MINUTES OF THE ORDNANCE COMMITTEE MEETING
HELD 27 March 1941
Item 16588
INCENDIARY HAND GRENADE – ANTITANK
CI 471.62/9745 2nd
Ind.
War Department, Office Chief of Infantry, Washington D.C. December
19,1940
To: The Chief of Ordnance (Trough Chief of Chemical Warfare Service.).
a.
Liquid type incendiary grenade
(1)
Reliable in action, simple in operation and of such size, shape and
weight as to be easily grasped and thrown a reasonable distance by a
normal sized man.
(2)
The container must be sufficiently rugged to withstand normal shocks
incident to military service, with a non-leaking closure, yet
sufficiently fragile to break readily when thrown against a metal
surface.
(3)
The filler must be a highly inflammable, easily ignited, hot burning
liquid, not easily extinguishable by wind and of sufficient quantity to
burn approximately two minutes.
(4)
The igniter should be the identical item used for improvisation of
incendiary grenades (characterictics given in b) or should have same
characteristics.
(5)
The grenade must be safe to transport and carry without danger of
preignition or spontaneous combustion; and be capable of being utilized
in daylight or darkness by men with only a small amount of instruction.
(6)
The following additional characteristics are desirable if found to be
practicable:
(a)
Produce a dense blinding smoke.
(b)
Construction such as to permit the addition of an irritant gas.
(c)
Filler of type not extinguishable by standard type fire extinguisher.
b.
Igniter for liquid type incendiary grenade (standard or improvised).
(1)
Reliable in action, simple in operation, with firing device integral
within itself, and sufficiently rugged to withstand normal shocks
incident to military service.
(2)
Capable of igniting gasoline or filling of liquid type incendiary
grenade immediately upon rupture of grenade container.
(3)
Must not be extinguishable after once ignited for a reasonable period of
time (one half to one minute) by grenade filling, water, wind or
standard type fire extinguishing material.
(4)
Must be capable of being used in daylight or darkness by men with only a
small amount of instruction.
(5)
The igniter must be safe to carry without danger of preignition or
spontaneous combustion.
For the Chief of Inf entry:
1 Incl. (Letter, Test section, Infantry Board w/16 incls.
E.W. Fales
Colonel, Infantry
“Exe cut ive.”
The Chief of Chemical Warfare Service, by 3rd Indorsement,
commented as follows:
CWS 471. 6/203
3rd Ind.
War Dept., O-C of CWS, Feb 6 1941. To: The Chief of Ordnance.
1.
The basic letter, enclosures and indorsements, have been studied in this
office. The Chemical
Warfare Service concurs in the proposal to develop a liquid incendiary
grenade and stands ready to cooperate in any way it can.
2.
This office thinks it advisable to develop an igniter to be utilized in
improvising liquid grenades.
The small railroad fuse seems to be easily adaptable for this
purpose. It can have a
match head starter which ignites when scratched after a cap is removed.
A long tapered cork should be used instead of tape to fit the
fuse to the gasoline filled bottle since gasoline will quickly soften to
adhesive in the tape and allow it to fall from the bottle.
The length of the cork should be such that with the normal tapes
it will fit the necks of all bottles that are likely to be used.
3.
The container for the liquid type incendiary grenade having the military
characteristics stated in 2nd Ind. Par 3a would have to be
essentially a glass bottle.
The opinion of this office is that the weight of shipping these forward
can be saved by using suitable glass containers which have already been
used to ship other liquids to the theater of operations.
The combustable filling would be obtainable from automotive
stores.
4.
Since the heat produced by such an incendiary grenade would be rather
variable and unpredictable it is thought advisable to introduce the
irritant gas effect by throwing a separate irritant gas grenade when
such is wanted.
5.
For the Chief of the Chemical Warfare Service:
P.X. English
Lt. Col. CWS
Executive
3. RECOMMEDATIONS:
(1)
That an incendiary grenade with liquid filler in a frangible container
be classified as “required type”.
(2)
That development wor be undertaken on the igniter with a long tapered
cork such as to make it suitable for use with glass bottles which are
liable to be encountered in the combat areas.
(3)
That unless and until a considerably better incendiary agent than
gasoline is developed, the filler be obtained from automotive stores in
the combat area.
(4)
That ordinarily, glass containers be obtained by utilizing empty bottles
available at the front but that a type be developed or selected and
standard packing prepared such that in case shipment of empty containers
becomes necessary, the type together with the packing will have been
determined.
(5)
That if irritant gas effect is desired, it should be obtained by
utilizing a separate grenade with such loading.
(6)
That further study be given as to whether the blinding smoke effect can
be obtained without undue complication or decrease in the incendiary
effect.
(7)
That this project be carried out by cooperation between the Ordnance
Department and Chemical Warfare Service in accordance with the
provisions of G.O. 54,1920
Action by: Ammunition Division, Technical Staff
Ammunition Division, Industrial Service |