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| Color Schemes The Stielhandgranate is found in two basic color schemes, a forest green (shades vary from light to very dark) and a medium tan (also known as "Desert Tan"). The Mod.43 is most commonly encountered in that color. |
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grenade was recovered from a bunker near Stalingrad. Note the white
washed handle... possibly done for camouflage effect? I was never quite sure if it was a vintage paint scheme, but it certainly looks original. For lack of a better term I've named this coloring as "Winter White". In the the photo, to the right, you can make out what appears to be a similar white washed handle on the grenade shown.  The red/orange color undercoat is common to find. Some have very thick multi layer paint on them, others appear to have one thin coat of just the final color. German
Unit Leaders near Leningrad watch for enemy movement in a photo originally
published in the WWII German Magazine "Signal" =>
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Inerting Techniques This grenade is easily inerted by typically cutting out the entire fuze well to gain access to the explosive filler. It is fast, easy and happens to leave exterior in the best condition possible. Another approach is to separate the crimp holding the top and bottom halves together, remove the filler, then re-crimp the parts back together. While this damages the exterior, it keeps the internal fuze-well intact. This method is not common, do to the time involved and the resulting damage to the crimp and exterior. But this does keep the fuze well intact. At the right you can see examples of these two techniques. Note the rough re-crimped seam and the scuff marks on the can. A third technique is to drill a series of holes around the well and extract the fill that way. Of course using a high speed drill on a sheet steel container of explosive is a good way to ruin your day. Understandably that is not common to see. The last way is to create a cutaway of the grenade by removing a section of the casing wall. |
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| About Markings The heads and handles are marked with manufacturer's identification, inspection codes and dates. Earlier grenades tending to be more profusely marked. Some Mod.43 grenades have very few, if any markings. One note to make here... Original grenades may or may not have matching codes on the heads and sticks. In this example, the head is stamped "41 evy" and the handle is stamped "RR 894-40". This is a lake recovered relic (with a smooth frag sleeve). While not "minty" it is clearly an original configuration showing that codes and numbers are not always matching. |
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Transport Case
 An example of a complete transportation case, showing the metal case, and and internal rack. It holds 15 grenades and boxes for their fuzes. I would imagine there would be fragmentation sleeves in there as well. Just a guess. |
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| Fakes & Forgeries The German "Potato Masher" is one of the most desired hand grenades for militaria buffs, due to its cross interest nature. Collectors of uniforms who may have no interest in grenades in general, may still want a nice "stick" to complete a mannequin display. Those specializing in firearms, daggers or even medals may have just the right place in their display for a masher. While not really a "rare" item, originals (especially nice ones) are not sufficient to fill demand. As a result it is one of the most extensively reproduced grenades around. Recent reproductions are very well detailed. Unfortunately there are those that take advantage of some of the high quality repros available and try to modify them to deceive. This example was purchased from a reputable on-line auction firm that sells on consignment. It was presented as an original WWII German Mod.24. (Later returned for a refund.) This grenade, or sometimes just the head matched to a genuine stick, shows up fairly regularly and is often described as original. Here are some things to watch for. |
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| A.
The head is fabricated from heavy sheet steel in two pieces consisting
of a cylindrical body welded to a flat circular disk. The sharp top edge is ground to a smooth radius. Sometimes a seam is visible from the outside, but if you look inside, through the fuze-well, the welds are obvious. An original is made from thinner material and is deep-drawn in a single piece. Much lighter in weight. B. The collar is very well done on the outside but does not cover the stick end and the wood is exposed. There is no provision for the fuze. (This detail has been corrected in many never versions.) C. The threaded base ring is in two pieces, using a threaded insert. An original is a single piece here, the threads machined into the base material. D. The fuze "well" is a gradual smooth dimple, not at all like an original. (See inerting techniques above) This reproduction was made as an economic display piece, with no intent to be passed off as original. Someone decided to take this and "age" the exterior for reasons unknown. The paint has been rubbed down on both the head and the collar on the stick. It is not clear if the manufacturer used an authentic red/orange primer of if it was added later for effect. The stick, however was left pristine. It has very convincing markings and stamps. There are other details as well. These are just some of the obvious features. Once in hand and compared to an original the differences are obvious, but even from a reasonable quality photograph of the assembled grenade it is virtually impossible to tell. Click on the photo for More Examples!! => |
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| 04.10.25 |
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