143-561: The Canadian pipe mine , also known as the McNaughton tube , was a type of landmine deployed in Britain during the invasion crisis of 1940–1941 . It comprised a horizontally bored pipe packed with explosives, and once in place this could be used to instantly create an anti-tank obstacle or to ruin a road or runway thereby denying its use by an enemy. In November 1939 Lieutenant-General Andrew McNaughton travelled to Toronto for
286-581: A captain, Rains had earlier employed explosive booby traps during the Seminole Wars in Florida in 1840. Over the course of the war, mines only caused a few hundred casualties, but they had a large effect on morale and slowed down the advance of Union troops. Many on both sides considered the use of mines barbaric, and in response, generals in the Union Army forced Confederate prisoners to remove
429-405: A cone-shape hole with gunpowder at the bottom, covered either by rocks and scrap iron ( stone fougasse ) or mortar shells, similar to large black powder hand grenades ( shell fougasse ). It was triggered by a flintlock connected to a tripwire on the surface. It could sometimes cause heavy casualties but required high maintenance due to the susceptibility of black powder to dampness. Consequently, it
572-408: A conflict. Land mines are divided into two types: anti-tank mines, which are designed to disable tanks or other vehicles; and anti-personnel mines, which are designed to injure or kill people. The history of land mines can be divided into three main phases: In the ancient world, buried spikes provided many of the same functions as modern mines. Mines using gunpowder as the explosive were used from
715-498: A deep crater as an anti-tank obstacle. The Canadian pipe mine (later known as the McNaughton Tube after General Andrew McNaughton ) was a horizontally bored pipe packed with explosives – once in place this could be used to instantly ruin a road or runway. Prepared demolitions had the advantage of being undetectable from the air – the enemy could not take any precautions against them, or plot
858-469: A destroyer flotilla. On 14 September, the old battleship HMS Revenge was moved to Plymouth , also specifically in case of invasion. In addition to these major units, by the beginning of September the Royal Navy had stationed along the south coast of England between Plymouth and Harwich, 4 light cruisers and 57 destroyers tasked with repelling any invasion attempt, a force many times larger than
1001-567: A few decades during the Cold War , the U.S. developed atomic demolition munitions , often referred to as nuclear land mines. These were portable nuclear bombs that could be placed by hand, and could be detonated remotely or with a timer. Some of these were deployed in Europe. Governments in West Germany , Turkey and Greece wanted to have nuclear minefields as a defense against attack from
1144-413: A five-point pattern; and abatis , fallen trees with sharpened branches facing outwards. As with modern land mines, they were "victim-operated", often concealed, and formed zones that were wide enough so that the enemy could not do much harm from outside, but were under fire (from spear throws, in this case) if they attempted to remove the obstacles. A notable use of these defenses was by Julius Caesar in
1287-563: A further one hundred 25-pounders manufactured in June. In addition, over 300 4.5-inch howitzers – 900 were modified in 1940 alone – and some 60-pounder howitzers and their modified 4.5-inch version as well as antiquated examples of the 6-inch howitzer were recovered from reserve after the loss of current models in France. These were augmented with several hundred additional 75-mm M1917 guns and their ammunition from
1430-482: A fuse to burn, became possible after electricity was developed. An electric current sent down a wire could ignite the charge with a spark. The Russians claim first use of this technology in the Russo-Turkish War of 1828–1829 , and with it the fougasse remained useful until it was superseded by the claymore in the 1960s. Victim-activated mines were also unreliable because they relied on a flintlock to ignite
1573-805: A global movement to prohibit their use led to the 1997 Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on their Destruction, also known as the Ottawa Treaty . To date, 164 nations have signed the treaty. However, China , the Russian Federation and the United States are not signatories. In the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention (also known as
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#17327875838731716-582: A hazard to allies as enemies. Tripwire-operated mines were not defended by pressure mines; the Chinese were often able to disable them and reuse them against UN forces. Looking for more destructive mines, the Americans developed the Claymore , a directional fragmentation mine that hurls steel balls in a 60-degree arc at a lethal speed of 1,200 metres per second. They also developed a pressure-operated mine,
1859-408: A magnetic trigger to detonate even if the vehicle's tires or tracks did not touch the mine. Advanced mines are able to sense the difference between friendly and enemy types of vehicles by way of a built-in signature catalog (an identification friend or foe system). This theoretically enables friendly forces to use the mined area while denying the enemy access. Many mines combine the main trigger with
2002-597: A matter of minutes. There were two types of socket roadblocks. The first comprised vertical lengths of railway line placed in sockets in the road and was known as hedgehogs. The second type comprised railway lines or RSJs bent or welded at around a 60° angle, known as hairpins. In both cases, prepared sockets about 6 inches (152.40 mm) square were placed in the road, closed by covers when not in use, allowing traffic to pass normally. Another removable roadblocking system used mines. The extant remains of such systems superficially resemble those of hedgehog or hairpin, but
2145-651: A meeting with Lieutenant-Colonel Charles Hertzberg (Commanding Royal Engineers, CRE) and Lieutenant-Colonel Guy R. Turner, both of the 1st Canadian Infantry Division , Oliver Hall of the Mining Association of Ontario, and Colin Campbell , an experienced mining and construction engineer and Minister of Public Works under Ontario Premier Mitchell Hepburn . The meeting participants discussed military possibilities raised by experimental diamond drilling, an initiative that had been broached by R.A. Bryce, president of
2288-534: A mile upstream from the bridge. Further out to sea, Inchmickery , 1.6 miles (2.6 km) north of Edinburgh, was similarly fortified. The remnants of gun emplacements on the coast to the north, in North Queensferry , and south, in Dalmeny , of Inchmickery also remain. The primary purpose of the stop lines and the anti-tank islands that followed was to hold up the enemy, slowing progress and restricting
2431-458: A million mines in two fields running across the entire battlefield and five miles deep. Nicknamed the " Devil's gardens ", they were covered by 88 mm anti-tank guns and small-arms fire. The Allies prevailed, but at the cost of over half their tanks; 20 percent of the losses were caused by mines. The Soviets learned the value of mines from their war with Finland, and when Germany invaded they made heavy use of them, manufacturing over 67 million. At
2574-479: A narrow diameter tube pushed down the main pipe. The mush, along with globules of nitro-glycerine, was caught in burlap bags for disposal. The original pipes were then re-charged with stable explosives. After the end of the war, Canadian pipe mine installations were removed. However, a small number were missed and rediscovered many years later. It was necessary to deal with discovered mines with great care. In April 2006, 20 unexploded pipe mines were discovered under
2717-548: A pair of massive concrete buttresses permanently installed at the roadside; these buttresses had holes and/or slots to accept horizontal railway lines or rolled steel joists (RSJs) . Similar blocks were placed across railway tracks because tanks can move along railway lines almost as easily as they can along roads. These blocks would be placed strategically where it was difficult for a vehicle to go around – anti-tank obstacles and mines being positioned as required – and they could be opened or closed within
2860-437: A person disturbs or approaches an apparently harmless object or performs an apparently safe act". Such actions might include opening a door or picking up an object. Normally, mines are mass-produced and placed in groups, while booby traps are improvised and deployed one at a time. Booby traps can also be non-explosive devices such as punji sticks . Overlapping both categories is the improvised explosive device (IED), which
3003-448: A pressure plate; this triggers a detonator or igniter, which in turn sets off a booster charge. There may be additional firing mechanisms in anti-handling devices. A land mine can be triggered by a number of things including pressure , movement, sound, magnetism and vibration . Anti-personnel mines commonly use the pressure of a person's foot as a trigger, but tripwires are also frequently employed. Most modern anti-vehicle mines use
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#17327875838733146-667: A route of attack around them. Crossing points in the defence network – bridges, tunnels and other weak spots – were called nodes or points of resistance. These were fortified with removable road blocks, barbed wire entanglements and land mines. These passive defences were overlooked by trench works, gun and mortar emplacements, and pillboxes. In places, entire villages were fortified using barriers of Admiralty scaffolding, sandbagged positions and loopholes in existing buildings. Nodes were designated 'A', 'B' or 'C' depending upon how long they were expected to hold out. Home Guard troops were largely responsible for
3289-500: A runway at a former Royal Navy air base, HMS Daedalus , Lee-on-Solent , Hampshire . The original 265 mines were each 60 feet (18 m) long. The 20 discovered mines were packed with 2,400 pounds (1,100 kg) of explosive. Their removal, thought to be the largest of its kind in peacetime Britain, led to the evacuation of some 900 homes staggered over a 5-week period. The mines were destroyed by controlled explosion . Collections Landmine A land mine , or landmine ,
3432-446: A section of sewer pipe 3 to 4 feet (91 to 122 cm) in diameter filled with concrete typically to a height of 4 to 5 feet (1.2 to 1.5 m), frequently with a dome at the top. Smaller cylinders cast from concrete are also frequently found. Pimples, popularly known as Dragon's teeth , were pyramid-shaped concrete blocks designed specifically to counter tanks which, attempting to pass them, would climb up exposing vulnerable parts of
3575-610: A series of anti-tank mines, the Tellermines (plate mines). They also developed the Schrapnell mine (also known as the S-mine ), the first bounding mine . When triggered, this jumped up to about waist height and exploded, sending thousands of steel balls in all directions. Triggered by pressure, trip wires or electronics, it could harm soldiers within an area of about 2,800 square feet. Tens of millions of mines were laid in
3718-523: A series of inland anti-tank 'stop' lines. The stop lines were designated command, corps and divisional according to their status and the unit assigned to man them. The longest and most heavily fortified was the General Headquarters anti-tank line, GHQ Line . This was a line of pill boxes and anti-tank trenches that ran from Bristol to the south of London before passing to the east of the capital and running northwards to York. The GHQ line
3861-689: A short-lived attempt by the British to make a stand in the northern part of the country, Norway also fell. The invasion of Norway was a combined forces operation in which the German war machine projected its power across the sea; this German success would come to be seen by the British as a dire portent. On 7 and 8 May 1940, the Norway Debate in the British House of Commons revealed intense dissatisfaction with, and some outright hostility toward,
4004-618: A similar, but more reliable mine, the C3A1 ("Elsie") and the British army adopted it. The British also developed the L9 bar mine, a wide anti-tank mine with a rectangular shape, which covered more area, allowing a minefield to be laid four times as fast as previous mines. They also upgraded the Dingbat to the Ranger , a plastic mine that was fired from a truck-mounted discharger that could fire 72 mines at
4147-418: A strategy of static warfare, but it was soon perceived that this would not be sufficient. Ironside has been criticised for having a siege mentality, but some consider this unfair, as he is believed to have understood the limits of the stop lines and never expected them to hold out indefinitely. Churchill was not satisfied with Ironside's progress, especially with the creation of a mobile reserve. Anthony Eden,
4290-629: A tank during a demonstration at Bourley Hill . Attendees promised to support McNaughton's proposal to expand the section into a tunnelling company. In May 1940, McNaughton assigned the tunnelers a role in preparing defences in England and in May advised the War Office that "the detachment of 1 Canadian Tunnelling Company, intended for experimental work in France, should not now be sent but should be held for more important experimental work in England." With
4433-726: A term used to describe hastily produced and unconventional anti-tank or infantry support weapons, including the Blacker Bombard (an anti-tank spigot mortar ), the Northover Projector (a black-powder mortar), and the Smith Gun (a small artillery gun that could be towed by a private motorcar). In mid-1940, the principal concern of the Royal Air Force, together with elements of the Fleet Air Arm ,
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4576-488: A time. In the 1950s, the US Operation Doan Brook studied the feasibility of delivering mines by air. This led to three types of air-delivered mine. Wide area anti-personnel mines ( WAAPMs ) were small steel spheres that discharged tripwires when they hit the ground; each dispenser held 540 mines. The BLU-43 Dragontooth was small and had a flattened W shape to slow its descent, while the gravel mine
4719-418: A touch or tilt trigger to prevent enemy engineers from defusing the mine. Land mine designs tend to use as little metal as possible to make searching with a metal detector more difficult; land mines made mostly of plastic have the added advantage of being very inexpensive. Some types of modern mines are designed to self-destruct , or chemically render themselves inert after a period of weeks or months to reduce
4862-650: A wide range of conditions; it could be melted to fill a container of any shape, and it was cheap to make. Thus, it became the standard explosive in mines after the First World War. The British used mines in the Siege of Khartoum . A Sudanese Mahdist force much larger than British strength was held off for ten months, but the town was ultimately taken and the British massacred. In the Boer War (1899–1903), they succeeded in holding Mafeking against Boer forces with
5005-485: A wire that made a flintlock fire. Such mines were deployed on the slope in front of a fort. They were used during the Franco-Prussian War , but were probably not very effective because a flintlock does not work for long when left untended. Another device, the fougasse , was not victim-operated or mass-produced, but it was a precursor of modern fragmentation mines and the claymore mine . It consisted of
5148-685: Is "a device placed or fabricated in an improvised manner incorporating explosive material, destructive, lethal, noxious, incendiary, pyrotechnic materials or chemicals designed to destroy, disfigure, distract or harass. They may incorporate military stores, but are normally devised from non-military components." Some meet the definition of mines or booby traps and are also referred to as "improvised", "artisanal" or "locally manufactured" mines. Other types of IED are remotely activated, so are not considered mines. Remotely delivered mines are dropped from aircraft or carried by devices such as artillery shells or rockets. Another type of remotely delivered explosive
5291-463: Is an explosive weapon concealed under or camouflaged 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 automatically by way of pressure when a target steps on it or drives over it, although other detonation mechanisms are also sometimes used. A land mine may cause damage by direct blast effect, by fragments that are thrown by
5434-465: Is likely that fewer than 250,000 were produced. A measure of mobility was provided by bicycles, motorcycles, private vehicles and horses. A few units were equipped with armoured cars, some of which were of standard design, but many were improvised locally from commercially available vehicles by the attachment of steel plates. By 1941 the Home Guard had been issued with a series of "sub-artillery",
5577-497: Is significant that the British Government felt sufficiently confident in Britain's ability to repel an invasion (and in its tank production factories) that it sent 154 tanks (52 light, 52 cruiser and 50 infantry) to Egypt in mid-August. At this time, Britain's factories were almost matching Germany's output in tanks and, by 1941, they would surpass them. On 14 May 1940, Secretary of State for War Anthony Eden announced
5720-595: Is the cluster munition , a device that releases several sub munitions ("bomblets") over a large area. The use, transfer, production, and stockpiling of cluster munitions is prohibited by the international CCM treaty . If bomblets do not explode, they are referred to as unexploded ordnance (UXO) , along with unexploded artillery shells and other explosive devices that were not manually placed (that is, mines and booby traps are not UXOs). Explosive remnants of war (ERW) include UXOs and abandoned explosive ordnance (AXO), devices that were never used and were left behind after
5863-527: The Huolongjing ( Fire Dragon Manual ), describes hollow cast iron cannonball shells filled with gunpowder. The wad of the mine was made of hard wood, carrying three different fuses in case of defective connection to the touch hole. These fuses were long and lit by hand, so they required carefully timed calculations of enemy movements. The Huolongjing also describes land mines that were set off by enemy movement. A 9-foot (3 m) length of bamboo
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6006-578: The Battle of Alesia . His forces were besieging Vercingetorix , the leader of the Gauls, but Vercingetorix managed to send for reinforcements. To maintain the siege and defend against the reinforcements, Caesar formed a line of fortifications on both sides, and they played an important role in his victory. Lilies were also used by Scots against the English at the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314, and by Germans at
6149-675: The Battle of Britain . By the start of the war, around 20 Chain Home stations had been built in the UK; to supplement these and detect aircraft at lower altitudes, the Chain Home Low was also being constructed. Although much larger in size and with many more ships, the Royal Navy, unlike the Kriegsmarine , had many commitments, including against Japan and guarding Scotland and Northern England. The Royal Navy could overwhelm any force that
6292-445: The Battle of Kursk , which put an end to the German advance, they laid over a million mines in eight belts with an overall depth of 35 kilometres. Mines forced tanks to slow down and wait for soldiers to go ahead and remove the mines. The main method of breaching minefields involved prodding the dirt with a bayonet or stick at an angle of 30 degrees (to avoid putting pressure on the top of the mine and detonating it). Since all mines at
6435-551: The Battle of Passchendaele in the First World War . A more easily deployed defense used by the Romans was the caltrop , a weapon 12–15 cm across with four sharp spikes that are oriented so that when it is thrown on the ground, one spike always points up. As with modern antipersonnel mines, caltrops are designed to disable soldiers rather than kill them; they are also more effective in stopping mounted forces, who lack
6578-633: The Gulf War , and the Islamic State have all contributed to land mine saturation in Iraq from the 1980s through 2020. In 2019, Iraq was the most saturated country in the world with land mines. Countries that provided land mines during the Iran-Iraq War included Belgium, Canada, Chile, China, Egypt, France, Italy, Romania, Singapore, the former Soviet Union and the U.S., and were concentrated in
6721-610: The M14 ("toe-popper"). These, too, were ready too late for the Korean war. In 1948, the British developed the No. 6 antipersonnel mine , a minimum-metal mine with a narrow diameter, making it difficult to detect with metal detectors or prodding. Its three-pronged pressure piece inspired the nickname "carrot mine". However, it was unreliable in wet conditions. In the 1960s the Canadians developed
6864-721: The M23 chemical mine , which used the VX nerve agent , in 1960. The Soviets developed the KhF, a "bounding chemical mine". The French had chemical mines and the Iraqis were believed to have them before the invasion of Kuwait. In 1997, the Chemical Weapons Convention came into force, prohibiting the use of chemical weapons and mandating their destruction. By July 2023 all declared stockpiles of chemical weapons were destroyed. For
7007-537: The Mannerheim Line , integrated these natural defenses with mines, including simple fragmentation mines mounted on stakes. While the Germans were advancing rapidly using blitzkrieg tactics, they did not make much use of mines. After 1942, however, they were on the defensive and became the most inventive and systematic users of mines. Their production shot up and they began inventing new types of mines as
7150-613: The PMN anti-personnel mine . The MS3 has been found in Afghanistan, Tajikistan, and Ukraine. British anti-invasion preparations of World War II British anti-invasion preparations of the Second World War entailed a large-scale division of military and civilian mobilisation in response to the threat of invasion ( Operation Sea Lion ) by German armed forces in 1940 and 1941 . The British Army needed to recover from
7293-567: The Second World War , particularly in the deserts of North Africa and the steppes of Eastern Europe , where the open ground favored tanks. However, the first country to use them was Finland. They were defending against a much larger Soviet force with over 6,000 tanks, twenty times the number the Finns had; but they had terrain that was broken up by lakes and forests, so tank movement was restricted to roads and tracks. Their defensive line,
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#17327875838737436-741: The Snake and the Conger were developed for clearing mines, but were not very effective . One of the best options was the flail , which had weights attached by chains to rotating drums. The first version, the Scorpion, was attached to the Matilda tank and used in the Second Battle of El Alamein. The Crab, attached to the Sherman tank , was faster, at 2 kilometers per hour; it was used during D-Day and
7579-524: The Warsaw Pact . However, such weapons were politically and tactically infeasible, and by 1989 the last of these munitions was retired. The British also had a project, codenamed Blue Peacock , to develop nuclear mines to be buried in Germany; the project was cancelled in 1958. A conventional land mine consists of a casing that is mostly filled with the main charge. It has a firing mechanism such as
7722-744: The defeat of the British Expeditionary Force in France, and 1.5 million men were enrolled as part-time soldiers in the Home Guard . The rapid construction of field fortifications transformed much of the United Kingdom, especially southern England , into a prepared battlefield. Sea Lion was never taken beyond the preliminary assembly of forces. Today, little remains of Britain's anti-invasion preparations, although reinforced concrete structures such as pillboxes and anti-tank cubes can still be commonly found, particularly in
7865-460: The hedgehog defence and expected to hold out for up to seven days or until relieved. The areas most vulnerable to an invasion were the south and east coasts of England. In all, a total of 153 Emergency Coastal Batteries were constructed in 1940 in addition to the existing coastal artillery installations, to protect ports and likely landing places. They were fitted with whatever guns were available, which mainly came from naval vessels scrapped since
8008-471: The " Ottawa Treaty ") and the " Protocol on Mines, Booby-Traps and Other Devices ", a mine is defined as a "munition designed to be placed under, on or near the ground or other surface area and to be exploded by the presence, proximity or contact of a person or vehicle". Similar in function is the booby-trap , which the protocol defines as "any device or material which is designed, constructed or adapted to kill or injure and which functions unexpectedly when
8151-515: The Allied defences in northern France and on a four-day inspection of the Maginot Line he found defences to be unsatisfactory. He requested – and received – working drawings of fortifications so that his diamond drillers could help clear out German defenders if they captured portions of these areas. At a meeting with senior British engineers at Aldershot , McNaughton suggested that
8294-559: The Allies found ways to counter the existing ones. To make it more difficult to remove antitank mines, they surrounded them with S-mines and added anti-handling devices that would explode when soldiers tried to lift them. They also took a formal approach to laying mines and they kept detailed records of the locations of mines. In the Second Battle of El Alamein in 1942, the Germans prepared for an Allied attack by laying about half
8437-475: The Anti-Tank defence while at the same time retaining the ability to stop him. It is of particular value in the last minute construction of road blocks after the passage of our troops. It must be emphasised that surprise is the chief characteristic of this obstacle not speed. Conventional anti-tank obstacles were very obvious from the air. These pipe mines had the advantage of being virtually invisible from
8580-613: The Australian 6th Division were also deployed to the country between June 1940 and January 1941 as part of the Second Australian Imperial Force in the United Kingdom . The number of tanks in Britain increased rapidly between June and September 1940 (mid-September being the theoretical planned date for the launch of Operation Sea Lion) as follows: These figures do not include training tanks or tanks under repair. The light tanks were mostly MkVIB and
8723-488: The First World War, it was the standard explosive used by the British military. In 1847, Ascanio Sobrero invented nitroglycerine to treat angina pectoris and it turned out to be a much more powerful explosive than guncotton. It was very dangerous to use until Alfred Nobel found a way to incorporate it in a solid mixture called dynamite and developed a safe detonator. Even then, dynamite needed to be stored carefully or it could form crystals that detonated easily. Thus,
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#17327875838738866-445: The First World War, the Germans developed a device, nicknamed the "Yperite Mine" by the British, that they left behind in abandoned trenches and bunkers. It was detonated by a delayed charge, spreading mustard gas ("Yperite"). In the Second World War they developed a modern chemical mine, the Sprüh-Büchse 37 (Bounding Gas Mine 37), but never used it. The United States developed the M1 chemical mine , which used mustard gas, in 1939; and
9009-417: The First World War, they burst into about 1,000 high-velocity fragments; in the Franco-Prussian War (1870), it had only been 20 to 30 fragments. Nevertheless, antipersonnel mines were not a big factor in the war because machine guns, barbed wire and rapid-fire artillery were far more effective defenses. An exception was in Africa (now Tanzania and Namibia ) where the warfare was much more mobile. Towards
9152-444: The German Navy could muster but would require time to get its forces in position since they were dispersed, partly because of these commitments and partly to reduce the risk of air attack. On 1 July 1940, one cruiser and 23 destroyers were committed to escort duties in the Western Approaches , plus 12 destroyers and one cruiser on the Tyne and the aircraft carrier Argus (I49) . More immediately available were ten destroyers at
9295-418: The Home Guard was armed with guns in private ownership, knives or bayonets fastened to poles, Molotov cocktails and improvised flamethrowers . By July 1940 the situation had improved radically as all volunteers received uniforms and a modicum of training. 500,000 modern M1917 Enfield Rifles , 25,000 M1918 Browning Automatic Rifles and millions of rounds of ammunition were bought from the reserve stock of
9438-768: The Kurdish areas in the northern area of Iraq. During the Gulf War, the U.S. deployed 117,634 mines, with 27,967 being anti-personnel mines and 89,667 being anti-vehicle mines. The U.S. did not use land mines during the Iraq War . Landmines and other unexploded battlefield ordnances, contaminate at least 724 million square meters of land in Afghanistan . Only two of Afghanistan's twenty-nine provinces are believed to be free of landmines. The most heavily mined provinces are Herat and Kandahar. Since 1989, nearly 44,000 Afghan civilians have been recorded to have been killed or injured by landmines and explosive remnants of war (ERW) averaging to around 110 people per month. Improvised mines (IM) and ERW from armed clashes caused nearly 99 percent of
9581-424: The Ming dynasty to the American Civil War. Subsequently, high explosives were developed for use in land mines. Some fortifications in the Roman Empire were surrounded by a series of hazards buried in the ground. These included goads , one-foot-long (30 cm) pieces of wood with iron hooks on their ends; lilia (lilies, so named after their appearance), which were pits in which sharpened logs were arranged in
9724-403: The Netherlands, but were then outflanked by the main attack that came behind them through the Ardennes Forest by highly mobile Panzer divisions of the Wehrmacht , overrunning any defences that could be improvised in their path. In fierce fighting, most of the BEF were able to avoid being surrounded by withdrawing to a small area around the French port of Dunkirk . With the Germans now on
9867-424: The Ontario Mining Association, among others. McNaughton recognized the possibility of placing explosives under fortifications or introducing poison gas into them for military use. McNaughton visited the Premier of Ontario, Mitchell Hepburn, who had served with the Royal Air Force during the First World War. Although he now suffered some disability he wished to serve in Europe in the new conflict. "He decided that he
10010-489: The Poles. By 1 October, Poland had been completely overrun. There was little fighting over the months that followed. In a period known as the Phoney War , soldiers on both sides trained for war and the French and British constructed and manned defences on the eastern borders of France. However, the British War Cabinet became concerned about exaggerated intelligence reports, aided by German disinformation , of large airborne forces which could be launched against Britain. At
10153-399: The Premier of Ontario as an A.D.C. for the Minister of Public Works [Colin Campbell] as the nucleus of a very useful engineering organization". As he prepared Canadian forces for departure to Britain, McNaughton proposed that a section of the 12th Field Company, Royal Canadian Engineers should be formed from experienced diamond drillers. He said: "We will start in a small way to see what is in
10296-466: The Royal Engineers was formed, and about 40,000 feet (12 km) of the obstacle were installed – requiring some 90 tonnes of explosives. A secret report emphasised the value of this obstacle: The quality of surprise renders the obstacle of particular value in influencing the enemy's plan. Its use enables the enemy to be induced to stage his attack at a point where there is an apparent gap in
10439-656: The Secretary of State for War, suggested that Ironside should be replaced by General Alan Brooke (later Viscount Alanbrooke). On 17 July 1940 Churchill spent an afternoon with Brooke during which the general raised concerns about the defence of the country. Two days later Brooke was appointed to replace Ironside. Brooke's appointment saw a change in focus away from Ironside's stop lines, with cement supplies limited Brooke ordered that its use be prioritised for beach defences and "nodal points". The nodal points, also called anti-tank islands or fortress towns, were focal points of
10582-406: The U.S. armed forces, and rushed by special trains directly to Home Guard units. New weapons were developed that could be produced cheaply without consuming materials that were needed to produce armaments for the regular units. An early example was the No. 76 Special Incendiary Grenade , a glass bottle filled with highly flammable material of which more than six million were made. The sticky bomb
10725-521: The US developed the M24 , a mine that was placed off to the side of the road. When triggered by a tripwire, it fired a rocket. However, the mine was not available until after the war. The Chinese had a lot of success with massed infantry attacks. The extensive forest cover limited the range of machine guns, but anti-personnel mines were effective. However, mines were poorly recorded and marked, often becoming as much
10868-479: The US. Some sources also state the British army was lacking in transport (just over 2,000 carriers were available, rising to over 3,000 by the end of July). There was a critical shortage of ammunition such that little could be spared for training. In contrast, records show that the British possessed over 290 million rounds of .303 ammunition of various types on 7 June, rising to over 400 million in August. VII Corps
11011-413: The United Kingdom of which about 6,500 still survive. Some defences were disguised and examples are known of pillboxes constructed to resemble haystacks, logpiles and innocuous buildings such as churches and railway stations. Open areas were considered vulnerable to invasion from the air: a landing by paratroops, glider-borne troops or powered aircraft which could land and take off again. Open areas with
11154-572: The advantage of being able to carefully scrutinize each step they take (though forcing foot-mounted forces to take the time to do so has benefits in and of itself). They were used by the Jin dynasty in China at the Battle of Zhongdu to slow down the advance of Genghis Khan 's army; Joan of Arc was wounded by one in the Siege of Orléans ; in Japan they are known as tetsu-bishu and were used by ninjas from
11297-533: The aftermath. During the Cold War , the members of NATO were concerned about massive armored attacks by the Soviet Union. They planned for a minefield stretching across the entire West German border, and developed new types of mines. The British designed an anti-tank mine, the Mark 7 , to defeat rollers by detonating the second time it was pressed. It also had a 0.7-second delay so the tank would be directly over
11440-524: The air, and so could be used when the enemy had been coaxed into a seemingly weak point in the defences. Furthermore, the mines could be set in place without interference to the normal use of the land, and so they were deployed under roads and railways that might need to be blocked in an instant, and runways that may need to be denied to the enemy at short notice. McNaughton's tubes were found to have significant defects. Blasting gelatine explosives were expected to remain potent for several years, but in 1941 it
11583-517: The beginning of the war had metal casings, metal detectors could be used to speed up the locating of mines. A Polish officer, Józef Kosacki , developed a portable mine detector known as the Polish mine detector . To counter the detector, Germans developed mines with wooden casings, the Schu-mine 42 (antipersonnel) and Holzmine 42 (anti-tank). Effective, cheap and easy to make, the schu mine became
11726-506: The blast, or by both. Land mines are typically laid throughout an area, creating a minefield which is dangerous to cross. The use of land mines is controversial because of their potential as indiscriminate weapons. They can remain dangerous many years after a conflict has ended, harming civilians and the economy. With pressure from a number of campaign groups organised through the International Campaign to Ban Landmines ,
11869-570: The bottom. This ditch would be sufficient to either stop a tank altogether or to force it be exposed to anti-tank weapons for several minutes as it effected a crossing. Pipe pushing machines were used to drill into the approaches to bridges or embankments and left ready for instantaneous demolition . Originally known as the Canadian Pipe Mine , it was later named the McNaughton Tube Tank Obstacle in honour of
12012-494: The butt end disturbed a bowl underneath and a slow-burning incandescent material in the bowl ignited the fuses. At Augsburg in 1573, three centuries after the Chinese invented the first pressure-operated mine, a German military engineer by the name of Samuel Zimmermann invented the Fladdermine (flying mine). It consisted of a few pounds of black powder buried near the surface and was activated by stepping on it or tripping
12155-467: The casualties recorded in 2021. During the 2022 Russian Invasion of Ukraine , both Russian and Ukrainian forces have used land mines. Ukrainian officials claim Russian forces planted thousands of land mines or other explosive devices during their withdrawal from Ukrainian cities, including in civilian areas. Russian forces have also utilized remotely delivered anti-personnel mines such as the POM-3 . In
12298-427: The coast of France, it became evident that an urgent reassessment needed to be given to the possibility of having to resist an attempted invasion of Britain by German forces. The evacuation of British and French forces ( Operation Dynamo ) began on 26 May with air cover provided by the Royal Air Force at heavy cost. Over the following ten days, 338,226 French and British soldiers were evacuated to Britain . Most of
12441-542: The coast to illuminate the sea surface and the beaches for artillery fire. Many small islands and peninsulas were fortified to protect inlets and other strategic targets. In the Firth of Forth in east central Scotland, Inchgarvie was heavily fortified with several gun emplacements, which can still be seen. This provided invaluable defence from seaborne attacks on the Forth Bridge and Rosyth Dockyard , approximately
12584-598: The coastal counties. On 1 September 1939, Germany invaded Poland ; two days later, Britain and France declared war on Germany , launching the Second World War . Within three weeks, the Red Army of the Soviet Union invaded the eastern regions of Poland in fulfilment of the secret Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact with Germany. A British Expeditionary Force (BEF) was sent to the Franco-Belgian border, but Britain and France did not take any direct action in support of
12727-544: The commander of the Canadian Corps, Lieutenant-General Andrew McNaughton. On 9 August 1940, "McNaughton's secret A/T obstacle" was demonstrated to General Alan Brooke , Commander-in-Chief, Home Forces, and, as such, responsible for defence of the UK. By October 1940, the Canadian engineers were in demand, and plans being made to train additional British units to install the devices. 179 Special Tunnelling Company of
12870-490: The creation of the Local Defence Volunteers (LDV) – later to become known as the Home Guard. Far more men volunteered than the government expected and by the end of June, there were nearly 1.5 million volunteers. There were plenty of personnel for the defence of the country, but there were no uniforms (a simple armband had to suffice) and equipment was in critically short supply. At first,
13013-503: The cruiser tanks were A9 / A10 / A13 . The infantry tanks included 27 obsolete Matilda MkIs but the rest were almost all the very capable Matilda II . The first Valentine infantry tanks were delivered in May 1940 for trials and 109 had been built by the end of September. In the immediate aftermath of Dunkirk some tank regiments, such as the 4th/7th Royal Dragoon Guards , were expected to go into action as infantry armed with little more than rifles and light machine guns. In June 1940
13156-626: The defence of nodal points and other centres of resistance, such as towns and defended villages. Category 'A' nodal points and anti-tank islands were usually garrisoned by regular troops. The rate of construction was frenetic: by the end of September 1940, 18,000 pillboxes and numerous other preparations had been completed. Some existing defences such as mediaeval castles and Napoleonic forts were augmented with modern additions such as dragon's teeth and pillboxes; some Iron Age forts housed anti-aircraft and observer positions. About 28,000 pillboxes and other hardened field fortifications were constructed in
13299-480: The defence. In the event of invasion almost anything that was not a fighter would be converted to a bomber – student pilots, some in the very earliest stages of training, would use around 350 Tiger Moth and Magister trainers to drop 20 lb (9.1 kg) bombs from rudimentary bomb racks. Shortly before the outbreak of the Second World War the Chain Home radar system began to be installed in
13442-442: The defended side being especially steep and revetted with whatever material was available. Elsewhere, anti-tank barriers were made of massive reinforced concrete obstacles, either cubic, pyramidal or cylindrical. The cubes generally came in two sizes: 5 or 3.5 feet (1.5 or 1.1 m) high. In a few places, anti-tank walls were constructed – essentially continuously abutted cubes. Large cylinders were made from
13585-475: The end of July, a dozen additional destroyers were transferred from escort duties to the defence of the homeland, and more would join the Home Fleet shortly after. At the end of August, the battleship HMS Rodney was sent south to Rosyth for anti-invasion duties. She was joined on 13 September by her sister ship HMS Nelson , the battlecruiser HMS Hood , three anti-aircraft cruisers and
13728-448: The end of the First World War. These included 6 inch (152 mm), 5.5 inch (140 mm), 4.7 inch (120 mm) and 4 inch (102 mm) guns. Some had little ammunition, sometimes as few as ten rounds apiece. At Dover, two 14 inch (356 mm) guns known as Winnie and Pooh were employed. There were also a few land-based torpedo batteries. Beaches were blocked with entanglements of barbed wire , usually in
13871-413: The end of the war, the British started to use tanks to break through trench defenses. The Germans responded with anti-tank guns and mines. Improvised mines gave way to mass-produced mines consisting of wooden boxes filled with guncotton, and minefields were standardized to stop masses of tanks from advancing. Between world wars, the future Allies did little work on land mines, but the Germans developed
14014-609: The explosive. The percussion cap , developed in the early 19th century, made them much more reliable, and pressure-operated mines were deployed on land and sea in the Crimean War (1853–1856). During the American Civil War , the Confederate brigadier general Gabriel J. Rains deployed thousands of "torpedoes" consisting of artillery shells with pressure caps, beginning with the Battle of Yorktown in 1862. As
14157-621: The fall of France, the tunnellers were employed in anti-invasion measures . McNaughton noticed that ditches were being dug across unused airstrips to deny their use by the enemy, even though the bombing of active airfields might make them urgently needed in the near future. By 18 June the Chief Engineer, Home Forces and the Inspector General of Fortifications were convinced of the benefits of the pushed pipes filled with explosives and set out to acquire large quantities of pipe for
14300-420: The form of three coils of concertina wire fixed by metal posts, or a simple fence of straight wires supported on waist-high posts. The wire would also demarcate extensive minefields , with both anti-tank and anti-personnel mines on and behind the beaches. On many of the more remote beaches this combination of wire and mines represented the full extent of the passive defences. Portions of Romney Marsh , which
14443-468: The fourteenth century onward. Caltrops are still strung together and used as roadblocks in some modern conflicts. Gunpowder , an explosive mixture of sulfur , charcoal and potassium nitrate was invented in China by the 10th century and was used in warfare soon after. An "enormous bomb", credited to Lou Qianxia, was used in 1277 by the Chinese at the Battle of Zhongdu. A 14th-century military treatise,
14586-456: The government of Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain . Two days later Chamberlain resigned and was succeeded by Churchill. On 10 May 1940, Germany invaded France . By that time, the BEF consisted of 10 infantry divisions in three corps , a tank brigade and a Royal Air Force detachment of around 500 aircraft. The BEF and the best French forces were pinned by the German attack into Belgium and
14729-476: The help of a mixture of real and fake minefields; and they laid mines alongside railroad tracks to discourage sabotage. In the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–1905, both sides used land and sea mines, although the effect on land mainly affected morale. The naval mines were far more effective, destroying several battleships. One sign of the increasing power of explosives used in land mines was that, by
14872-489: The idea of using hydraulic jacks from the bootleggers of Windsor, Ontario who, during the prohibition , pushed pipes from a brewery to other premises where drink could be safely loaded. Colin Campbell and his section of diamond drillers arrived in England in February 1940. They started experimenting in a quarry near Aldershot. Campbell proved that his section could produce surprise obstacles that could not be crossed by
15015-569: The increasing mobility of war. The Germans developed the Skorpion system, which scattered AT2 mines from a tracked vehicle. The Italians developed a helicopter delivery system that could rapidly switch between SB-33 anti-personnel mines and SB-81 anti-tank mines . The US developed a range of systems called the Family of Scatterable Mines (FASCAM) that could deliver mines by fast jet, artillery, helicopter and ground launcher. The Iraq-Iran War ,
15158-647: The insistence of Winston Churchill , then the First Lord of the Admiralty , a request was made that the Commander-in-Chief, Home Forces , General Sir Walter Kirke , should prepare a plan to repel a large-scale invasion. Kirke presented his plan on 15 November 1939, known as "Plan Julius Caesar" or "Plan J-C" because of the code word "Julius" which would be used for a likely invasion and "Caesar" for an imminent invasion. Kirke, whose main responsibility
15301-417: The likelihood of civilian casualties at the conflict's end. These self-destruct mechanisms are not absolutely reliable, and most land mines laid historically are not equipped in this manner. There is a common misperception that a landmine is armed by stepping on it and only triggered by stepping off. This is not the case for almost all types of mine. In virtually all cases the initial pressure trigger detonates
15444-417: The lower end of the first pipe would end up about 15 feet underground; the next pipe would then be pushed into the ground behind the first so that the upper end of that pipe would overlap with the lower end of the earlier pipe. The pipes were packed with explosives which when detonated would produce a very effective anti-tank obstacle about 28 feet (8.5 m) wide and 8 feet (2.4 m) deep with loose soil at
15587-414: The military still preferred guncotton. In 1863, the German chemical industry developed trinitrotoluene ( TNT ). This had the advantage that it was difficult to detonate, so it could withstand the shock of firing by artillery pieces. It was also advantageous for land mines for several reasons: it was not detonated by the shock of shells landing nearby; it was lightweight, unaffected by damp, and stable under
15730-476: The mine, since mines are designed to kill or maim the victim rather than standing still until the mine can be disarmed. This misperception originated with the fictional portrayal of mines, often in movies in which the disarming of a mine is a source of narrative tension. Some types of mines do actually use this mechanism, though these types are rare. One example is the MS3, a pressure-release mine similar in appearance to
15873-636: The mine. They also developed the first scatterable mine, the No. 7 ("Dingbat"). The Americans used the M6 antitank mine and tripwire-operated bounding antipersonnel mines such as the M2 and M16 . In the Korean War , land mine use was dictated by the steep terrain, narrow valleys, forest cover and lack of developed roads. This made tanks less effective and more easily stopped by mines. However, mines laid near roads were often easy to spot. In response to this problem,
16016-452: The mines. Starting in the 19th century, more powerful explosives than gunpowder were developed, often for non-military reasons such as blasting train tunnels in the Alps and Rockies. Guncotton , up to four times more powerful than gunpowder, was invented by Christian Schonbein in 1846. It was dangerous to make until Frederick Augustus Abel developed a safe method in 1865. From the 1870s to
16159-598: The most common mine in the war. Mine casings were also made of glass, concrete and clay. The Russians developed a mine with a pressed-cardboard casing, the PMK40, and the Italians made an anti-tank mine out of bakelite . In 1944, the Germans created the Topfmine , an entirely non-metallic mine. They ensured that they could detect their own mines by covering them with radioactive sand; the Allies did not find this out until after
16302-813: The personnel were brought back to Britain, but many of the army's vehicles, tanks, guns, ammunition and heavy equipment and the RAF's ground equipment and stores were left behind in France. Some soldiers even returned without their rifles. A further 215,000 were evacuated from ports south of the Channel in the more organised Operation Aerial during June. In June 1940 the British Army had 22 infantry divisions and one armoured division. The infantry divisions were, on average, at half strength, and had only one-sixth of their normal artillery. Over 600 medium guns, both 18/25 and 25 pounders , and 280 howitzers were available, with
16445-413: The pipes might be used to construct surprise obstacles in front of a German advance. This would be accomplished by pushing pipes into the ground at a shallow angle and packing them with explosives ready to be detonated. The pipe could be easily and quickly pushed by a hydraulic jack fitted to a tank transporter , numbers of which were available. According to McNaughton's biographer, John Swettenham, he got
16588-423: The pits are shallow: just deep enough to take an anti-tank mine. When not in use the sockets were filled with wooden plugs, allowing traffic to pass normally. Bridges and other key points were prepared for demolition at short notice by preparing chambers filled with explosives. A Depth Charge Crater was a site in a road (usually at a junction) prepared with buried explosives that could be detonated to instantly form
16731-503: The presence of an enemy that enjoys air superiority is very dangerous. However, the RAF would have kept several advantages, such as being able to operate largely over friendly territory, as well as having the ability to fly for longer as, until the Germans were able to operate from airfields in England, Luftwaffe pilots would still have to fly significant distances to reach their operational area. A contingency plan called Operation Banquet required all available aircraft to be committed to
16874-500: The purpose of destroying runways at short notice. By the end of that month, the tunnelers successfully demonstrated "surprise" anti-tank obstacles near Shornmead Fort , Chatham. The drills and pipe pushing machines were used to bury a series of 3-inch (76 mm) diameter pipes, each at a shallow angle, to a maximum depth of about 8 feet (2.4 m). Each pipe was about 55 feet (17 m) long, and they were placed at intervals of 25 feet (7.6 m) in an overlapping pattern such that
17017-619: The regiment received the Beaverette , an improvised armoured car developed by order of the Minister of Aircraft Production Lord Beaverbrook , and former holiday coaches for use as personnel carriers. It did not receive tanks until April 1941 and then the problematic Covenanter . Churchill stated "in the last half of September we were able to bring into action on the south coast front sixteen divisions of high quality of which three were armoured divisions or their equivalent in brigades". It
17160-578: The removable roadblocks consisted of concrete anti-tank cylinders of various sizes but typically about 3 feet (0.91 m) high and 2 feet (61 cm) in diameter; these could be manhandled into position as required. Anti-tank cylinders were to be used on roads, and other hard surfaces; deployed irregularly in five rows with bricks or kerbstones scattered nearby to stop the cylinders moving more than 2 ft (0.61 m). Cylinders were often placed in front of socket roadblocks as an additional obstacle. One common type of removable anti-tank roadblock comprised
17303-654: The route of an attack. The need to prevent tanks from breaking through was of key importance. Consequently, the defences generally ran along pre-existing barriers to tanks, such as rivers and canals; railway embankments and cuttings; thick woods; and other natural obstacles. Where possible, usually well-drained land was allowed to flood, making the ground too soft to support even tracked vehicles. Thousands of miles of anti-tank ditches were dug, usually by mechanical excavators, but occasionally by hand. They were typically 18 feet (5.5 m) wide and 11 feet (3.4 m) deep and could be either trapezoidal or triangular in section with
17446-537: The scheme and then expand if the results warrant it". McNaughton offered the command to Colin Campbell. Campbell accepted and initiated plans to obtain recruits from the mining districts of northern Ontario. McNaughton, now General Officer Commanding (GOC) of the 1st Canadian Infantry Division, travelled to Britain with his staff and the bulk of his division in December 1939. Early in January 1940 McNaughton inspected
17589-440: The ships that the Germans had available as naval escorts. The British engaged upon an extensive program of field fortification. On 27 May 1940 a Home Defence Executive was formed under General Sir Edmund Ironside , Commander-in-Chief, Home Forces, to organise the defence of Britain. At first defence arrangements were largely static and focused on the coastline (the coastal crust) and, in a classic example of defence in depth , on
17732-653: The south coast ports of Dover and Portsmouth , a cruiser and three destroyers at Sheerness on the River Thames , three cruisers and seven destroyers at the Humber , nine destroyers at Harwich , and two cruisers at Rosyth . The rest of the Home Fleet – five battleships, three cruisers and nine destroyers – was based far to the north at Scapa Flow . There were, in addition, many corvettes , minesweepers , and other small vessels . By
17875-486: The south of England, with three radar stations being operational by 1937. Although the German High Command suspected that the British may have been developing these systems, Zeppelin detection and evaluation flights had proved inconclusive. As a result, the Germans underestimated the effectiveness of the expanding Chain Home radar system, which became a vital piece of Britain's defensive capabilities during
18018-484: The south of London and comprised 1st Armoured and 1st Canadian Divisions with the 1st Army Tank Brigade . IV Corps was based at Latimer House to the north of London and comprised 2nd Armoured , 42nd and 43rd Infantry divisions. VII Corps also included a brigade, which had been diverted to England when on its way to Egypt, from the 2nd New Zealand Expeditionary Force . Two infantry brigades and corps troops including artillery, engineers and medical personnel from
18161-399: The southeast of England. Any airfield that was in danger of being captured would have been made inoperable and there were plans to remove all portable equipment from vulnerable radar bases and completely destroy anything that could not be moved. Whatever was left of the RAF would have been committed to intercepting the invasion fleet in concert with the Royal Navy – to fly in
18304-610: The top for the attachment of barbed wire. There was also a tetrahedral or caltrop -shaped obstacle, although it seems these were rare. Where natural anti-tank barriers needed only to be augmented, concrete or wooden posts sufficed. Roads offered the enemy fast routes to their objectives and consequently they were blocked at strategic points. Many of the road-blocks formed by Ironside were semi-permanent. In many cases, Brooke had these removed altogether, as experience had shown they could be as much of an impediment to friends as to foes. Brooke favoured removable blocks. The simplest of
18447-449: The vehicle and possibly slip down with the tracks between the points. They ranged in size somewhat, but were typically 2 feet (61 cm) high and about 3 feet (91 cm) square at the base. There was also a conical form. Cubes, cylinders and pimples were deployed in long rows, often several rows deep, to form anti-tank barriers at beaches and inland. They were also used in smaller numbers to block roads. They frequently sported loops at
18590-438: The war. Several mechanical methods for clearing mines were tried. Heavy rollers were attached to tanks or cargo trucks, but they did not last long and their weight made the tanks considerably slower. Tanks and bulldozers pushed ploughs that pushed aside any mines to a depth of 30 cm. The Bangalore torpedo , a long thin tube filled with explosives, was invented in 1912 and used to clear barbed wire; larger versions such as
18733-439: The weight fell, the wheels struck sparks against flint , igniting a set of fuses leading to multiple mines. A similar mechanism was used in the first wheellock musket in Europe as sketched by Leonardo da Vinci around 1500 AD. Another victim-operated device was the "underground sky-soaring thunder", which lured bounty hunters with halberds , pikes , and lances planted in the ground. If they pulled on one of these weapons,
18876-511: Was a glass flask filled with nitroglycerin and given an adhesive coating allowing it to be glued to a passing vehicle. In theory, it could be thrown, but in practice it would most likely need to be placed – thumped against the target with sufficient force to stick – requiring courage and good fortune to be used effectively. An order for one million sticky bombs was placed in June 1940, but various problems delayed their distribution in large numbers until early 1941, and it
19019-512: Was constructed. Essentially, this was a fence of scaffolding tubes 9 feet (2.7 m) high and was placed at low water so that tanks could not get a good run at it. Admiralty scaffolding was deployed along hundreds of miles of vulnerable beaches. The beaches themselves were overlooked by pillboxes of various types . These were sometimes placed low down to get maximum advantage from enfilading fire , whereas others were placed high up making them much harder to capture. Searchlights were installed at
19162-424: Was evident that the explosives in some of the tubes had been affected by water, losing power significantly. A brass spearhead on a long rod was provided for withdrawing the explosives from the tubes, but in some cases the explosive had deteriorated into a porridge-like mush. Second Lieutenant Cameron, who as a civilian was an experienced oil drilling engineer, suggested washing out the explosives with water delivered by
19305-628: Was formed to control the Home Forces' general reserve, and included the 1st Armoured Division . In a reorganisation in July, the divisions with some degree of mobility were placed behind the "coastal crust" of defended beach areas from The Wash to Newhaven in Sussex . The General Headquarters Reserve was expanded to two corps of the most capable units. VII Corps was based at Headley Court in Surrey to
19448-471: Was intended to protect the capital and the industrial heartland of England. Another major line was the Taunton Stop Line , which defended against an advance from England's south-west peninsula. London and other major cities were ringed with inner and outer stop lines. Military thinking shifted rapidly. Given the lack of equipment and properly trained men, Ironside had little choice but to adopt
19591-472: Was larger. Both were packed by the thousand into bombs. All three were designed to inactivate after a period of time, but any that failed to activate presented a safety challenge. Over 37 million Gravel mines were produced between 1967 and 1968, and when they were dropped in places like Vietnam their locations were unmarked and unrecorded. A similar problem was presented by unexploded cluster munitions. The next generation of scatterable mines arose in response to
19734-519: Was mainly employed in the defenses of major fortifications, in which role it used in several European wars of the eighteenth century and the American Revolution . One of the greatest limitations of early land mines was the unreliable fuses and their susceptibility to dampness. This changed with the invention of the safety fuse . Later, command initiation , the ability to detonate a charge immediately instead of waiting several minutes for
19877-512: Was sufficiently well to go in the capacity of A.D.C. to the G.O.C. 1st Canadian Division and as such he proposed himself to me—not only proposed himself but did everything in the world to get me to take him. But I finally convinced him that it was his duty to stay in Canada and put ginger into the mobilization. I did tell him that I wanted his Minister of Public Works in charge of a special section of tunnellers and so we finally compromised; I swapped
20020-536: Was the planned invasion site of Operation Sea Lion, were flooded and there were plans to flood more of the Marsh if the invasion were to materialise. Piers, ideal for landing troops, and situated in large numbers along the south coast of England, were disassembled, blocked or otherwise destroyed. Many piers were not repaired until the late 1940s or early 1950s. Where a barrier to tanks was required, Admiralty scaffolding (also known as beach scaffolding or obstacle Z.1)
20163-480: Was to contest the control of British airspace with the German Luftwaffe . For the Germans, achieving at least local air superiority was an essential prerequisite to any invasion and might even break British morale, forcing them to sue for peace . If the German air force had prevailed and attempted a landing, a much-reduced Royal Air Force would have been obliged to operate from airfields well away from
20306-583: Was to reinforce the BEF in France, had very limited resources available, with six poorly trained and equipped Territorial Army divisions in England, two in Scotland and three more in reserve . With France still a powerful ally, Kirke believed that the eastern coasts of England and Scotland were the most vulnerable, with ports and airfields given priority. On 9 April 1940, Germany invaded Denmark and Norway . This operation preempted Britain's own plans to invade Norway. Denmark surrendered immediately, and, after
20449-439: Was waterproofed by wrapping it in cowhide and covering it with oil. It was filled with compressed gunpowder and lead or iron pellets, sealed with wax and concealed in a trench. The triggering mechanism was not fully described until the early 17th century. When the enemy stepped onto hidden boards, they dislodged a pin, causing a weight to fall. A cord attached to the weight was wrapped around a drum attached to two steel wheels; when
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