Anti-tank mine
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An anti-tank mine, (abbreviated to "AT mine"), is a type of land mine designed to damage or destroy vehicles including tanks and armoured fighting vehicles.
Compared to anti-personnel mines, anti-tank mines typically have a much larger explosive charge, and a fuze designed only to be triggered by vehicles or, in some cases, tampering with the mine.
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[edit] History
[edit] First World War
The first anti-tank mines were improvised during the First World War as a counter measure against the first tanks introduced by the British towards the end of the war. Initially they were nothing more than a buried high explosive shell or mortar bomb with its fuse upright. Later purpose built mines were developed, including the Flachmine 17, which was simple wooden box packed with explosives and triggered either remotely or by a pressure fuse. By the end of the war, the Germans had developed row mining techniques, and mines accounted for 15% of U.S. tank casualties during the Battle of Saint-Mihiel, Third Battle of the Aisne, Battle of Selle and Meuse-Argonne Offensive.
[edit] Inter-War
The Soviet Union began developing mines in the early 1920s, and in 1924 produced its first anti-tank mine the EZ mine. The mine which was developed by Yegorov and Zelinskiy has a 1 kg charge, which was enough to break the tracks of contemporary tanks. Meanwhile in Germany, defeat spurred the development of anti-tank mines with the first truly modern mine, the Tellermine 29 entering service in 1929. It was a disc shaped device approximately 30 cm across filled with about 5 kg of high explosives. A second mine, the Tellermine 35 was developed in 1935. Anti-tank mines were used by both sides during the Spanish Civil War. Notably, Republican forces lifted mines placed by Nationalist forces and used them against the Nationalists. This spurred the development of anti-handling devices for anti-tank mines.
The Winter War between the Soviet Union and Finland also saw widespread use of anti-tank mines.
[edit] Second World War
The German Tellermine was a purpose built anti-tank mine developed during the period between the First and Second World Wars, the first model being introduced in 1929. Some variants were of a rectangular shape, but in all cases the outer casing served only as container for the explosives and fuse, without being utilized to a destructive effect (e.g. shrapnel).
Although other measures such as satchel charges, sticky bombs or bombs designed magnetically adhere to tanks were developed, they do not fall within the category of land mines as they are not buried and detonated remotely or by pressure. The Hawkins mine was a British anti-tank device that could be employed as a mine laid on the road surface for a tank to run over setting off a crush fuze or thrown at the tank in which case a timer fuze was used.
Shaped charge devices like the Hohl-Sprung mine 4672 were also developed by Germany later in the war, although these did not see widespread use. The most advanced German anti-tank mine of the war was their minimal metal Topfmine.
[edit] Modern
Several advances have been made in the development of modern anti-tank mines, including:
- more effective explosive payloads (different explosive compounds and shaped charge effects)
- use of non-ferrous materials making them harder to detect
- new methods of deployment (from aircraft or with artillery)
- more sophisticated fuzes (triggered by seismic effects of combinations of effects)
- sophisticated "anti-handling" devices to prevent or discourage tampering or removal.
[edit] Design
More modern anti-tank mines are usually more advanced than simple containers full of explosives detonated by remote or the vehicles pressure. The biggest advances were made in the following areas:
- Power of the explosives (explosives such as RDX).
- Shaped charges to increase the armour piercing effect.
- Advanced dispersal systems.
- More advanced or specific detonation triggers.
Most modern mine bodies or casings are made of plastic material to avoid easy detection. They feature combinations of pressure or magnetically activated detonators to ensure that they are only triggered by vehicles.
[edit] Dispersal systems
There are several systems for dispersing mines to quickly cover wide areas, as opposed to soldier laying each one individually. These system can take the form of cluster bombs or be artillery fired.
[edit] Cluster bomb
that each contain several mines (could also be a mixture of anti-personnel mines). When the cluster bomb reaches a preset altitude it would disperse the mines over a wide area.
[edit] Artillery fired
Some anti-tank mines are designed to be fired by artillery and arm themselves once the impact the target area. Once such example is the US M57 (mine). This systems provides commanders with a tactical counter measure against advancing columns of tanks or armoured vehicles.
[edit] Off-route mines
This is the term used to describe mines that are designed to be effective when detonated next to a vehicle instead of underneath the vehicle. They are useful in cases where the ground or surface is not suitable to bury a mine. They normally employ a shaped charge to focus the explosive effect in order to pierce armour.
One example of such a device is the US M24 that consists of a rocket launcher tube firing a HEAT rocket that is detonated by a pressure sensitive tape switch laid across the road.
The term "off-route mine" refers to purpose designed and manufactured anti-tank mines, but most "home made" improvised explosive devices (IED or roadside bomb) are employed in a similar manner.
[edit] Combat use
Anti-tank mines have played an important role most wars fought since they were first used.
[edit] Korean War
Anti-tank mines are still deployed along the de-militirized zones established and maintained between North Korea and South Korea since the end of the Korean War.
[edit] Vietnam War
During the Vietnam War, both 'regular' NVA and Viet Cong forces used AT mines. These were of Soviet, Chinese or local manufacture.
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[edit] Southern Africa
Conflict in southern Africa since the 1960s have often involved Soviet supported irregular armies or fighters engaged in guerrilla warfare. What makes these conflicts significant to the study of anti-tank mines is that they featured the widespread use of these mines in situations other than conventional warfare (or static minefields) also saw the development of effective mine resistant vehicles.
In the Angolan Civil War or South African Border War that covered vast sparsely populated area of southern Angola and northern Namibia, it was easy for small groups to infiltrate and lay their mines on roads before escaping again often undetected. The anti-tank mines were most often placed on public roads used by civilian and military vehicles and had a great psychological effect.
Mines were often laid in complex arrangements. One tactic was to lay multiple mines on top of each other to increase the blast effect. Another common tactic was to link together several mines placed within a few metres of each other, so that all would detonate when any one was triggered.
It was because of this threat that some of the first successful mine protected vehicles were developed by South African military and police forces. Chief amongst these were the Buffel and Casspir armoured personnel carriers and Ratel armoured fighting vehicle. They employed v-shaped hulls that deflected the blast force away from occupants. In most cases occupant survived anti-tank mine detonations with only minor injuries. The vehicles themselves could often be repaired by replacing the wheels or some drive train components that were designed to be modular and replaceable for exactly this reason.
Most countries involved in Middle Eastern peace keeping missions deploy modern developments of these vehicles like the RG-31 (Canada, United Arab Emirates, United States) and RG-32 (Sweden). [1] [2]
[edit] Afghanistan War
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[edit] Gulf War
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[edit] Balkan Wars
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[edit] See also
- Land mine, the generic weapon type that includes Anti-tank and Anti-personnel mines.
- List of landmines (provides extensive details of different types)
- Examples of Anti-tank mines
- Type 72, China (modern)
- Tellermine, German (World War II era)
- Topfmine German (World War II era)
- Barmine, British mine (1969 –)
- Mine dispersal systems
[edit] External links
- German mines of World War 2.
- Mines laid in Bosnia during the 1990s civil war.
- How Stuff Works
- German anit-tank mines
