WW1 FRENCH F1 GRENADE, 1915

The French F1 was similar in appearance to the failed US grenade. It has a hollow cast iron body, heavily grooved in a familiar quilted "pineapple" pattern to enhance fragmentation. Although initially deployed to French forces in 1915 with a match primer it was soon replaced with a weather proof strike primer. This system required the soldier to strike a blow to the cap of the grenade after removing a safety cover to initiate the burn time fuse. Better than a match lit fuze, it still had to be thrown once the striker has been activated. The quest for a better fuze continued so that by 1917 there were a dozen or so contraptions developed as fuses for the French F1 Defensive Grenade. They included tumblers, pins, strikers, slow burn matches, each inventor claiming superiority.

A0821