Grenade!

Heroes Remember

Grenade!

Transcript

German airburst was fairly effective. Their mortar bombs were quite effective. But things like the Nebelwerfers, the NBWs, they were basically a blast weapon. We were just, they would hit us at night with those and there would be this terrible, ‘karump' maybe just 50 yards away, but there were no fragments whistling through the ground. Then we'd, in the morning we'd go over and here's this big white metal cylinder about this long, about that big around, and it's opened out like a banana. It's, it's a blast effect. And the same with their little egg grenades. They, our 36 grenade and their stick grenades, all have that pineapple effect, you know with their cast iron, that little pieces of iron, iron fly around. But the egg grenades are just tin cans really and about the size of a tennis ball, little egg shape, and unless you're in a room with one of those or in a slit trench, it doesn't hurt you. We had, I had one pitched over a wall. I was talking with an infantry officer beside a wall. Somebody, a German on the other side, threw one over and it burst right between us and all we got were little flecks of metal into our bodies, little cuts, a quarter of an inch long, all blast effect. If we had been in a slit trench, it would have probably killed both of us. They're good for house clearing but, in the open, of course their stick grenade was effective and I think maybe that they were trained to use the stick grenade in an open situation, use the egg grenades, pitch in a window, cause they could be thrown like a baseball. They were much lighter than ours and also, the rates of fire of their weapons was much higher than ours and their bullets were lighter. The Spandau 42 bullet is much lighter than our 303, so they could carry twice as many within the same load for the rifleman. And in their rate of fire, it just sounded like ripping canvas about eleven hundred feet per minute or something like, whereas our Brens were, I don't know, five or six hundred, about twice as fast a rate of fire. You could always tell when it was a German machine gun firing and one of ours. And we had a firm order: Do not use German weapons under any circumstances. Send them back to the wagon launch for souvenirs, but do not ever use them.

Description

Mr. Smith discusses the various types of shelling and weapons used by the Germans and one instance in which, luckily, an egg grenade thrown at him was ineffective.

Arthur Britton “Britt” Smith

Mr. Smith was born on May 13th, 1920 in Kingston, Ontario. His father was a lawyer, and Mr. Smith was headed to the law firm at a very young age to follow in his father's foot steps when he decided to branch over and become an army officer with the 32nd Battery at the age of 15. Mr. Smith climbed the ranks quickly, becoming a signal sergeant by his 18th birthday. Educated on what was happening throughout Europe, Mr. Smith was not surprised when he heard of the outbreak of war in 1939, and within a year of the declaration, his unit was overseas undergoing artillery training. While in Europe, Mr. Smith's unit became a vital part of the Normandy Campaign, fighting on the dangerous and unforgiving battlefields of France. After the Dieppe raid of 1942, Mr. Smith was promoted to Captain at the young age of 22, carrying the weight and responsibility for 85 men. Mr. Smith's military career was ended abruptly in 1944 when he was wounded in action on the Verriere Ridge in France. Upon arrival home Mr. Smith was awarded the military medal and was finally able to marry his childhood sweetheart Sally. Mr. Smith returned to law school and became a lawyer, creating a home for himself and his wife in Kingston, Ontario.

Meta Data

Medium:: Video
Owner:: Veterans Affairs Canada
Duration:: 02:30
Person Interviewed:: Arthur Britton “Britt” Smith
War, Conflict or Mission:: Second World War
Location/Theatre:: France
Battle/Campaign:: Normandy
Branch:: Air Force
Units/Ship:: 4th Field Regiment
Rank:: Captain
Occupation:: Gunnery Officer

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Date modified:: 2019-04-03