Editing Land mine (section)

==== Second World War ====
[[File:German - Schu-Mine with Z.Z. 42 igniter.jpg|thumb|The ''[[Schu-mine 42|Schü-mine 42]]'', the most common mine used in the Second World War]]
Tens of millions of mines were laid in the [[Second World War]], particularly in the deserts of [[North African campaign|North Africa]] and the steppes of [[Eastern Front (World War II)|Eastern Europe]], where the open ground favored tanks. However, the first country to use them was Finland. They were defending against a much larger Soviet force with over 6,000 tanks, twenty times the number the Finns had; but they had terrain that was broken up by lakes and forests, so tank movement was restricted to roads and tracks. Their defensive line, the [[Mannerheim Line]], integrated these natural defenses with mines, including simple [[Fragmentation (weaponry)|fragmentation]] mines mounted on stakes.<ref name=OriginsPart1/>

While the Germans were advancing rapidly using ''[[blitzkrieg]]'' tactics, they did not make much use of mines. After 1942, however, they were on the defensive and became the most inventive and systematic users of mines. Their production shot up and they began inventing new types of mines as the Allies found ways to counter the existing ones. To make it more difficult to remove antitank mines, they surrounded them with S-mines and added [[anti-handling device]]s that would explode when soldiers tried to lift them. They also took a formal approach to laying mines and they kept detailed records of the locations of mines.<ref name=CrollCh4>{{harvnb|Croll|2008|loc=Chapter 4}}</ref><ref name=OriginsPart1/>

In the [[Second Battle of El Alamein]] in 1942, the Germans prepared for an Allied attack by laying about half a million mines in two fields running across the entire battlefield and five miles deep. Nicknamed the "[[Devil's gardens]]", they were covered by [[8.8 cm Flak 18/36/37/41|88 mm anti-tank guns]] and small-arms fire. The Allies prevailed, but at the cost of over half their tanks; 20 percent of the losses were caused by mines.<ref name=CrollCh5>{{harvnb|Croll|2008|loc=Chapter 5}}</ref>

The Soviets learned the value of mines from their war with Finland, and when Germany invaded they made heavy use of them, manufacturing over 67 million. At the [[Battle of Kursk]], which put an end to the German advance, they laid over a million mines in eight belts with an overall depth of 35 kilometres.<ref name=CrollCh4/>

Mines forced tanks to slow down and wait for soldiers to go ahead and remove the mines. The main method of breaching minefields involved prodding the dirt with a bayonet or stick at an angle of 30 degrees to avoid pressuring the top of the mine. Since all mines at the beginning of the war had metal casings, metal detectors could be used to speed up the locating of mines. A Polish officer, [[Józef Kosacki]], developed a portable mine detector known as the [[Polish mine detector]]. To counter the detector, Germans developed mines with wooden casings, the [[Schu-mine 42|Schü-mine 42]] (anti-personnel) and [[Holzmine 42]] (anti-tank). Effective, cheap and easy to make, the Schü-mine became the most common mine in the war. Mine casings were also made of glass, concrete and clay. The Russians developed a mine with a pressed-cardboard casing, the PMK40, and the Italians made an anti-tank mine out of [[bakelite]]. In 1944, the Germans created the [[Topfmine]], an entirely non-metallic mine. They ensured that they could detect their own mines by covering them with radioactive sand; the Allies did not find this out until after the war.<ref name=CrollCh4/>

Several mechanical methods for clearing mines were tried. Heavy [[Mine roller|rollers]] were attached to tanks or cargo trucks, but they did not last long and their weight made the tanks considerably slower. Tanks and bulldozers pushed ploughs that  pushed aside any mines to a depth of 30&nbsp;cm. The [[Bangalore torpedo]], a long thin tube filled with explosives, was invented in 1912 and used to clear barbed wire; larger versions such as the [[Mine-clearing line charge|Snake and the Conger]] were developed for clearing mines, but were not very effective{{Citation needed|date=November 2022|reason=citation for ineffectiveness needed; this type of system is still in use}}. One of the best options was the [[Mine flail|flail]], which had weights attached by chains to rotating drums. The first version, the Scorpion, was attached to the [[Matilda II|Matilda tank]] and used in the Second Battle of El Alamein. The Crab, attached to the [[M4 Sherman|Sherman tank]], was faster, at 2 kilometers per hour; it was used during D-Day and the aftermath.<ref name=CrollCh4/>