Why? Because I'm going to be on the road this week, with daytime meetings followed by evening skull sessions to digest the results to take into the next days meetings. IOW, I'm gonna be busy, so I'm spending time today pre-building posts for the week! So my two-fer post is going to end up... two answer posts!
And to make it worse - in reverse order. Of course, thinking about it - I'll probably have faster access at the hotel. Just not the time.
Okay - the question was -
What's the first thing that pops into your mind when you see this picture?
The first thing that pops into my mind was a shorter version of what TmjUtah said:
The second pic? That boy is young and full of optimism. Let him hit forty or so and he'll remember well every single 'nade he fired from the shoulder.
For me, it was simply "Ouch."
Yep, it's a young soldier, in a clean uniform, in a staged photo from a training manual. He's demonstrating one of the ways to fire a Mills Bomb from a rifle. Given the little axiom of "For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction" firing the not-terribly-light Mills Bomb from the shoulder like that is going to involve some serious recoil.
Never having fired a grenade of that weight (1 pound 11 ounces) from the shoulder (but having fired rifle grenades) I don't know if the kick will be enough to knock him over in that stance, as Ry suggested, but I do know I would probably have my feet positioned differently. Of course, one would hope they had done this before writing the manual, and perhaps that is the optimal stance. I dunno. I've got a SMLE, and I've got rodded Mills Bombs (better known as the "Rifle Grenade, .303, Mk 23", and I've got grenade-launching blanks... but sorry, I'm not going to test it for you. But I will go into more detail on the subject in the Flash Traffic/Extended Entry if you've the interest.
A good place to start is simply answering Eric's questions...
Using a rifle grenade (longish-range) and bayonet (short-range) at the same time strikes me as rather odd. Was this a normal thing to do? And then there's the bonus hazard of loading the grenade with that pointy thing attached. And, as others have noted, the whole shoulder-firing business. And he seems to be looking upward, which doesn't make a lot of sense to me; weren't there special grenade-launching sights? What's he looking at up there?
Well, lessee, Eric. We're in combat in the trenches of WWI. As configured, that soldier has a long ranged weapon - his rifle. A medium ranged (100m or so) grenade tosser, and that bayonet for when things get 'sticky'. He's got a weapon he can use from cover - that grenade. He could either be firing it to break up a wire-cutting party in No Man's Land, to break up an assault, or he could be in the forward german trench after taking it, and is trying to take out a machine-gun nest in the next line, or one that is flanking his current position - and he still has his rifle and bayonet available, especially if he's got one of the SMLE's with a magazine cut-off, so he can hand-load the blanks and not worry as much about inadvertently loading a ball round, or not having any ball rounds available should he need to take a shot.
So, It makes sense to me. Yes, it was a normal thing to do. Loading the grenade, with bayonet attached? Hey, I'm the only one around here in danger, given one of the things I'm #1 in Google for... but the bayonet is actually a safety device in this context. Remember, this guy has to load the grenade, pull the pin, aim, and fire. In the early versions of the grenade, he had a 7 second fuze. That's a comfortable amount of time, but was too long tactically, as the cheeky Hun would toss 'em back, which was annoying. So, the time was shortened to 4 seconds. Hmmmm. Scary, pull the pin, let the lever fly, and get that thing away from me in 4 seconds...
I don't like that process much, and neither did Tommy. Soooo. The lever or "spoon" that released the striker is grooved. And the base plug, which is reinforced for the rod, is also shaped to rest against the bayonet boss - so that with the bayonet attached, you slid the rod into the muzzle, with the lever laying along the bayonet, and the base resting against the boss, to help keep the lever aligned along the blade. You still didn't pull that pin any earlier than needed. The whole thing also provides a bit of friction to help keep the grenade in the muzzle, in case you need to move suddenly, because of that jerk from the other side who just noticed you were going to try to kill his buddies or something. So, the bayonet is really a needful accessory there, to answer's Karla's safety question.
It wasn't all that great a method, however, so later in the war a "cup" attachment was provided, which held the lever in place more securely... but that attachment was held in place by... the bayonet! Later, an actual cup was provided, and a "gas check" plate like this example of a sectioned grenade in the Arsenal of Argghhh!!!. This gizmo had a sliding adjustable port in it - so that with the provided special sights, you actually had some real ranging/trajectory options... but that's a post for another time.
There were special grenade launching sights, but they were relatively rare, as most grenadiers got good enough with the weapon that they could get the bomb where they wanted it - just like current M203 gunners can. I know, after about 30 rounds of practice, I could reliably put a 40mm grenade into the hatch of one of the derelict Sherman turrets on the grenade range at Grafenwoehr, and that from any position on the range. And I've not been able to track it down - but I think the actual special purpose sights were for the later cup dischargers, vice the earlier rod grenades. Perhaps some reader knows?
But there ya have it - a quick and dirty on the joys of grenading by using a grenade with a rod stuck in it sticking down your rifle barrel - ruining your rifle's accuracy over time - usually by bulging the barrel. Therefore, at least for defensive purposes, worn out rifles were taken, reinforced with wire and an extra pin to help distribute recoil (in the stock, to reduce damage), and they were set for use in the trenches - wrapped with wire because when the barrel burst, it sent splinters of stock wood zipping through the air, which was... annoying.
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