The Mills hand-grenade, which proved to be the most popular type used by the British Army, was provided with a lever which was normally strapped down and held by means of a safety-pin. Fig. 4 shows a sectional view of this grenade. Just before the missile was thrown, it was seized in the hand so that the lever was held down. Then the safety-pin was removed and when the grenade was thrown, the lever would spring up under pull of the spring _A_. This would cause the pin _B_ to strike the percussion cap _C_, which would light the fuse _D_. The burning fuse would eventually carry the fire to the detonator _E_, which would touch off the main explosive, shattering the shell of the grenade and scattering its fragments in all directions. The shell of the grenade was indented so that it would break easily into a great many small pieces.
[Illustration: FIG. 4. Details of the Mills hand grenade]
There were some advantages in using grenades lighted by fuse instead of percussion, and also there were many disadvantages. If too long a time-fuse were used, the enemy might catch the grenade, as you would a baseball and hurl it back before it exploded. This was a hazardous game, but it was often done.
[Illustration: FIG. 5. A German parachute grenade]
Among the different types of grenades which the Germans used was one provided with a parachute as shown in Fig. 5. The object of the parachute was to keep the head of the grenade toward the enemy, so that when it exploded it would expend its energies forward and would not cast fragments back toward the man who had thrown it. This was a very sensitive grenade, arranged to be fired by percussion, but it was so easily exploded that the firing-mechanism was not released until after the grenade had been thrown. In the handle of this grenade there was a bit of cord about twenty feet long. One end of this was attached to a safety-needle, _A_, while the other end, formed into a loop, was held by the grenadier when he threw the grenade. Not until the missile had reached a height of twelve or thirteen feet would the pull of the string withdraw the needle _A_. This would permit a safety-hook, _B_, to drop out of a ring, _C_, on the end of a striker pellet, _D_. When the grenade struck, the pellet _D_ would move forward and a pin, _E_, would strike a cap on the detonator _F_, exploding the missile. This form of safety-device was used on a number of German grenades.