Killed by a Defragmentation Grenade

My great-grandfather was killed by a defragmentation grenade. They never found his body. It happened just as the Russians started winning against the Germans on the Eastern front. During the battle of Rusalka, his infantry group’s gunfire dislodged the enemy from their position. As the Germans retreated, one soldier hurled a defragmentation grenade behind him. A parting gift. There was a red flash as the outer casing shattered and the chemicals mixed. Defragmentation weapons are one of those exotic technologies that weren’t really used past World War II. Too finicky. And against the Convention. Defragmentation was invented by a group of elite Jungian psychiatrists from Vienna. It was a secret project of the Wehrmacht. So secret that the exact chemical composition is still a mystery. The active substances were encased in borosilicate shells made by Wertheim’s finest gaffers – strong so they hold the noxious liquid, brittle so they shatter on impact. Enslaved children assembled the…