Explosives Without a Cannon: Infantry Grenades, Launchers and Light Mortars

The Imperial German Army introduced the stick grenade in 1915 after soldiers found that improvised handled charges threw farther and more accurately than the issued ball grenade, which weighed about a kilogram and reached only 15 to 20 metres. The handle was the whole improvement: it gave the thrower leverage. The design stayed in use through several patterns until 1945.

Development of this Swedish shoulder-fired recoilless rifle began in 1946, and it entered Swedish service in 1948 as the 8,4 cm granatgevär m/48, filling a role similar to that of the American bazooka and the British PIAT. A recoilless design lets a man carry a gun that fires a large projectile without a heavy mount. It remains in production more than 75 years after its introduction.

The Soviet Union fielded this shoulder-fired anti-tank weapon from 1954 as the successor to the largely unsuccessful RPG-1. It fired an 82mm warhead from a 40mm launch tube, giving better range and armor penetration. Its basic layout and firing principle were carried forward into the far more widely used RPG-7.

The M79 was a single-shot, break-action launcher firing a 40x46mm grenade from the shoulder. The United States adopted it on December 15, 1960, with first Army deliveries in 1961, and it became especially notable during the Vietnam War. It put grenade fire in the hands of one soldier without a throwing arm's limits.

Adopted in 1969, the M203 fires the same 40x46mm ammunition as the M79 but attaches beneath a rifle, first the M16 and later the M4, so a soldier no longer had to choose between rifle and launcher. The rifle's magazine well serves as the forward grip, and a separate sight is fitted because the rifle's iron sights do not match the grenade's trajectory. It replaced the M79 and has stayed in service since.

This Soviet automatic grenade launcher, designed in 1967, fires 30mm grenades from a tripod or vehicle mount against soft targets and fortified positions. It entered service around 1970 and went into mass production in 1971. It became widely known through its use in the Soviet war in Afghanistan and remains in service with Russia and more than thirty other nations.

The American 60mm M224 is a smoothbore, muzzle-loading, high-angle mortar used for close-in support of ground troops, developed to replace worn mortars of the Second World War era. Prototypes were deployed in the mid 1970s during the Vietnam War and it entered operational service in 1978. American forces have used it extensively, including in Afghanistan and Iraq.

The Soviet Army adopted the 105mm RPG-29 Vampir in 1989, the last RPG fielded before the Soviet Union dissolved in 1991. It has since reached state operators such as Russia, Syria, Iran and Ukraine, and non-state groups including Hezbollah, the Taliban and Iraqi insurgents. In Russian service it has been supplemented by newer designs such as the RPG-30 and RPG-32.