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U.S. practice ammunition in Berlin written by Reinhard von Bronewski photo courtesy by Paul Grothe & Bill Wings |
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-- cartridges ammo (Blanks) -- mines -- signal ammo -- booby traps -- smoke grenades -- tear gas grenades -- hand grenades -- simulators Cartridges - blank ammo - In the Grunewald , U.S. troops used practice ammunition only (Blanks). Firing with life ammo (small arms only) took place on fenced up ranges like Keerans- and Rose Range. My memories go back until mids of the 1950 years. Probably in West Germany was more different practice ammunition in use. Here in Berlin I remember very well following practice items.
Also for the M1 carbine and the heavy M2 cal .50 machine guns were Blanks available. But the cal .50 Blank ammo of that era was only used as single shots inside of an especially sub-caliber chamber of the "106 mm" recoilless rifles. (mounted on jeeps, see photos from -Big Red One- veteran John Parmenter) Also the new medium anti-tank weapons like the -Ninety- or the -Dragon- etc., (used in the following years), fired small sub-caliber plastic practice cartridges to simulate real fire. Because the lack of blank adapters, the heavy -M2- machine guns mounted on tanks or APC have not fired blanks in that era. In the 1980s the Berlin Brigade finally got blank adapters for the M2 and also started to use blanks. Also the M48 tanks fired blank ammo with their main guns. The brass cartridges looked like huge coffee powder cans. In the 1980s, the M60/A3 battle tanks fired not more blank ammo with their main guns. While maneuver the tanks fired now single shots inside of separate metal cases which were attached on top of the main tank barrel. Such practice ammo firing cases fit 9 electric fused simulators, each of it placed in a separate barrel. (4 in the top line, 5 underneath) From October 1961 the WWII cal .30 M1909 got replaced by caliber 7.62mm NATO. New weapons were issued to the troops: M14 rifles ( semi and full-auto / AR ) & M60 (Sixty) machine guns. They replaced the old M1 Garands, M1 carbines, B.A.R.s & Brownings M1919A4 / -A6 machine guns. In 1970 followed another change of rifles and caliber, the new M16 rifles had cal 5.56mm now. The same caliber was used later on by -SAW- (Squad Automatic-Weapon) which was issued to the Berlin Brigade mids of the 1980s. Mines Anti-tank mines: The Berlin Brigade used a various number of practice mines. All of them were light blue in color. Some of them just were dummies, other had a simulated and explosive function. There were 3 versions of anti-tank mines, all of them were dummies. The mines were placed open on the trails or Grunewald roads. Sometimes the troops simulated the searching for such "hidden surprises", they used their bayonets to stab in the sandy ground.
The Berlin Brigade had different versions in use. There were small plastic mines (1950-60s) and bigger "brothers" made out of wood, plastic or metal. Some of them exploded with a little "bang" after its hidden surface fuse was touched.
Here were 4 different versions in use. 3 of them looked like fire big crackers. They were made out of thick carton paper, its action was different. They were attached to trees by spring or nails. The fuse, a thin small white string, was attached to a green wire which was connected to an opposite holding point. (2 trees, across trails etc.) If somebody touched that almost unvisible wire, the booby trap exploded without delay with a sharp whistle, with short illumination or with a big "bang" (flash). The # 4 has been a -Ground flare trap-. It looked similar to the hand smoke grenade but worked like the other booby traps. It gave bright white light for 1-2 minutes.
There were -hand- smoke grenades and rifle smoke grenades. (so-called smoke streamers) The hand smoke grenades looked like coke cans, on its surface you also could recognize its color. The rifle grenades looked like small mortar ammo. They were launched by rifles and flew with a color stream about 50 -100 yards. Smoke colors were : white, red, green, yellow, pink and violet. After you had pulled off the safety ring, they gave smoke for about 2 minutes. Also in use were big smoke pots (like a paint bucket), they gave white /gray smoke for about 10 minutes.
Not very funny but in the 1950s and 1960s always in use. They were gray in color and looked like the hand smoke grenades. Its content was nasty tear gas. It looked bright white and if you got in touch with it without wearing a gas mask you never will forget.
The troops used them until the end. It were -real- hand grenade bodies but they were cut open at its rear. (they could not break in fragments after an explosion) After you have pulled out the safety ring the attached fuse only exploded after a short delay with a little "bang". The grenades were picked up and the empty fuses got replaced by new ones. In the 1950s and 1960s were the WWII "pineapple" versions, after it the "base ball" versions in use.
That stuff really was very dangerous. Wrong handle and your finger were gone forever! There were 2 versions, the hand grenade simulator and its bigger "brother", the artillery simulator. (about double size) Both were made out of strong paper carton and content high explosive power. After you have pulled out the firing cap (attached to a small white string), the simulator exploded after a short delay (like a real hand grenade) The whole simulator was blasted into small fragments. In Summer they caused wood fire many of times. The artillery always started with a sharp whistle, after it followed a giant explosion. In the 1950s and early 60s, the troops sometimes also used small fire crackers. (size like a lip stick with a tight fuse in the middle.) They were lit on a fuse end by cigarettes or lighters. Especially that stuff looked like a toy but it has been very dangerous. Many bad accidents happened with those practice ammunition. After field training very often such practice items were left behind or lost. It was fun and an adventure for kids and juveniles but it also caused many dangerous accidents.
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