Mines
The
Allies and Axis Powers laid millions of land mines throughout Europe,
North Africa, and the Pacific islands. Soldiers dug the mines in
by hand and placed them in rows. They called the rows minefields.
Minefields could disable tanks and kill men.
Allied
soldiers first located mines with a bayonet and removed them by
hand. Later, engineers developed a hand-held electronic mine detector
to find metal mines. The Axis Powers responded by making mines of
other materials such as wood. The German wooden box mine shows how
the enemy adapted to American technology. Box mines detonated by
the weight of a man and could blow off a foot. |
 Back
German box mine, circa 1944
Loan from the Wisconsin Veterans Museum
# V1993.122.1 |
An Allied soldier shows a German box mine, circa 1944
Courtesy of the National Archives # 111-C-598 |
|
|
