensive fragmentation grenade.
Soviet grenades were baptized by fire in Korean War, were successfully used by Vietnamese partisans during the Indochina War. After the cessation of production of this type of ammunition, the F 1 grenade continued to be in service with the Soviet Army. During the hostilities of the Soviet military contingent in the DRA, the lemon remained in a special place among Soviet soldiers.