The Viven-Bessières rifle grenade, named after its inventorsDictionnaire de la Grande Guerre 1914-1918, F. Cochet & R. Porte (dir.), pages 1062-1063., also known as "VB grenade", and officially referred to as the ''"Viven-Bessières shell"'' in the French Army instruction manual, was an infantry weapon in use with the French Army from 1916 onwards.

Description and characteristics

This grenade launcher consists of two elements, the discharger and the projectile.

Cup discharger

Having a diameter of , it weighs about . It is fitted on the end of the barrel. When not in use, it was transported in a leather or canvas case. These cases were made by each regiment.

Projectile

Cylindrical in shape, it was made of cast iron with internal grooves to facilitate fragmentation during its bursting. Its weight is about (depending on the version). It contains of

cheddite Cheddite is a class of explosive materials invented in 1897 by E. A. G. Street of the firm of Berges, Corbin et Cie and originally manufactured in the town of Chedde in Haute-Savoie, France, in the early twentieth century. Closely related to S ...

. It has two internal tubes. The first, central, allows the passage of the

ball A ball is a round object (usually spherical, but sometimes ovoid) with several uses. It is used in ball games, where the play of the game follows the state of the ball as it is hit, kicked or thrown by players. Balls can also be used for s ...

(bullet) of the cartridge that launches the grenade. The second contains the detonator. It is launched by firing a normal cartridge, the ball (bullet) passing through the tube at the centre of the projectile. In passing, it causes the fuze to ignite, which will cause it to explode about 8 seconds later.In reality, it is allowed a tolerance of more or less a second. The gases generated by the firing of the cartridge are enough to propel the grenade. There are also Brandt-type projectiles for sending a written message. This projectile emits yellow smoke to improve its recovery. Other versions are smoke or illumination projectiles. These different types of projectiles must be fired with a special blank cartridge, without a bullet.

Deployment

The V-Bs were deployed by rifle grenadiers at infantry company level. Initially, they were eight per company. Their numbers per company increased steadily throughout the conflict. While it was possible to fire the rifle from the shoulder, the force of the recoil meant that it was better to fire the grenade with the rifle butt placed on the ground. This method also allowed for greater range. Thus, an angle of 80 degrees will give a range of ; An angle of 45 degrees will give a range of . To simplify the calculations, a special firing-rack was also provided. The rifles were placed on them, simplifying the range calculations.

Utilisation

1916–1918

According to the contemporary French Army instruction manual, there were two main modes of use of the V-B grenades. "Attrition fire" and "saturation fire". In the first case, it was a question of aiming at either communications trenches or junctions in the enemy's trench network. One of the examples cited proposed to aim at those communications trenches used by the enemy for lines of resupply, or even the location of the latrines if they could be located. In the second case, during an assault, it was necessary to saturate an area, in the manner of what the artillery could do. For example, to neutralize machine gun nests; Or, in the defensive, to fire on those communication trenches by which the enemy reinforcements may come. The US Army also adopted this weapon and implemented it from July 1917. Initially, with material supplied by France; in a second stage, producing their own dischargers and grenades and adapting them to their

M1917 Enfield The M1917 Enfield, the "American Enfield", formally named "United States Rifle, cal .30, Model of 1917" is an American modification and production of the .303-inch (7.7 mm) Pattern 1914 Enfield (P14) rifle (listed in British Service as Rifle No ...

and

M1903 Springfield The M1903 Springfield, officially the U.S. Rifle, Caliber .30, M1903, is an American five-round magazine-fed, bolt-action service repeating rifle, used primarily during the first half of the 20th century. The M1903 was first used in combat ...

rifles.They produced about 20 million of these projectiles until the end of the war The "message" grenade was not used by the Americans.

After the end of the First World War

The V-B rifle continued to be part of the inventory of the French infantryman at the beginning of the Second World War. The US VB grenade was used at the

Battle of Guadalcanal The Guadalcanal campaign, also known as the Battle of Guadalcanal and codenamed Operation Watchtower by the United States, was an Allied offensive against forces of the Empire of Japan in the Solomon Islands during the Pacific Theater of W ...

. After the conflict, the cup discharger concept was gradually abandoned by the army as a means of launching grenades. But it was still in use with the

French Gendarmerie The National Gendarmerie ( ) is one of two national law enforcement forces of France, along with the National Police. The Gendarmerie is a branch of the French Armed Forces placed under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of the Interior, with ad ...

until the 1990s to launch tear gas grenades.

Notes and references

Notes References

Bibliography

* Stephen Bull & Adam Hook, ''World War I Trench Warfare (1): 1914–16'', Osprey Publishing, 2002, 64 pages, . * Patrice Delhomme, ''Les grenades françaises de la Grande guerre'', Paris, Hégide, 1984, 139 pages, pages 128-129, . * Jean Huon, ''les armes françaises en 1914-1918'', 2005, éditions Crépin-Leblond, 45 pages, .

External links

* VB on th
site du CRID
webpage of CRID
Article sur la Viven Bessières
historical and literary website ''Histoire du monde''

factual military website ''Guerre du Millénaire''

{{WWIUSInfWeaponsNav Grenades of France World War I French infantry weapons World War I infantry weapons of the United States World War II infantry weapons of France Rifle grenades