The VB (Lit; Vivien Bessiere) was the first cup-launched grenade and an ingenious WWI French invention. A cup was fitted over the muzzle of the rifle and the grenade sat
inside the cup. Rather than have to use a special blank cartridge to launch it, the grenade was designed so that the bullet passed through the grenade and on doing so drove
a small spur firing pin into a percussion cap which in turn started the grenades delay fuse. The gas pressure following the bullet launched the grenade. This combination of cup
discharger and grenade proved very serviceable, its chief defect being shortness of range compared to the rodded grenade. For longer ranges a different discharger was
employed known as the D.R.
Every French infantry platoon had a group of VB grenade launchers. Feared for its efficiency among German troops since WW1 and very valuable because of their ability to
engage and destroy entrenched troops and MGs. During World War One the French went so far as to make special racks that you could load multiple rifles into and salvo fire.
These racks had vernier adjustments and simple range tables, enabling more accurate saturation fire than a group of individual soldiers firing their rifles,
The VB grenade was used during WW1 by the USA and UK and also copied by the Germans.
