Lying assault pioneer Obergefreiter from the Wehrmacht in a practice holding a Stielhandgranate M-24, also known by the British, “Potato masher”. The variant depicted is a Nebelhandgranate (smoke grenade). The Stielhandgranate -literally, "stalk hand grenade"- was a German hand grenade of unique design. It was the standard issue of the German Empire during World War I and lasted until World War II, in which became the infamously issue of Nazi Germany's Wehrmacht. Three models were patented during WWI (M15, M16, M17), but the widely used during WW2 was created during the Weimar Republic, in 1924, and was first used in the Spanish Civil War. Many models, especially Japanese and Chinese saw combat during both the Sino-Japanese War and the Pacific War.

1940