Original German WWII Handgranate 343 d – Danish Model 1923 – Inert Original Items

Original Item: Only One Available. The Danish M.1923 grenade is one of the more mysterious types encountered by collectors. It seems everyone has a different opinion about what it is exactly. We’ve seen it described as Swedish, Japanese and almost everything in between. To put truth to the speculation – this model grenade was developed by the Danish and produced in Denmark, designated the Haandbombe Model 1923.

After the German occupation in April of 1940, ordnance plants continued production using the German nomenclature: Handgranate 342d (Offensive) and Handgranate 343d (Defensive).

Two color schemes are found: Yellow; and Grey with a Black Band. Yellow versions are less common than the Grey/Black style. Dated Yellow examples observed are from 1940 to 1945.

Markings vary from: “23”; “K” inside a 12 pointed star; “AK/B 194x” (194x being the date); and “AMA” (AmMunitions Arsenalet).

Construction & Function
The body is sheet steel with a brass percussion delay fuse assembly and a safety wire. The top plunger is the striker mechanism, the bottom cap provides access to the detonator (or practice charge), and there is a fuse interrupter safety in the side which departs from the grenade after it is thrown, arming the grenade.

The defensive model is created by the addition of a fragmentation sleeve, consisting of two identical cast iron half shells attached to the offensive grenade and secured with wire wrapped around the top and bottom .

Identification
The practice grenade is made using thick-wall steel, to simulate live weight and make it more robust for repeated use.

The most obvious way to identify the practice from the service type (other than the color scheme) is the presence of two 2.5mm holes drilled in the body – one found just below the safety interrupter, the other is located on the top cone on the opposite side.

The base end cap has a 6mm exhaust hole for the practice charge, which was inserted in the space that would have held the detonator in a service grenade.

After use, the grenade had to be returned to the factory for a new fuse. A string of indented dots, may be found below the safety interrupter each indicating a re-load cycle by the factory. The example offered here was reloaded four times.