| granat obronny wz. 33 | |
|---|---|
| Type | Percussion grenade |
| Place of origin |  Poland
|
| Service history | |
| In service | 1933–1945 |
| Used by | Poland |
| Wars | World War II |
| Production history | |
| Designed | 1933 |
| Produced | 1933–1939 |
| Specifications | |
| Filling | TNT or Picric acid |
| Blast yield | 100 m |
The granat obronny wz. 33 (Polish for defensive grenade, mark 33) was a fragmentation grenade used by the Polish Army before and during World War II.
The shell casing was molded from cast iron and formed into a pineapple-shaped oval, typical of World War II-era hand grenades. More specifically it was modelled after earlier Polish grenades of 1920's (such as the Defensive grenade wz.24), which in turn were based on French World War I F1 grenade. It was fitted with wz.Gr.31 percussion fuse. To increase reliability, the grenade had two blasting caps and two strikers. The casing was produced in one of three factories, a letter on the casing denoting the producer (K for Końskie, M for Warsaw and W for Wilno). The Polish name for the grenade was because the blast radius of shrapnels often exceeded 100 metres and the grenade had to be thrown from a defensive position, such as a trench or from behind a wall. Two such grenades as well as two wz.24 offensive grenades were standard military equipment for all enlisted soldiers.
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