German Type 35 Mine

By Crusader1307

The Type 35 German Mine was in the Class of anti-personnel device known as "Bounding Mines" (charge launched explosive devices). Nicknamed by The Allies as the "Bouncing Betty", The Type 35 was produced in 1935. A canister shaped weapon, it featured twin antenna probes specially mounted on the top. These were connected to a secondary charge of 6.5 ounces of TNT. Buried in the ground, when the probes were stepped on, the device would shoot upwards from the ground to a height of roughly 3 feet. At this distance, it would detonate. Often, legs were blown off or genital castration would occur. In theory, "The Betty" was not designed to necessarily kill, but severely maim a soldier (thus creating a drain on support for the injured). Devices were 5-inches tall and weighed 9-pounds. Whole fields would be "seeded" with hundreds of the devices. An estimated 1.6 million were produced up to 1945. With the majority of the weapons shrapnel coming from the actual case, The Type 35 Mine was relatively cheap to make. Examples were back-engineered by The US (which developed it's own versions of Bounding Mines).