The POMZ, POMZ-2 and POMZ-2M (ПОМЗ, ПОМЗ-2, ПОМЗ-2М) are three types of

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nation ...

-made stake mounted anti-personnel fragmentation mine. The POMZ mine was 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 opposi ...

. It was superseded by the POMZ-2, and later by the improved POMZ-2M. These mines (and copies thereof) have been used in numerous conflicts, including the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vietnam a ...

and the

Korean War , date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...

Description

The mines consist of a small

TNT Trinitrotoluene (), more commonly known as TNT, more specifically 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene, and by its preferred IUPAC name 2-methyl-1,3,5-trinitrobenzene, is a chemical compound with the formula C6H2(NO2)3CH3. TNT is occasionally used as a reagen ...

explosive charge inside a hollow cylindrical-cast iron fragmentation sleeve. The sleeve has large fragments cast into the outside and is open at the bottom to accept the insertion of a wooden or plastic mounting stake. On top is a weather cap, covering a standardised fuze well, which in operation is normally armed with an pull-action fuze ''MUV-2'' ( Rus. MУВ-2) or ''VPF'' ( Rus. ВПФ) pull and tilt

tripwire A tripwire is a passive triggering mechanism. Typically, a wire or cord is attached to a device for detecting or reacting to physical movement. Military applications Such tripwires may be attached to one or more mines – especially fragm ...

fuze. The tripwire can be set to detonate via both pressure or pressure release. The POMZ-2M has a threaded fuze well, while the earlier POMZ-2 was unthreaded and the fuze and igniter would sometimes fall out if the mine was disturbed. The POMZ-2 has 6 rows of square preformed fragments, while the POMZ-2M has 5 rows and is slightly shorter. The crude fragmentation jacket produces an uneven fragmentation effect. The effective radius of the mine is often quoted as four meters at 360 degrees, but a small number of large fragments may be lethal at ranges far exceeding that. The wooden stakes tend to rot in tropical climates, leaving the mine, if armed, in an extremely unpredictable state.

Variants

Being of simple construction, these mines have been widely copied, including non-standardised patterns from informal guerrilla workshops. Some mass-produced copies: *Type 59,

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

(POMZ-2) *MAP and Model 15 (POMZ-2 and POMZ-2M copies) *PMR-1 and PMR-2A,

Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...

*PP Mi-SK,

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

(POMZ-2, used with an RO-1 fuze) *MM-1,

Myanmar Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...

(POMZ-2) *MBV-78A1,

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

(POMZ-2) *PMFH-1,PMFH-2,

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...

(POMZ-2 copies)

Specification

These specifications of a POMZ-2 and POMZ-2M are typical for their various copies

Packaging

The POMZ 2M comes packed in a rectangular wooden box which has a clamp in each corner to lock on the lid. It holds eight mine bodies, eight stakes, eight 75g charges, tripwire, and eight MUV series fuzes complete with detonators.

References

{{no footnotes, date=November 2014 * Eddie Banks, ''Brassey's Essential Guide to Anti-Personnel Landmines'', Brassey's, 1998, ISBN Anti-personnel mines Land mines of the Soviet Union

Description

Variants

Specification

Packaging

See also

References