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Weapons development at NCD
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this post was submitted on 10 Sep 2023
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NonCredibleDefense
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WWI German grenades had sticks, which increased range a lot at the expense of accuracy.
Americans, raised on baseball, were able to get the pineapple grenades into impossible holes, which made them a lot more effective than the German-style grenade.
I actually heard that reasoning as well but after I read into it I came to the conclusion that this is most likely false. Roundly shaped grenades have been around for centuries and the first introduction of a pineapple-shaped grenades was by the Brits in WW1.
Also a grenade is around three times as heavy as a baseball.
But it makes sense that Americans were/are especially good at throwing grenades because of baseball.
Yeah, grenades and baseballs are the same size for the same reason: It's about as big a shape as a person can hold and throw far with a lot of accuracy. It was just a happy coincidence that my grandfather was both on a winning Little League team and the Nazis loved pillboxes with tiny holes. He was part of the 14th Armored and could probably land a grenade in a pillbox from a hundred feet away just like throwing someone out at home from left field.
Round grenades=throwable. Stick grenades=throwable and you have to carry a big fuck off stick too.
Would you rather have more grenades or have your current grenades come with a stick?
Wasn’t the construction of the old “pineapple” also more effective at generating shrapnel when it went off, too?
I dove into the Wikipedia article about handgrenades. There's a common separation between offensive and defensive grenades. Those which cause shrapnel are usually considered defensive grenades as they're having a larger, unforseeable area of effect and because of that you want to throw it from a defensive, covered position. But often times offensive grenades which usually cause harm only through their shockwave could easily be upgraded with a metal cover that will provide a shrapnel effect.