Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!ukma!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!att!cbnews!military
From: military@att.att.com (Bill Thacker)
Newsgroups: sci.military
Subject: History of Grenades
Message-ID: <7856@cbnews.ATT.COM>
Date: 29 Jun 89 03:45:19 GMT
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A question was put to me today concerning the history of grenades;
in particular, their presence in the US during the Revolutionary war
and following decade or so.  I did a little research, which only
confirmed the confusion of this topic; I'm hoping some readers can
fill in some gaps in the following facts.

According to _Weapons - An International Encyclopedia from 5000 B.C.
to 2000 A.D._, grenades seem to have appeared in the 16th Century,
and were commonly used within the next 100 years.  By the 1700's,
they were quite widespread, especially favored for siege warfare.  At
that time, a hand grenade resembled the standard "cartoon bomb"; a
cast iron sphere, filled with gunpowder, fitted with a piece of fuse.

At this point, special troops, Grenadiers, were trained in the use
of grenades.  However, by the 1800's, that term had come to mean instead
an elite unit of infantry  (according to _Wilhelm's Military Dictionary
and Gazeteer_ of 1881, "the first company of every battalion on foot.")
I'm guessing that the term "grenadier" is French, and was copied by the
other nations which used that term; however, I'm uncertain when they
copied it; thus, it may be that Britain, for example, never used the
term in its original implementation, but only to refer to elite infantry.

This is somewhat supported by the fact that German used the term
grenadier (e.g., Panzergrenadier) for infantry, yet their word for
"grenade" (and also "shell") is "granate" (e.g., "handgranate (hand
grenade), "granatewerfer" (mortar), "panzergranate" (tank shell).)

The British, too, confused terminology; as late as WWII, they
referred to some hand grenades as grenades, others as bombs.

Wilhelm's 1881 work defines "grenade" as a "shell thrown from
the hand or in barrels from mortars of large caliber".  It also
defines "bomb" as a similar shell fired from mortars or howizers,"
noting that these are also called shells.  Hence, there is a great
deal of confusion in the terms "grenade", "bomb", and "shell."
Consider,too, the Star Spangled Banner: "the bombs bursting in air."

So... can anyone clarify this confusing history ?



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Bill Thacker      moderator, sci.military      military@att.att.com
		      (614) 860-5294
"War is a matter of vital importance to the State; the province of life
or death; the road to survival or ruin. It is mandatory that it be 
thoroughly studied."   -  Sun Tzu