![M4a4 flail cfb borden 1](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4b/M4a4_flail_cfb_borden_1.JPG)
A mine flail is a vehicle-mounted device that makes a safe path through a minefield by deliberately detonating
land mine
A land mine is an explosive device concealed under or on the ground and designed to destroy or disable enemy targets, ranging from combatants to vehicles and tanks, as they pass over or near it. Such a device is typically detonated automati ...
s in front of the vehicle that carries it. They were first used by the British during
World War II
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 ...
.
The mine flail consists of a number of heavy chains ending in fist-sized steel balls (flails) that are attached to a horizontal, rapidly rotating rotor mounted on two arms in front of the vehicle. The rotor's rotation makes the flails spin wildly and violently pound the ground. The force of a flail strike above a buried mine mimics the weight of a person or vehicle and causes the mine to detonate, but in a safe manner that does little damage to the flails or the vehicle.
World War II
![Matilda-Scorpion](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/35/Matilda-Scorpion.jpg)
The idea is commonly attributed to a South African soldier, Captain Abraham du Toit. A test rig was constructed in South Africa and results were so encouraging that du Toit was promoted and sent to England to develop the idea.
Before du Toit left for England, he described his idea to Captain Norman Berry, a mechanical engineer who had been sent to South Africa in 1941 to evaluate the system. Berry later served in the
British Eighth Army
The Eighth Army was an Allied field army formation of the British Army during the Second World War, fighting in the North African and Italian campaigns. Units came from Australia, British India, Canada, Czechoslovakia, Free French Forces, ...
during the
Western Desert campaign. He had become an enthusiast for the mine flail idea; he lobbied senior officers to authorize development of a flail
and carried out his own experiments with mine flails in the spring of 1942. Later Major L. A. Girling was given the task of developing a similar device after it had been independently re-invented by another South African officer. When Berry heard of this, he handed over his work to Girling (who had had no idea he was duplicating du Toit's current work in England, as that was still highly secret). David Gustanski made the device that connected to the side of the tank and made the flail raise and lower.
Matilda Scorpion
Development by Girling's team in Egypt continued over the summer of 1942 and resulted in the "Matilda Scorpion" (the name came from a senior officer's remark on the tank's appearance). This was a
Matilda tank fitted with a rotor, mounted on two arms, roughly 6 feet (1.8 m) in front of the tank. The rotor carried 24 flails and was driven at 100 rpm by a 105-horsepower (78 kW) Ford V8 engine. This second engine was fitted in an armoured box mounted on the right side of the tank, the outside box included space for a crewman who operated the device. Although the mine sweeping process was slow, the Scorpions raised such a huge dust cloud when used in the desert that they obscured themselves from German gunners. The cloud also blinded the drivers; the crews had to resort to wearing their gas masks in order to breathe.
Twenty-five Matilda Scorpions, operated by the
1st Army Tank Brigade's
42nd Royal Tank Regiment
The 42nd Royal Tank Regiment (42 RTR) was an armoured regiment of the British Army from 1938 until 1956. It was part of the Royal Tank Regiment, itself part of the Royal Armoured Corps.
Mobilisation
The unit was formed on 1 November 1938 by c ...
and
44th Royal Tank Regiment
The 44th Royal Tank Regiment (44 RTR) was an armoured regiment of the British Army, which was part of the Royal Tank Regiment, itself part of the Royal Armoured Corps that saw active service in World War II.
The 44th RTR was formed before Worl ...
, were available by October 1942 and took part in the
Second Battle of El Alamein
The Second Battle of El Alamein (23 October – 11 November 1942) was a battle of the Second World War that took place near the Egyptian Railway station, railway halt of El Alamein. The First Battle of El Alamein and the Battle of Alam el Halfa ...
. German minefields around El Alamein contained around three million mines and had been named the ''
Devil's gardens
The Devil's gardens was the name given by Field Marshal () Erwin Rommel, commander of the German during the Second World War, to the defensive entanglements of land mines and barbed wire built to protect Axis defensive positions at El Alamein ...
'' by the German commander,
Erwin Rommel
Johannes Erwin Eugen Rommel () (15 November 1891 – 14 October 1944) was a German field marshal during World War II. Popularly known as the Desert Fox (, ), he served in the ''Wehrmacht'' (armed forces) of Nazi Germany, as well as servi ...
. Breaching these minefields was vital to the Allied battleplan.
During the battle, the Scorpions were less successful than hoped. While reasonably effective at mine clearing, the hastily developed flail system was unreliable and broke down frequently. Also, there were frequent engine failures, as the air filters were overwhelmed by the volume of dust produced by flailing or the engines overheated because of the desert environment.
Much of the mine clearing that was critical to the Commonwealth victory still had to be carried out by hand. One unexpected effect was that the noise, dust and terrifying appearance of an approaching flail tank caused several Axis infantry units to surrender without resistance.
After the battle, a Mark II version of the Scorpion was produced by removing the main gun, as that was thought to be unnecessary. Controls for the flail were moved into the turret so the flail operator could be moved inside the tank, taking the place of the gunner. Engine air filters were improved and unreliable components strengthened.
Mark III and Mark IV Scorpions were later developed that were based on the
M3 Grant
The M3 Lee, officially Medium Tank, M3, was an American medium tank used during World War II. The turret was produced in two forms, one for US needs and one modified to British requirements to place the radio next to the commander. In British C ...
. This larger tank was a more suitable mount for a flail than the Matilda and many became available for modification as, by this time, they were being replaced on the battlefield by the
M4 Sherman
}
The M4 Sherman, officially Medium Tank, M4, was the most widely used medium tank by the Military history of the United States during World War II, United States and Allies of World War II, Western Allies in World War II. The M4 Sherman prove ...
. A small number of these ''Grant Scorpions'' were produced and were used during the remainder of the North African campaign and later during the
Allied invasion of Sicily
The Allied invasion of Sicily, also known as Operation Husky, was a major campaign of World War II in which the Allied forces invaded the island of Sicily in July 1943 and took it from the Axis powers ( Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany). It bega ...
.
![H 031847](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2e/H_031847.jpg)
Meanwhile, in Britain, du Toit (as unaware of developments in North Africa as they were of his), working with
AEC Limited, had developed the ''Matilda Baron''.
The Baron's problem was that, like the Scorpion, the rotor was powered by external, auxiliary engines that made it too wide to cross a
Bailey bridge
A Bailey bridge is a type of portable, pre-fabricated, truss bridge. It was developed in 1940–1941 by the British for military use during the Second World War and saw extensive use by British, Canadian and American military engineering units. A ...
and which had to be removed if it was to be transported by rail.
Curran Brothers of Cardiff constructed 60 Barons, but they were only used for demonstrations and training.
Sherman Crab
A number of experimental flail tanks were produced, including the ''Valentine Scorpion'', based on the
Valentine tank
The Tank, Infantry, Mk III, Valentine was an infantry tank produced in the United Kingdom during World War II. More than 8,000 of the type were produced in eleven marks, plus various specialised variants, accounting for approximately a quarter ...
and several designs based on the M4 Sherman – the Sherman Mark IV and Mark V Scorpions and the "Sherman Lobster". Eventually one of these, the ''Sherman Crab'', went into full production at the request of
Major General Hobart and saw active service. Du Toit himself had become a strong advocate of a concept called the ''perambulator mine flail'' - a self-contained device with its own engine, that could be pushed ahead of any tank that was available. However, the consensus of opinion favored special-purpose tanks with a permanently mounted flail system and he returned to South Africa in 1943.
In 1948, du Toit would receive an award of £13,000 from the Royal Commission on Awards to Inventors for his work on the flail. Nine others (including four South Africans) would share a further £7,000.
![IWM-MH-9308-valentine-scorpion](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6f/IWM-MH-9308-valentine-scorpion.jpg)
Unlike the Matilda Scorpion and Matilda Baron, the Crab's flail was powered by the main engine, the Sherman's transmission being modified to add a
power takeoff
A power take-off or power takeoff (PTO) is one of several methods for taking power from a power source, such as a running engine, and transmitting it to an application such as an attached implement or separate machine.
Most commonly, it is a sp ...
and removing the need for an outside, auxiliary engine. The Crab's rotor carried 43 flails and was driven at 142 rpm by a driveshaft running down the right hand side of the tank. The addition of a gearbox was required to maintain the correct flail speed when the tank was traveling slower, such as while climbing.
An innovation was the addition of cutters to the rotor that cut barbed wire and stopped the flail from becoming tangled. This feature made the Crab very effective at tearing up
barbed wire obstacles. In the initial Crab design, the flail arms were raised and lowered hydraulically to set the height of the flail. The Mark II version of the Crab, developed as "Contouring Crab", switched to a counterweighted jib that naturally assumed the right height in balance to the force exerted by the rotating flail. This ensured mines buried under a dip in the ground would not be missed. A blast shield between the flail and the tank gave added protection from detonating mines. The hull machine gun was removed, as the blast shield and flail blocked its field of fire. The Crab weighed 32 tons
- around two tons more than a normal Sherman.
![Sherman crab flail tank](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/54/Sherman_crab_flail_tank.jpg)
Great attention was paid to marking the cleared path through the mine field. Crabs carried a pair of bins filled with powdered chalk that slowly trickled out to mark the edges of the safe route. They were also equipped with a hopper that periodically dropped
smoke grenade
Smoke grenades used at demonstrations in Paris, 2008
upBritish L83A1 Smoke Grenade manufactured in May 2008. This grenade has already been used.
A smoke grenade is a canister-type grenade used as a signaling device, target or landing zone mark ...
markers and a system that automatically fired illuminated poles into the ground at intervals. A pair of lit masts were mounted at the back for station-keeping when several Crabs were flailing together in echelon. Dust clouds reduced visibility to a minimum, and careful control was essential to make sure the tanks' paths did not drift apart, leaving an uncleared strip of ground between them.
In north-west Europe, Crabs were operated by the
Lothians and Border Horse
The Lothians and Border Horse was a Yeomanry regiment, part of the British Territorial Army. It was ranked 36th in the Yeomanry order of precedence and was based in the Scottish Lowland area, recruiting in the Lothians – East Lothian (Had ...
, the
22nd Dragoons
The 22nd Dragoons was the title held by five separate Cavalry regiments of the British Army raised and disbanded between 1716 and 1945. The last regiment of this name existed during the Second World War, from 1 December 1940 until 30 November ...
and the
Westminster Dragoons
The Westminster Dragoons (WDs) was a yeomanry regiment of the British Army Army Reserve, located in central London. Its lineage is continued by one of the Royal Yeomanry's six squadrons. Formed in the aftermath of Second Boer War as part of th ...
, all of whom were part of the
79th Armoured Division
The 79th Armoured Division was a specialist armoured division of the British Army created during the Second World War. The division was created as part of the preparations for the Normandy invasion on 6 June 1944, D-Day.
Major-General Percy Hob ...
's
30th Armoured Brigade
The 30th Armoured Brigade was an armoured formation of the British Army that served in Western Europe Campaign as part of the 79th Armoured Division. After the reformation of the Territorial Army in 1947, the brigade was re-created within the T ...
; in Italy, they were operated by the
51st Royal Tank Regiment
The 51st (Leeds Rifles) Royal Tank Regiment (51 RTR) was an Armoured warfare, armoured regiment of the British Army Reserve (United Kingdom), Territorial Army that fought in the Tunisian Campaign, Tunisian and Italian Campaign (World War II), Ital ...
.
[
] A flail squadron of the Royal Armoured Corps, as established on 29 March 1944, comprised seven ordinary Shermans (squadron HQ and a four-tank pilot troop) and four troops of four flail-equipped tanks. In July 1944, the new establishment removed the pilot troop and one of the flail troops; on the plus side, the squadron gained an
armoured recovery vehicle
An armoured recovery vehicle (ARV) is typically a powerful tank or armoured personnel carrier (APC) chassis modified for use during combat for military vehicle recovery (towing) or repair of battle-damaged, stuck, and/or inoperable armoured f ...
. In 1945, in light of experience, each gained a fifth flail tank. Scorpion regiments had been formed of three flail troops.
In combat, the usual tactic was to use Crabs in groups of five. Three would go forward in
echelon formation
An echelon formation () is a (usually military) formation in which its units are arranged diagonally. Each unit is stationed behind and to the right (a "right echelon"), or behind and to the left ("left echelon"), of the unit ahead. The name of ...
, clearing a broad path through the minefield. The other two would hang back on the flanks and give fire support, but were ready to move forward to replace one of the flailing tanks if it was disabled.
The Crab had disadvantages; flailing did not remove all mines. A
Teller mine
The Teller mine (german: Tellermine) was a German-made antitank mine common in World War II. With explosives sealed inside a sheet metal casing and fitted with a pressure-actuated fuze, Teller mines had a built-in carrying handle on the side. As t ...
buried up to deep would be set off, but the resulting explosion would destroy a single flail chain, which would have to be replaced at some point.
The Crab could only move at when flailing, and the gun had to point to the rear, so the tank could not fire even if the gunner could see his target. As with the Scorpion, flailing raised a huge cloud of dust. Despite all this, it was an effective and valuable vehicle during and after
D-Day
The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on Tuesday, 6 June 1944 of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during World War II. Codenamed Operation Neptune and often referred to as D ...
, especially as the Germans made extensive use of minefields to slow the Allied advance through France and the
Low Countries
The term Low Countries, also known as the Low Lands ( nl, de Lage Landen, french: les Pays-Bas, lb, déi Niddereg Lännereien) and historically called the Netherlands ( nl, de Nederlanden), Flanders, or Belgica, is a coastal lowland region in N ...
. By the final months of the war, German minefields had ceased to be a major problem, and it was proposed that the surviving Crabs should have their flail equipment removed and be converted back to regular Shermans
- an idea that was bitterly resented by the Crab crews, who considered themselves to be a highly trained elite. In the end, this never occurred, and the Crabs spent the last part of the war clearing old minefields behind Allied lines.
![Front angle view of Type 97 Chi-Yu](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/68/Front_angle_view_of_Type_97_Chi-Yu.jpg)
The Sherman Crab saw limited use by the American army; the Crab Mark 1 was designated the ''Mine Exploder T3 Flail'' and the Crab Mark II the ''Mine Exploder T4''. The flail idea was also copied by the Japanese, who produced a prototype known as the
Type 97 Chi-Yu that was based on a
Type 97 Chi-Ha
The was a medium tank used by the Imperial Japanese Army during the Second Sino-Japanese War, the Battles of Khalkhin Gol against the Soviet Union, and the Second World War. It was the most widely produced Japanese medium tank of World War II.
T ...
tank. In the 1950s, the British Army used heavily armoured
Churchill tank
The Tank, Infantry, Mk IV (A22) Churchill was a British infantry tank used in the Second World War, best known for its heavy armour, large longitudinal chassis with all-around tracks with multiple bogies, its ability to climb steep slopes, a ...
s fitted with flails - this was the Churchill Flail FV3902 or ''Toad''.
Modern use
![Hydrema mine cleaning vehicle](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/48/Hydrema_mine_cleaning_vehicle.jpg)
Mine flails continue to be used, although their role has changed. During World War II, they were used in combat to clear paths through a defender's minefield during a large-scale assault. The modern equivalents are used both by armies and by non-military organisations engaged in humanitarian demining. Unlike their World War II predecessors, modern mine flails are not intended for use in combat areas; they are unarmed and only carry the armour necessary to protect the operator from mine explosions. Many modern mine-flail vehicles are intended only to destroy
anti-personnel mine
Anti-personnel mines are a form of mine designed for use against humans, as opposed to anti-tank mines, which are designed for use against vehicles. Anti-personnel mines may be classified into blast mines or fragmentation mines; the latter may ...
s and receive significant damage if they encounter a larger
anti-tank mine
An anti-tank mine (abbreviated to "AT mine") is a type of land mine designed to damage or destroy vehicles including tanks and armored fighting vehicles.
Compared to anti-personnel mines, anti-tank mines typically have a much larger explosive c ...
. Mine flail vehicles that can cope with anti-tank mines tend to be larger, heavier, more cumbersome and more expensive to operate.
Several designs, such as the Danish ''
Hydrema
Hydrema is a dump truck manufacturer based in Støvring, Denmark, founded in 1959. They have specialized in the manufacture of articulated light dump trucks and earth moving equipment. A variety of models are produced, with a payload of up to 20 t ...
910'', are based on a truck chassis with an armoured cab and a flail mounted behind on what would otherwise be the cargo space. They are able to drive to the mined site like any other road vehicle. During flailing operations, they slowly drive in reverse over the mine field - in this way, the cab is kept as far as possible from any detonations. Some mine-flail vehicles are operated under remote-control for safety. Vehicles of this type developed by
DOK-ING
DOK-ING d.o.o. is a Croatian company which manufactures electric vehicles, unmanned multi-purpose vehicles and robotic systems, established in 1992.
History
The electric motors for their vehicles are largely supplied by the Pula-based company T ...
are used worldwide in service with different armies, state agencies, humanitarian organizations and companies. Two main products are the ligh
MV-4and mediu
MV-10types. The Swis
Digger DTR D-250is a smaller, four ton, remote-controlled vehicle that is more easily moved to remote or inaccessible locations and may be used in more confined areas.
![Mine Clearing System KEILER](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/73/Mine_Clearing_System_KEILER.jpg)
Tanks are still used to carry flails; examples include the
Norwegian Army
The Norwegian Army ( no, Hæren) is the land warfare service branch of the Norwegian Armed Forces. The Army is the oldest of the Norwegian service branches, established as a modern military organization under the command of the King of Norway ...
's ''Leopard AMCV'' – a
Leopard tank Leopard tank may refer to one of four tanks:
*VK 1602 Leopard, a German experimental tank developed in 1942 that never entered mass production
*Leopard 1, a German tank introduced in 1965
*Leopard 2, a German tank introduced in 1979, successor to t ...
that was modified by
Hagglunds
BAE Systems AB is a Swedish defence company and a subsidiary of BAE Systems Land & Armaments, whose ultimate parent is the British defence contractor BAE Systems. The company is a holding company for Land Systems Hägglunds AB and BAE Systems Bof ...
to carry an Aardvark flail system. The
German Army
The German Army (, "army") is the land component of the armed forces of Germany. The present-day German Army was founded in 1955 as part of the newly formed West German ''Bundeswehr'' together with the ''Marine'' (German Navy) and the ''Luftwaf ...
is equipped with the
Keiler
The ''Keiler'' is a river icebreaker commissioned in December 2011 to serve as the flagship of Lauenburg's
Water and Shipping Authority fleet of ten icebreakers, on the Elbe River.
The vessel is long and wide.
She has a crew of four, and has ...
' (mine clearing tank "
wild boar
The wild boar (''Sus scrofa''), also known as the wild swine, common wild pig, Eurasian wild pig, or simply wild pig, is a suid native to much of Eurasia and North Africa, and has been introduced to the Americas and Oceania. The species is ...
"), based on a
M48 Patton
The M48 Patton is an American List of main battle tanks by generation#First generation, first-generation main battle tank (MBT) introduced in February 1952, being designated as the 90mm Gun Tank: M48. It was designed as a replacement for the M2 ...
main battle tank.
The first of 24 Keilers was supplied to the German Army by
Rheinmetall
Rheinmetall AG is a German automotive and arms manufacturer, headquartered in Düsseldorf, Germany. Its shares are traded on the Frankfurt stock exchange.
History
Rheinmetall was founded in 1889. Banker and investor Lorenz Zuckermandel
L ...
in 1997.
However, tanks have the disadvantage of having the driver at the front, close to the flail and any explosions, and they can not go slow enough for effective mine clearance. Also, the weight of tanks makes them difficult to transport (by contrast, the 18-ton Hydrema 910 is light enough to be moved by air in a
C-130 Hercules
The Lockheed C-130 Hercules is an American four-engine turboprop military transport aircraft designed and built by Lockheed Corporation, Lockheed (now Lockheed Martin). Capable of using unprepared runways for takeoffs and landings, the C-130 ...
.) The tanks used have generally been obsolete models that have been highly modified - some work under remote control, others have had the driver's station moved to the rear. In modern times, there has been little military interest in an updated equivalent of the Sherman Crab or Matilda Scorpion - a substantially unmodified tank still capable of combat. In battle, the modern preference is to detonate mines with explosive devices (
mine-clearing line charge
A mine-clearing line charge (abbreviated MCLC or MICLIC and pronounced or "''mick-lick''") is used to create a breach in minefields under combat conditions. While there are many types, the basic design is for many explosive charges connected on ...
s), such as the
Antipersonnel Obstacle Breaching System or the
Giant Viper The Giant Viper was a trailer-mounted, vehicle-pulled, mine clearance system, designed to be deployed in areas containing land mines. It was developed for the British Army in the 1950s. It was designed to be towed behind a Centurion gun tank, FV4003 ...
. During the
Gulf War
The Gulf War was a 1990–1991 armed campaign waged by a 35-country military coalition in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Spearheaded by the United States, the coalition's efforts against Iraq were carried out in two key phases: ...
, the
U.S. 2nd Marine Division
The 2nd Marine Division (2nd MARDIV) is a division of the United States Marine Corps, which forms the ground combat element of the II Marine Expeditionary Force (II MEF). The division is based at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, North Carolina ...
made an attempt to breach an Iraqi mine field with a mine flail mounted on an
armored bulldozer
The armored bulldozer is a basic tool of combat engineering. These combat engineering vehicles combine the earth moving capabilities of the bulldozer with armor which protects the vehicle and its operator in or near combat. Most are civilian bu ...
. But the flail was destroyed and the bulldozer crippled by an Iraqi anti-tank mine.
Mine flails have the advantage of being able to clear most mines from an area comparatively rapidly - the manufacturer of the British
Aardvark Mark 4
Aardvark AMCS Mk4 is a British-made Mine flail vehicle built by Aardvark Clear Mine Ltd of Dumfries, Scotland.
The AMCS flail system was developed in Aberdeenshire by David Macwatt of Elgin, Scotland and George Sellar & Son of Huntly (system des ...
quotes a maximum rate of per hour, however per hour is more usual. Also, flails don't place their operators at significant risk, unlike manual demining.
However they have come under criticism. They represent a large cost for non government, humanitarian organisations (an Aardvark Mine flail costs around $500,000 US.) They consume a lot of fuel, as a powerful engine is needed to drive the rotor if the flails are to strike the ground with enough force to be effective. Mine flails can be unreliable and require spare parts that are difficult to obtain in remote regions. This leads to high operating costs and possibly lengthy periods when the flails are out of service.
![Trał przeciwminowy Bożena 4 Defilada 2014](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/98/Tra%C5%82_przeciwminowy_Bo%C5%BCena_4_Defilada_2014.JPG)
It is known that flails don't reliably detonate all the mines in the area being swept, leaving it potentially hazardous. Some mines, such as the Italian
MAT/6 mine, are designed to be flail resistant. Mines that have been buried for many years may become unreliable and fail to detonate when struck, yet they may still be hazardous. Also, some mines are smashed without being detonated. This is referred to as a ''disruptive strike'' and still renders the mine harmless, but the ground is contaminated with metal debris and undetonated explosive material. This makes it harder to carry out the necessary manual check of the area after the flail had finished, either with
metal detector
A metal detector is an instrument that detects the nearby presence of metal. Metal detectors are useful for finding metal objects on the surface, underground, and under water. The unit itself, consist of a control box, and an adjustable shaft, ...
s or explosive
sniffer dog
A detection dog or sniffer dog is a dog that is trained to use its senses to detect substances such as explosives, illegal drugs, wildlife scat, currency, blood, and contraband electronics such as illicit mobile phones. The sense most used by d ...
s. There were also anecdotes of mine flails flinging live mines out of the mine field and into safe areas. An experiment with inert mine-analogues
[
] demonstrated that this could happen; some mines were thrown over by the flail and, in one case, .
An additional problem is the vulnerability of some current mine flail vehicles to anti-tank mines. This means that, if the presence of anti-tank mines is suspected, the minefield must, paradoxically, be manually checked first to make it safe for the mine flail.
These problems have led many humanitarian demining organisations to abandon the use of flails.
The clearance rate of mine flails can approach 100%, although rates as low as 50%-60% have been reported.
Effective clearance requires both suitable conditions and experienced flail operators. Current mine flails do not operate effectively on a gradient greater than 30% or on ground that is especially dry or boggy. A large number of rocks, greater than around in diameter, will also hamper flailing, as they will tend to shield mines from flail blows. This is a particular problem in
Lebanon
Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus li ...
, so the United Nations mine clearing operations in the south of that country have barred the use of flails.
Assessing flail effectiveness is difficult, as it is hard to distinguish between a mine that has been missed by the flail and an aged, malfunctioning mine that has been struck but has failed to detonate. To be sure which is the case, it would be necessary to disassemble the mine and examine its
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 ...
- a lengthy and dangerous procedure that is hardly ever carried out in the field. Because of this, all apparently intact mines are reported as being 'missed' by the flail and it has been suggested that this leads to an under-reporting of the mine flail's clearance reliability.
Experience in Afghanistan
suggests that, despite the disadvantages, mine flailing can, in certain circumstances, be a valuable step in a multi-stage demining process. They remove most mines, but the area must still be checked manually. This is made easier by the fact that the flails strip most vegetation from the minefield and are very effective at disposing of trip-wire triggered
booby trap
A booby trap is a device or setup that is intended to kill, harm or surprise a human or another animal. It is triggered by the presence or actions of the victim and sometimes has some form of bait designed to lure the victim towards it. The trap m ...
devices.
Museum vehicles
Sherman Crab
Sherman Crabs are displayed at the
CFB Borden Military Museum, Ontario, Canada; the
Yad La-Shiryon
Yad La-Shiryon (officially: The Armored Corps Memorial Site and Museum at Latrun; he, יד לשריון) is Israel's official memorial site for fallen soldiers from the Israeli Armor Corps, armored corps, as well as one of the most diverse tank ...
museum in
Latrun
Latrun ( he, לטרון, ''Latrun''; ar, اللطرون, ''al-Latrun'') is a strategic hilltop in the Latrun salient in the Ayalon Valley, and a depopulated Palestinian village. It overlooks the road between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, 25 kilometers ...
, the
Overloon War Museum
The Overloon War Museum (''Dutch: Oorlogsmuseum Overloon'') is located in Overloon, Netherlands.
The museum was opened on May 25, 1946, making it one of the oldest museums in Europe dedicated to the Second World War. The museum is located on ...
in the Netherlands;
The Tank Museum
The Tank Museum (previously The Bovington Tank Museum) is a collection of armoured fighting vehicles at Bovington Camp in Dorset, South West England. It is about north of the village of Wool and west of the major port of Poole. The collection ...
, Bovington in England; and the
Cavalry Tank Museum in
Ahmednagar
Ahmednagar (), is a city located in the Ahmednagar district in the state of Maharashtra, India, about 120 km northeast of Pune and 114 km from Aurangabad. Ahmednagar takes its name from Ahmad Nizam Shah I, who founded the town in 1494 ...
,
Maharashtra
Maharashtra (; , abbr. MH or Maha) is a states and union territories of India, state in the western India, western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. Maharashtra is the List of states and union te ...
, India. The Sherman preserved on the seawall at
Westkapelle in the Netherlands to commemorate the
amphibious assault on Walcheren in November 1944 was originally a Crab, but the flails have been removed.
Churchill Toad
At one time The Tank Museum, Bovington, had a Churchill Flail FV3902 "Toad" in its collection. However they no longer have it and its present whereabouts are unknown. Another Toad was restored to full working condition in England and in May 2008 was acquired by
Jacques Littlefield's Military Vehicle Technology Foundation
The Military Vehicle Technology Foundation was a large collection of military vehicles located in Portola Valley, California. It was founded in 1975 by Jacques Littlefield, and closed in 2018 after his death, with its collection being distributed ...
in California. In 2014, the foundation sold it at auction for US$80,500.
Minenräumpanzer Keiler
A ''Minenräumpanzer Keiler'' is displayed at the
German Tank Museum
The German Tank Museum (german: Deutsches Panzermuseum Munster (DPM))[''Deutsches Pa ...](_blank)
(''Deutsches Panzermuseum'') near Munster, Germany.
Mine flail vehicles
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Aardvark JSFU
Aardvark AMCS Mk4 is a British-made Mine flail vehicle built by Aardvark Clear Mine Ltd of Dumfries, Scotland.
The AMCS flail system was developed in Aberdeenshire by David Macwatt of Elgin, Scotland and George Sellar & Son of Huntly (system des ...
*
Bionix Bionix may refer to:
* Bionix (TV programming block), a program block on the Canadian channel YTV
* Air Creation BioniX, a French ultralight trike wing design
* '' AOI: Bionix'', a 2001 album by De La Soul, and its title song
* Bionix AFV, a famil ...
Trailblazer
*
Sisu RA-140 DS
The Sisu RA-140 DS "Raisu" is a flail-type demining vehicle developed and produced by the Finnish company Sisu-Auto and later produced by Patria Vehicles in the years 1994–2001. The production totalled 41 units.
Development
Design work on a ...
*
Digger DTR
Digger or diggers may refer to:
* Excavator, heavy construction equipment consisting of a boom, dipper, bucket and cab on a rotating platform known as the "house".
* Backhoe loaders and backhoes are often known as diggers or mini diggers in Britis ...
*
DOK-ING MV-4
*
DOK-ING MV-10
See also
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Demining
Demining or mine clearance is the process of removing land mines from an area. In military operations, the object is to rapidly clear a path through a minefield, and this is often done with devices such as mine plows and blast waves. By contra ...
*
Hobart's Funnies
Hobart's Funnies is the nickname given to a number of specialist armoured fighting vehicles derived from tanks operated during the Second World War by units of the 79th Armoured Division of the British Army or by specialists from the Royal Eng ...
*
Mine plow
A mine plow (plough in British English) is a device designed to clear a lane through a minefield, allowing other vehicles to follow. A mine plow is typically mounted to a tank or military engineering vehicle. Buried land mines are plowed up and ...
*
Mine roller
A mine roller or ''mine trawl'' is a demining device mounted on a tank or armoured personnel carrier, designed to detonate anti-tank mines. It allows engineers to clear a lane through a minefield which is protected by enemy fire.
The device is ...
*
MineWolf Systems
MineWolf Systems provides machines and services for the mechanical clearance of landmines and other explosive devices. Its customers are mine clearance agencies in the commercial, humanitarian and military demining field.
British company Pearso ...
*
Pookie (vehicle)
The Pookie MRAP vehicle was created to deal with the constant mining of the roadways during the Rhodesian Bush War.
Description
The Pookie was a small one-person vehicle named after the bush baby, and fitted with large Formula One tires bought s ...
Notes and references
External links
du Toits British patent*, Du Toit's patent for the Mine Flail, filed August 31, 1945, issued November 1949
Churchill Toad RestorationThe world's only operating Churchill Toad is now restored and running.
Recollections of a Sherman Crab crewman BBC People's War Archive.
The Tank Museum, Bovington, on World War 2 mine flails.
of the Danish Hydrema 910 Mine Clearing Vehicle.
describing the Hydrema 910.
Website of ''Aardvark Clear Mine Ltd.''- Manufacturer of the Aardvark mine clearing vehicle.
of the Croatian ''
DOK-ING
DOK-ING d.o.o. is a Croatian company which manufactures electric vehicles, unmanned multi-purpose vehicles and robotic systems, established in 1992.
History
The electric motors for their vehicles are largely supplied by the Pula-based company T ...
'' mini-mine flail vehicle.
Articleabout the use of the Aardvark and Hydrema by the US military in Afghanistan
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mine Flail
Armoured fighting vehicle equipment
Mine warfare countermeasures
South African inventions