French Resistance Cache found

[enfield303t]

I would have kept all of it and squirrelled it all away.

I'm with you on this Jim.

[30Three]

Remember also that some of the different Resistance groups did not really get along with each other. Some being communist motivated and other's not.
They obviously had to work together when the invasion came; but not alway's as easily as one might expect.

[Lee Enfield]

Remember also that some of the different Resistance groups did not really get along with each other. Some being communist motivated and other's not.
They obviously had to work together when the invasion came; but not alway's as easily as one might expect.

The truth is that the communists composed most of the resistance, however only AFTER the German invasion of the USSR.

from 1939 thru late 1941 the French communists sabotaged their own country and assisted the Germans (fellow socialists) wherever possible.

After the war the communists continued their campaign against their own country.

[Topfmine]

I would be intrested in the Stens finish, not long from the factory untouched for 70 year, they look parkerized in the photos.

[Merle]

I'm with you on this Jim.

don't know how much I would trust grenades that old.....

[browningautorifle]

grenades that old.

Those would be gone. I just wouldn't turn anything in. I wouldn't use the frags.

[Flying10uk]

Would the grenades be relatively safe to handle provided that you didn't do anything obviously stupid with them like pull the pin out? Or, to put it another way, would the explosive filling have become unstable after 70 or more years and liable to explode by rough handling such as being dropped?

[Calif-Steve]

Anybody recall the weapons stashed in a mountain tunnel in the Austrian Alps discovered 8-10 years back? Found when the tunnel began leaking and the repair crew broke though a false wall. The final count of weapons was never released. The US Army placed them around various sites in Europe in the event of a USSR invasion. Never used, but not forgotten. Austrians contacted the US Embassy and the Military Attache arrived and took everything away. End of story.

[browningautorifle]

would the explosive filling have become unstable

A very real possibility that you wouldn't want to even guess let alone bet on. That stuff can crystallize, liquify, nitrate, decay or just aquiesse...any of those ain't good. Normal action requires them to be stacked and blown as close to situ as possible to avoid dangerous handling. BUT!!! for the Stens involved, I'd manage. They'd still go away to a safe place(the grenades)...

[Merle]

A very real possibility that you wouldn't want to even guess let alone bet on. That stuff can crystallize, liquify, nitrate, decay or just aquiesse...any of those ain't good. Normal action requires them to be stacked and blown as close to situ as possible to avoid dangerous handling. BUT!!! for the Stens involved, I'd manage. They'd still go away to a safe place(the grenades)...

In addition to aging of the explosives, I'd be concerned about the reliability of the fuse - normal delay or instantaneous detonation?