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World War I potatoes?
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I remember while touring the WWI battlefields of Verdun about 20 years ago seeing the signs cautioning visitors to remain on the paved walkways and the grass 1 meter on either side, as the wooded areas were still full of unexploded ordinance.
In fact a Frenchman I spoke with told me that every now and again, one would spontaniously detonate - and that some of those happened to be chemical rounds filled with either mustard gas or chlorine gas.
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father said that the Potato Masher grenade arose because Germans have no ball throwing games like baseball and cricket, and therefore tend to throw in his words "like girls". Throwing something with a handle made throwing easier, gave more distance and more accuracy. I believe my father, you don't have to. He had friends in the ground forces who also liked the potato masher because they felt they could get a good extra 25 to 30 yards out of them, and felt they could throw more accurately from behind cover, but all that is an old soldiers tale.
Rob
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