Unusual Vietnamese Stick Grenades

[Papa Nambu]

I've got these 2 grenades, the handles look like the standard Vietnamese grenade handles. One has a cast body, it seems to be aluminum with steel cast into it since a magnet will stick to some areas and not others, it has a loop cast into the top.
The other has a large thin walled can which looks like it may have been a fuse or grenade shipping can, and has "CHÔNG TĂNG" stenciled on the side.

Anyone have or seen any like these before?

[Papa Nambu]

I was able to look up "CHÔNG TĂNG", it's Vietnamese for "Anti-Tank".

[Mainemilitaria]

Papa Nambu,
I have certianly seen these, and just about every other VC/NVA used handgrenade, land mine, booby trap, bomb (War stories)........yours look original (BUT) and hopefully are fully INERT.........biggest danger is they are selling "let overs"/ Real dewats and also completely remaking accurate (but safe, of course) fakes in Vietnam currently...(how you get them through customs I don't know!!!!)...

The VC/NVA had many variations of grenades....I would only have been aware
of thier blast effects (or weight.... when we'd have to move a stockpile for demolition, but had a close look, for sure!)

If these come from a "good source", and compare to what I'm sure you know about WW2 Japanese & other similiar things....they're probably vintage, but hard to be sure from here!

Certianly very collectible if there are "vintage" (sure look it!) I'll see if I have any of my old "Manuals" on VC/NVA handy....I'll look when I have the chance.

John G.

[Mainemilitaria]

I should add....
They do look almost "TOO GOOD".....especially appearing "undisturbed".....how were they deactivated? If not disarmed....you want to "IMMEDATELY" evacuate your family and call EOD/STATE POLICE !!!! and "good by" grenades and big trouble at the very least!!!! You could also just safely "loose them" and "never tell a living soul", but alittle late for that! Dewats are no problem legally.....but they can certianly raise eyebrows to the non-collector!
John G.

[ETN]

Did you get these from the same source as the grenade you posted awhile back?

Seems a bit odd that two more have turned up without end caps with provisions for a trip line still tied to the cords with the same green thread.

[Papa Nambu]

Yes, these are from the same source as the other grenade I posted, which is an older gentleman who is selling off his collection. All the other items he's sold are more familiar to me (Japanese mortar shells, British Mills bombs, etc.) All high quality, careful inerts. The big one has something rattling around inside the head, the other has the same type of careful inerting as my standard stick grenade with the same type of tacks and traces of white glue where the stick has been put back into the collar.

[Granate]

Both are considered to be the homemade VC workshop stick grenades as I call them. (IMHO) The bottom one you show with the five row hand grip is often called the MIN/mine and are actually Hand Grenades. These have anywhere from 1-4 second time delay/pull friction fuze. Not an exact science back then for the VC. They did do better as the war went on when the Russians supplied them with much better equipment than the Chinese could ever afford to do.

There is here is however a version that was used that had seven rows of hand grip. These had a ZERO second, timed fuse. The seven one almost always was filled with TNT and was meant for Booby-Traps specifically.

Anytime you have a cast or otherwise iron hand grenade, such as the ones used by most of the countries back in WWII, you will NEVER get any significant fragmentation with the serrations on the outside with one exception, that being the fuze itself. Serrations on the outside are nothing more than nice hand grips for those types of grenades. Although you may get one to maybe four pieces of good fragments in addition to the fuze that would be it for a number of reasons.


The top version is one I haven't seen in a long time. It is a possible an anti-tank version that would disable the tank rendering a MK but considering the size of it, I think it would not be able to attain a KK on a Tank. Other armored or softer vehicles are another story.

Mark
MACVSOG "Living Historian"

[Papa Nambu]

Thanks for the information, Mark

[Granate]

Sir,

You are very welcome. Anytime you need to know something about a Hand or Rifle Grenade, please feel free to ask me. INERT Grenades of all types from WWII to modern day are sort of my forte'.

SOG is tied with the grenade collecting. Grenades have always been known to soldiers as "The poor man's pocket artilliary."

This goes to others who want to know too!

Mark
MACVSOG "Living Historian"

[Beau Brummel.]

Very interesting thread, thank you Ted and Mark.

Mark, I have always been a keen ordnance collector but US grenades of the Vietnam period are very hard to get in England. Do you have a collection of these that you would be willing to share with us here? A pair of threads dedicated to both communist and US ordnance of the time would be extremely interesting reading.

Very Best Regards, Guy.

[Granate]

Guy,

Am I allowed to post pictures, not being a member?

I do not have much in the way of the Pathet Lao, of VC for that matter. But I do have some Russian grenades that were given to the PAVN in the mid to latter years. My US collection is a little better.

If allowed, I will do so latter this evening or tommorrow at the latest.

Mark
MACVSOG "Living Historian"

[bolo]

Originally Posted by Granate

Guy,

Am I allowed to post pictures, not being a member?

I do not have much in the way of the Pathet Lao, of VC for that matter. But I do have some Russian grenades that were given to the PAVN in the mid to latter years. My US collection is a little better.

If allowed, I will do so latter this evening or tommorrow at the latest.

Mark
MACVSOG "Living Historian"

you dont have to be an associtaion member to post photos

but you will need an account with a place like Photobucket to post photos, only assoc members can post attachments

[Beau Brummel.]

Hi Mark,

That would be great to see. If you want you can send your pictures to me and i can post them for you. Alternatively you can subscribe to become an association member ($25) or you can use a photo hosting service as Bolo suggests.

Best Regards, Guy.

[jerryrehr]

I think they are Trainning Aids made in the USA .
Jerry

[Granate]

They might be so. The "MIN/Mine" grenade is suppose to be of cast Iron. The larger one should also be heavier than the MIN grenade. Any such luck?

Mark
MACVSOG "Living Historian"