Description
This example was found in Latvia, and was in the Kurland Pocket.
The box has had a slight repair at some stage, by way of a few modern nails at the rear. These could be removed if the new owner was to use this for display.
The box held the Rifle anti-tank grenade and is not a common box to find.
Personalisation can be seen on the interior, Oberfähnrich Willi likely used this for his personal belongings.
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The Gewehr-Panzergranate was launched from a Gewehrgranatengerät or Schiessbecher (“shooting cup”) on a standard service rifle by a blank cartridge. The primary components were a nose cap, internal steel cone, steel upper body, aluminum lower body, rifled driving band, TNT filling, and a PETN base fuze.[1]
The Gewehr-Panzergranate was an anti-armor weapon which upon hitting the target ignited the PETN base fuze which in turn ignited the TNT filling which collapsed the internal steel cone to create a superplastic high-velocity jet to punch through enemy armor.[1] Since shaped charge weapons rely on chemical energy to penetrate enemy armor the low velocity of the grenade did not adversely affect penetration. A downside of the Gewehr-Panzergranate was its short range 46–114 m (50–125 yd).[2]
