Editing Land mine (section)

=== High explosives ===
Starting in the 19th century, more powerful explosives than gunpowder were developed, often for non-military reasons such as blasting train tunnels in the Alps and Rockies. [[Guncotton]], up to four times more powerful than gunpowder, was invented by [[Christian Schonbein]] in 1846. It was dangerous to make until [[Frederick Augustus Abel]] developed a safe method in 1865. From the 1870s to the First World War, it was the standard explosive used by the British military.<ref name=CrollCh3>{{harvnb|Croll|2008|loc=Chapter 3: High-explosive mines}}</ref>

In 1847, [[Ascanio Sobrero]] invented [[nitroglycerine]] to treat [[angina pectoris]] and it turned out to be a much more powerful explosive than guncotton. It was very dangerous to use until [[Alfred Nobel]] formulated a solid mixture he called [[dynamite]] and paired it with a safe detonator he developed. Even then, dynamite needed to be stored carefully or it could form crystals that detonated easily. Thus, the military still preferred guncotton.<ref name=CrollCh3/>

In 1863, the German chemical industry developed trinitrotoluene ([[TNT]]). This had the advantage that it was difficult to detonate, so it could withstand the shock of firing by artillery pieces. It was also advantageous for land mines for several reasons: it was not detonated by the shock of shells landing nearby; it was lightweight, unaffected by damp, and stable under a wide range of conditions; it could be melted to fill a container of any shape, and it was cheap to make. Thus, it became the standard explosive in mines after the First World War.<ref name=CrollCh3/>

==== Between the American Civil War and the First World War ====
The British used mines in the [[Siege of Khartoum]]. A [[Mahdist State|Sudanese Mahdist]] force much larger than British strength was held off for ten months, but the town was ultimately taken and the British massacred. In the [[Boer War]] (1899–1903), they succeeded in [[Siege of Mafeking|holding Mafeking]] against Boer forces with the help of a mixture of real and fake minefields; and they laid mines alongside railroad tracks to discourage sabotage.<ref name=CrollCh3/>

In the [[Russo-Japanese War]] of 1904–1905, both sides used land and sea mines, although the effect on land mainly affected morale. The naval mines were far more effective, destroying several battleships.<ref name=CrollCh3/>

==== First World War ====
[[File:Smine-diagram.jpg|thumb|Cutaway diagram of the [[S-mine]]]]
One sign of the increasing power of explosives used in land mines was that, by the First World War, they burst into about 1,000 high-velocity fragments; in the [[Franco-Prussian War]] (1870), it had only been 20 to 30 fragments.<ref name=OriginsPart1/> Nevertheless, anti-personnel mines were not a big factor in the war because machine guns, barbed wire and rapid-fire artillery were far more effective defenses. An exception was in Africa (now [[Tanzania]] and [[Namibia]]) where the warfare was much more mobile.<ref name=CrollCh3/>

Towards the end of the war, the British started to use tanks to break through trench defenses. The Germans responded with [[anti-tank gun]]s and mines. Improvised mines gave way to mass-produced mines consisting of wooden boxes filled with guncotton, and minefields were standardized to stop masses of tanks from advancing.<ref name=CrollCh3/>

Between world wars, the future [[Allies of World War II|Allies]] did little work on land mines, but the Germans developed a series of anti-tank mines, the [[Teller mine|''Tellermines'']] (plate mines). They also developed the ''Schrapnell mine'' (also known as the [[S-mine]]), the first [[bounding mine]]. When triggered, this jumped up to about waist height and exploded, sending thousands of steel balls in all directions.<ref name=CrollCh3/><ref name=OriginsPart1/> Triggered by pressure, trip wires or electronics,<ref name=CrollCh3/> it could harm soldiers within an area of about 2,800 square feet.<ref>{{harvnb|Roy|Friesen|1999|p=12}}</ref>

==== 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/>

==== Cold War ====
[[File:US M18a1 claymore mine.jpg|thumb|[[Claymore mine]] with firing device and electric blasting cap assembly]]
During the [[Cold War]], the members of NATO were concerned about massive armored attacks by the Soviet Union. They planned for a minefield stretching across the entire West German border, and developed new types of mines. The British designed an anti-tank mine, the [[Mk 7 mine|Mark 7]], to defeat rollers by detonating the second time it was pressed. It also had a 0.7-second delay so the tank would be directly over the mine. They also developed the first scatterable mine, the [[No 7 Mk1 Dingbat mine|No. 7]] Dingbat. The Americans used the [[M6 mine|M6 anti-tank mine]] and tripwire-operated bounding anti-personnel mines such as the [[M2 mine|M2]] and [[M16 mine|M16]].<ref name=CrollCh7>{{harvnb|Croll|2008|loc=Chapter 7}}</ref>

In the [[Korean War]], land mine use was dictated by the steep terrain, narrow valleys, forest cover and lack of developed roads. This made tanks less effective and more easily stopped by mines. However, mines laid near roads were often easy to spot. In response to this problem, the U.S. developed the [[M24 mine|M24]], a mine that was placed off to the side of the road. When triggered by a tripwire, it fired a rocket. However, the mine was not available until after the war.<ref name=CrollCh7/>

The Chinese had a lot of success with massed infantry attacks. The extensive forest cover limited the range of machine guns, but anti-personnel mines were effective. However, mines were poorly recorded and marked, often becoming as much a hazard to allies as enemies. Tripwire-operated mines were not defended by pressure mines; the Chinese were often able to disable them and reuse them against U.N. forces.<ref name=CrollCh7/>

Looking for more destructive mines, the Americans developed the [[Claymore (mine)|Claymore]], a directional fragmentation mine that hurls steel balls in a 60-degree arc at a speed of 1,200m/s. They also developed a pressure-operated mine, the [[M14 mine|M14]] "toe-popper". These, too, were ready too late for the Korean War.<ref name=CrollCh7/>

[[File:L9 Bar mine.jpg|thumb|300px|An [[L9 Bar Mine]]]]
In 1948, the British developed the [[No 6 AP mine|No. 6 anti-personnel mine]], a minimum-metal mine with a narrow diameter, making it difficult to detect with metal detectors or prodding. Its three-pronged pressure piece inspired the nickname "carrot mine". However, it was unreliable in wet conditions. In the 1960s the Canadians developed a similar, but more reliable mine, the [[C3A1 mine|C3A1]] "Elsie" and the British army adopted it. The British also developed the L9 bar mine, a wide anti-tank mine with a rectangular shape, which covered more area, allowing a minefield to be laid four times as fast as previous mines. They also upgraded the Dingbat to the [[L10 Ranger Anti-Personnel mine|Ranger]], a plastic mine that was fired from a truck-mounted discharger that could fire 72 mines at a time.<ref name=CrollCh7/>

In the 1950s, the US Operation Doan Brook studied the feasibility of delivering mines by air. This led to three types of air-delivered mine. ''Wide Area Anti-Personnel Mines'' (WAAPMs) were small steel spheres that discharged tripwires when they hit the ground; each dispenser held 540 mines. The [[BLU-43 Dragontooth]] was small and had a flattened "W" shape to slow its descent, while the [[gravel mine]] was larger. Both were packed by the thousand into bombs. All three were designed to inactivate after a period of time, but any that failed to activate presented a safety challenge. Over 37 million gravel mines were produced between 1967 and 1968, and when they were dropped in places like Vietnam their locations were unmarked and unrecorded. A similar problem was presented by unexploded cluster munitions.<ref name=CrollCh7/>

The next generation of scatterable mines arose in response to the increasing mobility of war. The Germans developed the Skorpion system, which scattered [[AT2 mine]]s from a tracked vehicle. The Italians developed a helicopter delivery system that could rapidly switch between [[SB-33 mine|SB-33 anti-personnel mines]] and [[SB-81 mine|SB-81 anti-tank mines]]. The US developed a range of systems called the [[Family of Scatterable Mines]] (FASCAM) that could deliver mines by fast jet, artillery, helicopter and ground launcher.<ref name=CrollCh7/>

==== Middle eastern conflicts ====
The [[Iraq-Iran War]], the [[Gulf War]], and the [[Islamic State of Iraq|Islamic State]] have all contributed to land mine saturation in Iraq from the 1980s through 2020. In 2019, Iraq was the most saturated country in the world with land mines.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-landmines-iraq/global-death-toll-of-landmines-rises-due-to-mines-laid-by-militants-idUSKBN1Y11Q5|title=Global death toll of landmines rises due to mines laid by militants|author=Gwladys Fouche|work=Reuters |date=November 27, 2019|access-date=January 20, 2021|archive-date=April 8, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200408103956/https://www.reuters.com/article/us-landmines-iraq/global-death-toll-of-landmines-rises-due-to-mines-laid-by-militants-idUSKBN1Y11Q5|url-status=live}}</ref> Countries that provided land mines during the Iran-Iraq War included Belgium, Canada, Chile, China, Egypt, France, Italy, Romania, Singapore, the former Soviet Union and the U.S., and were concentrated in the Kurdish areas in the northern area of Iraq. During the Gulf War, the U.S. deployed 117,634 mines, with 27,967 being anti-personnel mines and 89,667 being anti-vehicle mines.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.hrw.org/legacy/campaigns/iraq/iraqmines1212.htm |date= December 2002 |title=Landmines in Iraq: Questions and Answers|work=Human Rights Watch |access-date=January 20, 2021|archive-date=January 26, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210126014757/http://www.hrw.org/legacy/campaigns/iraq/iraqmines1212.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> The U.S. did not use land mines during the [[Iraq War]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.armscontrol.org/act/2003-07/press-releases/us-military-not-use-landmines-iraq-war|title=U.S. Military Did Not Use Landmines in Iraq War|work= Arms Control Association |author=IWade Boese|access-date=January 20, 2021|archive-date=January 27, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210127110354/https://www.armscontrol.org/act/2003-07/press-releases/us-military-not-use-landmines-iraq-war|url-status=live}}</ref>

Landmines and other unexploded battlefield ordnance contaminate at least 724 million square meters of land in [[Afghanistan]]. Only two of Afghanistan's twenty-nine provinces are believed to be free of landmines. The most heavily mined provinces are Herat and Kandahar.<ref>{{Cite web |date=October 2001 |title=Backgrounder - Landmine Use in Afghanistan |url=https://www.hrw.org/legacy/backgrounder/arms/landmines-bck1011.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240223105010/https://www.hrw.org/legacy/backgrounder/arms/landmines-bck1011.pdf |archive-date=Feb 23, 2024 |website=Human Rights Watch}}</ref> Since 1989, nearly 44,000 Afghan civilians have been recorded to have been killed or injured by landmines and Explosive Remnants of War (ERW) averaging to around 110 people per month. Improvised mines and ERW from armed clashes caused nearly 99 percent of the casualties recorded in 2021.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Afghanistan |url=https://www.unmas.org/en/programmes/afghanistan |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240505153045/https://unmas.org/en/programmes/afghanistan |archive-date=May 5, 2024 |website=UNMAS}}</ref>

{{Clear}}

==== Invasion of Ukraine ====
During the [[2022 Russian Invasion of Ukraine]], both Russian and Ukrainian forces have used land mines. Ukrainian officials claim Russian forces planted thousands of land mines or other explosive devices during their withdrawal from Ukrainian cities, including in civilian areas.<ref>{{cite web|url= https://www.businessinsider.com/ukraine-officials-russian-forces-left-booby-traps-under-dead-bodies-2022-4 |first1=Azmi |last1=Haroun |date=Apr 14, 2022 |title= Ukrainian officials say retreating Russian forces left booby traps including explosives in car trunks, washing machines, and under dead bodies|website= [[Business Insider]]| access-date=April 19, 2022}}</ref> Russian forces have also utilized remotely delivered anti-personnel mines such as the [[POM-3]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.hrw.org/news/2022/03/29/ukraine-russia-uses-banned-antipersonnel-landmines |website=Human Rights Watch |title= Ukraine: Russia Uses Banned Antipersonnel Landmines |date= March 29, 2022 | access-date=April 19, 2022}}</ref>