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S-Mine

BMG50

BMG50

Well-Known Member
Premium Member
I have quite a collection of documents and paper work from the IWM etc about the account of the S-Mine in action and what was found out about this device during the war. There apparently is a tool that comes with S-Mine kit that cuts the correct size hole to plant the mine. Not sure if its like a cake cutter with a handle. Has any one seen such a tool or is it in the German inventory of supplies.
 
I have just found out that this tool is seen in a 1942 S-Mine manual and there is a re-print of the complete manual. I will be getting that.;)
 
Hi i have extensively studied the German minefields and defences in Guernsey i have never heard or seen an item for digging in S. mines .the official photographs i was priveleged to see which are held by the son of the German who worked out the designs of the fields shows clearly the German troops of 319 engineer battalion Pioneer corps using standard German shovels , perhaps it was one of the designs that never caught on ?
Very interesting to know more ?
Regards
Steve
 
There is a book all about the German minefield in Guernsey 1940 - 1945
called
THE HISTORY OF THE GERMAN MINEFIELDS Of
GUERNSEY 1940-45
Written by Captain HENRY BEKINGHAM
ISBN 1-903953-87-1
This is the officer who was tasked with clearing the minefields of Guernsey .
it is a facinating account .
 
This is a reprint of a 1942 dated original WW2 German Training manual on the S-Mine 35 anti-personnel mine. The manual details the characteristics of the mine, the different igniters, laying the mines and making detailed mine field plans and even has a detailed line drawing of a special tool used to dig holes for the mines. The manual contains many excellent illustrations. The reprint is 8.5 x 5.5 in size with 78 pages.
There is a tool but like you said could have been quicker to dig a hole with a spade. Or could theses tools be a difficult item to get hold of because of war shortages?
There is an After the Battle article about Guernsey and Jersey Mine field clearing. In one account a German POW, one of many made to clear up their own mine fields, accidentally stood on an S-Mine. To save his life and lives of his mates, he kept his foot on the mine from popping out of the ground where it exploded in the ground. It took half his leg off but saved his life and that of his companions near by from an air burst of shrapnel.
The effect of these mines exploding in the ground was also released during the North African campaign that S-Mines that exploded in the ground rather than given the chance to bound in the air proven ineffective because the sand absorbed the explosion.
 
Zoekers.jpg


Cheers Mad B)
 
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