Mills N☃6 rifle grenade, with its gas check disk for use with cup-launcherīy 1915, Hales had developed the No 3, which is commonly known as the Hales rifle grenade. The British government purchased a rodded variant of the No 2 grenade as a temporary solution. However, as soon as the trench warfare started, there was a sudden need for rifle grenades.
'A simple rod was attached to a specialized grenade, inserted into the barrel of a standard service rifle and launched using a blank cartridge.' The British did not immediately adopt the idea and entered World War I without any rifle grenades. In 1908, Frederick Marten Hale patented the rod grenade.
During the early 20th century a Japanese Colonel Amazawa experimented with rifle fired grenades during the Battle of Port Arthur in the Russo-Japanese War, and the idea was further used by the Spanish, though the French were the first to put it to widespread use during the trench warfare of World War I.
Mills bomb N☂3 Mk II, with rod for launch by rifleĪdaptation of grenades for use in rifles began around the 18th century, when cup-shaped dischargers were fitted to the barrels of flintlock muskets, with the grenades propelled by the force of a blank cartridge.
