Near Leningrad, and in many other areas of the North-Western direction of the former Soviet-German front, at the battlefields you can find an unusual example of hand grenades, which were made from ammunition casings for 50-mm company Soviet mortars. This example of a Soviet hand grenade was named by search engines «blockade» or «carrot».
Apparently, besieged Leningrad was forced to adopt a similar semi-handicraft innovation due to a shortage of hand grenades in the Red Army units defending the city. It is logical to assume that the effectiveness of such a grenade was comparable to the damaging effect of a 50-mm mortar mine.
The grenade itself is a mortar shell without a tail section. In the place where the head fuze of the mortar ammunition was placed, the grenade has a rather large bakelite lid, the shape of which may differ from one batch to another. A standard Kaveshnikov or UZRG fuse was screwed into one of the two ends. Two main options can be distinguished, depending on the location of the fuse at one or the other end.
I remind you that a hand grenade from the Great Patriotic War contains explosives and is an explosive item! If such objects are found in the ground, the police and sappers should be notified. Accordingly, possession of such devices is punishable by article of the Criminal Code.
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