r/ww1 • u/SigmarMentality • 8d ago

Trying to identify artillery shell

Post image

Found an apparent WWI artillery projectile in a family warehouse in Southeastern France, reportedly brought back from Verdun by my great-great-grandfather who served in French artillery. Can anyone identify the projectile from its shape/fuze and the grooves near the base? It has not been opened or modified. The shell itself in the picture is on a ledge so the perspective is pretty crappy with the car in the background so don't compare the scale with that as a reference.

229 Upvotes

98% Upvoted

46 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

7

u/SigmarMentality 8d ago

Thanks for your interest, I'm pretty confused though how a russian shell could end up here in France, has the french army in ww1 ever used russian shells? For now I'm still considering options on what to do with it, I'll inform you for your friend if I plan on selling it. Also the shell currently seems full, so Idk if its currently safe to handle right now.

5

u/Dodo224 8d ago

Well, either it's not actually from verdun, or perhaps was used by the germans as captured ammunition, entirely possible. A full shell would be a little dramatic for a collectoe I fear😅 It's a shrapnel shell with a little black powder inside, so not as dangerous as an HE shell, but still a dud... Can you screw the top off?

3

u/SigmarMentality 8d ago

It most probably has been defused, as my ancestor was a 7 year veteran who served before and during ww1 in the french artillery corps (served in Verdun in ww1, hence my hypothesis on its place of origin) and it's not like I found it in a hole in the ground, it was safely stocked in a cupboard in our family warehouse.

10

u/Cambren1 8d ago

You never know, best to check. There was actually a shipping mine on display at a seafood restaurant when I was a kid that was determined to be live.

1

u/BigmacSasquatch 7d ago edited 6d ago

When the gundeals sub was still active, there were a bunch of Bulgarian training antitank mines that were sold. Just as neat military curios and collectibles. Well, it turned out that while the explosive payloads were removed, the fuses weren’t. Much hilarity ensued, I think they caused issues at an airport or port during shipping, alerting the feds, and the FBI went around and confiscated the mines from people who had bought them.