Breda Mod. 42

• Name — Breda Mod. 42 • Type — Anti-tank grenade • Wars — World War II • Number — 10,000 • Height — 290 mm • Diameter — 115 mm • Origin — Kingdom of Italy • Is Explosive — yes • Used By — Royal Italian Army • Manufacturer — Breda Meccanica Bresciana • Weight — 1050 gr • Filling — TNT • Detonation — Percussion on impact • Filling Weight — 600 gr

The Royal Italian Army had entered World War II war without an anti-tank grenade of domestic production. Only in 1942 were two models built: the OTO Mod. 42 and the Breda Mod. 42. This was achieved by modifying the Breda Mod. 40. In June 1942, the Breda Brescia produced 10.000 copies to be submitted to the high rank of the military, but the explosive device, due to numerous missing activations, did not pass the test carried out in April 1943. With the creation of specific "tanks-hunters" units, which took place precisely in 1942, two types of anti-tank grenades were adopted, an explosive and an incendiary one. The first, the Breda mod. 42, employed mechanical parts of the normal Breda mod. 35. The second, the O.T.O. mod. 42, it was an improved version of the incendiary bottle with 600 grams of flamethrowers liquid, it was triggered by a normal hand grenade O.T.O. mod. 35 with slight modifications. The safety systems of the two bombs did not differ from those used on normal bombs and anti-personnel Breda O.T.O hand.

The throw was performed as follows: the ordinary security was removed from the spool, then the bucket of the automatic safety detached from the bomb, by gravity or under the action of a spring; the cross bar, dragged from the headphone weight was then slipped from its housing. This was true between the first 3–5 m. of the trajectory, after which the fuze, as capsule and percussor were kept spaced only by the spring, was run under conditions of impact against any resistant object and consequently of causing the deflagration of an extra charge contained in the sphere.