NonCredibleDefense

want longer range? hear me out:

+

This only works if you are black and Scottish

Knife juggler here, so I have a lot of experience throwing off-CG objects...

It's not really that different from throwing a baseball. It's a little more difficult to catch, but with very little practice ( like 5 or 10 minutes) you'll be able to do it. That being said, I think the "baseball" style grenades where adopted because they can fit through smaller openings, you can roll or tumble them towards your target, they're harder to see, and harder to scoop up and throw back.

we are so lucky that basketball wasn't as popular back then

That's a reason for then not now.

Better question is then why didn't Germany stick with the old design instead of switching to more "modern" looking grenades?

And the answer is NOT "baseball". The answer is that they're too heavy and cumbersome. And the cons outweighs the pros.

Is this why soldiers in the rest of the world kick their grenades like a soccer ball?

That and all the other reasons. The only stick grenades still around in appreciable numbers are anti-armor grenades where the handle has a parachute inside. For normal fragmentation grenades, essentially everyone has moved to non-stick grenades (except the USMC who want to make stick grenades).

Even in WW2, the Germans produced more of the boring looking Model 39 grenades than they did of the iconic and eye catching stick grenades. People notice what they want to notice.

Wisest wizard gets weird in the marines

TNT filler is very stable. It's fine. I mean, the grenades would not be great as hammers, but they won't explode at a touch.

I'm pretty sure you can carry at least 3 of them

We should use those ball throwers for dogs. Imagine the distance you could get! Then you could have 8 normal grenades and throw them stupid distances.

Barbed for my pleasure uwu

This destroys the butthole.

count to ten

Needs a spike on the handle for that lawn dart aesthetic

Also they're way bigger, taking more space in storage and when in transport

We have grenade launchers now.

Someone needs to make one that fires the stick grenades. At 3500 RPM.

Their doctrine was the stick type was for offensive operations

A minor addendum, the M24 and M43 stick grenades both had fragmentation sleeves produced for them. These could be quickly fitted over the grenades to change them from offensive to defensive grenades. Similar to the RGD-33 stick grenades used by the Soviets.

I assume this has something to do with the distance you can throw them.

The difference between offensive and defensive grenades is defined by how much fragmentation they produce. Without a fragmentation sleeve, a German stick grenade produces blast and concussion but very minimal fragmentation, making it's practical danger area smaller. This is good for an offensive grenade where the person throwing it likely has less cover than the person receiving it. A defensive grenade produces fragmentation, and is desired when the person throwing it has cover to hide behind safely.

The non-stick grenade commonly used by the Germans in WW2, was the Model 39 ("egg grenade"), and it actually came in both offensive and defensive flavors. So really, either a stick or egg grenade could be used for either role.

Yes.