The Nebelpatrone or ''"fog cartridge"'' in English was a non-lethal smoke grenade that was developed by

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

and used by the

Wehrmacht The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the ''Heer'' (army), the '' Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmacht''" replaced the previo ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. The Nebelpatrone was designed to be fired from a ''

Kampfpistole The Kampfpistole or ''"combat pistol"'' in English was a flare gun introduced into German service during 1939 and served throughout World War II. Design The ''Kampfpistole'' was a single shot, break action, flare gun designed and produced by ...

flare gun A flare gun, also known as a Very pistol or signal pistol, is a large-bore handgun that discharges flares, blanks and smoke. The flare gun is typically used to produce a distress signal. Types The most common type of flare gun is a Very (s ...

Design

The Nebelpatrone was a rifle grenade that could be fired from the Kampfpistole. The Kampfpistole was a rifled

single-shot Single-shot firearms are firearms that hold only a single round of ammunition, and must be reloaded manually after every shot. The history of firearms began with single-shot designs, then multi-barreled designs appeared, and eventually many cent ...

break action Break action is a type of firearm action in which the barrel or barrels are hinged much like a door and rotate perpendicularly to the bore axis to expose the breech and allow loading and unloading of cartridges. A separate operation may be requir ...

gun and the cartridge was

breech loaded A breechloader is a firearm in which the user loads the ammunition (cartridge or shell) via the rear (breech) end of its barrel, as opposed to a muzzleloader, which loads ammunition via the front ( muzzle). Modern firearms are generally breech ...

. The Kampfpistole was a rifled variant of the earlier Leuchtpistole 34. The projectile could be recognized by ''NEBEL. Z.'' marking on the base of the cartridge case and could be used for target marking or concealment. The Nebelpatrone was similar in appearance and construction to high explosive grenades except that it contained a smoke generator instead of explosives. The projectile consists of a light alloy cartridge case, a

percussion cap The percussion cap or percussion primer, introduced in the early 1820s, is a type of single-use percussion ignition device for muzzle loader firearm locks enabling them to fire reliably in any weather condition. This crucial invention gave rise ...

in the center of the base, propellant, cylindrical light alloy body, smoke compound, powder charge, and nose fuze. The nose fuze is triggered on impact, igniting the powder charge which ignites and ejects the smoke generator from the body of the grenade.

References

{{WWIIGermanInfWeapons Rifle grenades World War II weapons of Germany Smoke grenades