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British Hand Grenade No.34 Mk.III
   

No.34
The No.34 Hand Grenade was developed to counter the introduction of the German Model 1917 Eierhandgranate. The British explored a number of ideas for this small fragmentation grenade with maximum throwing range, developing a total of five Marks of this type. This one is stamped "34 III" on the body.


The No.34 Mk.III has a percussion actuated delay fuze. The pin is removed and the plunger is slapped against a suitably hard object. The plunger cuts a shear wire and fires a primer cap, which ignites the delay which burns down to a detonator.
There is a vent hole in the fuze body for escaping gases.



  Smallest Grenades

Section View

No.34 Mk.III Section-G.W. Jackson, 1917
 The idea of a very small, compact grenade continues to modern times. Shown here are some of the world's smallest hand grenades for comparison.

Left to right:

British No.34.MkIII(1917)
Yugoslavian Mod.1917 (Copy of the German Mle.1917 Egg)
French Bertrand No.1 Mod. 1915, Frangible Gas Grenade
Dutch V40 “Mini-Grenade”, (circa 1970) - Currently the world's smallest
Austrian HdGr 80, Mini-Defensive, (Modern manufacture)
Japanese Type 99 Rifle or Hand Grenade (WWII)

05.11.12
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