Did the Allies plant land mines in the ETO?
What did they look like for scratch building - How transported to the field? jeep trailers, wooden boxes???
Have seen lots of references to German mines in books and movies, but nothing from the Allied side. Probably because we were advancing instead of defending territory most of the time...
What's the scoop?
thx - Crai
All sides used mines. US mines were generally smaller and deeper than German Teller Mines, with a pressure sensor the full diameter of the mine mounted above it. The sensor was a four-spoked wheel that doubled as a carrying handle. The mines were shipped in wooden boxes, and were transported like any other munition. In armored infantry units, they were carried on the outside of M3 halftracks in the racks above the tracks. US troops sometimes produced instant road blocks by roping together a "daisy chain" of anti-vehicle mines that could be dragged across a road to deny its use to the enemy (the mines required a force in excess of 300 pounds to detonate, so they could take a fair amount of abuse without going off). GPO
Check the digital resources on the US Army Military History Institute website. There's probably a FM there, plus the Standard Ordnance Catalog.
KL
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