Can Anyone Confirm the Panzer HandGranate 41 Really Existed?

[Saxon Cross]

On a few websites you can find info a lot like this:

The first special AT hand grenade was the Panzerhandgranate 41.
It weighed 2kg and was effective against armor of up to 30mm thickness.
504,600 were produced in early 1943.
Further developments of AT handgrenades utilising shaped charges had trouble stabilizing the flight which was necessary for the shaped charge to work (this lead to the development of the Panzerwurfmine).


If half a million of these were made, surely I'd be able to find a photo of it, or solid reference in one of the US War Dept. handbooks on German weapons!

And what's with the '41' if it was produced in 1943?



I'm coming up blank...

cheers,
Saxon

[JTG]

Negative evidence only, but it's not listed in Gander & Chamberlain "Small Arms, Artillery & Special Weapons of the Third Reich"...

"41" would be the design year; that would just be the quantity supposewd to have been produced in 1943 specifically.

Sorry nothing more.

Best

John

[Grzesio]

An interesting question!
It's pretty obvious, considering very high weight and low penetration, it was a demolition grenade (most probably with an impact fuse), not shaped charge one.

[Saxon Cross]

But the only description I've found says it's a shaped charge! More evidence of grenade that only exists on paper, resulting from a clerical error?

Upon reflection, the '41' probably doesn't refer to the year it entered service. Other German panzer grenades did not use that type of label.

Looking over other German anti-tank hand and rifle grenades, their service dates and penetrative ability, it doesn't make sense that they'd make half a million hand grenades in 1943 that weigh 2Kg yet only penetrate 30mm of armour.



Here's some German rifle panzer grenades:

Gross Gewehr Panzergrenate 40
Service: May 1941 - Feb 1942 (Paratroops/Luftwaffe only)
Weight: 12.2 oz
Penetration: 40mm
Produced: 592,593

Gewehr Panzergrenate 30
Service: Feb 1942 - Dec 1942
Weight: 8.8 oz
Penetration: 30mm

Gross Gewehr Panzergrenate
Service: Nov 1942 - May 1945 (Most common panzer grenade)
Weight: 13.5 oz
Penetration: 70mm

SS-Gewehr Panzergrenate 46
Service: Jan 1944 - May 1945 (SS only - very rare)
Weight: 15.5 oz
Penetration: 80mm

SS-Gewehr Panzergrenate 61
Service: Sep 1944 - May 1945 (SS only - very rare)
Weight: 19 oz
Penetration: 110mm




Here's some of the Hand delivered anti-tank explosives:

Pnzrwurfmine L
Service: May 1943 (Paratroops/Luftwaffe only)
Weight: 1.36Kg
Penetration: 80mm
Produced: 203,800

Pnzrwurfmine K
Service:
Weight: 1Kg
Penetration: 150mm

Haft-HL3
Service: Late 1942
Weight: 3.3Kg
Penetration: 110mm
produced: 553,900

Pnzerhndmine 3
Service: May 1942 (Paratroops/Luftwaffe only)
Weight: 3.63Kg
Penetration: 130mm

Pnzerhndmine 4
Service: (Paratroops/Luftwaffe only)
Weight: 4Kg
Penetration: 150mm



Saxon