Sticky bomb
Encyclopedia
The Grenade, Hand, Anti-Tank No. 74, commonly known as the sticky bomb, was a British
hand grenade
designed and produced during the Second World War. The grenade was one of a number of anti-tank weapons developed for use by the British Army
and Home Guard as an ad hoc solution to a lack of sufficient anti-tank guns in the aftermath of the Dunkirk evacuation. Designed by a team from MIR(c)
including Major Millis Jefferis
and Stuart Macrae
, the grenade consisted of a glass sphere containing nitroglycerin covered in a powerful adhesive, and surrounded by a sheet-metal casing. When the user pulled a pin on the handle of the grenade, the casing would fall away and expose the sphere; another pin would activate the firing mechanism, and the user would then attempt to attach the grenade to an enemy tank or other vehicle with sufficient force to break the sphere. After it was attached, releasing the lever on the handle would activate a five-second fuse, which would then detonate the nitroglycerin.
The grenade had several faults with its design. In tests it failed to adhere to dusty or muddy tanks, and if the user was not careful after freeing the grenade from its casing, it could easily stick to his uniform. The Ordnance Board of the War Department did not approve the grenade for use by the British Army, but personal intervention by the Prime Minister
, Winston Churchill
, led to the grenade going into production. Between 1940 and 1943, approximately 2.5 million were produced. It was primarily issued to the Home Guard, but was also used by British and Commonwealth forces in North Africa
, accounting for six German tanks, as well as by Australian Army
units during the New Guinea campaign
. The French Resistance
were also issued with a quantity of the grenades.
" charge. Jefferis enlisted Drs Bauer and Schulman of the Colloid Science Department of Cambridge University, they had experimented with lengths of bicycle inner tube filled with plasticine
to represent the explosive. These were fitted with wooden handles and dipped in rubber solution to make them sticky. In experiments, these prototypes proved difficult to aim and only by chance did any stick to the metal bins used to represent tanks.
With the end of the Battle of France
and the evacuation of the British Expeditionary Force
from the port of Dunkirk between 26 May and 4 June 1940, a German invasion of Great Britain
seemed likely. However, the British Army
was not well equipped to defend the country in such an event; in the weeks after the Dunkirk evacuation it could only field twenty-seven divisions. The Army was particularly short of anti-tank guns, 840 of which had been left behind in France
and only 167 were available in Britain; ammunition was so scarce for the remaining guns that regulations forbade even a single round being used for training purposes.
Under the circumstances, Jefferis considered that his idea might have more general application for the British Army
and the Home Guard. Jefferis was in charge of a department known as , which had been created to develop and deliver weapons for use by guerilla and resistance groups in Occupied Europe. was now charged with the development of the Sticky Bomb.
The problem of designing a sticky bomb had been delegated to the enthusiastic genius of Robert Stuart Macrae
. Clearly, some sort of flexible bag was required to contain an explosive gel so that it did not matter how the bomb landed on the target. However, a flexible bag is hard to throw and trials had not been at all satisfactory.
Discussions of the problem in Macrae's office were overheard by Gordon Norwood, a master printer who Macrae had recruited from his former magazine publishing employer, but he was not directly working on the weapon. Norwood suggested that what was needed was a frangible container and to the annoyance of the War Office store keeper he obtained a 150 W light bulb
with which to demonstrate his point: a spherical glass flask inside a sock of woven wool is rigid when thrown, but on contact the glass breaks and the bomb deforms to the required shape. Experiments with glass flasks filled with cold porridge confirmed that this was the way to go. The grenade needed a delay for the thrower to get clear, so the woollen sock was covered in a sticky substance ensuring that the bomb stayed in place for a few seconds before detonating. Having covered the bomb in glue, a non-sticky handle was required; in the handle, a delay fuse ignited by releasing a sprung leaver so that a five second time delay starts as the grenade leaves the throwers hand (just like the levers found on a conventional Mills bomb
type hand grenade).
Meanwhile, finding a suitable adhesive was a significant problem. After unsuccessful experiments with a variety of candidates, somebody suggested birdlime
– a viscous sticky compound used since ancient times to trap birds by spreading it on tree branches and waiting for birds to get stuck. Birdlime performed better than anything previously tested, but it was still not good enough. Macrae's tin of birdlime was labelled with a large letter 'K' indicating that tin came from Stockport
but with no more clues as the manufacturer. Macrae got on a train to Stockport and there found a helpful taxi driver who took him to Kay Brothers Ltd. The company's Chief Chemist was soon working on the problem of a suitable adhesive and within a matter of weeks the problem was solved to Macrae's satisfaction.
The filling for the bomb was developed by ICI. It was nitroglycerin-based with a variety of additives to make it more stable and viscous. The glass flask containing the main charge held about 1+1/2 lb of this explosive that was described as having the consistency of Vaseline
.
The adhesive surface was protected by a light metal case which was released by pulling a safety pin: the case fell away as two hemispheres connected by a sprung hinge. The inside of the case was fitted with a number of rubber spikes that kept it clear of the glued surface of the grenade. Early models also had a strip of adhesive tape round the neck of the casing.
Development continued, but there were problems with service regulations that were not written with such an unconventional weapon in mind. The sticky bomb was inevitably rather fragile and even a specially designed box could not fully meet the army's demanding requirements for withstanding rough handling without damage. It seemed there were problems at every turn. The Prime Minister
, Winston Churchill
, who was concerned with the state of the country's anti-tank defences, learnt about the grenade and urged its development. The Ordnance Board of the War Office did not approve the grenade to be used by the Army. However, Churchill ordered further tests to be conducted in July, and after personally viewing a demonstration of the grenade ordered that it immediately be put into production. His memo of October 1940 simply read "Sticky bomb. Make one million". A couple of days later, Anthony Eden, then Secretary of State for War, added a scribbled note to a cabinet minute that recorded the order to go ahead with the bomb:
In spite of top level pressure, the arguments rumbled on. Trials were disappointing, it was not possible to get the bomb to adhere to any surface that was wet or covered with even the thinnest film of dried mud "a customary condition of tanks" as Major-General Ismay, on 27 June, could not resist pointing out.
Churchill was not amused:
Macrae, Ismay and Churchill all saw fit to record these arguments over the technical issue of stickiness. As Eden had pointed out, there was a lot at stake. The British infantry and Home Guard
had little with which to put up a fight against tanks and to any who had witnessed trials of Molotov Cocktail
s and SIP grenade
s it was evident that they could do little to a modern tank other than to provide a blinding pall of smoke. What was needed was a hand weapon to deliver a coup de grâce by punching through the armoured plate. The sticky bomb could do the job and little else was available.
In his memoirs, Ismay recalled that he never solved the puzzle of how to convey his very genuine concerns of the time to the right people. A thrown sticky bomb simply would not reliably stick to a vertical surface. However, the bomb would stick if it was thrown onto the top of a tank where the plates were more or less horizontal – and thinner – but this reduced the throwing range to twenty yards at the most – getting that close would only be possible in an ambush or in street fighting.
Churchill considered any obstruction, however well-meaning, as singularly lacking in imagination. In the event of invasion, he foresaw a desperate fight to the last and after the war, he wrote about how he envisaged the use of the sticky bomb: "We had the picture in mind that devoted soldiers or civilians would run close up to the tank and even thrust the bomb upon it, though its explosion cost them their lives. There were undoubtedly many who would have done it [Italics added for emphasis]." He also later recorded how he intended to use the slogan: "You can always take one with you."
Arguments rumbled on and there were endless delays. Early versions of the sticky bomb were prone to leaks as well as breakage in transport. There were understandable concerns over the explosive charge: pure nitroglycerin is notoriously susceptible to the slightest knock, but the mixture developed by ICI proved to be very safe even if it should get into the hinges of the storage boxes. By December of 1940, fewer than 66,000 had been produced and the rate of production was disappointing at five to ten thousand per week. Further, it was suggested that the original order of one million be reduced to 200,000. Minor improvements to the design were made, of which the most significant was to replace the glass flask with plastic. Finally, after passing all the required tests, the sticky bomb – now the No 74 Grenade Mk II – was accepted by the Ordnance Board; it was put into full-scale production and it became a service issue.
On 14 May 1941, Lieutenant-General Sir Ian Jacob
reflected:
Between 1940 and 1943 approximately 2.5 million were produced.
, an extremely adhesive substance from which the nickname 'sticky bomb' was derived. A casing made out of thin sheet-metal, and formed of two halves, was then placed around the sphere and held in place by a wooden handle, inside which was a five-second fuse. The handle also contained two pins and a lever; the first pin was pulled out to make the casing fall away, and the second to activate the firing mechanism in the grenade. This primed the grenade, with the lever being held down to ensure the fuse was not triggered; then the user would run up to the tank and stick the grenade to its hull, using as much force as possible to break the sphere and spread the nitroglycerin onto the hull in a thick paste. Another alternative was for the user to throw it at the tank from a distance. Either way, the lever would be released and the fuse activated, and the grenade would then detonate.
The grenade did possess several problems with its design. Users were urged to actually run up to the tank and place it by hand, rather than throw it, thus the adhesive could very easily stick to their uniform in the process; the user would then be placed in the unenviable situation of attempting to pry the grenade loose whilst still holding onto the lever. It was also discovered that as time passed the nitroglycerin began to deteriorate and become unstable, which made it even more difficult to use. As the grenade was a short-range weapon, users were trained to hide in a trench or other place of concealment until the tank went past them, and then to stick the grenade to the rear of the tank, where its armour was thinnest. However, provided that they were not in line with the handle when it detonated they were relatively safe if only a few yards away. The Mark II design used a plastic casing instead of glass, and a detonator instead of a cap.
, armoured cars and the vulnerable points on medium and heavy tanks. The safest and easiest application was simply to drop it from an upstairs window; otherwise, it could be used in an ambush of mobile tanks moving along a narrow road or in an attack on tanks parked up for the night. The sticky bomb could be either thrown or slapped in place by hand, in the latter case, the advice was to use sufficient force to break the glass thereby creating a greater area of contact resulting in a more effective explosion. Finally, there was also the option of placing the bomb first and then pulling out the pin at a safe distance by means of a length of string.
Macrae credits the Australian army
with developing the technique of slapping a sticky bomb directly onto a tank instead of throwing it from a relatively safe distance. Because the bomb used a blast effect, it was safe to do this and walk away provided only that the bomb's handle was pointing away from the bomber – the handle would be shot away from the explosion "like a bullet." Macrae gives no date for the development of this tactic. Macrae confirmed that placing the bomb rather than throwing it gives better adhesion and allows thicker plates to be penetrated.
The potential of the sticky bomb for physical humour has frequently proved too tempting to be neglected, a good example being David Niven
’s novel Go Slowly, Come Back Quickly. The unfortunate officer Stanni, while attempting to demolish a smelly privy, loses his dignity and a large section of trouser fabric to such an incident.
However, the dangers inherent in the weapon were real enough, if the bomb became inadvertently stuck in mid-throw, it could easily be pulled from a soldiers hand triggering the firing mechanism and putting him in mortal danger. There were tragic accidents during training.
By July 1941, 215,000 sticky bombs had been produced. Of these, nearly 90,000 had been sent abroad to North and South Africa, the Middle East
and to Greece
where it did useful service. The remainder were stored at Ordnance Depots or distributed to army and Home Guard units. There were many calls for the total production to be cut back and it is not clear how many were manufactured by the end of the war, but it was probably not much more than 250,000.
The grenade was first issued in 1940 to Home Guard units, who appeared to have taken a liking to it despite its flaws. Although the Ordnance Board had not approved the grenade to be used by Regular Army units, a quantity were provided for training purposes. However, a number of sticky bombs did find their way to British and Commonwealth units participating in the campaign in North Africa
, and were used as anti-tank weapons. During the Afrika Korps
advance towards the town of Thala in February 1943, they accounted for six German tanks. They were also issued to units of the Australian Army
, who used them during the Battle of Wau
and the Battle of Milne Bay
. A large number were also supplied to the French Resistance
.
considered claims from Macrae and from the managing director of Kay Brothers. Macrae's legal representative was Edward Terrell
– himself a wartime inventor. At the time the crown opposed granting an award, when Macrae was asked what elements of the sticky bomb he claimed to have invented, he replied "I am claiming no invention I merely claim the development of the bomb, which was my job." However, in 1951, the commission recommended that Macrae should receive an ex-gratia payment of £500 [about £ in ] and Norwood received £250 [£] for his contribution.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
hand grenade
Hand grenade
A hand grenade is any small bomb that can be thrown by hand. Hand grenades are classified into three categories, explosive grenades, chemical and gas grenades. Explosive grenades are the most commonly used in modern warfare, and are designed to detonate after impact or after a set amount of time...
designed and produced during the Second World War. The grenade was one of a number of anti-tank weapons developed for use by the British Army
British Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
and Home Guard as an ad hoc solution to a lack of sufficient anti-tank guns in the aftermath of the Dunkirk evacuation. Designed by a team from MIR(c)
MD1
Ministry of Defence 1 , also known as "Churchill's Toyshop" was a British weapon research and development organisation of the Second World War....
including Major Millis Jefferis
Millis Jefferis
Major-General Sir Millis Rowland Jefferis KBE MC was, during the Second World War, the founder of a special unit of the British Ministry of Supply which developed unusual weapons.-Early career:...
and Stuart Macrae
Stuart Macrae (inventor)
Colonel Robert Stuart Macrae TD was an inventor best known for his work at MD1 during the Second World War, his best known invention being the sticky bomb.Macrae was the author of Winston Chuchill's Toyshop...
, the grenade consisted of a glass sphere containing nitroglycerin covered in a powerful adhesive, and surrounded by a sheet-metal casing. When the user pulled a pin on the handle of the grenade, the casing would fall away and expose the sphere; another pin would activate the firing mechanism, and the user would then attempt to attach the grenade to an enemy tank or other vehicle with sufficient force to break the sphere. After it was attached, releasing the lever on the handle would activate a five-second fuse, which would then detonate the nitroglycerin.
The grenade had several faults with its design. In tests it failed to adhere to dusty or muddy tanks, and if the user was not careful after freeing the grenade from its casing, it could easily stick to his uniform. The Ordnance Board of the War Department did not approve the grenade for use by the British Army, but personal intervention by the Prime Minister
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the Head of Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom. The Prime Minister and Cabinet are collectively accountable for their policies and actions to the Sovereign, to Parliament, to their political party and...
, Winston Churchill
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, was a predominantly Conservative British politician and statesman known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the century and served as Prime Minister twice...
, led to the grenade going into production. Between 1940 and 1943, approximately 2.5 million were produced. It was primarily issued to the Home Guard, but was also used by British and Commonwealth forces in North Africa
North Africa
North Africa or Northern Africa is the northernmost region of the African continent, linked by the Sahara to Sub-Saharan Africa. Geopolitically, the United Nations definition of Northern Africa includes eight countries or territories; Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, South Sudan, Sudan, Tunisia, and...
, accounting for six German tanks, as well as by Australian Army
Australian Army
The Australian Army is Australia's military land force. It is part of the Australian Defence Force along with the Royal Australian Navy and the Royal Australian Air Force. While the Chief of Defence commands the Australian Defence Force , the Army is commanded by the Chief of Army...
units during the New Guinea campaign
New Guinea campaign
The New Guinea campaign was one of the major military campaigns of World War II.Before the war, the island of New Guinea was split between:...
. The French Resistance
French Resistance
The French Resistance is the name used to denote the collection of French resistance movements that fought against the Nazi German occupation of France and against the collaborationist Vichy régime during World War II...
were also issued with a quantity of the grenades.
Development
Since at least 1938, Jefferis had been toying with the idea of a demolition or anti-tank weapon that would be ideal for irregular warfare. It would work by having an explosive charge deform so that it has a substantial area of intimate contact with the surface of the target. Then, when detonated, the effect of the explosion would be focused on a small area and would rupture an armoured plate much thicker than would otherwise be the case. Sappers call such a device a "poultice" or "squash headHigh explosive squash head
High explosive squash head is a type of explosive ammunition that is effective against buildings and is also used against tank armour. It was fielded chiefly by the British Army as the main explosive round of its main battle tanks during the Cold War...
" charge. Jefferis enlisted Drs Bauer and Schulman of the Colloid Science Department of Cambridge University, they had experimented with lengths of bicycle inner tube filled with plasticine
Plasticine
Plasticine, a brand of modelling clay, is a putty-like modelling material made from calcium salts, petroleum jelly and aliphatic acids. The name is a registered trademark of Flair Leisure Products plc...
to represent the explosive. These were fitted with wooden handles and dipped in rubber solution to make them sticky. In experiments, these prototypes proved difficult to aim and only by chance did any stick to the metal bins used to represent tanks.
With the end of the Battle of France
Battle of France
In the Second World War, the Battle of France was the German invasion of France and the Low Countries, beginning on 10 May 1940, which ended the Phoney War. The battle consisted of two main operations. In the first, Fall Gelb , German armoured units pushed through the Ardennes, to cut off and...
and the evacuation of the British Expeditionary Force
British Expeditionary Force (World War II)
The British Expeditionary Force was the British force in Europe from 1939–1940 during the Second World War. Commanded by General Lord Gort, the BEF constituted one-tenth of the defending Allied force....
from the port of Dunkirk between 26 May and 4 June 1940, a German invasion of Great Britain
Operation Sealion
Operation Sea Lion was Germany's plan to invade the United Kingdom during the Second World War, beginning in 1940. To have had any chance of success, however, the operation would have required air and naval supremacy over the English Channel...
seemed likely. However, the British Army
British Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
was not well equipped to defend the country in such an event; in the weeks after the Dunkirk evacuation it could only field twenty-seven divisions. The Army was particularly short of anti-tank guns, 840 of which had been left behind in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
and only 167 were available in Britain; ammunition was so scarce for the remaining guns that regulations forbade even a single round being used for training purposes.
Under the circumstances, Jefferis considered that his idea might have more general application for the British Army
British Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
and the Home Guard. Jefferis was in charge of a department known as , which had been created to develop and deliver weapons for use by guerilla and resistance groups in Occupied Europe. was now charged with the development of the Sticky Bomb.
The problem of designing a sticky bomb had been delegated to the enthusiastic genius of Robert Stuart Macrae
Stuart Macrae (inventor)
Colonel Robert Stuart Macrae TD was an inventor best known for his work at MD1 during the Second World War, his best known invention being the sticky bomb.Macrae was the author of Winston Chuchill's Toyshop...
. Clearly, some sort of flexible bag was required to contain an explosive gel so that it did not matter how the bomb landed on the target. However, a flexible bag is hard to throw and trials had not been at all satisfactory.
Discussions of the problem in Macrae's office were overheard by Gordon Norwood, a master printer who Macrae had recruited from his former magazine publishing employer, but he was not directly working on the weapon. Norwood suggested that what was needed was a frangible container and to the annoyance of the War Office store keeper he obtained a 150 W light bulb
Incandescent light bulb
The incandescent light bulb, incandescent lamp or incandescent light globe makes light by heating a metal filament wire to a high temperature until it glows. The hot filament is protected from air by a glass bulb that is filled with inert gas or evacuated. In a halogen lamp, a chemical process...
with which to demonstrate his point: a spherical glass flask inside a sock of woven wool is rigid when thrown, but on contact the glass breaks and the bomb deforms to the required shape. Experiments with glass flasks filled with cold porridge confirmed that this was the way to go. The grenade needed a delay for the thrower to get clear, so the woollen sock was covered in a sticky substance ensuring that the bomb stayed in place for a few seconds before detonating. Having covered the bomb in glue, a non-sticky handle was required; in the handle, a delay fuse ignited by releasing a sprung leaver so that a five second time delay starts as the grenade leaves the throwers hand (just like the levers found on a conventional Mills bomb
Mills bomb
Mills bomb is the popular name for a series of prominent British hand grenades. They were the first modern fragmentation grenades in the world.-Overview:...
type hand grenade).
Meanwhile, finding a suitable adhesive was a significant problem. After unsuccessful experiments with a variety of candidates, somebody suggested birdlime
Birdlime
Birdlime is an adhesive substance used in trapping birds. It is spread on a branch or twig, upon which a bird may land and be caught. Its use is illegal in many jurisdictions....
– a viscous sticky compound used since ancient times to trap birds by spreading it on tree branches and waiting for birds to get stuck. Birdlime performed better than anything previously tested, but it was still not good enough. Macrae's tin of birdlime was labelled with a large letter 'K' indicating that tin came from Stockport
Stockport
Stockport is a town in Greater Manchester, England. It lies on elevated ground southeast of Manchester city centre, at the point where the rivers Goyt and Tame join and create the River Mersey. Stockport is the largest settlement in the metropolitan borough of the same name...
but with no more clues as the manufacturer. Macrae got on a train to Stockport and there found a helpful taxi driver who took him to Kay Brothers Ltd. The company's Chief Chemist was soon working on the problem of a suitable adhesive and within a matter of weeks the problem was solved to Macrae's satisfaction.
The filling for the bomb was developed by ICI. It was nitroglycerin-based with a variety of additives to make it more stable and viscous. The glass flask containing the main charge held about 1+1/2 lb of this explosive that was described as having the consistency of Vaseline
Vaseline
Vaseline is a brand of petroleum jelly based products owned by Anglo-Dutch company Unilever. Products include plain petroleum jelly and a selection of skin creams, soaps, lotions, cleansers, deodorants and personal lubricants....
.
The adhesive surface was protected by a light metal case which was released by pulling a safety pin: the case fell away as two hemispheres connected by a sprung hinge. The inside of the case was fitted with a number of rubber spikes that kept it clear of the glued surface of the grenade. Early models also had a strip of adhesive tape round the neck of the casing.
Development continued, but there were problems with service regulations that were not written with such an unconventional weapon in mind. The sticky bomb was inevitably rather fragile and even a specially designed box could not fully meet the army's demanding requirements for withstanding rough handling without damage. It seemed there were problems at every turn. The Prime Minister
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the Head of Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom. The Prime Minister and Cabinet are collectively accountable for their policies and actions to the Sovereign, to Parliament, to their political party and...
, Winston Churchill
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, was a predominantly Conservative British politician and statesman known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the century and served as Prime Minister twice...
, who was concerned with the state of the country's anti-tank defences, learnt about the grenade and urged its development. The Ordnance Board of the War Office did not approve the grenade to be used by the Army. However, Churchill ordered further tests to be conducted in July, and after personally viewing a demonstration of the grenade ordered that it immediately be put into production. His memo of October 1940 simply read "Sticky bomb. Make one million". A couple of days later, Anthony Eden, then Secretary of State for War, added a scribbled note to a cabinet minute that recorded the order to go ahead with the bomb:
- "Anti-Tank (& indeed anti-enemy generally) bombs for Home Defence are and should be available in very large quantities. I don't mind where they come from as long as we get them, home or abroad." [emphasis as in original]
In spite of top level pressure, the arguments rumbled on. Trials were disappointing, it was not possible to get the bomb to adhere to any surface that was wet or covered with even the thinnest film of dried mud "a customary condition of tanks" as Major-General Ismay, on 27 June, could not resist pointing out.
Churchill was not amused:
- "General Ismay, I understand that the trials were not entirely successful and the bomb failed to stick on tanks which were covered in dust and mud. No doubt some more sticky mixture can be devised and Major Jefferis should persevere. Any chortling by officials who have been slothful in pushing this bomb, over the fact that at present it has not succeeded will be viewed with great disfavour by me."
Macrae, Ismay and Churchill all saw fit to record these arguments over the technical issue of stickiness. As Eden had pointed out, there was a lot at stake. The British infantry and Home Guard
Home Guard
-Military:*British Home Guard*Combat Groups of the Working Class *Confederate Home Guard, during the American Civil War*Croatian Home Guard and Imperial Croatian Home Guard*Danish Home Guard...
had little with which to put up a fight against tanks and to any who had witnessed trials of Molotov Cocktail
Molotov cocktail
The Molotov cocktail, also known as the petrol bomb, gasoline bomb, Molotov bomb, fire bottle, fire bomb, or simply Molotov, is a generic name used for a variety of improvised incendiary weapons...
s and SIP grenade
No. 76 Special Incendiary Grenade
The No. 76 Special Incendiary Grenade also commonly known as the A.W. bomb or SIP Grenade was an incendiary grenade based on white phosphorus used during World War II....
s it was evident that they could do little to a modern tank other than to provide a blinding pall of smoke. What was needed was a hand weapon to deliver a coup de grâce by punching through the armoured plate. The sticky bomb could do the job and little else was available.
In his memoirs, Ismay recalled that he never solved the puzzle of how to convey his very genuine concerns of the time to the right people. A thrown sticky bomb simply would not reliably stick to a vertical surface. However, the bomb would stick if it was thrown onto the top of a tank where the plates were more or less horizontal – and thinner – but this reduced the throwing range to twenty yards at the most – getting that close would only be possible in an ambush or in street fighting.
Churchill considered any obstruction, however well-meaning, as singularly lacking in imagination. In the event of invasion, he foresaw a desperate fight to the last and after the war, he wrote about how he envisaged the use of the sticky bomb: "We had the picture in mind that devoted soldiers or civilians would run close up to the tank and even thrust the bomb upon it, though its explosion cost them their lives. There were undoubtedly many who would have done it [Italics added for emphasis]." He also later recorded how he intended to use the slogan: "You can always take one with you."
Arguments rumbled on and there were endless delays. Early versions of the sticky bomb were prone to leaks as well as breakage in transport. There were understandable concerns over the explosive charge: pure nitroglycerin is notoriously susceptible to the slightest knock, but the mixture developed by ICI proved to be very safe even if it should get into the hinges of the storage boxes. By December of 1940, fewer than 66,000 had been produced and the rate of production was disappointing at five to ten thousand per week. Further, it was suggested that the original order of one million be reduced to 200,000. Minor improvements to the design were made, of which the most significant was to replace the glass flask with plastic. Finally, after passing all the required tests, the sticky bomb – now the No 74 Grenade Mk II – was accepted by the Ordnance Board; it was put into full-scale production and it became a service issue.
On 14 May 1941, Lieutenant-General Sir Ian Jacob
Ian Jacob
Lieutenant-General Sir Edward Ian Claud Jacob GBE, CB, , known as Ian Jacob, was the Military Assistant Secretary to Winston Churchill's war cabinet and later a distinguished broadcasting executive, serving as the Director-General of the BBC from 1952 to 1960.-Early life:Jacob was born in 1899 in...
reflected:
- "The most extraordinary feature of the whole business, however, was the fact that the Secretary of State for War, in a Minute addressed to the Prime Minister on 25 November, 1940, said that the Director of Artillery and the Ordnance Board had only just been able to obtain from ICI the details of the explosive contained in the bomb. Seeing that the bomb was demonstrated in June 1940, this statement can hardly hold water. The War Office seems to be to blame in that, up to the end of April, 1941, no sticky bombs had been issued to any unit, nor had any dummies been provided for training. In view of our acute shortage of anti-tank weapons, the whole story is discreditable."
Between 1940 and 1943 approximately 2.5 million were produced.
Design
The Grenade, Hand, Anti-Tank No. 74 consisted of a glass sphere in which was contained approximately 1.25 pound (0.5669904625 kg) of semi-liquid nitroglycerin devised by ICI. The sphere was covered in stockinette which was coated with a liberal amount of birdlimeBirdlime
Birdlime is an adhesive substance used in trapping birds. It is spread on a branch or twig, upon which a bird may land and be caught. Its use is illegal in many jurisdictions....
, an extremely adhesive substance from which the nickname 'sticky bomb' was derived. A casing made out of thin sheet-metal, and formed of two halves, was then placed around the sphere and held in place by a wooden handle, inside which was a five-second fuse. The handle also contained two pins and a lever; the first pin was pulled out to make the casing fall away, and the second to activate the firing mechanism in the grenade. This primed the grenade, with the lever being held down to ensure the fuse was not triggered; then the user would run up to the tank and stick the grenade to its hull, using as much force as possible to break the sphere and spread the nitroglycerin onto the hull in a thick paste. Another alternative was for the user to throw it at the tank from a distance. Either way, the lever would be released and the fuse activated, and the grenade would then detonate.
The grenade did possess several problems with its design. Users were urged to actually run up to the tank and place it by hand, rather than throw it, thus the adhesive could very easily stick to their uniform in the process; the user would then be placed in the unenviable situation of attempting to pry the grenade loose whilst still holding onto the lever. It was also discovered that as time passed the nitroglycerin began to deteriorate and become unstable, which made it even more difficult to use. As the grenade was a short-range weapon, users were trained to hide in a trench or other place of concealment until the tank went past them, and then to stick the grenade to the rear of the tank, where its armour was thinnest. However, provided that they were not in line with the handle when it detonated they were relatively safe if only a few yards away. The Mark II design used a plastic casing instead of glass, and a detonator instead of a cap.
Operational use
According to a War Office training pamphlet dated 29 August 1940, the sticky bomb should be regarded as a portable demolition device which can be "quickly and easily applied". It was reckoned to be effective against armour of up to one inch (25 mm) thickness and was suitable for use against "baby" tanksLight tank
A light tank is a tank variant initially designed for rapid movement, and now primarily employed in low-intensity conflict. Early light tanks were generally armed and armored similar to an armored car, but used tracks in order to provide better cross-country mobility.The light tank was a major...
, armoured cars and the vulnerable points on medium and heavy tanks. The safest and easiest application was simply to drop it from an upstairs window; otherwise, it could be used in an ambush of mobile tanks moving along a narrow road or in an attack on tanks parked up for the night. The sticky bomb could be either thrown or slapped in place by hand, in the latter case, the advice was to use sufficient force to break the glass thereby creating a greater area of contact resulting in a more effective explosion. Finally, there was also the option of placing the bomb first and then pulling out the pin at a safe distance by means of a length of string.
Macrae credits the Australian army
Australian Army
The Australian Army is Australia's military land force. It is part of the Australian Defence Force along with the Royal Australian Navy and the Royal Australian Air Force. While the Chief of Defence commands the Australian Defence Force , the Army is commanded by the Chief of Army...
with developing the technique of slapping a sticky bomb directly onto a tank instead of throwing it from a relatively safe distance. Because the bomb used a blast effect, it was safe to do this and walk away provided only that the bomb's handle was pointing away from the bomber – the handle would be shot away from the explosion "like a bullet." Macrae gives no date for the development of this tactic. Macrae confirmed that placing the bomb rather than throwing it gives better adhesion and allows thicker plates to be penetrated.
The potential of the sticky bomb for physical humour has frequently proved too tempting to be neglected, a good example being David Niven
David Niven
James David Graham Niven , known as David Niven, was a British actor and novelist, best known for his roles as Phileas Fogg in Around the World in 80 Days and Sir Charles Lytton, a.k.a. "the Phantom", in The Pink Panther...
’s novel Go Slowly, Come Back Quickly. The unfortunate officer Stanni, while attempting to demolish a smelly privy, loses his dignity and a large section of trouser fabric to such an incident.
However, the dangers inherent in the weapon were real enough, if the bomb became inadvertently stuck in mid-throw, it could easily be pulled from a soldiers hand triggering the firing mechanism and putting him in mortal danger. There were tragic accidents during training.
By July 1941, 215,000 sticky bombs had been produced. Of these, nearly 90,000 had been sent abroad to North and South Africa, the Middle East
Middle East
The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...
and to Greece
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
where it did useful service. The remainder were stored at Ordnance Depots or distributed to army and Home Guard units. There were many calls for the total production to be cut back and it is not clear how many were manufactured by the end of the war, but it was probably not much more than 250,000.
The grenade was first issued in 1940 to Home Guard units, who appeared to have taken a liking to it despite its flaws. Although the Ordnance Board had not approved the grenade to be used by Regular Army units, a quantity were provided for training purposes. However, a number of sticky bombs did find their way to British and Commonwealth units participating in the campaign in North Africa
North African campaign
During the Second World War, the North African Campaign took place in North Africa from 10 June 1940 to 13 May 1943. It included campaigns fought in the Libyan and Egyptian deserts and in Morocco and Algeria and Tunisia .The campaign was fought between the Allies and Axis powers, many of whom had...
, and were used as anti-tank weapons. During the Afrika Korps
Afrika Korps
The German Africa Corps , or the Afrika Korps as it was popularly called, was the German expeditionary force in Libya and Tunisia during the North African Campaign of World War II...
advance towards the town of Thala in February 1943, they accounted for six German tanks. They were also issued to units of the Australian Army
Australian Army
The Australian Army is Australia's military land force. It is part of the Australian Defence Force along with the Royal Australian Navy and the Royal Australian Air Force. While the Chief of Defence commands the Australian Defence Force , the Army is commanded by the Chief of Army...
, who used them during the Battle of Wau
Battle of Wau
The Battle of Wau, 29–31 January 1943, was a battle in the New Guinea campaign of World War II. Forces of the Empire of Japan sailed from Rabaul and crossed the Solomon Sea and, despite Allied air attacks, successfully reached Lae, where they disembarked...
and the Battle of Milne Bay
Battle of Milne Bay
The Battle of Milne Bay, also known as Operation RE by the Japanese, was a battle of the Pacific campaign of World War II. Japanese marines attacked the Australian base at Milne Bay on the eastern tip of New Guinea on 25 August 1942, and fighting continued until the Japanese retreated on 5...
. A large number were also supplied to the French Resistance
French Resistance
The French Resistance is the name used to denote the collection of French resistance movements that fought against the Nazi German occupation of France and against the collaborationist Vichy régime during World War II...
.
Recognition
In 1947, the Royal Commission on Awards to InventorsRoyal Commission on Awards to Inventors
A Royal Commission on Awards to Inventors is a periodic Royal Commission of the United Kingdom used to hear patent disputes.On October 6, 1919 a Royal Commission on Awards to Inventors was convened to hear 11 claims for the invention of the tank....
considered claims from Macrae and from the managing director of Kay Brothers. Macrae's legal representative was Edward Terrell
Edward Terrell
Edward Terrell OBE was a Liberal politician, a successful barrister and magistrate with a flair for invention; by 1940 he had registered a number of patents relating to pens, ink bottles and peeling knives...
– himself a wartime inventor. At the time the crown opposed granting an award, when Macrae was asked what elements of the sticky bomb he claimed to have invented, he replied "I am claiming no invention I merely claim the development of the bomb, which was my job." However, in 1951, the commission recommended that Macrae should receive an ex-gratia payment of £500 [about £ in ] and Norwood received £250 [£] for his contribution.
Users
Users of the grenade included:External links
- Home Guard site
- The Home Guard Pocket Manual, by Capt. A. Southworth, M.B.E., p47-48: description of the sticky bomb, use and diagram.
- Imperial War Museum Online Collection. Search for sticky bomb for extensive collection of photographs of sticky bombs being made in a factory. Also, photograph H 30178 shows Home Guardsmen training with the sticky bomb.
- Manufacturing at Kay Brothers