Anti-tank mine
Later, purpose-built mines were developed, including the Flachmine 17, which was simply a wooden box packed with explosives and triggered either remotely or by a pressure fuze.
The mine, which was developed by Yegorov and Zelinskiy, had a 1 kg charge, which was enough to break the tracks of contemporary tanks.
Finnish forces, facing a general shortage of anti-tank weapons, could exploit the predictable movements of motorized units imposed by difficult terrain and weather conditions.
As a tank passed over the mine, the rod was pushed forward, causing the charge to detonate directly beneath it.
There are several systems for dispersing mines to quickly cover wide areas, as opposed to a soldier laying each one individually.
This self-forging projectile principle has been used for some French and Soviet off route mines and has earned infamy as an improvised explosive device (IED) technique in Israel and especially Iraq.
Explosively Formed Projectiles (EFPs) are one type of IED that was used in Iraq, but most "home-made" IEDs are not employed in this manner.
There are also several ways of making vehicles resistant to the effects of a mine detonation to reduce the chance of crew injury.
A Japanese soldier running up from a concealed foxhole would not be able to stick a magnetic mine on the side of a tank encased in wood.
[2] A simple, and highly effective, technique to protect the occupants of a wheeled vehicle is to fill the tires with water.
Increasing the distance between the wheels and passenger cabin, as is done on the South African Casspir personnel carrier, is an effective technique, although there are mobility and ease of driving problems with such a vehicle.
A V-hull vehicle uses a wedge-shaped passenger cabin, with the thin edge of the wedge downwards, to divert blast energy away from occupants.
Anti-tank mines played a major role on the Eastern Front, where they were used in huge quantities by Soviet troops.
Furthermore, mobile detachments were tasked with laying more mines directly in the path of advancing enemy tanks.
[8] Since the majority of these mines were equipped with pressure fuzes (rather than tilt-rods), tanks were more often crippled than destroyed outright.
[9] Conflict in southern Africa since the 1960s have often involved Soviet, United States or South African supported irregular armies or fighters engaged in guerrilla warfare.
Anti-tank mines were widely used in unconventional roles and spurred the development of effective mine-resistant vehicles.
The anti-tank mines were most often placed on public roads used by civilian and military vehicles and had a great psychological effect.
It was because of this threat that some of the first successful mine protected vehicles were developed by South African military and police forces.
