Today I learned for myself two things that I had previously imagined in a completely different way. "Lemon" is not because it looks like a lemon. "Lemon" is divided into squares not in order to better separate into fragments. Do you want to know how everything is really there on these issues?
In 1922, the artillery department of the Red Army undertook to restore order in their warehouses. According to the reports of the artillery committee, the Red Army was armed with seventeen different types of grenades at that time. There was no self-made fragmentation grenade in the USSR at that time. Therefore, the Mills system grenade was temporarily adopted for service, the stocks of which were in large quantities in warehouses (200,000 pieces as of September 1925). As a last resort, it was allowed to issue French F-1 grenades to the troops. The fact was that the French-style fuses were unreliable. Their cardboard housings did not provide tightness and the detonation composition became damp, which led to massive grenade failures, and even worse, to lumbago, which was fraught with an explosion in the hands.
In 1925, the Artillery Committee stated that the need for hand grenades of the Red Army was satisfied by only 0.5% (!). To remedy the situation, Artkom on June 25, 1925 decided:
Artillery Directorate of the Red Army to carry out a comprehensive test of existing samples of hand grenades currently in service.
It is necessary to make improvements to the 1914 grenade in order to increase its lethality.
Build a Mills-type fragmentation grenade, but more advanced.
In the F-1 hand grenades, replace the Swiss fuses with Koveshnikov's fuses.
In September 1925, comparative tests of the main types of grenades available in warehouses were carried out. The main testable criterion was fragmentation of grenades. The conclusions made by the commission were as follows:
… thus, the position of the question of the types of hand grenades for supplying the RK spacecraft at present seems to be as follows: a hand grenade of the 1914 model, equipped with melinite, is significantly superior in its action to all other types of grenades and by the nature of its action is a typical example of an offensive grenade; it is only required to reduce the number of separate far away (over 20 steps) flying fragments as much as the state of the art of this matter allows. This improvement is covered by the attached "Requirements for New Hand Grenade Models". Mills and F-1 grenades, provided they are supplied with more advanced fuses, are considered satisfactory as defensive grenades, while Mills grenades are somewhat stronger in action than F-1s. In view of the limited stocks of these two types of grenades, it is necessary to develop a new type of defensive grenade that meets the new requirements …
In 1926, F-1 grenades were tested from those in storage (at that time there were 1 million grenades of this system in warehouses) with a Koveshnikov fuse developed in 1920. According to the test results, the design of the fuse was finalized and after military tests in 1927, the F-1 grenade with a Koveshnikov fuse under the name of the F-1 brand hand grenade with the fuse of the F. V. Koveshnikov system was adopted by the Red Army in 1928.
All the grenades in the warehouses were supplied with Koveshnikov's fuses by the beginning of the 1930s, and soon the USSR launched its own production of grenade bodies.
In 1939, engineer F. I. Khrameev modified the grenade - the body of the lemon became somewhat simpler, lost the lower window.
There is another version of the appearance of the F-1 grenade. In 1999, retired colonel Fyodor Iosifovich Khrameev said in an interview with Kommersant Vlast magazine that in 1939 he had designed an F-1 grenade.
In February 1939, I received a task to develop a defensive grenade … in Moscow, I saw an album released by the Russian General Staff in 1916, where images of all grenades used in the First World War were presented. German and French were corrugated, egg-shaped. I especially liked the French F-1. It corresponded exactly to the task received: easy to throw, safe fuse, a sufficient number of fragments. There was only a drawing in the album. I have developed all the working drawings. I had to suffer. I replaced the simple cast iron from which the F-1 was made with steel iron - to increase the destructive power of the fragments.
Here's an interesting story:
As F. I. Khrameev said in an interview, preliminary tests of the grenade were minimal, only 10 prototypes were made, which were soon tested, and then the design was put into mass production:
- Was there some kind of admissions committee?
- Well no! Again, I'm alone. The head of the plant, Major Budkin, gave me a carriage-parokonka and sent me to our landfill. Throwing grenades one by one into the ravine. And on you - nine exploded, but one did not. I come back and report. Budkin shouted at me: they say, he left the secret sample unattended! I'm going back, alone again.
- Was it scary?
- Not without that. I lay down on the edge of the ravine and saw where the pomegranate lay in the clay. He took a long wire, made a loop at the end and neatly hooked a grenade with it. Twitched. Didn't explode. It turned out that the fuse failed. So he pulled it out, discharged it, brought it, went to Budkin and put it on his table. He yelled and jumped out of the office like a bullet. And then we handed over the drawings to the Main Artillery Directorate (GAU), and the grenade was put into mass production. Without any experimental series
In Russia, Germany and Poland it was called "lemon", in France and England - "pineapple", in the Balkan countries - "turtle".
Since the grenade was developed on the basis of the French F-1 fragmentation grenade of the 1915 model (not to be confused with the modern F1 model with a plastic case and semi-finished fragments) and the English Lemon system grenade (Edward Kent-Lemon) with a grater fuse supplied to Russia during the First World War. Hence - the designation F-1 and the nickname "lemon".
In addition to the "lemon", the grenade was also nicknamed "fenyusha" in the troops. With the advent of rifle-barreled and under-barrel grenade launchers, the art of fighting with hand grenades began to be forgotten. But in vain. The action on the target of small-fragmentation grenades cannot be compared with the work of the F-1 fragmentation grenade, known to both the military and the civilian population under the code name "limonka". With minor design changes, this grenade has been produced in various countries around the world for 80 years. "Limonka" is the most powerful of all hand grenades in terms of the lethal effect of fragments and the most convenient to handle.
The ribs on its body - the turtle - exist not at all for separation into fragments, as is commonly thought, but for "grasping" in the palm of the hand, for ease of holding and the ability to bind to something when stretching as a mine. The body of the F-1 grenade is cast from the so-called "dry" cast iron, which, when an explosive (crushing) charge explodes, splits into fragments ranging in size from a pea to a match head, irregularly torn in shape with ragged sharp edges. In total, up to four hundred such fragments are formed! The shape of the case was chosen just like that, not only for the convenience of holding. Until now, no one can explain why, but when the "lemon" explodes on the surface of the earth, the scattering of fragments occurs mainly to the sides and very little upwards. In this case, the grass is "mowed" completely within a radius of 3 m from the explosion site, a continuous defeat of the growth target is provided within a radius of 5 m, at a distance of 10 m, the growth target is hit by 5-7 fragments, at 15 m - by two or three.
Diameter - 55 mm
Case height - 86 mm
Height with fuse - 117 mm
Grenade weight - 0.6 kg
Explosive weight - 0, 06-0, 09 kg
Deceleration time - 3, 2-4, 2 sec
Radius of solid damage - 10 m
The scattering range of destructive fragments reaches 200
The design of the grenade turned out to be so good that it is still produced and is in service with many countries. The fact that the F-1 is a high-quality weapon can be proved by the fact that it was taken as a prototype by the Chinese "craftsmen", who began to produce a fake in their characteristic form. And this, as you know, is the best quality mark. In addition, the F-1 is being produced in Iran, also completely copying the Soviet model.
During the Great Patriotic War, the F-1 became the main anti-personnel grenade used in all branches of the armed forces. Despite the fact that it is considered a fragmentation grenade, the F-1 was also used to undermine tanks, folding several grenades into one bag and throwing it under the caterpillar.
Another property of the "lemon" can be called its ability to use as a stretch mine. F-1 is easy to install by pulling a stretching wire, thereby eliminating the need to carry special mines, and this, especially for sabotage groups, was of great importance.
The fame of F-1 was also added by the cinema. This grenade is a must-have for any "cinematic" battle. But the directors, using the F-1 in the frame, did not really think about the realism of what is shown in the films, so certain movie bloopers began to be perceived as real facts, although they were not.
For example, very often you can see how "lemons" are worn on the belt or on the chest, hung with them. But when moving over rough terrain, there is a high probability of catching on something and causing an involuntary explosion. Therefore, the grenade was carried either in a pouch or in pockets, but never in the open. In addition, often the pin in the frame is pulled out by the teeth. In life, this will not work, because the effort required to break the checks must be made significant.
Became "lemon" and the most popular weapon in the dashing 90s. Many groups used it, along with the Kalashnikov assault rifle, as the main striking force in gang warfare.
F-1 once again proved the proverb "All ingenious is simple." After all, having existed for more than 70 years, the grenade will remain in service for a long time.
