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Glasmine 43 Question

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ekim199944

Well-Known Member
When the Glasmine 43 was set, was the large glass plate placed directly on the thin glass above the fuse? Or was it suspended above it on two twigs set in the grooves, as I saw stated somewhere? I have also see a photo of one with a metal wire bracket in the grooves, which I thought was a safety device. What were the grooves used for?
 
The thin glass plate was always used as it water proofed the mine. The plate was seal with sealing compound. Using the mine with out the glass plate held up with two twigs would have kind of worked but you would fill the inside with dirt if you covered it up to conceal it and the top thick plate would hit the dirt rather than the igniter or interfered with it in some way. As for the two grooves there is meant to be a forked tool when laying the mine just incase the glass broke when concealing the mine, so they say. Bit of a dark area.
 
Was told me : with metallic fork in the grooves, used as antivehicule mine, without metallic studs, used as antipersonal mine.


Yoda
 
I read somewhere that it was a coastal mine used for wet land areas near rivers, glass being water proof. The glass design was for its water proofing qualities rather than being the worst type of shrapnel to inflict on its victim.
 
Good question, most probably used in damp conditions rather than a river or a pond. I have a load of documents testing out the S-mine in North Africa, one of the main problems that prevented an S-mine being effective was damp conditions. Its life span was about 3 months on average.
 
Attached some pages from 'Waffen Revue'. Used on coasts due to it's seawater and -moisture resistant features
 

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Hallo,
the fork mentioned is purely a simple safety device. The glassplate is quite fragile and any prestressing and unnoticed damage would make the laying very dangerous. I also seem to remember that it was general practice to lay a complete field of mines first with safeties left in the mines and that an officer would afterwards walk along the minelines and collect the safety-pins/forks. The coastal mine mentioned has a little bit different outside shape, a different designation and a different fuzing system (I seem to remember that it is integrated in the top cover). This mine is very rare. I have never seen one in any collection. I'm waiting for the day that I may hold one in my hands.
I just checked some old notes of mine. TM5-280 describes the fuze for the coastal glass mine (Glasmine 43 (W)) (W= Wattenmeer=Coastal water) on page 661 and gives the designation as SF18. The detailed designation I have in my notes is "S.Kst.Mi.Z. SF18"=Schuetzen Küsten Minen Zuender SF18=Antipersonnel Coastal Mine Fuze SF18 which works the same as the SF1. In an above post pages from a "Waffen-Revue", which generally is very reliable, are posted. There the designation is given under "c" as SF14. Up till now I did not find any info on an SF 14 described in the above named publication only as "Glaszuender". The SF18 is made up completely of glass.
Bellifortis
 
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No, the SF18 is especially made to fit the bottombowl of a glasmine, so it is quite big and can not be used for anything else. The complete lid is the fuze, with the 2 chemical ampules in the middle of the glaslid.
millsbomber said:
Could the SF18 be the same fuse for the paper anti tank mine
Click to expand...
 
Hallo,
on the first page of the above article in "Waffen Revue", the SF 6 is called "Bossezuender"(bosse-fuze) and the SF 14 "Schwarzkopf"(black-head). What do this names mean ? The inventor ? or the factory that produced it ? This english language forum may be the wrong place to ask such a question, but may be there is somebody around who has an answer. Also I'm interested in the subject since many years, I have not heard anything about these 2 names, in connection with fuzes, before.
Regards,
Bellifortis.
orpheus72 said:
Attached some pages from 'Waffen Revue'. Used on coasts due to it's seawater and -moisture resistant features
Click to expand...
 
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