S-mine pins

[Jean-Loup]

Am I correct to assume these are various types of S mine pins? I have found a few, usualy in groups, in former foxholes.
My question is why would these be kept? Surely it can always come in handy to have a pin that can help make a mine safe. But wouldn't a simple piece of wire do the trick just as well? Would there be any reason for a soldier to keep several of these pins... with the little safety bolt screwed on the tip! It seems a very German sort of behaviour. Did any official instructions exist?

[me6_130]

Perhaps they could recover the S mines later, so they would keep the pins, just in case they needed to secure them.

Carles