Panzerfaust
WW II German Infantry Anti-Tank Weapons
Page 11: Mines & Flamethrowers
Tellermine
A weapon that could not actively be employed against tanks but
had considerable AT potential on the defense was the mine. Mines can be
differentiated into the categories anti-personnel mines, area denial mines
and anti-tank mines. Of the vast number of mine types employed by germany
during WW II, only the last category, the AT mines, shall be discussed.
Anti-vehicle mines can destroy vehicles and immobilize tanks by destroying
their tracks.
The first model used by the german Wehrmacht, though only for training
purposes, was the Tellermine 29 ("dish mine"), abbreviated
as T.Mi.29. It had a diameter of 25.5 cm and weighed 6kg including
4kg of explosives.
The
next model was the Tellermine 35 which weighed 9.6 kg and contained
5kg of explosives, diameter: 32cm, height: 11cm. It became the standard
anti-tank mine in the early war years and until 1943, when production ceased,
4,218,900 T.Mi.35 were produced. The top lid served as the trigger
and the mine detonated
when a pressure in excess of 90kg was exerted onto it. This proved to be
too light as the mine already exploded when the tank track barely touched
the mine, therefore much of the blast did not catch the tank.
Therefore a thicker steel lid was soon used that increased the trigger
pressure to 210kg, which meant that more of the tank had to be positioned
on the mine to detonate it. This modification was called T.Mi.35 St.
It was produced in 1942 and 1943 at a total number of 2,200,700.
The next type was the T.Mi.42; with a diameter of 31.3cm and a height
of 9.1 cm it was alittle smaller; again, the mine was triggered at 210kg
pressure; the weapon weighed 9.8 kg and used a charge of 5kg of explosives.
The Teellermine 42 replaced the T.Mi.35 as the army's standard AT mine
for the rest of the war, and between 1942 and 1945 a total of 9,835,000
were built.
The T.Mi.43 Pilz ("Mushroom") was a simplified construction
of the T.Mi.42, replacing the spring-loaded top lid fuse for a simple extendable
shaft construction; when the protruding pin was pushed into the mine the
mine detonated. 3,622,900 were built in 1943/1944.
A constrcution that reflected the paratrooper's need for lightweight mines
was the leichte Panzermine ("light tank mine"); diameter
26.3 cm, height 9cm; weight 4kg incl. 2kg of explosives. The activating
pressure was 250kg. It was used extensively during operation Merkur, the
airborne assault on Crete. Only 31,700 of these specialized mines were
built.
The so-called schwere Panzermine ("heavy tank mine") contained
10kg of explosives to respond to the threat of a new heavy tank. After
it was found that the JS-II used the same old tracks that could be destroyed
with the existing mines the production of the schwere Panzermine
ceased after a few thousand.
Another proposed Aluminium-Mine that weighed 6kg incl. 3,2 kg of
explosives was not built.
All the tank mines could be fitted with extra fuses to render the removal
more difficult in order to secure them against recovery by the enemy.
A project by the company WASAG saw the use of unused SBe 50 E 50kg
bombs that the Luftwaffe had in considerable surplus quantities. These
concrete bomb shells were to be filled with 18kg and dug in vertically.
when the extended fuse was activated, a propellant of 6kg was to launch
the weapon against the tank's bottom. the length of this construction was
122cm, the completed assembly weighed 52kg. The warhead would have destroyed
the tank completely. The project did not realize.
Mine Developments
Because of the increasing use of mine-detectors responding to metal
the wooden mines were developed. These wooden mines were very dangerous
to handle, humidity caused the wood to deform and break. To give an example,
between October 1942 and April 1943 accidents with the H.Mi.42 caused no
less than 141 deaths and 55 wounded among the german troops.
The Holzmine 42 ("wood mine"), H.Mi.42,was a wooden
box measuring 32.5 x 31 x 12 cm filled with 5.4 or 5.6 kg of explosives.
The complete weapon weighed 8kg and was activated by a pressure of 220kg.
total production from 1942 to 1944 was 5,302,600.
The Panzer-Schnellmine ("tank quick mine") consisted of
a wooden box measuring 58 x 31 x 16 cm and containing 5 kg of explosives.
Version A used the Zugzünder 42 ("pull detonator") and version
B used a chemical detonator.
The Sprengriegel ("detonation bar"), also called Riegelmine
43 ("bar mine"), was a copy of the italian B-2 mine. A long
metal box measuring 80 x 8 x 9.7 cm was filled with 4kg, the top lid worked
as the pressure fuse; the mine detonated when 200kg of pressure were put
onto the lid. the R.Mi.43 weighed 9.3 kg. The mine had several disadvantages:
it was difficult to conceal and camoflage and detonated too soon. However
these disadvantages were offset by the fact that this weapon facilitated
the quick deployment of restriction mine fields both in the total number
of mines neccessary and in the number of men neccesary to set them up.
Because handling of this weapon proved very dangerous a modified Riegelmine
44 had a different fuse. 3,051,400 were produced from late 1943 to
1945.
The Topfmine ("pot mine"), also called Topf-Mi. 4531,
was a completely metal-free mine. The casing material was made of a sawdust
- tar combination, the fuse utilized glass parts. The mine had a diameter
of 31.7 cm and a height of 14 cm. The mine responded to a pressure of 150
kg because that pressure broke the two glass ampullae containig the chemical
fuse. 786,900 of these mines were built 1944/1945. Later a casing made
out of a soft coal - bitumen combination was used that was water resistant.
A last redesign was the Viskonit-Mine named after the manufacturer,
the Viskonit-Werke in Zittau. It used the sawdust-tar material again and
weighed 10kg including 6kg of explosives. Only a few of the planned 460,000
Viskonit mines were built in late 1944 and only used at few select locations.
One project of mine development had a very ironic ending. Army specifications
called for a mine that could not be disarmed or removed. Consequently,
the company HASAG developed a Druckbügelmine ("pressure.bow
mine") containing 5kg explosives and weighing 9.5kg that featured
a very sophisticated, complicated fuse that was completely secure against
disarming. The weapon proved to be practically undisarmable. However, meeting
the required criteria was exactly the reason why it was rejected - the
army weapon's bureau eventually realized that a non-disarmable mine could
not be removed by the own troops, either!
The mines discussed until now only immobilized the tanks by destroying
their tracks, the tanks could be quickly repaired and put back into service.
To completely destroy the tank and incapacitate the crew, the Hohlladungs-Springmine
or HL.Sp.Mi. 4672 ("hollow-charge jump mine") was developed.
It used the warhead of the Panzerfaust mounted in a metal holder on a wooden
panel. The weapon was 28.5cm high and was activated by a break/tip - fuse,
the warhead could penetrate the bottom of any tank and destroy it. First
deliveries to the army began in October 1944, however the first issue to
combat troops was in January 1945 because of manufacturing faults of the
weapon. Production never picked up significantly, overall only 59,000 were
built, because all produced Panzerfaust shaped-charge warheads were needed
for the Panzerfaust weapons since it was felt that the warheads would be
better employed with the proven Panzerfaust rather than a new mine weapon
of unknown quality.
An easier construction was found in the Panzer-Stabmine. The little
warhead with a diameter of 12.5cm was filled with a shaped charge of 1.6kg
and simply attached to a long pointed stick that was rammed into the ground.
The attached break/tip fuse activated the mine when a tank drove over it.
The warhead worked better the closer it was to the tank's belly armor.
therefore the mine could only be used in high grass or in snow without
being spotted. 25,000 were produced and employed in 1945.
Flammenwerfer
The last weapon with limited anti-tank capability to be discussed
here was the flamethrower (the picture at left is from a contemporary
exhibition and is meant to give you an impression of how it looks like
when a flamethrower is fired). The effectiveness of flamethrowers against
tanks depends a lot on the individual tank type it is employed against.
Naturally, the armor of the target is not a factor, although on very thin
steel the flamethrower might cook off any content behind the armor such
as ammunition, fuel etc. But generally the ability to disable the tank
with a flame thrower depends on how easy the burning liquid can ooze into
vulnerable parts of the tank such as the engine. If the flamethrower can
set the engine afire, the tank is immobilized and often likely to blow
up completely due to the gasoline engines of most tanks (russian tanks
were not as vulnerable as others since they used diesel fuel which is harder
to ignite). Flamethrowers had seen extensive use in WW I. The early models
developed between the wars were too heavy to be carried by one man and
required teams of two to three men.
The
first weapon designed to be a one-man flamethrower was the Flammenwerfer
34 that was introduced into service in late 1934. However, with a total
weight of 36kg (other sources: 35.8kg) it was still practically too heavy
to be actually used by a single operator. The larger tank contained 11.8
litres of the flaming liquid Flammöl Nr.19, the smaller tank
contained the propellant which was pressurized nitrogene. It was produced
until 1941 when it was finally replaced by the Flammenwerfer 40 klein
that weighed only 21.8 kg. The two tanks now had a round shape and set
into each other. The
reduction of weight was mainly achieved by reducing the amount of flaming
liquid to 7.5 litres.
The next development was the Flammenwerfer 41 or FmW 41.
It weighed 22 kg (other sources: 21.3kg) and utilised two cylindrical containers;
it used hydrogene instead of nitrogene as the propellant. Because of the
extreme temperatures on the eastern front which had led to ignition problems
when firing the liquid, the next step was the Flammenwerfer mit Strahlpatrone
41 ("flame thrower with jet cartridge") which had an additional
magazine with 10 ignition cartridges that ensured
lighting of the liquid when fired through the flamethrower tube. The flamethrower
contained enough fuel for about ten seconds of fire; hence, if all ten
ignition cartridges were used up that made for ten one-second bursts. However,
the weapon of course was not limited to ten bursts as the firing of the
ignition cartridge was optional. The weapon among other changes weighed
18kg and had 7 litres of liquid; the liquid could be fires at a range of
up to 30m. It remained the standard flamethrower type of the Wehrmacht
until the end of the war. A total umber of 64,284 of these weapons were
produced between 1942 and 1945.
Intended improvements were the Flammenwerfer 43 that could throw
it's 9 litres of fuel up to 40m but was too heavy at a weight 24kg and
the Flammenwerfer 44 which was the exact opposite, because weighing
only 12kg with it's 4 litres of liquid and a range of 28m it was considered
to be not effective enough.
Engineer units were equipped with the Mittlerer Flammenwerfer. it
weighed 102 kg and was pulled along by two soldiers on a little trailer.
It had 30 litres of flaming liquid that lasted 25 seconds. It was too cumbersome
to prove really effective.
A very interesting design (with many parallels to
the Panzerfaust as being a single-use weapon for the common infantryman)
was the Einstossflammenwerfer 46 that was inspired by a request
from the airborne troops. It was a one-shot disposable weapon to be utilized
by assault groups. The FmW 46 was a tube with a length of 60cm and
a diameter of 7cm; it fired a fire burst that lasted for 0.5 sec. to a
range of up to 30m. the complete weapon weighed 3.6 kg and proved to be
very effective and popular, a total number of 30,700 was produced in late
1944 and early 1945, many of them were used in the defense of Berlin. The
Einstossflammenwerfer is not related to the "Flammfaust" Panzerfaust-project.
The SS developed it's own disposable one.shot flamethrower; it weighed
even less - 2.8 kg - and used almost no critical raw materials but again
internal rivalries with the army's weapons bureau prevented. An SS design
for a more conventional bigger flamethrower that developed it's propelling
pressure with tablets was lighter (14 kg) and easier to build than the
FmW 41.
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© 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001 created by M.Hofbauer August
29th 1998; document ver. 1.4 mod 150102
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