Anti - tank mine An anti - tank mine , ( abbreviated to " AT mine " ) , is a type of land mine designed to damage or destroy vehicles including tank s and armored fighting vehicle s . Compared to anti - personnel mine s , anti - tank mines typically have a much larger explosive charge , and a fuze designed only to be triggered by vehicles or , in some cases , tampering with the mine . History . US Civil War . While obviously the anti - tank mine as such did not pre - date the deployment of tanks in 1916 , essentially identical devices were used earlier against locomotives . For example during the U . S . Civil War , Confederate forces created pressure - activated anti - railroad mines which destroyed at least two trains . First World War . The first anti - tank mines were improvised during the First World War as a counter measure against the first tanks introduced by the British towards the end of the war . Initially they were nothing more than a buried high explosive shell or mortar bomb with its fuze upright . Later purpose built mines were developed , including the Flachmine 17 , which was simply a wooden box packed with explosives and triggered either remotely or by a pressure fuze . By the end of the war , the Germans had developed row mining techniques , and mines accounted for 15 % of U . S . tank casualties during the Battle of Saint - Mihiel , Third Battle of the Aisne , Battle of Selle and Meuse - Argonne Offensive . Inter - War . The Soviet Union began developing mines in the early 1920s , and in 1924 produced its first anti - tank mine , the EZ mine . The mine , which was developed by Yegorov and Zelinskiy , had a 1 kg charge , which was enough to break the tracks of contemporary tanks . Meanwhile in Germany , defeat spurred the development of anti - tank mines , with the first truly modern mine , the Tellermine 29 , entering service in 1929 . It was a disc shaped device approximately 30 cm across filled with about 5 kg of high explosive s . A second mine , the Tellermine 35 was developed in 1935 . Anti - tank mines were used by both sides during the Spanish Civil War . Notably , Republican forces lifted mines placed by Nationalist forces and used them against the Nationalists . This spurred the development of anti - handling devices for anti - tank mines . The Winter War between the Soviet Union and Finland also saw widespread use of anti - tank mines . Second World War . The German Tellermine was a purpose - built anti - tank mine developed during the period between the First and Second World Wars , the first model being introduced in 1929 . Some variants were of a rectangular shape , but in all cases the outer casing served only as container for the explosives and fuze , without being used to destructive effect ( e . g . shrapnel ) . Although other measures such as satchel charge s , sticky bomb s or bombs designed to magnetically adhere to tanks were developed , they do not fall within the category of land mine s as they are not buried and detonated remotely or by pressure . The Hawkins mine was a British anti - tank device that could be employed as a mine laid on the road surface for a tank to run over setting off a crush fuze or thrown at the tank in which case a timer fuze was used . Shaped charge devices like the Hohl - Sprung mine 4672 were also developed by Germany later in the war , although these did not see widespread use . The most advanced German anti - tank mine of the war was their minimal metal Topfmine . In contrast to the " dinner plate " mines such as the German Tellermine were " bar mines " such as the German Riegel mine 43 and Italian B - 2 mine . These were long mines designed to increase the probability of a vehicle triggering it , the B2 consisted of multiple small shaped - charge explosive charges along its length designed to ensure a mobility kill against enemy vehicles by destroying their tracks . This form of mine was the inspiration for the British L9 Bar Mine . Modern . Several advances have been made in the development of modern anti - tank mines , including : Design . More modern anti - tank mines are usually more advanced than simple containers full of explosives detonated by remote or the vehicles pressure . The biggest advances were made in the following areas : Most modern mine bodies or casings are made of plastic material to avoid easy detection . They feature combinations of pressure or magnetically activated detonators to ensure that they are only triggered by vehicles . Dispersal systems . There are several systems for dispersing mines to quickly cover wide areas , as opposed to a soldier laying each one individually . These system can take the form of cluster bomb s or be artillery fired . Cluster bombs contain several mines each , which could be a mixture of anti - personnel mines . When the cluster bomb reaches a preset altitude it disperses the mines over a wide area . Some anti - tank mines are designed to be fired by artillery , and arm themselves once they impact the target area . Off - route mines . Off - route mines are designed to be effective when detonated next to a vehicle instead of underneath the vehicle . They are useful in cases where the ground or surface is not suitable for burying or concealing a mine . They normally employ a shaped charge to focus the explosive effect in order to pierce armour . However the self forging projectile principle has been used for some French and Soviet off route mines and has earned infamy as an improvised explosive devices ( IED ) technique in Iraq . One example of such a device is the US M24 that consists of a rocket launcher tube firing a HEAT rocket that is detonated by a pressure - sensitive tape switch laid across the road . The term " off - route mine " refers to purpose designed and manufactured anti - tank mines , but most " home made " IEDs are employed in a similar manner . Countermeasures . The most effective countermeasure deployed against mine fields is mine clearing , using either explosive methods or mechanical methods . Explosive methods , such as the Giant Viper , involve laying explosives across a minefield , either by propelling the charges across the field with rockets , or by dropping them from aircraft , and then detonating the explosive , clearing a path . Mechanical methods include plowing and pressure - forced detonation and the deactivating RS36 Eggtron robot used during combat operations to protect vehicles . In plowing , a specially designed plow attached to the front end of a heavily armored tank is used to push aside the earth and any mines embedded in it , clearing a path as wide as the pushing tank . In pressure - forced detonation , a heavily armored tank pushes a heavy spherical or cylindrical solid metal roller ahead of it , causing mines to detonate . There are also several ways of making vehicles resistant to the effects of a mine detonation to reduce the chance of crew injury . In case of a mine ' s blast effect , this can be done by absorbing the blast energy , deflecting it away from the vehicle hull or increasing the distance between the crew and the points where wheels touch the ground - where any detonations are likely to centre . A simple , and highly effective , technique to protect the occupants of a wheeled vehicle is to fill the tires with water . This will have the effect of absorbing and deflecting the mine ' s blast energy . Steel plates between the cabin and the wheels can absorb the energy and their effectiveness is enhanced if they can be angled to deflect it away from the cabin . Increasing the distance between the wheels and cabin , as is done on the South African Casspir personnel carrier , is an effective technique although there are mobility and ease of driving problems with such a vehicle . Steel plates and armoured glass will protect the occupants from fragments . Mounting seats from the sides or roof of the vehicle , rather than the floor , will help protect occupants from shocks transmitted through the structure of the vehicle and a four - point seat harness will minimise the chance of injury if the vehicle is flung onto its side or its roof - a mine may throw a vehicle 5 – 10 m from the detonation point . Combat use . Anti - tank mines have played an important role in most wars fought since they were first used . Korean War . Anti - tank mines are still deployed along the demilitarized zones established and maintained between North Korea and South Korea since the signing of the armistice that ended the Korean War . Indo - China . During the Vietnam War , both ' regular ' NVA and Viet Cong forces used AT mines . These were of Soviet , Chinese or local manufacture . Anti - tank mines were also used extensively in Cambodia and along the Thai border , planted by Pol Pot ' s Maoist guerrillas and the Vietnamese army , which invaded Cambodia in 1979 to topple the Khmer Rouge . Millions of these mines remain in the area , despite clearing efforts . It is estimated that they cause hundreds of deaths annually . Southern Africa . Conflict in southern Africa since the 1960s have often involved Soviet , US or South African supported irregular armies or fighters engaged in guerrilla warfare . What makes these conflicts significant to the study of anti - tank mines is that they featured the widespread use of these mines in situations other than conventional warfare ( or static minefield s ) and also saw the development of effective mine resistant vehicles . As a result both Angola and Mozambique are littered with such devices to this day ( as with Cambodia ) . In the Angolan Civil War or South African Border War that covered vast sparsely populated area of southern Angola and northern Namibia , it was easy for small groups to infiltrate and lay their mines on roads before escaping again often undetected . The anti - tank mines were most often placed on public roads used by civilian and military vehicles and had a great psychological effect . Mines were often laid in complex arrangements . One tactic was to lay multiple mines on top of each other to increase the blast effect . Another common tactic was to link together several mines placed within a few metres of each other , so that all would detonate when any one was triggered . It was because of this threat that some of the first successful mine protected vehicles were developed by South African military and police forces . Chief amongst these were the Buffel and Casspir armoured personnel carriers and Ratel armoured fighting vehicle . They employed v - shaped hulls that deflected the blast force away from occupants . In most cases occupants survived anti - tank mine detonations with only minor injuries . The vehicles themselves could often be repaired by replacing the wheels or some drive train components that were designed to be modular and replaceable for exactly this reason . Most countries involved in Middle Eastern peace keeping missions deploy modern developments of these vehicles like the RG - 31 ( Canada , United Arab Emirates , United States ) and RG - 32 ( Sweden ) .