Tellermine 35 (Anti-tank mine)

Louis

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It was in the 1930s that German engineers developed a new anti-tank mine. Its production began in 1935 under the name “Tellermine 35”. It is a metal mine with a pressure plate that is widely used by the German armed forces throughout the WW2 and especially during the Battle of Normandy.

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Tellermine 35 is also used along the Atlantic Wall, attached to wooden piles located on beaches or at the back of the coastline to prohibit the landing of allied gliders. Two detonators can be installed to prevent bearing.

A version designed specifically for the desert is produced (Tellermine 35 S), equipped with a filter preventing sand from engulfing inside the metal structure. Its operating system serves as a model for Tellermine 42 and Tellermine 43.

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Operating system: pressure plate (reaction from 90 kg at the edge or 180 kg at the center of the plate)
Explosive: 5,5 kg of TNT
Total weight: 9,1 kg
Height: 7,6 cm
Diameter: 31,8 cm

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Russian sappers remove a Tellermine 35 from the ground.
 
One strange thing about this mine is that most of its measurements are given in inches and pounds, even though Germany is a metric country like most of the world is.

It weighs 20 pounds. The fuze is 1 inch tall, and the mine itself is three inches tall. It's 12.5 inches wide. A pressure of 400 pounds on the centre or 200 pounds on the edge will set it off.

All nice round numbers in the US, but awkward in metric.

I wonder if it came from an earlier British design?
 
I think it is just that those numbers are coming from an American field manual - FM 5-31 Land Mines and Booby Traps 1943 and have been converted for American consumption with rounding to nearest 1/2 inch. A few mm here or their is not going to matter to the average soldier.
 
I think it is just that those numbers are coming from an American field manual - FM 5-31 Land Mines and Booby Traps 1943 and have been converted for American consumption with rounding to nearest 1/2 inch. A few mm here or their is not going to matter to the average soldier.

Could well be that's the case. I looked up the mine on Wikipedia and that gave the same numbers, but maybe they are taken from the same manual.
 
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