The M9 rifle grenade was an American

anti-tank Anti-tank warfare originated from the need to develop technology and tactics to destroy tanks during World War I. Since the Triple Entente deployed the first tanks in 1916, the German Empire developed the first anti-tank weapons. The first dev ...

rifle grenade A rifle grenade is a grenade that uses a rifle-based launcher to permit a longer effective range than would be possible if the grenade were thrown by hand. The practice of projecting grenades with rifle-mounted launchers was first widely used dur ...

used 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 World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. It was derived as a lighter version of the M10 grenade which was too heavy to be fired to an effective distance from a rifle. (The M10 evolved into a rocket-propelled munition known as the

bazooka Bazooka () is the common name for a man-portable recoilless anti-tank rocket launcher weapon, widely deployed by the United States Army, especially during World War II. Also referred to as the "stovepipe", the innovative bazooka was among the ...

.) Towards the end of the Second World War, its limited effect against heavy German tanks became noticed. This became apparent when US forces engaged

T-34 The T-34 is a Soviet medium tank introduced in 1940. When introduced its 76.2 mm (3 in) tank gun was less powerful than its contemporaries while its 60-degree sloped armour provided good protection against anti-tank weapons. The C ...

tanks in the Korean War. It was replaced in the anti-tank role by the M28, an American version of the

Energa Energa SA is a Polish corporate group which deals in the generation, distribution, and supplies electricity to approximately 2.7 million people in Northern Poland. Energa is Poland's third largest distribution network operator serving North and ...

rifle grenade, which was itself replaced several years later by the

M31 HEAT rifle grenade The M31 HEAT is a fin-stabilized anti-tank rifle grenade designed in the late 1950s to replace the Belgian ENERGA rifle grenade which was adopted by the US Army and US Marines as an emergency stop-gap measure during the Korean War. Like the EN ...

. It was adopted by the British as the No. 85 grenade in 1944, and was similarly superseded by the Energa in British service too during the 1950s. This new munition in the Commonwealth armoury required adapted discharger cartridges, which were made in the UK, Canada, Australia, India and Pakistan.

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...

adopted a copy of the M9A1 rifle grenade, as ''Type 64''. It was used by

North Vietnam North Vietnam, officially the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV; vi, Việt Nam Dân chủ Cộng hòa), was a socialist state supported by the Soviet Union (USSR) and the People's Republic of China (PRC) in Southeast Asia that existed f ...

ese forces during the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...

, being fired from AT-44 grenade launchers fitted on M44 Mosin-Nagant carbines.

Description

References

External links

U.S. Explosive Ordnance (Vol. 2); Part 4 - Grenades
{{Use dmy dates, date=June 2017 World War II infantry weapons of the United States Grenades of the United States Anti-tank grenades Rifle grenades