The Potato Masher

German Stick Grenade

To the right you can see a potato masher. No, not the kind used to prepare mashed potatoes and other soft mashed foods.  I'm talking about a German stick grenade which was nicknamed the potato masher because of it's similar appearance to a potato masher.

German soldier tying a stick grenade to a fe

 These grenades were first manufactured and used in combat by the Germans during WW1. The design featured a small pull cord with a porcelain ball attached to it, that hung from the bottom of a wooden handle. Atop this handle rested a metal head filled with explosives. The idea was that one would pull the string at the bottom, activating the trigger mechanism, and then hurl the now live grenade at the enemy. After a period of time the explosives would detonate and shards of the metal head would fly everywhere. Unfortunately this design worked far better in principle than it did in reality because the cord would often get caught on things and pulled, causing the grenade to detonate while the soldier was carrying it. Needless to say this was not pleasant for the hapless soldier. In the end, this problem actually gave rise to the addition of a metal screw-on cap on the bottom to hide the cord until the soldier was ready to detonate his grenade. Despite the hazards associated with it, the cord proved to be useful in combat situations because the grenades could be hung from fences. When someone tried to climb over a fence hung with stick grenades he would trigger them and cause them to detonate. German stick grenades can still be obtained as replicas and antiques, but they are no longer manufactured or used in combat.