The Anti-Tank Mine General Service Mark II was a British
anti-tank blast mine used during the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
.
It consisted of a body about in diameter and .
The mine has a central
fuze
In military munitions, a fuze (sometimes fuse) is the part of the device that initiates function. In some applications, such as torpedoes, a fuze may be identified by function as the exploder. The relative complexity of even the earliest fuze d ...
well accessed from the bottom, with a main charge in a cavity around the well consisting of about of
TNT. The mine is fitted with a thin
brass
Brass is an alloy of copper (Cu) and zinc (Zn), in proportions which can be varied to achieve different mechanical, electrical, and chemical properties. It is a substitutional alloy: atoms of the two constituents may replace each other with ...
cover, which acts as a pressure plate. The cover is suspended over the main body of the main by four
leaf springs. A ''Sorbo'' ring (Sorbo rubber sponge) can be fitted between the cover and the mine body, which absorbs
shock
Shock may refer to:
Common uses Collective noun
*Shock, a historic commercial term for a group of 60, see English numerals#Special names
* Stook, or shock of grain, stacked sheaves
Healthcare
* Shock (circulatory), circulatory medical emerge ...
and
blast and allows the mines to be planted as close as without causing
sympathetic detonation (normally five feet is the minimum safe distance).
Sufficient pressure on the cover of the mine causes the cover to press downward onto the pressure cap of the fuze. This downward pressure forces the assembly surrounding the
striker
Striker or The Strikers may refer to:
People
*A participant in a strike action
*A participant in a hunger strike
*Blacksmith's striker, a type of blacksmith's assistant
*Striker's Independent Society, the oldest mystic krewe in America
People wi ...
down until the striker retaining balls are aligned with a cavity. The balls are pushed aside and the striker is released impacting the detonator which detonates the C.E. pellet, triggering the exploder and then the main charge.
The mines main charge was relatively small and the mine appears to have been withdrawn by the end of the war, being replaced by the larger
Mk 5 mine
The Anti-Tank Mine, General Service, Mk V was a cylindrical, metal-cased United Kingdom anti-tank blast mine that entered service in 1943, during the Second World War. It was replaced in British service with the Mk 7 mine. Two versions of the mine ...
. The mine was used in large numbers at the 1942
Second Battle of El Alamein.
[http://www.dupuyinstitute.org/pdf/m-8mixedminesys.pdf ]
Specifications
* Diameter:
* Height: with cover
* Weight: 8.5
lb (3.9
kg)
* Operating force: 350
lbf
The pound of force or pound-force (symbol: lbf, sometimes lbf,) is a unit of force used in some systems of measurement, including English Engineering units and the foot–pound–second system.
Pound-force should not be confused with pound-m ...
(1.56
kN)
* Explosive content: 4 lb of TNT (1.8 kg) or Baratol
References
* ''Anti-tank mines'', Military Training Pamphlet No. 40 (1942), The War Office.
* NAVORD OP 1665, ''British Explosive Ordnance'', Naval Ordnance Systems Command (Updated 1970)
Anti-tank mines of the United Kingdom
World War II weapons of the United Kingdom
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