The most common stick grenade manufactured during the WW1, the Model 1917 featured a 5.5 second time-delay fuse that a thrower could activate by pulling a toggle at the base of the handle. The sheet metal covering housed an explosive filling that would kill or wound soldiers by the force of the explosion or by the metal debris it propelled. Physical description of aluminium, iron, steel, wood.
Germany infantry pose for a trench photo brandishing their “potato masher” grenades and “pickelhaube” leather helmets. The German “stick” style grenade was capable of being thrown somewhat further than the British “Mills bomb.” The pickelhaube, like British headgear, offered little protection and was replaced by the “Stahlhelm” steel helmet beginning in 1916. The French replaced their cloth “kepis” with their distinctive “Adrian” steel helmets beginning in July 1915.
