(Fig. 2)

The mine is designed specially for use by airborne troops and is functioned by pressure applied to push igniters, of which there are five fixed between the top and base of the outer casing. By removing the nuts holding the igniters at the underside of the base and placing the mine so that the protruding lower ends of the igniters are supported on an unyielding surface, the mine can be used as an anit-personnel mine. Sockets for insertion of anti-lifting devices, such as the Z.Z. 35 used with the Tellermines, are not provided.

For transport purposes the mines are packed in crates which hold five. The crates are packed into containers for dropping.

The flat circular outer casing of the mine with its side radiussed at the top and bottom is approximately 10.3 inches in diameter and 2.4 inches in height. A safety plug with a mil-led head protrudes from the centre of the top of the casing. At equally spaced points around the top of the casing there are three small hexagonal nuts and, nearer the side, five larger hexagonal screwed plugs. The milled head of the safety plunger is engraved with the word "Sicher" (Safe), an arrow indicating the direction in which the head should be turned to make the mine safe and an index line which must be coincident with a mark on the top of the casing when the safety plug has been screwed fully home into the safe position. The exterior of the mine is painted grey on deep olive green and the overall height is 3.5 inches. The weight of the complete mine with its 4.75 lb. bursting charge of T.N.T. is 9 lb. The use of a small metal cover to fit over the safety plug has been report-ed.

The mine consists of a pressed steel outer casing which encloses the charge container and is in two parts, the top part being lipped to fit tightly over the rim at the top of the base part. The joint between the two parts is made waterproof with adhesive tape after the mine has been assembled. Attached to the underside of the centre of the top part, by means of five screws, is the flash chamber with the detonator retaining collar scre-wed to its base. Five brass radial flash tubes connect the flash chamber with the heads of five push igniters. A hole in the base of the flash chamber leads to the main detonator attached beneath. A circular plate on the top of the casing above the flash chamber has a screwthreaded hole in the centre in wich the screwed safety plug is inserted. The lower end of the safety plug is enlarged and coned to that when it is screwed in it closes the hole in the base of the flash chamber. The coned head is recessed at the centre of its underside, the recess being filled with a reinforcing charge to black powder.

The charge container of tinplate is similar in shape to the outer casing inside of which it is supported, with air spacing all around it, by three bolts. The bolts pass through tubes fixed between the uppen and lower parts of the container and are secured by nuts to the top of the outer casing and the base of the container. Five similar but larger tubes are fitted in the container for the push igniters. A socket at the main detonator is fitted at the centre of the top part of the container. The container is completely sealed with solder of low melting point.

The bursting charge consists of 4 lb. 12 oz. of a high grade T.N.T. having a setting point of 80.6 degrees Centigrade. The density of the filling varies from 1.42 at the outer edge to 1.48 around the detonator recess. The T.N.T. is probaly milled and pressed in incre-ments.

The main detonator is the same as that used in the Tellermine 35 and is described in Pamphlet No. 9.

The five igniters operate on the same principle as the S.Mi.Z. 35 used in the S-mine. The spring-loaded striker is held in position by two small pins housed in holes in the sleeve of the plunger where they are retained by the guide. The plunger is nutted to the base of the outer casing, whilst the body, with its head which contains a percussion cap, is se-cured to the top of the outer casing by a screwed plug. The screwed plug contains a reinforcing charge of black powder pressed into a recess in its base. With the nut remo-ved from the plunger at the base of the outer casing, the plunger is held away from the guide only by the supporting spring.

The safety plug must be unscrewed to its full extent to unmask the hole in the base of the flash chamber when required for use. When the hexagon nuts beneath the base part of the outer casing are screwed up tightly the mine is in condition for use as an anti-tank mine and functions when the casing is crushed sufficiently to operate one of the push igniters. When the top of the casing is forced downwards it takes with it the igni-ter, except the plunger which is supported by the base part of the casing and contains the spring-loaded striker in its sleeve. When the guide in the igniter has moved down-wards sufficiently to un-mask the holes in the sleeve containing the retaining pins, the pins are forced outwards by the inclined surface on the striker and the pressure of the striker spring, which then drives the striker into the percussion detonator. The flash from the detonator, reinforced by the charge in the screwed plug above, passes through the brass flash tube to the flash chamber. In the chamber the flash is again reinforced by the char-ge in the coned head of the safety plug and enters the main detonator through the hole in the base of the chamber. The weight required to function the mine in this manner is not yet known.

When required for use as an anti-personnel mine, the hexagonal nuts securing the igniter plungers beneath the base of the casing are removed and the mine is placed in position so that the protruding base ends of the plungers are supported on an unyielding surface. When pressure is applied, the outer casing carrying the igniters is forced downwards compressing the supporting spring in the igniter, whilst the plunger is supported by the surface on which its base end is resting. The protrusion of the base end of the plunger is such that it permits the casing, with the attached igniter, to move downwards suffi-ciently over the plunger to result in the unmasking of the holes in the sleeve which con-tain the retaining pins and the striker is released. The actual load required will depend upon the point of application and the surface on which the mine is resting. It may even be as low as that needed to compress one igniter supporting spring. Tests carried out on two igniters taken from a mine showed that the functioning load for a single igniter is from 10 to 12 lb.

Fig. 2