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'' The Grenade, Hand, Anti-tank, No. 75, also known as the Hawkins grenade was a British anti-tank hand grenade used during World War II. It was one of a number of grenades developed for use by the British Army and Home Guard in the aftermath of the Dunkirk evacuation. The grenade first appeared in 1942, and was designed to be more versatile than previous grenades, such as the Grenade, Hand, Anti-tank No. 73 and the Grenade, Hand, Anti-Tank, No. 74. It was rectangular in shape, about in length and in width, and contained approximately of explosive. When a vehicle drove over the grenade, it cracked a chemical igniter and leaked acid onto a sensitive chemical, which detonated the explosive. Multiple grenades were often used to destroy tanks or disable their tracks, and the grenade could also be used as a demolition charge. It was used by the British Army and the United States Army, with the former using it until 1955 and the latter also creating their own variant, the M7 anti-tank mine. ==Development== With the end of the Battle of France and the evacuation of the British Expeditionary Force from the port of Dunkirk between 26 May and 4 June 1940, a German invasion of Great Britain seemed likely.〔Mackenzie, p. 20〕 However, the British Army was not well-equipped to defend the country in such an event; in the weeks after the Dunkirk evacuation it could only field twenty-seven divisions.〔Lampe, p. 3〕 The Army was particularly short of anti-tank guns, 840 of which had been left behind in France and only 167 were available in Britain; ammunition was so scarce for the remaining guns that regulations forbade even a single round being used for training purposes.〔 As a result of these shortcomings, a number of new anti-tank weapons had to be developed to equip the British Army and the Home Guard with the means to repel German armoured vehicles.〔Hogg, pp. 237-239〕 Many of these were anti-tank hand grenades, large numbers of which could be built in a very short space of time and for a low cost.〔Mackenzie, p. 92〕 They included the Grenade, Hand, Anti-tank No. 73, which was little more than a Thermos-sized bottle filled with TNT, and the Grenade, Hand, Anti-tank No. 74, also known as the 'Sticky bomb', which was coated with a strong adhesive and 'stuck' to a vehicle.〔Hogg, pp. 239-240〕 A more versatile grenade appeared in 1942 in the form of the Grenade, Hand, Anti-tank, No. 75, more commonly known as the Hawkins grenade, which was designed so that it could be used in a number of roles.〔Bishop, p. 214〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Hawkins grenade」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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