Hawkins Grenade - Development

Development

With the end of the Battle of France and the evacuation of the British Expeditionary Force from the port of Dunkirk between 26 May and 4 June 1940, a German invasion of Great Britain seemed likely. However, the British Army was not well-equipped to defend the country in such an event; in the weeks after the Dunkirk evacuation it could only field twenty-seven divisions. The Army was particularly short of anti-tank guns, 840 of which had been left behind in France and only 167 were available in Britain; ammunition was so scarce for the remaining guns that regulations forbade even a single round being used for training purposes.

As a result of these shortcomings, a number of new anti-tank weapons had to be developed to equip the British Army and the Home Guard with the means to repel German armoured vehicles. Many of these were anti-tank hand grenades, large numbers of which could be built in a very short space of time and for a low cost. They included the Grenade, Hand, Anti-tank No. 73, which was little more than a Thermos-sized bottle filled with TNT, and the Grenade, Hand, Anti-tank No. 74, also known as the 'Sticky bomb', which was coated with a strong adhesive and 'stuck' to a vehicle. A more versatile grenade appeared in 1942 in the form of the Grenade, Hand, Anti-tank, No. 75, more commonly known as the Hawkins grenade, which was designed so that it could be used in a number of roles.