"Rifled grenade launchers" Topic

Does anyone have any information as to how common rifled grenade launchers were during WW1. the new Warhammer rules permit quite a number of them yet I see them so rarely in period photos, particularily for the Germans.

Small point of order, they're "Rifle Grenade Launchers" with the grenade fitting over the muzzle of the weapon rather than within a weapon.

If no one comes up with a coherent answer, I'd ask at the TO&E's yahoogroup.

Wyatt

I think you'll find that you can have reasonable confidence in the "Great War" lists. No-one has rifle grenades in the 1914 lists.

In 1918, British and Grench platoons can have one (or two, if at full strength) figure in each platoon, each figure representing three or four actual soldiers. Gemrnas can have one figure in each platoon.

Look at the organization of German battalions in Spring 1918 here:

link

Each company's First Platoon has a rifle grenade squad. Sounds about right, although that's just one variation on iinfantry company organization. The "Great War" 1918 list allows a player to follow this historical organization quite well.

Allen

One of the suggestions organisations for 1917 British infantry platoons included a full section of rifle grenadiers (ie around ten men), later in the war it was more common to mix the rifle grenadiers in amongst the normal rifle sections.

The French also made heavy use of them.

You wouldn't see many in pics as it is just an attachment which goes on the end of the rifle.

Early on the British also had a rifle launched grenade that needed no 'cup' or launcher – it was a small charge mounted on a bore sized stick. You simply loaded a 'blank' cartridge then slid the stick down the bore, sort-of aimed & pulled the trigger. You could use any rifle & once you had fired off your rounds, there were no bits to loose.

Post Mills bomb (aka pineapple) they had the cup launcher with variable gas port which ended up as part of the 'EY' (Eee-Why) rifle & saw service down to the Korean War. The EY rifle was a SMLE heavily reinforced by binding all over the front wood work with copper wire, so its pretty obvious when carried, the launcher just clipped on.

Thanks for the advice, now I need to find an apropriate 28mm German figure. Neither Great War nor Renegade seem to produce one at this time. Maybe I will modify a rifleman.

Is not the grenade capable of being launched from a rifle just a munition that was issed to the troops rather than a weapon?

That is how it was in WW2 and Korea. A munition and not a weapon.

men assigned or tasked with that responsiblity in WW1 would be in a slot/ position and capable of preforming other tasks as well.

You need some way of keeping track of who is armed with rifle grenades though, could be a roster, a mark on the base or a figure with a rifle grenade on the end of their rifle.

do you mean RIFLED or RIfle grenade, diffferent items.

The British, French and US used scads of them of varying kinds. The UK mainly the cup discharger and the French/US the VB discharger. In a US platoon there were six ofg them in the R-G section.

I cannot quote figures on the Germans but their design was based on the VB and a bit more cumbersome due to the weight. They had a better hand grenade throw due to the leverage with the stick, and IIRC liked to rely on smaller mortars for the range above that.

All it really is , is a way to get grenade to a range longer than could be thrown.

Here is a link you may find useful.
home.scarlet.be/~tse02026