WW1 US Bunker Grenade?

[Millsman]

I bought this recently from a guy who said he'd seen it on the web as a late WW1 US Bunker Grenade.

It has been cut and made into a cigarette box. The main body is 80mm diameter, quality steel. It has a wooden base that is held in place by 4 large screws.

There are similarities to an Austrian Mortar but the body seems to be styled on the German Rifle grenades, but fatter.

The body shape is also similar to the German Parachute Grenade of WW1.

Answers would be greatly appreciated.

John

 

[Spgr30]

Hi,
This object seems to have been made on the basis of a French trench mortar 86 mm Boileau Debladis ( WW I). Shell fired by the pneumatic mortar Boileau Debladis, or Hachette. However, it is visible that the high part was reduced and the low part brought back to make a base. Hopefully it will help you.

 

[Millsman]

Excellent! Thanks for the photos. I think you have got it 100% correct, looking at the features. The top has been cut off and milled so it fits inside the lower part very neatly. The inside has been lined with cut curved wood to hold the cigarettes. The Boileau Debladis was an interesting weapon. Was it widely used?

Many thanks for your help.

John

 

[Spgr30]

Hi, john
Then, some details...As all the howitzers of time, this one was made in some hundred copies. Designed in 1915, the production begins in January, 1916, 110 are produced in two months, the machine is thus very precise and particularly precious for the night shooting and the rapid-firing guns. However the maximum reach can be obtained only by using the bottles of air compressed (410 m). With hand pumps, the reach falls in 273 m! The rate of fire was 10 fires per minute with bottles and 3 fires by minutes with pumps.

 

[Spgr30]

The last precision, the howitzer Boileau Debladis, could also throw grenade Excelsior B of 86 mm, planned for the mortar AASEN.
Best regards

 

[Millsman]

The last precision, the howitzer Boileau Debladis, could also throw grenade Excelsior B of 86 mm, planned for the mortar AASEN.
Best regards
View attachment 89640

Thanks for the photos and the info. I love the photo of the guys with the bike pumps. I'm amazed they could do three rounds a minute that way. As if life in the trenches wasn't hard enough!

John