Model 43 Stielhandgranate

The Stielhandgranate 43 (lit. 'Stick hand grenade 43') is the final variant of the Stielhandgranate hand grenade design.

Stielhandgranate 43
Stielhandgranate 43 with a splitterring fragmentation sleeve
Type	Hand grenade
Place of origin	German Empire
Service history
Wars	World War II
Production history
Designed	1943
Produced	1943 - 1945

Design

Main article: Stielhandgranate

The Stielhandgranate primarily relied on a concussion blast effect, its thin metal container creating little fragmentation compared with many grenades of the time, such as the Mills bomb and the French F1 grenade, the later World War IIAmerican Mk 2 grenade, and the Russian (later Soviet) F1 grenade.

The Model 1943 (M43) was a copy with a few expensive parts removed or replaced for easier production – and because of this, the original remained in service with Wehrmacht infantry right to the end of the war.

The only significant alterations in the M43's design was the inclusion of a self-contained detonator, meaning that the fuse and the explosive were directly linked. The M43 also utilized an entirely different fuse assembly, very similar to that of the Model 39 grenade, another German hand grenade of the time.

Not only was the stick no longer needed to be hollowed out for a pull cord as in the M24, minimizing the amount of woodworking required to manufacture each grenade, it also made the stick optional so it could replace the Model 39 as the thrower could choose in which configuration to use the grenade.

Whether it was intended to merge the production of two types into a single line, or if that was a beneficial side-effect is unknown.^[1]

Adoption

The M43 was, alongside the slightly more common Model 39 grenade (84.2 million produced) and M24 (75.5 million produced), used as the standard hand grenade of the German Wehrmacht during World War II.^[2]

See also

• List of World War II firearms of Germany
• List of German military equipment of World War II
• Model 15 Stielhandgranate
• Model 24 Stielhandgranate
• Spränghandgranat m/43
• Model 39 grenade – German "egg" type hand grenade
• RGD-33 grenade – Early WWII Soviet stick grenade
• Splitterring – A fragmentation sleeve for the M24 and M43
• Spränghandgranat 07