Handgrenade Practice

For another of our exercises we were taught, one Sunday, how to throw hand grenades. We had seven seconds to prime them and put a piece in the base. We received some tuition from a couple of military experts then we all had to line up behind a low wall each with a live hand- grenade, and take it in turns to lob it over the wall into the quarry below. In the quarry was a bin and if you managed to hit the bin you had twenty Players (cigarettes) for a reward. It was a dreadful day, drizzling with rain, our fingers were cold and shaking and it was very muddy underfoot.

“The seven seconds seemed to fly by. You all had to stand up while each person primed the grenade then get down behind the wall when it was thrown. When Joe Shortall came to throw his grenade he slipped back on the clay mud and dropped the grenade on the floor. The military expert shouted to everybody to get round the back. The wall was 3 feet 5 inches high at the most and there were layers of people who had thrown themselves over. We had never tried so hard to make ourselves thin. Bits flew in all directions and it was a miracle that no-one was hurt. There was quite a to-do about it and Joe never lived that down"

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