11. ANTITANK MINES.

a. General. This type of mine is shown with principal dimensions and marking in figures 1, 2, 3, and 4. The complete round consists of three components: the mine body, the spider, and the fuze.

b. Description. The mine body is a squat cylindrical container of light steel, filled with high explosive. The bottom is plain and the side has a carrying handle attached. The top extends beyond the side to form a grooved flange for the attachment of the spider. In the center of the top there is an opening for the fuze cup and to the side there is a capped filling hole. The fuze is described in paragraph 14. The spider is in the shape of a wheel and has four hooks attached to the rim for assembling the spider to the flange on the mine body. When assembled, the hub of the spider rests on the striker head of the fuze. As shipped, the spider is nested to the bottom of the mine body.

c. Fuzing. The following steps are required to assemble the complete round:

(1) Remove the spider from the bottom of the body.

(2) Insert fuze in fuze cup. Push the fuze down until it latches. When thus assemblied, the upper surface of the fuze body is flush with the upper surface of the mine.

NOTE: Before inserting fuze, be sure that the fuze cup is clear, that is, no foreing mat-ter present; in the Mine M1A1 or M4, be sure the booster is in the bottom of the fuze cup. Inspect the hooks of the spider to make certain that all four fit snugly over the flange of the mine body. If they do not, they should be bent forward as far as neces-sary to fit securely.

(3) Assemble spider. To assemble the spider, aline two adjacent hooks with the two notches in the flange of the body. Engage the other two hooks over the flange on the body; next press the first two hooks through the notches; then rotate the spider ap-proximately one-eighth turn in either direction to secure the spider to the body.

Figue 1 - MINE, Antitank, H.E., M1, fuzed, is rescinded

Figure 2 - MINE, Antitank, H.E., M1, as shipped, is rescinded

Figure 3 - MINE, Antitank, H.E., M1A1, as Shipped

(4) Plant mine.

(5) Pull safety fork, thereby arming fuze. If the mine is buried spider down, or in a mine cover, the safety fork will have to be removed just before the mine is buried planted.  The safety fork should be left beside the mine attached to its cord, never between the body and the spider.

Figure 4 - MINE, Antitank, H.E., M4

d. Unfuzing. Mines may be disarmed and taken up by reversing the steps in subpara-graph c, above.

e. Precautions.

(1) The safety fork will not be removed except when it is intended to arm the fuze. The fork should not be removed until after the mine has been planted, unless the mine is planted spider down or in a mine cover. Should the mine be taken up, the safety fork will first be replaced.

CAUTION: Care will be exercised that no undue load is accidentally brought to bear on the spider, especially the rim, after the safety fork has been removed. A load of approxi-mately 250 pounds on the rim of the spider will actuate the firing mechanism. These fi-gures refer to static loads; a sharp below from a much smaller weight will operate the fuze. In the case of the M1, the fuze is a shear-pin type, hence a blow or series of blows, while not causing the fuze to operate, will nick pins and make the fuze more sen-sitive so that it will operate from much lighter loads than those specified above.

(2) To prevent sympathetic detonation of part or all of a mine field, mines laid singly on the ground should be 3 feet or more apart; if planted flush, 2 feet or more apart. Should it be required to give a more powerful blast, the mines may be buried one on top of another, or side by side, planted flush, or laid on the surface. If planted flush, adjacent mines should be in contact; if laid on the surface, they may be as much as 18 inches apart. Such planting will insure that all mines in the group will detonate, when any one detonates. To prevent sympathetic detonation of part or all of the groups in a mine field, the distances given above should be correspondingly increased.

f. Packing. Antitank mines are packed five in a wooden box which also contains five fuzes. The box is made up with a set of plywood separators and two sets of grooves. As shipped, the fuzes are placed in a fuze container which occupies one compartment of the box; the five mines, with spiders nested to the bottoms, are packed, carrying ring up, one in each of the other five compartments. For convenience in carrying fuzed mines in the field, the same box, but with the partitions moved to the second set of grooves, may be used. The box with five high-explosive mines and fuzes weighs approximately 71 pounds.

g. Models. MINE, antitank, H.E., M1A1, is issued with the booster assembled in the fuze cup of the mine, the balance of the fuze being issued separately as the Fuze M1A2 (fig. 5) is the original model, which has since been mo-dified. When assembled in comp-lete round has the MINE M1A1 is essentially the same as the M1. The difference lies in the method of issuing the components (compare figs. 2 and 3). In the case of the Mine M1 and Fuze M1, the booster is assembled as an integral part of the fuze, while in the case of the Mine M1A1, the booster is issued assembled in the fuze cup of the mine, the balance of the fuze being issued separately as the Fuze M1A2 (fig. 5). The Mine M4 (fig. 4) is similar to the Mine M1A1 except that there is no detonator cavity in the booster, as the detonator cavity in the booster, as the detonator is incorporated in the body of the fuze (fig. 6), and the spider is the onepiece type (shown with the Practice Mine M1B1, fig. 8).

h. Painting. Antitank mines are painted as follows:

(1) The bottom and three-quarters of an inch of the side are painted yellow.

(2) The balance of the surface and the spider are painted lusterless olive-drab.

i. Marking. The top of the mine is marked in black with:

(1) Type and model of mine.

(2) Lot number.

(3) Manufacturer's initiales or symbol.

(4) Date loaded.