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Atrocious Historic Weapon Designs That Left a Lot to be Desired

Khalid Elhassan February 6, 2025 16 min

Weapon - An American general with a captured Krummlauf — An American general with a captured Krummlauf. Sandboxx

19. Trying to Stick Bombs to Tanks

Sticky Bombs being removed from drying racks for placement inside metal casings. Imperial War Museums

The Sticky Grenade or Sticky Bomb was one of WWII’s more infamous weapons. It was developed in the aftermath of the Battle of France and evacuation from Dunkirk, where most British anti-tank weapons had been left behind. The Grenade, Hand, Anti-Tank No. 74, AKA Sticky Bomb, was a maraca-looking device with an outer metal shell that covered a bomb coated with an adhesive. The user would pull a pin to remove the outer metal layer and expose the sticky bomb, run up to a tank, stick the bomb to it, activate a five second fuse, then run away or dive to avoid the explosion. Alternatively, the user could throw the bomb at the tank and hope it stuck to its surface. As seen below, there were various problems.

Written by

Khalid Elhassan

A lifelong history buff, I developed a particular passion for WW2 history as a child, when I spent hours listening to my grandfather, enraptured, as he recounted his wartime experiences in the British East African Campaign and with the British 8th Army in North Africa.

I graduated with a history BA from George Mason University, then went on to get a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law. After lawyering for a decade, I moved to sunny Rio de Janeiro and a less demanding career, opening a tourism agency in Copacabana.

A big chunk of my free time is spent blogging (you can follow me on Quora https://www.quora.com/profile/Khalid-Elhassan ) or freelance writing, mostly about my favorite subject, history.