Type of explosive: Eight identical blocks of picric acids cast in paper container, coated with paraffin. Each block molded on one end to take fuze so that two blocks placed with molded ends together completely enclose fuze.

Color and markings: Mine case painted olive drab over undercoat or black. Interior painted with black lacquer. Desgination,

(fuze top portion) stenciled vertically in red characters approximately 7/8-inch tall on one side, and the corresponding marking.

(fuze bottom portion) in smaller characters about 1/2-inch tall stenciled on reserve side.

Description: The mine is an oval tube formed by two halves of sheet welded together with continuous welds and closed at both ends by steel caps held in place by single screws. One of the caps has a hole to take the safety wire, which is a single wire exten-ding the length of the mine and passing through all the fuzes. A spring clip holds the safety wire in place. The explosive blocks flattened on one side do not completely fill the mine case. The space left between the flat side of the blocks and the wall of the case accommodates the protruding heads of the fuzes and also allows space for the side of the case to be depressed on the fuzes by the passage of a vehicle over the mine.

The fuze consists of a short, cylindrical body which houses the striker release plunger, the striker housing which contains the striker and striker spring, and the gaine. The gaine and striker housing are identical in external appearance and screw into the sides of the cylindrical fuze body in diametrically opposite positions. The striker release plunger is a split pin with an enlarged flat head. It is positioned in the fuze body by a copper shear wire. A second hole 90° from the shear wire hole accommodates the safety wire. The lower end of the plunger is split by a slot, the width of which is increased on the inner end.

Employment: This mine is used as an anti-vehicular mine.

Operation: After the safety wire is removed and burying plug is screwed in, the mine is buried. A vehicle passing over will crush the case and thereby apply enough pressure on the top of the fuze to break the shear wire and depress thxe striker release plunger. As the enlarged portion of the slot comes opposite, the spring-loaded striker moves across through the opening and into the primer cap.

Figure 153 – Anti-Vehicular "Yardstick" Land Mine.