During World War Ii, Landmines Were Widely Used For Tasks Such As Blockading Areas And Defense, And Played An Important Role. Most Common Landmines Have Metal Shells, Which Can Produce Enough Fragments When Exploded And Can Remain In Shape For A Long Time After Deployment. However, Not All Landmines Are Metal-Cased. For Example, The Schützenmine 42 (Hereinafter Referred To As Type 42) Produced By Germany In 1942 Is A Landmine Made Of A Wooden Box.
The Structure Of Type 42 Is Relatively Simple. The Entire Mine Consists Of A Wooden Box, An Explosive Filled Inside, And A Fuse. A Mine Weighs Only 500 Grams. The Box Is 127 Mm Long, 98 Mm Wide And 50 Mm High. There Is A Lid At The Bottom That Can Be Opened Upwards.
There Are No Requirements On The Material Of The Box, Wood, Laminate And Plywood Are All Available. After All, There Is No Need To Consider Durability When Using This Material, Which Is Incomparable To Iron-Cased Mines. One Of The Advantages Of Wooden Box Mines Is That The Sources Of Raw Materials Are Very Wide, Any Carpenter Can Process Them, And They Occupy Very Few Resources.
The Wooden Box Will Be Filled With 200 Grams Of Tnt, And The Actual Amount Of Tnt Can Float. If The Tnt In The Hands Of Engineers Is Not Enough, They Can Also Fill It With Less Tnt, But The Power Will Be Reduced. There Is A Small Hole In The Front Of The Box For Installing The Z.Z.42 Type Fuze. After The Wooden Cover Of The Mine Has Been Subjected To A Triggering Pressure Of 2.75-5 Kg, Sufficient Force Can Be Applied To The Fuze And Activate It.
However, It Must Be Said That The Destructive Power Of Type 42 Cannot Be Compared With Conventional Metal Shell Anti-Infantry Mines. The Main Reason Is That The Wooden Shell Is Difficult To Produce Strong Enough Fragments, Which Will Cause Trampling Personnel During Combat. It Will Cause Serious Injuries, But The Degree Of Injuries To The People Nearby Will Generally Be Much Lower.
The Type 42 Can Also Be Equipped With A Tripwire. Before Laying, The Tripwire Needs To Be Tied To The Fuze, And The Force Of The Tripwire Pulling Is Used To Detonate. However, This Setting Method Also Has Disadvantages, That Is, The Mines Are Sometimes Further Away From The Target Personnel, And The Lethality Caused Is Not As Lethal As If The Target Personnel Directly Steps On It.
In Actual Use, Type 42 Also Has A Very Obvious Benefit. Because It Has So Few Metal Parts, Minesweeping Methods Using Metal Detectors May Miss It. The German Army Used The Type 42 In The Normandy Area, Which Caused A Lot Of Trouble To The Allies. In Response, The Allied Forces Responded By Using Military Dogs To Search.
Case Durability Is Also An Issue. Wooden Shells Buried In The Ground Cannot Withstand Long-Term Corrosion. Coupled With The European Natural Environment, Materials Such As Plywood And Laminate Cannot Last Long During The Rainy Season, And The Dismantling Of Landmines Is Also Troublesome. During Transportation, The Type 42 Will Remove The Fuze And Place It In A Wooden Box. The Fuze Will Be Installed By Engineers When Laying Out Mines. Generally, A Large Wooden Box Will Contain 20 Mines.
During World War Ii, The German Army Used Many Type 42s, Especially On The Eastern Front Battlefield In Europe, But Mines Could Not Stop The Soviet Offensive. After The Battle, The Soviet Army Would Clear The Minefields And Recover The Tnt In The Mines.
Post time: Dec-29-2023