German soldier demonstrating how to throw a hand-grenade, 1916. The Stielhandgranate (Stalk hand-grenade) was the standard German hand grenade in the First World War. When the First World War broke out, the Germans only had the Kugelhandgranate (Ball hand-grenade), which was deemed too heavy for use in the German Infantry and not suited for mass production. In 1915, the Germans began designing a better hand-grenade for the Infantry, which resulted in the M15 Stielhandgranate. Due to its unusual apparence for a hand-grenade it was called the "Stick grenade", and the British dubbed it the "Potato masher". The Stielhandgranate used a friction igniter and inside the explosives were connected to a detonator, which was connected to a piece of string, which went through the wooden handle. The soldier would pull the string, which ignited a fuse within, throw the hand-grenade and ~4½ seconds later the fuse would reach the detonater and ignite the explosives. Initially the...