F1 is offensive. Hand fragmentation grenades

There are many weapons in the world that are truly legendary in themselves. This includes the lemon grenade, better known under the symbol F-1. Many believe that it appeared relatively recently, whereas this is far from the case: this type was in service with the Red Army already during the Great Patriotic War. So when did “lemon” appear and what are its advantages and disadvantages?

Main characteristics

This grenade belongs to the class of hand-held defensive weapons. Simply put, it is intended to destroy enemy personnel with shrapnel due to its use by a soldier manually, without the use of any aids for the throw. In a word, a classic grenade, the principle of operation of which has not changed since the time of the glorious bombardier Pyotr Alekseevich. The deceleration time is from 3.2 to 4.2 seconds, quite “blurry”.

What is the difference between the defensive variety? This term means that during an explosion a fairly large number of massive fragments are formed, scattering over a distance noticeably greater than that for a throw. After throwing such a grenade, a soldier must jump into a fairly reliable shelter. Otherwise, there is a high probability of being hit by his own weapons. This is the kind of grenade they call a “lemon”.

External differences

A characteristic feature is a ribbed body, cast from a special type of cast iron. It is divided into exactly 32 segments. Theoretically, this should mean that during an explosion the same 32 fragments are formed, but in practice this does not always happen. Together with the fuse, the lemon grenade weighs as much as 0.6 kg. The role is played by TNT. Weight - 60 grams. The fuse is characterized by its versatility, as it can be used simultaneously with the RGD-5. Its index is UZRGM.

It should be remembered that combat grenades are painted strictly green, which can vary from khaki to dark olive. The training version is black; in this case, there are two white stripes on the surface of the “projectile”. In addition, the training “limon” grenade has a hole in the lower part. Important! The combat fuse does not have any indicating coloring.

The training grenade is different in that its pin and the entire lower part of the pressure lever are painted scarlet. Since you can make a training “limon” (grenade) from a combat one by unscrewing the fuse and “frying” the body over a fire (the explosive will simply burn out, without an explosion), then when making an “ersatz” you don’t need to forget about this feature. Otherwise, someone might have a heart attack during a training exercise.

Where did the “limonka” come from on Russian soil?

Most likely, the prototype was the Mils grenade from the First World War. At that time it was the most advanced weapon in its class. This assumption is probably not without a grain of truth, since they are surprisingly similar in the shape and design principle of the fragmentation jacket. However, there is another point of view.

F. Leonidov believes that the immediate model for assembly was the French F-1 (!), which was put into service in 1915 and... the English Lemon grenade (one of the versions is why the F-1 grenade is called “lemon”). But no one can prove whether this is actually so.

In principle, this is not so important, because the design of the fuse is originally domestic, and the high technology of production is a tribute to the Soviet weapons tradition. Both English and French samples from WWII are much more difficult to manufacture and more expensive.

Different fuse options

At first it was equipped with a fuse, the author of which was F.V. Koveshnikov. According to the principle of operation, it was absolutely similar to the modern one, but was slightly more labor-intensive to manufacture. But its main drawback was that only the F-1 “limon” hand defensive grenade “ate” it.

About correct use

Before use, the soldier must straighten the safety tendrils, and then take the grenade so that his hand completely fixes the clamping lever to the body. Just before throwing (!) you need to pull the pin. You can keep the “lemon” in this position indefinitely for a long time, since when the lever is compressed, the primer is not initiated, and therefore an explosion will not occur.

Once a target is selected, you should vigorously throw a grenade at it. At this moment the lever will turn, releasing the firing pin, and fly off to the side. The firing pin initiates the primer (by puncturing it), and after three to four seconds an explosion occurs.

Do you remember how in films they repeatedly showed an episode when a desperate sailor (soldier, revolutionary, partisan, etc.) in a last, desperate jerk pulls out the pin with his teeth? If you decide to repeat this trick, make sure you have a good dentist in advance, since you will 100% have to change your front teeth. Even with your hand, if the fixing tendrils are not straightened, such a feat can only be accomplished, so what kind of teeth are there... In a word, don’t even think about tearing out the pin in this way!

Tales from the range, or reviews of use

The most people join our army different people. For some, the “lemon” (a training grenade, but this does not particularly affect the situation) causes such uncontrollable horror that at the firing line they begin to do a variety of “obscenities”. Most often this is expressed in the fact that a person tightly clutches it in his hands and does not hear any orders.

Others are capable of throwing a pin at a target or, swinging for a “heroic” throw, launching a grenade a meter and a half away. This is not a firecracker - a grenade! “Limonka” in this case is indeed mortally dangerous not for the target, but for the fighter himself.

Oddly enough, women in the army behave much more adequately when handling such a dangerous object. They are focused, efficient and diligent. Emotions at this moment do not visit them at all! But after the throw, they willingly share with their friends about the “horror they experienced” and their “shaking nerves.”

Advantages of F1

Why is it that this weapon, which actually appeared a hundred years ago, is still actively used not only in our army, but also in the armed forces of other states? former USSR? The most important circumstances are simplicity, manufacturability and low cost of production. The process of the latter was extremely simple: the body was cast, molten TNT was placed in it, cooled...

And the grenade was ready! Compare this with the production of the same Russian Geographical Society, when steel, plastic, and other materials are used. “Limonki” could be produced by any enterprise that had at least some kind of foundry.

In addition, the weight of the grenade allows it to be used effectively in urban environments: if thrown with sufficient energy, it will easily fly through glass, branches, and other obstacles. In addition, the detonation does not depend in any way on the force with which the F-1 collides with the surface. It can fall on a tree, rock, steel, swamp or river, but it will still explode (usually).

In addition, the F-1 lemon grenade is quite powerful and lethal. What else does the military need? Oddly enough, a lot. These grenades also have disadvantages.

Cons of lemons

Firstly, weight. As much as 0.6 kg! In combat conditions this is a very significant mass. Secondly, “blurred” fuse action: from 3.2 to 4.2 s. Moreover, in practice there are constantly samples that can explode in both a shorter and longer time. In one part of Transbaikalia, this circumstance almost led to tragedy when a grenade exploded after eight seconds!

At that time, the soldier had already leaned out from behind the cover, and only by a lucky coincidence he was not chopped into shrapnel. In addition, in combat conditions, the prolonged action of the fuse can lead to the fact that a particularly “nimble” enemy will simply throw away the “gift” that has flown to him.

Thirdly, there is no grenade option that would explode immediately after contact with the target. These are the so-called mountain models. In Afghanistan, this has repeatedly led to tragedies when a thrown projectile bounced off a rock and flew back. All these shortcomings were absent in the RGN. But they were much more expensive and more difficult to produce, and their release occurred during the collapse of the USSR. So the same “efka” remained on guard.

F1 lemon grenade, having many positive traits, in any case, will be in service with our army for many years to come.

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 handle and was replaced by a simpler and more reliable remote domestic fuse designed by Koveshnikov.

F-1 with Koveshnikov fuse

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, a new fuse became united for hand grenades F-1 and RG-42, 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 an initial expansion speed of about 730 m/s. At the same time, for education lethal fragments 38% of the mass of the body was lost, the rest was simply sprayed. The reduced area of scattering of fragments is 75 - 82 m2.

UZRG fuse:

1 - ignition mechanism tube; 2 - connecting

sleeve; 3 - guide washer; 4 - mainspring;

5 - drummer; 6 - striker washer; 7 - release lever;

8 - safety pin with ring; 9 - retarder bushing;

10 - igniter primer; 11 - powder moderator;

12 - detonator capsule.

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 the 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 to: unscrew the blank cap, take the fuse and carefully screw it into the hole of the grenade.

F-1 with UZRGM-2 fuse

To throw a grenade you must: take the grenade with your right hand and firmly press the outer lever of the safety cap with your fingers to the body of the grenade; while holding the lever, pull out the safety pin with your left hand; in this case, the firing pin and 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 appearance looks like a lemon. Usually, when conducting assault operations, one soldier had five to ten F-1 grenades.

The F-1 grenade was also readily used as a trophy by German soldiers, since there were no similar defensive grenades in service with the Wehrmacht.

The production of F-1 grenades during the war was carried out at plant No. 254 (since 1942), 230 (Tizpribor), 53, in the Povenetsky workshops shipyard, a mechanical plant and railway junction in Kandalaksha, central repair workshops of the NKVD Soroklag, the Primus artel (Leningrad), and 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, in the experimental workshops of Leningrad Polytechnic Institute production (casting and machining) of F-1 hand grenade bodies was organized. 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 PP-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, sergeant of the mortar battalion of the 284th Infantry 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, externally similar to the F-1 combat grenade. The URG grenade is equipped with a UZRG fuse simulator.

training and simulation hand grenade URG

with imitation fuse

The F-1 combat grenade is painted in green color(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.

training split grenade F-1-A with Koveshnikov fuse:

1 - fuse core; 2 - detonator cap thimble;

3 - safety cap; 4 - outer lever

cap; 5 - delaying protrusion on the fuse frame;

6 - safety pin; 7 - igniter primer;

8 - powder composition; 9 - detonator capsule; 10 - drummer;

11 - fuse ball; 12 - mainspring;

13 - cap spring.

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 of grenades. Corrugation of the body, as one of the methods of specified crushing, cannot fully ensure the formation of fragments of a satisfactory shape and the optimal distribution of fragments by mass. Crushing the hull has a lot to do with random nature. 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 provide instant detonation of the grenade when it touches the target: the retarder has a specified burning time.

Grenade weight, g 600

Charge weight, g 60

Type explosive TNT

Grenade body length, mm 86

Length of grenade with fuse, mm 117

Grenade diameter, mm 55

Throwing range, m 30 - 40

Radius of fragments scattering, m 200

Moderator burning time, s 3.2 - 4.2

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. So, in Russian Army The RGO grenade (defensive hand grenade) was created, 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.

Over the past hundred years, hand grenades have become one of the most common types of infantry weapons, they have been used in all wars, large and small. The first mass use of hand grenades apparently dates back to Russo-Japanese War, and during the First World War, many types of grenades were developed and put into widespread production, including those that are in service to this day. Among such long-livers is the famous F-1/F-1 grenade, developed in 1915 in France, and then adopted by the Red Army. In the Second world war The production of hand grenades in the USSR reached 138 million pieces, and in Germany - 136 million pieces. The consumption of grenades could reach tens of thousands of pieces per day.

During the war, hand grenades became a kind of “pocket artillery” for the infantry. With its help it was possible to storm trenches, firing points, buildings, destroy unarmored and lightly armored vehicles, place them as anti-personnel mines, and fight off the advancing enemy. Subsequent armed conflicts greatly enriched the arsenal of tactical techniques for using grenades, so that now the use of grenades has become a whole science, significantly expanding combat capabilities infantryman

After the war, numerous attempts were made to improve the design of hand grenades, however, after all the attempts, and even after the appearance of hand-held and under-barrel grenade launchers, the famous F-1 “Fenka” is still in service with the Russian army.

Reasons for the longevity of "Fenka"

At this point it is worth thinking about the reasons for the phenomenal longevity of the F-1, which has been fighting for a hundred years in a row. Neither more advanced grenades (for example RGN and RGO) nor successful military development RG-42. The first reason is the simplicity of the design. F-1 consists of three parts: a body made of steel cast iron, a TNT charge and a UZRGM fuse. Casting a body from cast iron does not require semi-finished products (unlike the RG-42, the production of which required sheet metal), and can be carried out at any enterprise where there is a foundry. For comparison, RGN and RGO grenades are a technological masterpiece that requires precise stamping of hemispheres (two aluminum for RGN and four steel for RGO), manufacturing and assembly of a complex impact-remote fuse. The use of semi-finished products and much more complex production operations did not allow the mass production of these types of grenades even within the framework of the powerful Soviet military-industrial complex. The second reason for the longevity of the F-1 is that with the smallest charge among all types of grenades - 60 grams of TNT, it provides damage with fragments within a radius of 7 meters, and with a high-explosive effect within a radius of 3-5 meters. RGN achieves the same effect with an explosive charge of 114 grams. No wonder: less brittle than cast iron, steel and aluminum, they show much less effectiveness in hand grenades. There are also other reasons for the popularity of the F-1, which include the ergonomics of the grenade, ease of throwing, the ability to use the grenade in hand-to-hand combat as an impact weapon, and the habit of using grenades of this particular type.

Thus, we can say that the reason for such a long period military service F-1 consists of technological and military-economic aspects: simpler manufacturing technology, no need for semi-finished products, fragile material that produces good fragments, a smaller explosive charge. For the military economy, all this is very important.

An interesting observation can be made that post-war attempts to improve the hand grenade were clearly on the wrong track. The choice of a material with much less brittleness than cast iron significantly worsened performance characteristics pomegranate. This deterioration was not compensated by the lighter weight of the grenades (RGN weighs 310 grams versus 600 grams of the F-1), nor by a more advanced fuse. Not to mention the much more complex manufacturing technology.

But this does not mean that the hand grenade cannot be improved. Can. The improved grenade should be even simpler and more technologically advanced than the F-1, and also have wider tactical capabilities.

Technological and mobilization innovations

The first thing is the material of the grenade body. It should be a brittle, easily crushed material. The first candidate for the role is the same steel cast iron, a war-tested material for the production of ammunition. However, there are other materials. For example, phenol plastics (a mixture of phenol-formaldehyde resin with fillers), which can be much more brittle than cast iron (2-6 kJ/m2, with the same indicator for cast iron 80-100 kJ/m2), and can have a comparable fragility. By choosing a filler, you can get a resin with excellent fragility, but at the same time with good hardness, which is important for obtaining fragments. The weight of the fragments will be comparable to cast iron fragments, and in addition, by experimenting with fillers and the structure of the plastic, you can achieve the formation large quantity large fragments. Steel and aluminum are not very suitable for grenades.

Manufacturability depends on the design of the grenade itself. The design itself can be taken from the F-1: body, charge and UZRGM fuse. However, casting the F-1 body has its drawbacks associated with the properties of cast iron, and produces a fairly high percentage of defects. The body of a hand grenade is best stamped. This technology is suitable for both cast iron and its substitutes. The body in this case is a tube 25-30 cm long, with an internal diameter corresponding to the diameter of the F-1 grenade point (about 2 cm), the wall thickness can be 3-4 mm. At one end of the tube there is an internal thread, on this side a fuse is inserted into the grenade, and on the other side there is an external thread onto which an additional jacket can be screwed to increase the number of fragments.

However, here it is worth taking a closer look at the issue of replacing cast iron with brittle non-metals. Cast iron is quite difficult to process. A tube from it can be cast, extruded by pressing or extrusion, but this is a rather complex technology that requires melting the metal or heating the blanks to 900 degrees (hence, fuel or energy consumption), as well as powerful presses. Forming a tube from phenolic plastics is much simpler and more technologically advanced, since it can be stamped, extruded, molded by winding strips, glued from two stamped halves, or in some other way. The fragmentation jacket can also be made of non-metallic material, for example, from glass, which has remarkable fragility and produces fragments with sharp, cutting edges that are difficult to remove from the body. In principle, almost any plastic is suitable for the production of a grenade body; many of its types are very fragile. Although phenolic plastics have a definite preference, field testing of different types and formulations of plastics can be done to find the best one for making grenades.

The tube is filled with TNT, which can be pre-formed into a rod of appropriate size and wrapped in oiled paper. The end of the tube opposite to the fuse is closed with a stopper. A tube of the above dimensions holds about 100 grams of TNT. The fuse is standard - UZRGM, with the only difference being that the trigger lever is made straight rather than curved. Accordingly, the grenade is taken into the hand with the fuse down, the lever is pressed with the hand against the body of the grenade.

What does this give us? Firstly, this significantly simplifies the technology for manufacturing the grenade body. This is most clearly seen in the case of the use of phenolic plastics, which are easy to machine. Refusal from cast iron allows the production of hand grenades to be fully automated, which will allow them to be produced in very large quantities. For war, an excess of hand grenades is more of a benefit than a disadvantage. Secondly, this design has mobilization potential. If the need arises, the body of a grenade can be made using artisanal methods from any pipe of suitable size (for example, a 3/4-inch steel water pipe), rolled from any iron sheet that comes to hand, a tube made of glass, and even using cardboard tubes (then a grenade will act like a TNT block). The effectiveness of such grenades will differ significantly from standard ones, but sometimes military needs force one to resort to such improvisations.

Another advantage of the grenade design is the ability to vary the charge power. The tube can be made shorter or longer, and less or more explosives can be placed in it. You can also reduce the charge in a ready-made grenade by securing it inside with an additional stopper. This cannot be done with F-1 and all varieties of spherical grenades. You can choose experimentally optimal sizes grenades and the weight of the charge, so that the maximum effect is achieved with a minimum weight.

Tactical Advantages

The prototype of the above-described sample of a hand grenade was the famous German grenade Stielhandgranate 24. It is also from the long-lived breed of grenades, appeared in Germany in 1916, successfully fought in the First and Second World Wars, receiving the nicknames “beater” or “pusher”. Then she fought in Vietnam, and was in service with the Swiss army until the early 1990s. Although it was quite complex in design and was not a model of efficiency (mainly due to ersatz explosives), it nevertheless had a number of tactical advantages. Firstly, a longer throw; according to some reports, a trained grenadier threw a “mallet” over 80 meters. This is a very significant advantage when storming trenches and buildings. Secondly, the grenade could easily turn into an anti-personnel mine, and also, a cast-iron shirt was put on it, turning it into a defensive grenade. Thirdly, several grenades could be tied into a bundle (F-1s in this case were put into a bag). Fourthly, it was very comfortable to wear; the grenade could be tucked into a waist belt or stuffed into a boot, and in addition, grenades were sometimes equipped with a special clip for wearing on a belt.

The sample proposed above also has all these tactical advantages of the German hand grenade, and in an even more pronounced form.

First. The grenade can be easily modified by screwing additional parts onto the reverse end of the tube. An additional cast iron jacket, made in the form of a glass with internal threads, will turn it into a defensive grenade. Instead of a shirt, you can also attach an additional explosive charge or a small container with a flammable liquid. These are standard options. You can also modify it with improvised means by attaching nuts, screws, etc. to it with tape. metal stuff.

Second. It turns into an anti-personnel mine even simpler than a German one. To do this, it is enough to stick it into the ground so that the fuse sticks up, like a POMZ anti-personnel mine, and hook the wire to the ring. You will get the familiar “stretch” to everyone. Optionally, to add insult to injury to the occupier, you can tape small pieces of metal to the part of the grenade that remains sticking out above the ground. In general, such a grenade is much better suited for installing tripwires than the F-1. It’s easier to tie the tube to something, stick it with the same tape, or pinch it with some object.

Third. This kind of hand grenade can be part of a more powerful explosive charge. During the Great Patriotic War, sappers often blew up buildings and structures, pillboxes and other firing points using large explosive charges, which was usually a bag of ammonal or ammonium nitrate. However, installing such a charge and fuse under enemy fire often led to losses; that short time while the sappers set the charge, inserted and prepared the fuse was enough for the enemy to notice them and begin to fire. Connecting an explosive charge with the grenade described above can greatly facilitate the task of sappers; They just need to bring the charge to the target, attach a cord or cable to the ring, and pull it from cover. This will take less time and is less likely to come under enemy fire. Instead of a standard UZRGM, an electric fuse can be used for these purposes, installed in a grenade using an adapter ring. Such charges can be improvised by sappers on the spot, but a standard engineering charge can also be developed, equipped with a carrying handle and a grenade socket.

Fourth. Hand grenades with a tubular body are incomparably easier to tie into bundles than any other hand grenades, especially F-1. They can be tied together up to ten pieces, which, with the explosive mass of each grenade being 100 grams, will give a kilogram charge with which you can go against armored vehicles or with which you can destroy a firing point. This can be easily done with any available means: twine, wire, tape or electrical tape, bandage, but you can also develop special clamps or fastening rings.

Finally, fifth. Convenient to pack and carry. Tubular grenades will require a more compact box than the F-1 and any other spherical hand grenades, which will have a positive impact on military logistics. Such grenades are easier to carry with you, tucked into your belt, or put in any suitable pocket or unloading pocket. For example, two or three such grenades can be placed in the unloading slot intended for the horn of the machine gun. At unloading, special nests for them can be sewn. Finally, grenades can simply be taped to a sleeve or pant leg.

The tactical advantages of a hand grenade with a tubular body are quite obvious compared to the legendary Fenka. At the same time, all tactics and habits associated with F-1 are easily transferred to the new grenade.

Since, as experience shows, military conflicts have not yet become a reality, this forces us to improve weapons and ammunition. You shouldn’t go to extremes, working only on the most advanced models, military high-tech. In a major war, types of weapons that are simple in design and mass-produced, such as hand grenades, are of great importance.

GRENADE

A grenade is an explosive ammunition designed to destroy enemy personnel and equipment by hand throwing. Hand grenades are often called a soldier's "pocket artillery."

Oddly enough, the name comes from the Spanish name for pomegranate fruit - Granada, since early types of pomegranates were similar in shape and size to pomegranates, and by analogy with the grains inside the fruit and the flying fragments of the pomegranate.

The design of a typical high-explosive fragmentation (that is, damaging with both fragments and the force of the explosion) grenade seems to be quite simple. A modern hand grenade consists of a body containing a combat charge and a detonator fuse. However, the grenade is not as simple as it seems!

Grenade body

The body of ancient grenades was made of baked clay. Such a grenade could not hit with fragments, because during the explosion the clay scattered into dust, and many grenades broke during transportation from the workshops to the battlefield.

The body of the modern F-1 grenade is cast, cast iron.

In the process of developing metallurgy and improving casting technology, grenade bodies began to be made of cast iron. Cast iron is a metal with unusual properties - products made of cast iron are heavy and hard, but upon impact they easily split. Therefore, when the cast-iron body of a grenade is detonated, hard fragments with sharp edges are obtained.

Longitudinal and transverse grooves are made along the outer surface of the housing, facilitating the formation of fragments of the desired shape.

The body of the combat grenade is painted green. The casings of practice grenades are painted black.

In addition to combat and training ones, practical training hand grenades (URG) are produced, which are the body of a combat grenade with a hole in the bottom. An imitation fuse is screwed into the body, in which the detonator capsule is replaced by a cartridge case with a small charge of black powder. When throwing a grenade, the soldier sees where he hit and whether he managed to throw the grenade before it “exploded” and started smoking through the hole.
URG is a reusable grenade. Its body, like the body of the training grenade, is painted black, but it has transverse and longitudinal distinctive stripes and the inscription URG painted on it with white paint.

Frag grenades- the main type of hand grenades, they are designed to defeat enemy personnel located both openly and in trenches, shelters, in offensive combat, or in defense. The grenade is damaged by hull fragments and a shock wave.

The difference between offensive and defensive grenades lies in the radius of scattering of fragments when a grenade explodes. The scattering radius of fragments of offensive grenades is up to 20 m, defensive - up to 200 m.

The radius of dispersion of offensive grenade fragments is calculated in such a way that a soldier who throws a grenade in an open area remains invulnerable to its fragments within the throwing range.

In a defensive grenade, the radius of scattering of fragments, on the contrary, obviously does not imply that the thrower is in the open - throwing is carried out only from shelters.

Now you understand why a man should be able to throw a grenade further than 20 meters, and not at his feet?!

When offensive grenades were needed, cast iron had to be abandoned - heavy ones. Sheet steel was used, from which the body parts were stamped.

Hand Fragmentation Grenade RGD-33

But thin-walled steel grenade bodies quickly rusted in field conditions, so grenade bodies began to be coated with special protective substances.

A thin-walled steel body cannot produce a significant fragmentation effect, so to create a large number of fragments in offensive grenades, they resorted to a wide variety of tricks.

For example, inside the cylindrical body of the RG-42 grenade there is a steel tape, rolled into a roll and tightly adjacent to the walls. During an explosion, this belt breaks into many flying fragments in a heap, creating a very dense but compact affected area.

Today, grenade bodies are made of gray cast iron, steel, aluminum, impact-resistant ceramics, hard rubber with semi-finished fragments pressed into it, plastic and even cardboard. This variety of materials used allows you to create grenades with different destructive effects.

The body of the guarantor can be equipped with any explosive - from primitive black powder to very complex chemical compounds.

Combat charge

Explosives (Explosives) - chemical compounds or mixtures thereof, capable as a result of certain external influences or internal processes explode, releasing heat and forming highly heated gases. The process that occurs in such a substance is called detonation.
During detonation, explosive decomposition occurs very quickly - in hundredths of a second! And the resulting hot gases (temperature of several thousand degrees), sharply increasing in volume, are the main primary factor in the destructive effect of the explosion.

The physics of explosion is complex and still poorly understood. Therefore, all types of explosives used in grenades were tested in practice. The brand of explosive, its quantity, density, shape - all this was studied by trial and error during laboratory, bench and field tests.

The ideal “combat filling” for a high-explosive fragmentation grenade is trinitrotoluene (aka tol, TNT, TNT), which was first obtained German chemist Wilbrand in 1863, and began to be used for loading ammunition in 1905.
Today, many explosives and mixtures are known. All of them differ in different sensitivity to friction, heat, puncture and allow the creation of detonators of any design.

Fuse

The purpose of the fuse is to ensure reliable detonation of the grenade after being thrown and to prevent its spontaneous detonation.
All grenade fuses can be divided according to their action into remote and impact. Remote fuses provide a fixed time delay to the explosion, impact fuses detonate the grenade when the grenade hits something with a certain force.

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. The disadvantage is that it cannot provide instant detonation of the grenade when it touches the target: the retarder has a preset burning time.

The first remote grenade fuses were extremely simple and extremely unreliable. They were a fire cord (wick), which provided some time delay between the moment the grenade was initiated and its explosion. This unit is called the retarder.

So, at one end of the moderator, consisting of powder composition, it is the detonator capsule that is placed. But the moderator must be ignited by something, which means there must be another pyrotechnic unit - an igniter.
The scheme of a grenade fuse, which has existed to this day: igniter - fire cord (moderator) - detonator. It is the principle of ignition that has given rise to most of the various schemes and engineering solutions. Among them, three main ones can be distinguished: grating, impact and spring.

A grating igniter has much in common with a regular match and with a New Year's cracker (the one that needs to be pulled by a string). Its essence is that a strong, rough thread was pressed into a friction-sensitive pyrotechnic composition, which, when pulled out sharply, created the friction necessary for ignition. The main disadvantage of the grating igniter was the need to immediately throw a grenade after pulling out the cord - if you hesitated, dropped the grenade or changed your mind about throwing it - an explosion.

The impact igniter is similar to the grating igniter, but it was initiated by puncturing a primer containing an impact-sensitive composition. To initiate a percussion grenade, it was necessary to strike the protruding firing pin rod against any sufficiently hard surface, and then throw the grenade as quickly as possible. The disadvantages of this scheme are the same as in the case of a grating igniter, but they are also supplemented by the requirement of a hard surface, which is not always achievable in field conditions.

The spring igniter is an impact igniter brought to perfection. It is based on a capsule and a spring-loaded firing pin, secured with a safety pin (pin) equipped with a ring. When the pin is pulled, the firing pin, under the influence of a spring, punctures the primer, which, in turn, ignites the retarder.

A spring igniter does not have the disadvantages of a striker, and the features of its design make it possible to easily overcome the disadvantages of a grating one - an experienced officer can insert a pulled pin back or can hold the striker spring with his finger, preventing the grenade from exploding in his hand.

The circuit for an automatic fuse with a lever fuse was developed by the Englishman Mills in 1914. This scheme, having undergone minor changes, has been preserved to this day.

The meaning of the lever safety is simple and obvious: after the safety pin was pulled out, the spring-loaded firing pin was held in the cocked state by the trigger lever, clamped by the palm of the grenade launcher.

Thus, a grenade ready to be thrown could be held in the hand for as long as desired.
When throwing, the trigger lever was released by the firing pin, and then everything went according to the scenario already described.
It should be noted that the firing mechanism of the Mills system 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.

F-1 hand defensive grenade (lemon)

The F-1 grenade, which is currently in service in the Ukrainian and Russian armies, as well as in the armies of other states, not only in the territory of the former USSR, is one of the oldest types of hand fragmentation grenades.

The F-1 grenade has French roots and a long history. 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, which was not sufficiently reliable and safe to use, was replaced by a simpler and more reliable domestic remote fuse designed by Koveshnikov, which was later modernized.

By the way, you need to learn to throw a grenade not only far, but also very quickly - you cannot hold the grenade in your hands after pulling the pin! Because:

Today, grenade developers must provide protection systems against accidental explosions. For example, the British developed a grenade that, if dropped earlier than one second after being thrown (it is clear that in this case the grenade was simply dropped at the feet and not thrown), automatically becomes ineffective.

Modern army

F1 (GRAU index - 57-G-721 ) - hand-held anti-personnel defensive grenade. Designed to defeat manpower in defensive combat. Due to the significant radius of scattering of fragments, it can only be thrown from behind cover, from an armored personnel carrier or from a tank.

The names “F-1” and the slang “lemon” came from the French fragmentation grenade F-1 model 1915 weighing 572 grams and the English Lemon system grenade, which were supplied to Russia during the First World War. Another possible origin of the slang name is its shape, which resembles a lemon.

Initially, F-1 grenades were equipped with F.V. Koveshnikov's fuse. In 1941, E.M. Viceni and A.A. Bednyakov developed a universal fuse UZRG; after the war it was modified and serves to this day under the name UZRGM (universal fuse for hand grenades, modernized).

The first version of the F-1 defensive fragmentation grenade was developed on the basis of the French F-1 hand grenade of the 1915 model and the English Lemon system grenade, which were in service with the Russian army during the First World War (hence the designation F-1 and the common name “limonka”; the name is often mistakenly deciphered as “high-explosive, first”, and the name is derived from the ovoid shape of the body). The Russian version was used with a remote fuse (fuse) of the Koveshnikov system, which provided an explosion deceleration time of 6 s, but was equipped with a striker mechanism of a not very successful design. The first modernization of the F-1 grenade was carried out in 1939; in 1941, the fuse of the E. M. Vintseni system was adopted for it with a deceleration of 3.5-4.5 s, which received the name UZRG (unified fuse for hand grenades) and became (up to 80- 1980s) with a single fuse for hand fragmentation grenades of subsequent development.

The F-1 body is thick-walled, made of cast iron, with an external longitudinal-transverse large and deep notch. When a rupture occurs, up to 290 heavy fragments are formed, flying with a high (about 730 m/s) initial speed and maintaining lethal action at a distance of up to 200 m. 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 sq.m. Throwing a grenade is done from behind cover. There is a training and simulation version of the URG, repeating the F-1 in shape and weight.

Explosive explosive charge - 75 g (on some series of military-issue grenades it is reduced to 60 g), total weight grenades - 600 g, average throwing range - 30-35 m. Throwing grenades due to the large scatter of lethal fragments is carried out only from cover.

Schematic diagram of the F-1 grenade with UZRG fuse.

F-1 was massively supplied to various countries and was widely used in almost all wars and local conflicts from the 40s to the present. It is in service with the Russian Army and the armies of the CIS countries, and is copied in China (“type 1”), Poland (F-1), Chile (Mk2). Soviet fragmentation hand grenades, like American or French ones, were widely used in military conflicts of the 40-90s in different parts of the world.

The currently used F-1 consists of a housing, a bursting charge and a UZRGM (UZRGM-2) fuse. The thick-walled body is made of cast iron with an external notch. The hole for the fuse is closed with a plastic plug when storing the grenade.

Schematic diagram of the UZRG fuse device.

Design

The F-1 grenade has the following tactical and technical characteristics.

Throwing range: 35-40 m.
Shrapnel damage radius: 30 m (most likely the enemy will be hit by shrapnel), 200 m (maximum flight range of shrapnel)
Fuse deceleration time: 3.2-4.5 seconds.
Number of fragments up to 300 pcs.

The F-1 grenade is a hand-held anti-personnel, remote-action fragmentation defensive 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.

Manual- delivered to the target by throwing the soldier’s hand.
Anti-personnel- designed to defeat enemy personnel.
Fragmentation- the defeat is carried out mainly with the help of fragments of the metal body of the grenade.
Defensive- the radius of scattering of fragments exceeds average range throwing a grenade using the muscle strength of a fighter, which necessitates throwing a grenade from cover in order to avoid being hit by fragments of one’s own grenade.
Remote action- the grenade explodes some time after the throw (from 3.2 to 4.2 seconds).

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-41, RG-42, 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 increased destructive power, but their 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, helping to better hold 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.

The composition of the UZRG fuse includes, in addition to the body itself, the following elements:

Safety pin, which is a ring with two pieces of wire, which, passing through the holes in the fuse body, are secured by extension in the hole on the opposite side of the fuse and protect the pin from accidental falling out. In this case, the pin blocks the firing pin, preventing it from hitting the detonator capsule.
Striker It is a metal rod, pointed on the side directed towards the capsule, and having a protrusion on the opposite side, with which it holds the trigger guard. Also, a shock spring is attached to the firing pin, ensuring its impact on the primer.
Trigger guard- a curved metal plate, which, after removing the safety pin, blocks the firing pin in its original position. After the grenade is thrown, the trigger guard is pushed out by the pressure of the firing pin spring, which strikes the primer, activating it.
Capsule ignites the retarding fuse, which, after burning for some time, directly activates the detonating mixture - the grenade is detonated.
Slowing wick creates a time interval between the throwing and detonation of a grenade.
Detonating mixture detonates the grenade's explosives.

Usage

To use a grenade, you need to straighten the antennae of the safety pin, take the grenade in right hand so that your fingers press the lever against the body. Before throwing a grenade, thread forefinger with your left hand into the pin ring, pull it out. The grenade can continue to remain in the hand for as long as desired, since until the lever is released, the firing pin cannot break the primer (in principle, if the need to throw a grenade has disappeared and the pin has not been thrown out, it can be inserted back (without releasing the lever!); after bending the tendrils, the pomegranate pins are suitable for normal storage). After choosing the moment of the throw and the target, throw a grenade at the target. At this moment, the lever will rotate under the influence of the striker spring, releasing the striker, and fly off to the side. The drummer will puncture the primer and after 3.2 - 4.2 seconds an explosion will occur.

The grenade is designed to destroy manpower and unarmored vehicles. The damaging factors are the direct high-explosive action of the explosive and the fragments formed when the metal shell of the grenade is destroyed.

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 pressure lever are painted scarlet.

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.

Tactical features of combat use

In open areas, the effective range of destruction of the enemy when a grenade explodes directly with the high-explosive action of ammunition is 3-5 meters. At a distance of up to 30 meters, the further the enemy is from the center of the explosion, the lower the chances of him being successfully hit by shrapnel. The chances of injury from grenade fragments remain at a distance of up to 70-100 meters, but this statement is true only for large fragments of the shell. The larger the fragment, the higher its potential damage range. starting speed grenade fragments are 700-720 meters per second, weighing on average 1-2 grams, although both larger and smaller ones are found.

Peculiarities damaging factors 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 of the 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 multiplied 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 gives more quantity 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. In special forces, the F-1 grenade is “modified”; before installation as a trip wire, the detonating charge is cut off and the fuse is removed. Thus, achieving an almost instantaneous explosion and depriving the enemy of 3.2 - 4.5 seconds. for salvation.

Application in military conflicts

At the beginning of World War II, grenade bodies were filled with explosives available instead of TNT; Searchers find grenades filled with black powder in the Leningrad area. A grenade with this filling is quite effective, although less reliable.

During the Great Patriotic War, the F-1 was widely used on all fronts.

In the late 30s and early 40s of the 20th century, tactical instructions for infantry units recommended the F-1, including as an anti-tank weapon. Several grenades were tightly tied into a bag so that the detonator of one of them remained outside, the bag was thrown under the tracks or wheels of enemy armored vehicles in order to disable the chassis. Subsequently, this method was not widely used due to its relatively low efficiency.

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. And all because the directors are either idiots or skimp on competent military consultants. In general, the problem of all kinds of film blunders on the topic of weapons and their combat use- a separate topic for a very long and quite funny conversation.

IN feature films The main character can often be seen effectively pulling the pin of a grenade with his teeth. In reality, in most cases, such an action will lead to tooth loss or severe damage to the enamel, at a minimum. This is due to the fact that significant physical effort is required to remove the safety pin: this is done deliberately to prevent accidental detonations of grenades. The Russian Dental Association "STAR" strongly recommends: do not remove the pin of a grenade using your own teeth.

In many Hollywood action films, you can see a flash of flame and puffs of smoke accompanying a grenade explosion and hear the roar of the explosion. In fact, detonating a grenade in an open area is a sharp, abrupt bang, after which a rare cloud of gray smoke remains. The pyrotechnic effects observed in films are achieved by the explosion of a flammable mixture: for example, diesel fuel and a small explosive charge; it's much safer and more spectacular.

Also in many films you can see how a grenade falls on a group of people, scattering them in different directions, 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 most 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, the black color means that the grenade is training or is a dummy; combat grenades are painted green.

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 ensure such a long service life are as follows:

A body of natural crushing, from which destructive elements are successfully formed even when the metal jacket is damaged.
The remote igniter has a relatively simple design and is highly reliable.
The all-metal monolithic body is easy to manufacture and can be manufactured at almost any industrial enterprise, even non-specialized ones. The body material (steel cast iron) is very cheap.
The simplicity of the internal design allows, in war conditions, to use any available explosive instead of standard TNT.

Flaws

The disadvantages of this grenade are due primarily to the obsolescence of its design, and not to design flaws. These include:

The corrugation of the case cannot ensure the uniform formation of fragments (the very idea of forming fragments of a predictable size due to the corrugation of the case turned out to be incorrect).
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 throw range.