I have been told on many occassions about how it is possible for a very brave and selfless member of a squad of soldiers has thrown themselves on a granade thrown into their position to save the rest of the squad from the blast. Would this be true. I dont doubt that soldiers would do this but would it really 'save the day'?

It would. The effect of a grenade is to blast shrapnel (ie small shards of metal) and occasionally phosphorous or another flammable substance, away from it.

If a soldier contains this blast within a very small area, for example by lying down on it, the area of effect is minimised, as the grenade simply has a worse effect on the confined space it is contained to.

Quite right, my Welsh friend, almost all anti-personnel type grenades can be effectively contained by smothering them with a single body - and it has been done often enough that this is not a myth, just a selfless reality. There are, however, a small number of grenade-type devices which could not be contained in this way, particularly gas-grenades.

Ive heard of it too!
best example of this heroism was in the second world war, with the d-day paratropers!

Jamie

Yes this is possible and has been done. You will see it on film and has been recounted in history books. Modern anti-personnel weapons however are getting more nasty and destructive!

On Ft Myer, the 3rd Infantry's Headquarters Building is named for a soldier who won the Medal of Honor for saving his platoon by throwing himself on a grenade in Vietnam. If you look up the Medal of Honor online and read the accounts, you will find that there are alot of cases where soldiers have done this. I'll just go ahead and confirm it for you. It works.

Hi all

Harvery Andrews wrote a song called soldier based on a real life event of a soldier throwing himself on a bomb to save people waiting in a railway station in Northern Ireland.

Forget about the lying on top... anyone hear of laying down flat as you can near the granade/landmine the blast is suppose to go over you???

I think i've seen it mentioned in 1 holiwood production (and we all know how accurate they are), but cant for the life of me remember the title.

Quite right, Atarian, since the blast from most grenades is radial, getting as close to the ground as possible reduces your exposure, since a majority of the blast should, in theory, go over you...... Unfortunately, unless you can get yourself into a slight depression in the ground, it doesn't actually work in real life - it may reduce your injuries, but since the blast is radial, therefore, by definition, some of it, (and the shrapnel,) will come horizontally along the ground into you. However, most soldiers, on hearing the cry "grenade!" will, in the absence of holes to duck in to, will throw themselves flat, in the hope of minimising injury.

Regarding this - ok this guy put a helmet on the grenade and stood on top of it, but it's still along the same lines. http://www.new-monkland-church...co.uk/pages/jcvc.htm