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View Full Version : German Metsubishi from WW2: Blendkörper



John Lindsey
20th January 2003, 22:40
Borrowed from:
http://www.geocities.com/Augusta/8172/panzerfaust9.htm

A closely related weapon family to the Nebelhandgranaten were the Blendkörper ("blinding devices"), although the latter were intended as a designated AT weapon. Introduced in 1943, the first model Blendkörper 1 H or BK 1H weighed 370g and was a little unwieldy at a diameter of 6cm and a length of 15cm. Therefore, after 225,200 BK 1H production was switched over to the second model, the BK 2H. This was a glass bottle with a length of 12.8cm. It contained 290g of a mixture of calcium chloride / titan tetrachloride / siliciumterachloride which were separated from each other with by a disc. The whole device weighed 400g.
The idea behind the Blendkörper was that when thrown, the explosion blinded the crews of enemy tanks. Then, the ensuing smoke cloud with irritant was to make the crew exit their vehicle. Despite appearing to be a bizarre weapon, the Blendkörper were rather common in use. 5,142,800 of the BK 2H were produced and practically all were used up until the end of the war