Mills grenade

Mills grenade
Mills N ° 5, N ° 23 and N ° 36
General Information
Designation:	No. 5 "Mills bomb"
Type:	Frag grenade
Country of origin:	United Kingdom
Manufacturer:	Mills Munitions Factory
Development:	William Mills
Commissioning:	1915
Working time:	1915 to 1970s
Technical specifications
Combat weight:	765 g
Charge:	68.2 g (MkI) Baratol
Length:	95.2 mm
Diameter:	61 mm
Lists on the subject

The Mills grenade (also "No. 5", English "Mills bomb") was first patented by William Mills in 1915 and introduced as a hand grenade by the British Army in the same year . It is considered to be one of the most successful hand grenade designs of the First World War.

Development and construction

William Mills had achieved a certain fame in England as a manufacturer of aluminum golf clubs before the First World War and in 1915 developed a reliable hand grenade suitable for trench warfare . The Mills grenade was only one of around 50 types of hand grenades used by the British Army during World War I, but was the only one used in later conflicts.

Mills constructed a cast iron grenade body that was easy to hold and the surface of which he divided into segments with grooves. The grenade body had three openings, one at the top for the safety mechanism, one at the bottom for the ignition mechanism and a third on the side for filling with explosives.

The function of the weapon already corresponded to that which became established for most types of hand grenades in the following decades: the thrower unlocked the grenade by pulling off a split pin, but still held a safety bracket in place. Only when the grenade left the hand was the safety bracket released and a delay fuse began to run, which after four seconds caused the grenade to explode.

The throwing range is given in military manuals from the Second World War as about 30 meters, but the distance from the point of explosion, at which splinters can still cause damage, is estimated at up to 100 meters.

variants

"No. 23 “grenade with handle for use as a rifle grenade

The Mills grenade has undergone several changes and modifications. The "No. 23 ”was a variant of the“ No 5. ”in which a handle could be screwed into the bottom opening of the grenade, so that the“ No. 23 ” could be fired from a rifle as a rifle grenade and flew up to 200 meters. This concept became the “No. 36 “, the shape of which was optimized for a more stable position in the rifle. The final version of the Mills grenade, the "No. 36M ”, was sealed waterproof with a shellac layer and thus better protected against decomposition.

The structure of the grenade remained unfavorable for the rifle shot because the shooter first had to put the grenade on the barrel of the rifle, release the safety catch and then release it before aiming the rifle and pulling the trigger. If that did not happen within the delay time of the detonator, the Mills grenade on the rifle exploded.

Depending on the intended use, the original four-second or - for firing with a rifle - a seven-second delay fuse could be screwed into the grenade.

See also

• List of explosive weapons

Web links

Commons : Mills bomb  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

1. ^ Gordon L. Rottman: The Hand Grenade. 2015. Osprey, ISBN 978-1472807342 , pp. 14 and following
2. ↑ Copy of the US patent application with description at google.com (English)
3. ↑ ^{a b c} passioncompassion1418.com (English)
4. ↑ ^{a b} Who's Who - Sir William Mills on firstworldwar.com (English)
5. ↑ ^{a b} Capt. A. Southworth: Home Guard Pocket Manual (English)