Teller mine

The Teller mine was a German-made antitank mine common in World War II. With explosives sealed inside a sheet metal casing and fitted with a pressure-actuated fuze, Teller mines had a built-in carrying handle on the side. As the name suggests (Teller is the German word for dish or plate) the mines were plate-shaped.

Various Tellermines strapped to a tree. Fuzes and pressure-plates have not been fitted

Containing little more than 5.5 kilograms of TNT and a fuze activation pressure of approximately 200 lb (91 kg), the Teller mine was capable of blasting the tracks off any World War II-era tank or destroying a lightly armored vehicle. Because of its rather high operating pressure, only a vehicle or heavy object passing over the Teller mine would set it off.

Of the two types of pressure-fuze available for Teller mines, the T.Mi.Z.43 fuze was notable for featuring an integral anti-handling device as standard:[1] when the T.Mi.Z.43 fuze is inserted and the pressure plate (or screw cap) is screwed down into place, it shears a weak arming pin inside the fuze with an audible "snap". This action arms the anti-handling device. Thereafter, any attempt to disarm the mine by unscrewing the pressure plate (or screw cap) to remove the fuze will automatically release the spring-loaded firing pin inside it, triggering detonation.

Since it is impossible to determine which fuze type has been installed, no pressure plate or screw cap should ever be removed from a Teller mine. The T.Mi.Z.43 fuze can be fitted to the Teller mine 35, 42 and 43 series.[2]

To hinder demining, all Teller mines featured two additional fuze wells (located on the side and underneath) to enable anti-handling devices to be attached, typically some form of pull-fuze.

There were four models of Teller Mine made during World War II:

Approximately 3,622,900 of these mines were produced by Germany from 1943 to 1944.[3]

  • Teller mine on Utah beach. Intended to explode against landing craft at high tide.
  • British engineers removing the charges which the Germans had set to blow the Nijmegen bridge, September 1944
  • Tellermine 43 anti-tank mine
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gollark: I mean, it's not obviously possible now, but that's kind of how progress works.
gollark: Why?
gollark: Or have a more general solution like transferring minds between bodies so you can just make a new one as needed.

References
  1. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2015-02-23.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  2. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2008-06-27. Retrieved 2008-06-02.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  3. "Saving Private Ryan Online Encyclopedia: Teller Mine 43". 2009-04-13.
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