Place of origin Kingdom of Italy Weight 240 g | In service 1935-1980 | |
 | ||
Type Fragmentation Grenade, Offensive Used by Regio Esercito
Regia Aeronautica
Marina Militare
Armed Forces of Malta
Wehrmacht Manufacturer Società Romana Costruzioni Meccaniche | ||
The SRCM Mod. 35 is a hand grenade that was first issued to the Royal Italian Army in 1935, serving through World War II and into the 1980s. Nicknamed "Red Devils" by the British in 1941-1942 during the North African Campaign after the red color of the most common type.
Contents
Description
Entered into service in 1935, the SRCM Mod. 35, together with the OTO Mod. 35 and the Breda Mod. 35 represented the new generation of hand grenades with which the Royal Italian Army faced World War II. After the Armistice of Cassibile it was adopted as Handgranate 328 by the German forces in Italy. It was used by the Italian Army until the late 1980s, and the armed forces of Malta (supplied by MIATM).
The SRCM Mod. 35 is an offensive type hand grenade meaning that it scatters light shrapnel, lethal within a radius of less than the maximum distance of the throw, their purpose being to cover the advance of the thrower without the thrower having to seek cover. Typical throwing range is 20–25 meters and the effective range of the shrapnel 10–15 meters. The outer shell of the grenade is aluminum, containing 43 grams of TNT and dinitronaphthalene with an internal wire wrapped around it that turns into shrapnel at the time of the explosion. It has two safeties, a manual one consisting of a crossbar with brass handle and an automatic one, consisting by a cross bar of aluminum connected to an external handle.
During the war the SRCM were also used as anti-personnel mines with appropriate modifications. Mounted without the safe inside a tubular structure with a pin that worked as striker when stepped eventually flowing into the tube hitting it.
Versions
Post-war produced grenades were painted a khaki color and using the same colored lines scheme for the various versions.