Civil War Landmines

[Palmetto]

Landmines were used in the Civil War by the Confederates.

http://www.blog4history.com/2006/08/...the-civil-war/

[ofitg]

I saw a program on TV (History channel, maybe? Military channel?) which described flintlock-actuated landmines used by the Chinese.... these might have pre-dated our 1860's war.

[Palmetto]

That is very interesting, I wouldn't be surprised at that. So many things that we think are recent were already on the drawing boards long ago.

[ofitg]

Here's another interesting one - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confederate_Secret_Service

The section on Submarine Battery Service refers to electrically-detonated torpedoes used by the Confederates..... sounds rather sophisticated.

[3/2 STA SS]

Originally Posted by ofitg

I saw a program on TV (History channel, maybe? Military channel?) which described flintlock-actuated landmines used by the Chinese.... these might have pre-dated our 1860's war.

I saw one on the ''warrior show'' on Spike TV that had a daisy chain type of landmine that was Chinese and was pretty awesome.

[Jim K]

An even older device that was effective against cavalry was the caltrop, a simple forged or cut out piece of iron or steel with sharp points that could be strewn on roads and always landed with one point up. They pierced a horse's feet, disabling the horse and causing it so much pain that the rider was usually thrown. In modern times, they have been dropped from planes to puncture the tires of wheeled vehicles.

Jim

[3/2 STA SS]

Originally Posted by Jim K

An even older device that was effective against cavalry was the caltrop, a simple forged or cut out piece of iron or steel with sharp points that could be strewn on roads and always landed with one point up. They pierced a horse's feet, disabling the horse and causing it so much pain that the rider was usually thrown. In modern times, they have been dropped from planes to puncture the tires of wheeled vehicles.

Jim

My favorite are the 12'' steel darts that were dropped from bi-planes in WW1 over the heads of troops in trench lines. You never heard them coming until it was too late. They are wicked looking.

[Jim K]

In WWII, they dropped little "bomblets" which were basically the carbide core of a .50 MG AP bullet with fins tacked to the base. (In theory, the bomblet at terminal velocity could penetrate a car or truck hood and damage the engine. In theory.)

I guess those, like the darts, would have been effective if enough were dropped, but somehow I feel that a soldier hit by either would have been just unlucky.

Jim

[Old Steve]

And some Naval mines

While brousing the library at Naval Electronics School at Treasure Island,CA in 1950, I came across an article in the many volume Naval History by a lieutenant CSN, written in 1868 describing his job in mining the Southern rivers, those were the torpedos Adm Farragat "damned" in Mobile Bay. He described them as copper cylinders with soldered seams containing up to 3000 pounds of powder. He described how they set up telescopes on nearby hills sighted at the mined spot so the observer had to watch till a ship reached the right spot and press the button.

He discussed the difficulty of obtaining the necessary wires and detonators, which has to be smuggled in from England, increasingly difficult at the time.

He also commented that these mines were especially effective against ironclads, which were wooden ships with the iron belt around them. the heavy belt tamped the explosion, so the wooden core was blown straight up catastrophically.

That article ran about 30 pages, I didn't count them, and I'm writing from memory from many years ago. but that item was so mind-blowing that it stuck with me. Many strange things happen in wartime.

[Gabob]

On the march in Georgia Gen. William T, " Matches" Sherman had an officer lose a leg to a "Torpedo" planted in the road. He then forced CSA prisoners to march ahead of his columns to discourage further land mines being planted

[Palmetto]

Even in those days they knew that an innocent civilian might accidently get killed by one, so they stopped using them altogether.

Most were used around fortifications and the retreat from the 7 Days campaign.

[johnlives4christ]

didnt have any pictures or diagrams of mines