Stand up and fight!

It might seem that primitive had-thrown weapons would not be useful on the modern battlefield. However, what matters is not only how but what is thrown. If the striking power of a hand-thrown missile is increased by detonation of explosive substances, lethal, hand-thrown missiles called hand grenades proved extremely effective in a close-range combat. At the beginning of the 17th century special infantry units called grenadiers were set up in western Europe. Their main aim was to throw hand grenades and perform other particularly difficult tasks, such as defend flanks, form storming columns, etc. At the time of Napoleon every infantry battalion included one company of grenadiers, who were also engaged in close-range scuffles and bayonet attacks and intervened in the most bloody and violent clashes. They were treated as an elite of infantry troops. In Poland the first regiment of grenadiers was set up in the 18th century; it was a regiment of infantry horse guards. At the time of the Congress Kingdom of Poland there were regiments of guard grenadiers and companies of grenadiers accompanying infantry battalions. At the time of the Kosciuszko Uprising the name grenadiers was given to select regiments of scythe-bearing peasant recruits (Cracow, Sandomierz and Lublin grenadiers).