Butterfly Bombs

I havn't seen any mention of the German butterfly bombs which were scattered over Grimsby (My home town) Cleethorpes and to a smaller extent, Newark. They were dropped in a large container which opened scattering the bombs far and wide. They were slightly larger than a condensed milk tin and on release the sides and the ends opened, the ends being set at a slight angle to give rotation on the way down. The rotation unscrewed the fuse and depending on how much was unscrewed gave the sensitivity. If it unscrewed completley, it became a contact bomb. The only way to combat it was to gently tuck Gun Cotton round it, light blue touch paper and retire imediately, if it was in some ones attick, hard luck!

Ken

 

wide useage on the Ost Front against the Soviets and then back again in the spring of 1945 over England dropped by Ju 88G night fighter/intruders on several occasions

 

Actually, these little suckers were fairly effective on exposed personnel. In effect they were air-dropped granades. They were also used on the Allies in Normandy where they were called "pop-corn" bombs by the Americans due the the sound of their explosions. Interestingly enought, the USAF copied them and these were used in Vietnam!