WW1 German Rifle Grenade embedded in tree root

WW1 German Rifle Grenade embedded in tree root

RARE and fascinating piece just come in from a private collection in Kent.

This is a German 1913 Rifle or rod grenade, which was developed by Germany and was intended to be launched using the Mauser rifle after inserting the long rod into the barrel.

This one possibly was either fired or was dropped and the root of a tree has grown over and around it . You have the main rod sticking out of the rear and the main head fully encased in tree root. This piece is no longer live.

The term “grenade” comes from the Latin, granatus, literally “filled with grain.” The “grain” in grenades was explosive mixtures and compounds contained in metal canisters and set off by spark, fuse, mechanical or percussion ignition. Some sources relate that the term is derived from the Spanish word granada or pomegranate, for the resemblance between the fruit and the weapon. When grenades first came into use in warfare is unknown. But legend has it that the first grenade was a small box of live vipers (snakes) which ancient warriors threw into the enemy’s camp.

The first recorded use of the word “grenade” came in 1536, from the siege of Arles in southern France by French forces under King Francis I. The early grenades were made of glass globes, jars, kegs and firepots. A 1665 reference related that grenades were carried in a pocket called a grena-diere.

At the start of the war the Germans only trained special infantry troops, or “pioneers,” to use hand grenades. Soon two types of grenades became standard for the Germans: stick (with the explosive can attached to a wooden handle) and egg (because it resembled an egg). German stick grenades were also called “potato mashers” again for their shape.

World War I or the First World War, often abbreviated as WWI or WW1, was a major global conflict that began on 28 July 1914 and ended on 11 November 1918. Referred to by contemporaries as the “Great War“, its belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fighting taking place across Europe, the Middle East, Africa and parts of Asia. New technology, including the recent invention of the airplane, trench warfare, and especially chemical weapons made it one of the deadliest conflicts in history. An estimated 9 million soldiers died in combat, with another 5 million civilian deaths as a result of military actions, hunger and disease.^[2] Millions more died in genocides within the Ottoman Empire and the 1918 influenza pandemic, which was exacerbated by the movement of combatants during the war.^[3][4]

WW1 German Rifle Grenade embedded in tree root