Minenabwurfvorrichtung

The Minenabwurfvorrichtung was a simple device consisting of a small steel tube oriented at a 50° angle mounted to the hull roof or track guards of the tank.

The tube contained a modified version of the infantry S-mine[1] equipped with the Glühzünder 28 fuze which allowed it to be electrically fired from the inside of the vehicle using a small control panel[2] labeled Minenabwurfschalter that was mounted on the engine firewall.

[5] Starting in June 1942, up to six launchers were mounted on the track guards of an unknown number of Panzerkampfwagen III Ausführung L tanks and were issued for troop testing to the 13th Panzer Division.

[6] The device was subsequently adopted as standard equipment on new production Tiger I tanks during January through October 1943.

As future plans were being made to install the 360° traversable Nahverteidigungswaffe, fired from the interior of the turret, the Minenabwurfvorrichtung was discontinued in early October 1943[8] after only a few hundred Tiger Is had been equipped with them.