Reinvented by the requirements of trench warfare, the first grenades in 1914 were often hand-made, consisting of old cans filled with nails and bits of metal and packed with gunpowder. They often proved as dangerous to their makers as to their intended targets, due to the risk of premature explosion.

Who made the first grenade?

The first modern fragmentation grenade was the Mills bomb, which became available to British front-line troops in 1915. William Mills, a hand grenade designer from Sunderland, patented, developed and manufactured the "Mills bomb" at the Mills Munition Factory in Birmingham, England in 1915, designating it the No. 5.

Did they have grenades in ww1?

In World War I, hand grenades were also known as “hand bombs.” The general philosophy for their use in the fighting armies was that grenades could kill the enemy underground or behind cover. ... Gas, smoke and illuminating grenades were also used in World War I.