While landmines have existed as a concept
as early as the 13th century when they were used by the Chinese to repel Mongol Invasions,
it’s Imperial Germany that is credited with making the advances that led to modern landmines
as we understand them. Utilised extensively during WW1 by the Germans, the weapons proved
to be so effective that they were rapidly copied and deployed by all the major superpowers
involved in the conflict. When Hitler assumed power of Germany in 1933, landmine technology
was once again pushed to the forefront of military research. This brings us to the topic
of today. Variously called the Schrapnellmine 35 (Shrapnel
Mine 35), Splinter-mine, or "Bouncing Betty", the S-Mine, as it was officially dubbed in
Allied memos, was a deceptively simplistic weapon that one Lt. Col. C. E. E. Sloan dubbed
"the most feared device encountered by Allied troops in the war."
Physically, the mine resembled a small cylinder inside of which was either powdered or poured
TNT. On top of each mine was a fuse which when sprung caused the explosive inside to
detonate. The thing that set the S-mine apart from similar devices was that, rather than
exploding immediately, it was designed to explode around four seconds after being tripped.
Another key distinguishing feature of the S-mine, and the one that made it so lethally
effective, is that instead of detonating in the ground, its fuse was designed to launch
the body of the mine about three feet into the air, at which point it would violently
explode. To maximise lethality, the body of the S-mine was filled with hundreds of steel
ball bearings that would be launched outwards at high speeds.
The capacity for destruction of the S-mine cannot be understated, and while the exact
lethal range of the mine isn’t clear, a 1943 US Army Field Manual claimed that it
could inflict casualties as far away as 460 feet from the point of detonation.
That said, perhaps due to their hastily constructed nature (the German Military produced nearly
two million of these things during WW2 alone), the quality of the mine varied dramatically.
As a result, more often than not the mine would simply severely maim rather than kill
outright. This is doubly terrifying in a weapon that
was explicitly designed to detonate at testicle height. And, in fact, it’s for this exact
reason that British soldiers sometimes referred to the S-mine as the “Debollocker” (bollock
being slang for testicles). Other similar nicknames adopted by the Allies for the device
included “The Bouncing Bitch” or more succinctly, “The Castrator”. However,
as noted, the most common name among Allied soldiers for the mine was “The Bouncing
Betty”- a name originally coined by American troops.
Incidentally, due to the fact that these mines didn't detonate until they were a few feet
in the air and launched out shrapnel at a mostly horizontal angle, injury from S-mines
could sometimes be avoided by immediately laying down once the mine was triggered.
In any event, the first known Allied encounter with the S-mine occurred during the Saar Offensive
in 1939, shortly after the start of WW2. German forces mined the region so heavily that a
French offensive (yep, that’s a thing I just said) into German territory was halted
in its tracks... (shocker ;-)) Said soldiers reported the mine’s existence and effectiveness
to their superiors along with their own personal nickname for it- The Silent Soldier.
As this mine was developed during the Third Reich, records about its origins are understandably
hard to come by, but we do know that it was developed sometime in 1935- hence “Schrapnellmine
35”. Throughout the war, Nazi engineers continued to make improvements to the already
deadly device, culminating in the creation of a glass version of the mine unimaginatively
dubbed the “Glasmine 43” that was developed in- you guessed it- 1943. Along with being
largely undetectable to mine detectors of the time, the Glasmine carried an increased
risk of infection partially thanks to the fact that the glass shrapnel was harder for
X-rays to detect, making operating on a person injured by it that much more difficult.
Beyond German forces planting the S-mines "like grass seed" pretty much everywhere they
thought Allied soldiers might come near, they also cleverly peppered S-mines around anti-tank
and vehicle mines so that the soldiers inside the vehicles disabled by them would either
be killed by the S-mines when exiting the ruined vehicle or have to stay put.
Due to the extreme density of these mines in certain regions, even when particular Allied
troops had the ability to detect the mines (which was a big "if" considering mine detecting
equipment was in short supply throughout the war), proceeding through mined land was exceptionally
difficult and slow-going. At times, this became so bad that progress into certain German-held
territory stopped entirely. As an example of how saturated some areas
were with mines, after D-Day (which we’ll get into what the “D” in D-day stands
for shortly), Allies found and removed over 15,000 unexploded mines from the dunes around
Pouppeville alone. Further, after WW2 Allied forces conscripted some 49,000 German POWs
to remove as many mines as they could throughout Western Europe. Yet even with this massive
amount of man-power and meticulously kept Nazi maps of where the mines were planted,
there are still areas today, particularly in North Africa and certain parts of Eastern
Europe, that are considered unsafe to travel on because there may still be some functional,
undetonated WW2-era mines located there. As you can probably guess given the Bouncing
Betty's brutal effectiveness, the design of the mine was quickly reverse engineered and
derivatives were extensively created by numerous countries. However, due to the fact that the
devices cause such horrific, debilitating injuries, and a buried, forgotten mine is
just as dangerous to your own people as your enemy's, few countries today still use mines
of any design in combat. Notable exceptions to this include Russia and the People's Republic
of China. Incidentally, beyond being an extremely deadly
mine, the Schrapnellmine 35 also gave birth to a common myth about land mines that you'll
often see today in movies- that such mines only detonate when the person who set it off
steps off the trigger. This is a myth that became widespread during the war and likely
originated due to the fact that the S-mine was made to detonate a few seconds after being
triggered, making it appear to not go off until the person stepped away. In reality,
the mine was designed to detonate whenever a weight of more than 15 pounds hit the ground
anywhere near it. Bonus Fact:
• The Battle of Normandy, also known as D-Day, started
on June 6, 1944 and was the beginning of the major invasion of German-occupied Western
Europe during World War II. But why was it called "D-Day"? You might at first be inclined to think the
abbreviation is similar to V-Day (Victory Day). Indeed, one commonly touted explanation
given for the meaning of the “D” in D-Day is that it stands for “designated day.”
Others claim it stands for “decision day”, “debarkation”, or even “deliverance
day.” Even General Dwight Eisenhower, or at the least his assistant, weighed in when
Eisenhower received a letter asking for an explanation of the meaning of D-Day. His executive
assistant wrote back stating D-Day was a shortened version of “departed day”. Given Eisenhower helped plan it, that should
mean cased closed right? It turns out, most historians think not. And, indeed, the evidence
at hand doesn't seem to support Eisenhower's (or perhaps just his assistant's) claim. Hints of the true meaning can be found long
before WWII in a U.S. Army Field Order dated September 7, 1918. The order stated that “The
First Army will attack at H hour on D day with the object of forcing the evacuation
of the St. Mihiel Salient.” In that context, and with numerous combat
operations that followed over the years, D-day referred to the "day" on which a combat attack
would occur with H-hour likewise referring to the "hour" when an attack is scheduled
to happen. Thus, the "D" is just a placeholder or variable for the actual date, and probably
originally was meant to stand for "date" or "day" (if anything), if the associated "H-hour"
is any indication. The use of D-day allows military personnel
to easily plan for a combat mission ahead of time without knowing the exact date that
it will occur. Given that planning for the most famous of all D-day's in June of 1944
started way back in 1943, and that, due to factors like optimal tides, only a few days
in a given month were suitable for the launch of the invasion, trying to fix a firm date
in the planning process was pointless, even close to the time of the attack. (In fact,
the original set date was June 5, but bad weather at the last minute forced a day delay.)
By simply assigning the attack to occur on "D-day", it solved this issue, and had the
side benefit of keeping the date of the attack a secret as long as possible, just one of
the many methods of deception the military employed to try to confuse the German brass
with regards to the pending invasion. As for handling the pre-D-day preparations
and the plan for after, adding a plus or minus sign and a number after the “D” was used.
For example, D-1 would indicate the day before the operation occurring while D+3 would mean
three days after the operation. In this way, the plans could be easily overlaid onto a
calendar when the military leadership decided on the day of the attack. If the day needed
to be switched at the last minute, it was then also easy enough to calibrate the plan
to the new date. As alluded to, the D-Day that occurred on
June 6, 1944 was not the only D-day during World War II and it certainly was not the
last, as this method of planning for military operations continues to this day. Of course,
because the D-day at the Battle of Normandy was, and continues to be, the most famous
of all given that designation, it seems unlikely in the foreseeable future that it will be
usurped in people's minds when someone mentions "D-Day", despite the military continuing to
occasionally use this designation.
