Mines

[Adrian Stevenson]

Hi Guys, have any of you got any pics to share?
Here are mine. First is a "Bouncing Betty" S Mine. The mine and fuse are both 1944 dated.
Cheers, Ade.

[Adrian Stevenson]

Here is my Glass Mine 43.

[Dez H]

I hope these HAVE been deactivated.

[WalterB]

LOL Dez. Just looking at them give me the willies...

[Rich G]

Ade, very interesting pieces. Can you show more of the Glass mine? What are the internals like? How is explosive denoted? If it's glass I assume it's anti-personnel and not anti-vehicle?

Rich

[Adrian Stevenson]

Hi Guys, don't worry these items are 100% safe with no explosive or detonators present . However, if you do not know what you are looking at, do not buy! There are no "de-activation" certificates issued with ordnance items as there are with former firearms. Buy from reputable specialist dealers only.
I first saw a Glass mine during a trip to Normandy in 1989 for the Anniversary of D-Day. It was in a museum in the British sector. I was impressed with the idea of a AP mine made out of this material and ever since I fancied having one for my collection. I finally found one for sale at Beltring show about 4 years ago. I paid £45 for it. The only problem was getting it home in my 1942 Jeep Jeeps are not renouned for their smooth, comfortable ride!
I will take some more pics at the weekend, but in the meantime here is a description.
The mine itself is moulded from glass about half an inch thick. It appears like a pudding basin about 5 or 6 inches across. Into this is placed the explosive filling. On top of this is placed the detonator. This is a thin metal plate which has the ignitor set in it. This looks like an arm, which hinges up and down. There are two types fitted to this mine. My example is the so called "Boars head" type. On top of this is the sheer plate. This is a very, very, thin peice of glass about 1mm thick. These are usually missing as they are so fragile. On top of this is a thick moulded plate of glass which acts as shrapnel when the mine is detonated. (These can also be found in dark brown glass) Detonation comes about when the mine is trodden on, the glass sheer plate smashes and the detonator is crushed downwards. This movement causes the arm to move, setting off a percussion cap. This flashes down a small tube leading to the main charge contained in the bowl of the mine.
The thinking behind these mines was that they could be hard to detect having only a small amount of steel used in the construction; cheap to make, afterall, glass is made from sand; also the mine could be used on beach locations being water resistant and not prone to corrosion.
Hope that explains a bit about this mine, all in all a clever but evil peice of kit.
Cheers, Ade.

[Gary Wood]

I have a few smi mines here are some, i will taker better pictures when I find the camera,
cheers,
Gary

[Gary Wood]

2

[Gary Wood]

3

[Gary Wood]

4

[Gary Wood]

Tank mines!

[Gary Wood]

Tank mine 2

[Gary Wood]

Tank mine 3

[Gary Wood]

Tank mine 4

I would just like to say I buy a lot of this type of items from Russia, and would like to echo Adrian comments above, and I speak from experience, while the low grade explosive the germans used is a problem it is no where as dangerous as the detonators, the explosive you can scrape out burn on the fire ect, detonators you only need to knock by accident and "BANG", while a detonator is not a large thing the damage in can do just on its own is far greater than its small size, example a stick det if it went of in your hand would take off most of your fingers and depending how close your hand is to your face could blind and deafen you as well, detonators if not stored correctly become unstable.

[Adrian Stevenson]

More great stuff as usual from Gary

Here are some extra pics of my glass mine as requested.
Cheers, Ade.