S mine

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S mine


S mine 35

General Information
Designation: S.Mi.35, S.Mi.44
Type: Anti-personnel mine
Country of origin: German Reich NSGerman Reich (Nazi era) German Empire
Working time: 1935-1945
Technical specifications
Combat weight: 4.1 kilograms
Charge: 280 grams of TNT
Diameter: 120 (S.Mi.35) or 100 (S.Mi.44) millimeters
Height: 130 millimeters
Detonator: Push / pull igniter, electric igniter
Lists on the subject

The German S-mine (abbreviation for Schrapnellmine , Split dates or bounding mine , also known as bouncing Betty ) is the best known representative of the class of the mine bounding mine within the group of anti-personnel mines . It was developed by the Wehrmacht in the 1930s and was widely used during World War II .

The S-Mine was intended for use in open terrain against unarmored infantry units. After being triggered by a step or tripwire and a short delay, the mine body is thrown into the air to about waist or head height, where it explodes with splintering effects. The fatal degree of effectiveness is greater than that of a conventional anti-personnel mine, because it not only injures the person who triggered it, but also people in the vicinity of the mine.

Two versions were made that got their names after the year of introduction, the S.Mi.35 and the S.Mi.44. The S.Mi.44 is a simplification of the previous model (detonator holder no longer central, only a detonator, ignition of the explosive charge via a pull wire).

The S-mine, which was produced from 1935 on, was a key element in the defense strategy of the German Reich . By the end of production in 1945, 1.93 million S-mines had been produced. These mines inflicted heavy losses on the opposing forces and slowed down their advances into German-held areas. In the initial phase of the war, the seated war , French advances were even rejected.

The concept of the weapon was effective, militarily successful and groundbreaking and found its imitators among all warring parties as well as later in the post-war period.

Use in World War II

S mine

The Wehrmacht often used the S-Mine in the course of defending occupied territories and the homeland against the Allied forces on all fronts.

S-mines were usually laid in combination with anti-tank laying mines to prevent or delay the advance of both infantry and armored forces.

The first Allied forces to come into contact with the S-Mine were French soldiers who undertook exploratory forays into the coal-rich Saar region between 7 and 11 September 1939 as part of the so-called seated war . The effect of the weapon was largely responsible for the fact that the French advances were stopped. The S-Mine thus proved its efficiency in the eyes of the German leadership and the French soldiers nicknamed it the silent soldier .

The German 10th Army laid 23,000 mines of this type alone as part of the defense preparations for the Allied invasion of Italy . S-mines were also laid on the beaches of Normandy in preparation for the expected invasion ( Operation Overlord ). Later they were also used for defense in northern France and on the German border.

During Allied operations in Europe, American infantrymen cynically nicknamed the mine Bouncing Betty . The S mine had a great psychological effect on Allied soldiers. In his book Mine Warfare on Land , Lieutenant Colonel Sloan describes the S mine as "probably the most feared device allied soldiers encountered during the war."

The production of the weapon was stopped in Germany after the end of the Second World War. There is no reliable information about the whereabouts of the stocks that remained after the end of the war. Some mines were sent in for allied reverse engineering weapons research .

According to the German manufacturer's specifications, the weapon was designed for a service life of two to seven years after it was installed. The explosives contained in it are still a threat to this day, as the detonators may still be functional. Explosives such as detonators can also have become much more sensitive due to corrosion and chemical changes.

Technical description and functionality

The S mine consisted of a 13 centimeter high pot made of sheet steel with a diameter of 12 centimeters (S.Mi.35) or 10 centimeters (S.Mi.44). This was where the actual mine body was located, the edge of the pot was pressed against the mine body at its upper end by flanging and the joint was covered with a sealing compound.

The mine body consisted of a lid, a base and the double jacket filled with preformed splinters (initially around 360 steel balls, in the course of the war also steel scrap and steel cores from infantry bullets). The interior of the mine body was filled with 280 grams of cast or powdered TNT .

A standpipe ran vertically through the mine body (on the S.Mi.35 central, on the S.Mi.44 laterally offset), which had the receptacle (external and internal thread) for the detonator at its upper end. In the standpipe itself there was a pyrotechnic delay set which led to the propellant charge in the space between the bottom of the pot and the bottom of the mine body (S.Mi.35) or in the lower area of ​​the standpipe (S.Mi.44).

Furthermore, on the S.Mi.35 three ignition channels and on the S.Mi.44 one ignition channel led through the mine body. The S.Mi.35 also contained pyrotechnic delay sets, the S.Mi.44 a percussion cap and a detonator that was connected to the pot by a steel wire. When laying the mine, detonators were inserted into the detonator mounts.

The total weight of the weapon was about four kilograms.

Detonator

S-mines were standard with the S-minenzünder 35 (S.Mi.Z.35, for the S.-Mi.35) or the S.Mi.Z.44 (for the S.Mi.44) as pressure mines They could be used with the draft fuse 35 (ZZ35), the draft and cutting fuse 35 (ZuZZ 35, each for the S.Mi.35) or the draft fuse 42 (ZZ42) or the S.Mi. Z.44 (for the S.Mi.44) can be used as wire mines (triggered via a “trip wire”) or used as an observation mine in front of one's own positions by manual triggering via a pull wire or by electrical ignition with glow plug 28 .

By using adapters, two (e.g. two draft fuses) or a total of three (two draft fuses and one push fuse) could be screwed onto an S mine, so that the range of use was increased.

Construction of S-Mine 35 with S.Mi.Z.35

Scheme drawing
  1. Push pins
  2. Safety bolt with lock nut and trigger ring (removed after installation)
  3. Outer spring of the firing pin
  4. Inner spring of the firing pin
  5. Firing pin
  6. Primer
  7. Locking screw of the ignition channel
  8. Steel balls of splinter filling
  9. Ignition channels for the detonators
  10. Detonator
  11. Delay rate (about 0.5 s) of the detonator
  12. Propellant charge delay rate (about 4.5 s)
  13. Propellant charge (black powder)
  14. Filling screw (closure of the filling opening for the explosive charge)
  15. Waterproof seal
  16. Explosive charge (280 g TNT)

function

functionality
  1. By triggering the detonator (pressure on the push detonator, pulling the wire on the pull detonator or either pulling on the wire or yielding the wire on the pull and cutting detonator) the percussion cap was pierced and generated a jet of fire that reached the delay set (detonating cord) through the standpipe . The delay set burned out in about 4.5 seconds and ignited the propellant charge. This drove the mine body vertically upwards out of the pot. (The delay should avoid the fact that the trigger is still on the lead in the event of pressure ignition and prevents the ejection and thus the full effect of the S-mine.)
  2. In S-Mine 35, the burning propellant charge ignited the three delay sets in the ignition channels, which detonated the detonators and thus the mine after a short burning time (0.2-0.4 seconds). The S.Mi.35 had then reached a height of 0.7 to 1.5 meters. In the case of S-Mine 44, the thrown up mine body was connected to the pot remaining in the ground via a steel wire. The wire was attached to the detonator on the mine body. At a height of 0.8 meters, the wire was fully tensioned and held the trigger of the detonator while the mine body continued to move upwards. The detonator activated in this way detonated the mine via a detonator.
  3. When the S-mine detonated in the air, the fragments were largely hurled horizontally at high speed (up to 1,000 m / s) radially around the detonation point.

The German documents show that the S mine could cause fatal, up to 100 m "... effective hits against living targets of all kinds ..." within a radius of 20 m, American training manuals warned of losses up to 140 m away from the detonating mine.

Evacuation (detection, securing and disarming)

The S-mine is mainly made of metal and can therefore be easily detected by metal detectors . However, since such expensive and complex technology was rarely available to the advancing infantry units during the Second World War, the mine was usually localized by carefully and carefully touching by hand during use. The infantryman to poked with a mine search needle or a similar object (e.g. with a knife) obliquely in front of in the ground. It was important to poke at a shallow angle so that the pressure detonator was not accidentally triggered (triggering force of the S.Mi.Z 35 only about 60 N ).

As soon as the weapon was discovered, it could be exposed and secured by inserting a suitable pin, such as a safety pin, into the hole for the safety bolt (which secured the mine when it was installed). If the mine was provided with a tripwire or an electric ignition wire, it could be cut through. In the case of the pull-and-cut fuse 35, however, the cutting of the wires was only allowed to take place after the fuse had been secured, as it was triggered even when the tension decreased. The mine could then be carefully dug out after being secured and the detonator (s) unscrewed. To finally disarm the weapon, the detonators were then removed.

Due to other devices (e.g. protection of the mines against being picked up by an additional explosive device with a discharge fuse under the S-mine), the manual clearing of S-mines was regularly high-risk, which is why the weapon claimed many more victims even after the end of the Second World War. For safety reasons, laid S-mines are now generally blown up after their discovery by contactless application of a blow charge on site.

Replicas

The S mine was an extremely successful construction. Since the mine had acquired a dreaded reputation both technically and psychologically, it was soon replicated in the same or functionally equivalent form by various countries around the world.

The French Bondissante Mle-1939 mine and the British Shrapnel Mine MK1 / MK2 were designed according to the functional principle of the S mine, but the technical design was different.

The Finnish Army acquired the S.Mi.35 model from the Germans after the Winter War . This was part of a larger agreement on military aid between the two nations. The Finnish Armed Forces achieved great success in using the S mine, but the cost of doing so was considerable. During the Continuation War , the Finns tried to make their own version of the mine, but to no avail.

After the war, the US Army developed the M16 mine series based on the captured construction plans of the S mine.

The Soviet OZM land mine series was also based on the construction principle of the S mine. However, they were much simpler inside. Instead of being filled with balls or metal splinters, the OZM-4 had a solid housing, which itself served as a splinter casing. The housing of the OZM-72 jump mine was filled with steel bolts, a return to the original S-mine construction. Both mines are still made in Russia, electronic and electrical detonators and sensors complement the actual mine.

The People's Republic of China and Italy also developed their own designs based on the S mine.

See also

Individual evidence

  • Army Service Regulations H.Dv. 220/4 c (training regulations for pioneers) "Instructions for operation and use of the S-Mine 35" from March 1, 1942
  • Leaflet 29a / 22 "S-Mine 44 with S-Mine detonator 44" from May 18, 1944
  • Army Service Regulations H.Dv. 220/4 b (training regulations for pioneers) "Mines and mine detonators" of September 10, 1942
  1. ↑ a b H.DV. 220 / 4b - Training Regulations for Pioneers (AVPi.) Part 4b: Mines and mine detonators from September 10, 1944
  2. ↑ a b c Lone Sentry: TM-E 30-451 Handbook - Handbook of the US Army, entry on the SMi-35 and SMi-44 mines as well as other German mines
  3. ↑ a b jaegerplatoon.net: Finnish Army 1918-1945 information on the S-mine with special emphasis on their use in the Finnish operations
  4. ↑ Major William C. Schneck: The Origins of Military Mines [1]
  5. ^ A b Lieutenant-Colonel CEE Sloan, Mine Warfare on Land , Brassey's, London, 1986. ISBN 0-08-031196-2
  6. ^ Klaus H. Huebner, Long Walk Through War: A Combat Doctor's Diary , Texas A&M University, College Station, 1987. ISBN 978-0-89096-320-3
  7. ↑ a b c US Army Field Manual FM 5-31, 1943
  8. ↑ Archive link ( Memento from June 12, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
  9. ^ Lieutenant-Colonel John Ingraham & Col. Dalton Jones. Technical Intelligence Bulletins 8 (5), 2003. [2]

Web links

Commons : S-Mine  - collection of images, videos and audio files
This version was added to the list of articles worth reading on November 4, 2008 .
Wehrmacht * mines in World War II


Anti-tank mines

B-rod Mine • hollow jump mine 4672 • wood Mine 42 • Tank Mine rod 43 • Pappmine • Riegel mine 43 • Tellermine 29 • Tellermine 35 • Tellermine 42 • Tellermine 43 • topfmine

Anti-personnel mines

Behelfs-protecting Mine p.150 • Behelfsmine W-1 • glasmine 43 • S-mine • Protect Mine 42 • concrete Mine

(*) As well as other German military formations