America hand grenade vs German hand grenade

[GliderInfantry]

In formation I have seen says that the potato masher grenade was lighter and easy to throw than the american hand grenade but it did not pack the killing punch the american one did ? was this true :confused:

[Drake]

You could throw the german one further cause of the lever the stick provided and it had a bigger explosive charge, but it had no metal around it for a fragmentation effect. I wouldn't recommend standing next to either one.

[HAWKEYE]

The German stick grenade was more of a concussion type of weapon rather than a killing weapon, it had a thinner shell that would fragment into smaller, less deadly, pieces than the US grenade, there was a sleeve that could be put on it to make it more deadly, but as Drake said, you still didn't want to be nearby when it went off .

[Nickdfresh]

I believe the American "pineapple" grenade was much more powerful than the potato masher, mainly because the fragmentation jacket compressed the blast more. I recall reading that some Allied troops using it had to be careful as they were often in nonlethal frag radius in close quarters battle. And that later in the War, some US soldiers carried both, using the German grenades as a concussion grenade for quick assaults, and using the MKII to clear houses or bunkers...

The potato-masher was in fact designed with the German concept of quick assault tactics in mind, in which it could quickly be thrown and the user could then rush in quickly after his opponents without fragging himself, and take them while they were stunned...

[albatrosdva]

I have a friend who was a child during WWII and he picked up an American grenade during the war. Some reason it didn't explode. They messed with it some and left it there. A week later some other kids were playing with it and it exploded. He said that the Germans were always more worried about the American grenades because they were made so much more vicious.