Nickname for German hand grenades

I've heard them called "potato mashers".

Something like" lautenboomenfirengespitzenalleskaputen" comes to mind...

Jack G.

Or "egg grenade" for the Eihandgranate, the other type of German grenade.

Cheers,

A friend I had who was in France at the time just called it a 'Stick-Grenade'

He told me it was a lot like throwing an 'Apple' stuck to the top of a 'Stick'. And about the fact that you could get so much distance when you thru one of them.

He also told me that if you were just a little too close when the 'Charge' did go Off. He said that you got knocked to the ground really quickly when it Exploded

He said that he really got a ''Bang'' out a getting rid of 'em .... LOL ...... sorry

... Carl .........

,,

I remember them being called potato mashers when I was a kid (I'm 53). I think the name must have come from the series "Combat". That's were I got what little I knew about WWII.

Doug Wagner

The common everyday ''Potato Masher'' was very often a big rounded and heavy wooden block with a handle and having a flat to slightly rounded bottom. These implements were designed to "Press" or to "Mash" a wide variety of cooked foods. Crushing them in the same fashion that you would with the use a pestle.

In the early 1800's many of these wooden items were in fact home made. Later on these were items to be purchased and the more "contemporary" Potato Masher that has the ''classic'' Heavy metal wire on the Bottom which I trust most of us can and do remember from when we were kids running around the table at Thanksgiving or at Christmas and thinking about Roast Turkey and Dressing and Gravy with the Mashed Potatoes and Cranberries along with the Pecan & Mince & Pumpkin pie

But , I digress. ...... My point did start out to be that they do kinda resemble some of those early round wooden Potato Mashers

Didn't mean to get "Lost in the Moment" as it were

... Carl ..........

,,

my dad called them that and he was there and fought them. he had chunks of something german in his head....

Maybe it depends if they were offensive or defensive ones. Offensive ones have a blast radius smaller than the throw distance, which is good if you are attacking something. Defensive ones have a lot of shrapnel and the radius is a lot larger than the throw distance, meaning you need to use these from cover.

I know that situation well. My father carried shreds of a V-1 explosion in his back. Occasionally they'd work their way out and Mom had to help him remove them. AFAIK, he still had a few when he passed on.

Bill Banaszak, MFE Sr.

'e' inquired:

was he an accidental target or researcher?

Accidental target.

Bill Banaszak, MFE Sr.

bet there's a great story with that. if you can share it, email, bitte.

I know how that sucks... I had Kraftwerk's Autobahn stuck in my head for a while.

Doug

the cd or lp? that's a lot of plastic to have between your ears. fahrt, fahrt, fahrt....... there, it's back.

Seeped in from a passing radio...took a full blown exorcism to shake it loose.