1916-18 British Army No.15 cricket ball hand grenade

Object/Artifact

Royal Canadian Military Institute

Name/Title

1916-18 British Army No.15 "cricket ball" hand grenade

Entry/Object ID

2021.8.20

Description

1916-18 British Army No.15 "cricket ball" hand grenade. A circular black time fuse cast, ferric ball grenade. The top of the grenade is flattened, which has a hole to inject a fuse.

Use

The First World War

Context

Introduced in July 1915 and used during the Battle of Loos in September 1915, the "cricket ball" hand grenade was ineffective because of wet weather conditions on the Western Front; damp conditions lead to the failure of fuses. British soldiers threw the grenade by hand, catapult, or spring gun. It was eventually pulled from service. Despite its shortcomings, British war manufacturers produced hundreds of thousands of "cricket ball" hand grenades.