Filipinka – right; Sidolowka – Left. By Halibutt
Flipinka, also known as Perelka, was an unofficial name for ET wz. 40 hand grenades, manufactured in the Home Army underground facilities in 1940. It was designed by a former worker of the Rembertow Polish Army ammunition factory and based on a pre-war anti-tank grenade, model ET wz. 38. The designer was Edward Tymoszak, hence the ET abbreviation.
About 700 young Jewish fighters clashed with German forces, sometimes in hand-to-hand combat. These fighters were poorly equipped and lacked military training and experience. Yet they held the great German war machine, the masters of the blitzkrieg, at bay for 27 days. The effects of the diversion of these resources had significant impact on the German war effort.
It is grimly amusing to note that the Warsaw inmates, with their pathetic weaponry, held off the German army for 27 days, while the French army fell in 24 days.