Although we have a tradition of reproaching the German government for indecision in supplying heavy weapons to Ukraine, Germany still helps the Armed Forces as much as possible. For example, almost from the beginning of the war, the Ukrainian army received 3,000 Panzerfaust 3 anti-tank grenade launchers (plus another 2,000 later), modern descendants of the Panzerfaust that the Germans used to burn Soviet tanks. In addition, Germany sent mines, explosives, 100 machine guns, helmets and 100,000 DM51 hand grenades to the Armed Forces. Let’s talk about them.

The well-known blogger Major Serhii “Captain Price” Misiura who works for the ArmyInform News Agency drew attention to DM51/DM51A2 (DM – Deutsches Modell, i.e. German model). The peculiarity of this grenade with a plastic body, which has been in service with the German army since 1974, is its versatility. The fact is that this is an offensive and defensive grenade in one. With a fragmentation cover – a grenade for defensive combat (6500 steel bullets with a diameter of 2 mm) with a lethal radius of fragmentation of 10 m. Remove the cover – get a grenade for offensive combat without fragments. Easy.

Since 1974, the grenade has been modified several times, DM51A1 received another detonator. What has changed in the DM51A2 is unknown, but the DM51A3, which has been in service since 2006, has received a modified igniter.

Serhii Misiura also shot a short video about DM51/DM51A2.

We thank Germany for these weapons and hope that heavy weapons will not be delayed either.

DM51/DM51A2 specifications
Defensive grenade/offensive grenade
Total weight – 430 g/154 g
Explosive – pentastite (phlegmatized nitropenta)
Weight of the explosive – 60 g
Delay – 3-5 s
Length – 107 mm / 100 mm
Diameter – 57 mm / 33.5 mm
Size of the fragments – 2.0-2.3 mm
Deadly range of fragments – 10 m