The M2 is a United States bounding

anti-personnel mine Anti-personnel mines are a form of mine designed for use against humans, as opposed to anti-tank mines, which are designed for use against vehicles. Anti-personnel mines may be classified into blast mines or fragmentation mines; the latter ma ...

used during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. A number of variants of the mine were produced and although the mine is no longer in US service, it can be found in

Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is ...

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkm ...

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...

, Korea, Laos,

Oman Oman ( ; ar, عُمَان ' ), officially the Sultanate of Oman ( ar, سلْطنةُ عُمان ), is an Arabian country located in southwestern Asia. It is situated on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula, and spans the mouth of ...

, Rwanda,

Tunisia ) , image_map = Tunisia location (orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = Location of Tunisia in northern Africa , image_map2 = , capital = Tunis , largest_city = capital , ...

and the

Western Sahara Western Sahara ( '; ; ) is a disputed territory on the northwest coast and in the Maghreb region of North and West Africa. About 20% of the territory is controlled by the self-proclaimed Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR), while ...

. Copies of the mine were produced by Belgium (as the PRB M966), Pakistan (P7), Portugal (M/966) and

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the northe ...

. The mine consists of a cylindrical steel main body containing a 60 millimeter

mortar shell A mortar is usually a simple, lightweight, man-portable, muzzle-loaded weapon, consisting of a smooth-bore (although some models use a rifled barrel) metal tube fixed to a base plate (to spread out the recoil) with a lightweight bipod mount and a ...

body (originally the M49A2), linked to a tall thin

fuze In military munitions, a fuze (sometimes fuse) is the part of the device that initiates function. In some applications, such as torpedoes, a fuze may be identified by function as the exploder. The relative complexity of even the earliest fuze de ...

stand. The fuze stand held either a pin based

tripwire A tripwire is a passive triggering mechanism. Typically, a wire or cord is attached to a device for detecting or reacting to physical movement. Military applications Such tripwires may be attached to one or more mines – especially fragm ...

fuze or a combination pressure tripwire fuze with a pronged pressure cap. Later

s were sensitive to pressure or pull and could be used with a

. When the mine is triggered a

black powder Gunpowder, also commonly known as black powder to distinguish it from modern smokeless powder, is the earliest known chemical explosive. It consists of a mixture of sulfur, carbon (in the form of charcoal) and potassium nitrate ( saltpeter) ...

charge launches the mortar shell out of the main body of the mine and into the air. A

pyrotechnic Pyrotechnics is the science and craft of creating such things as fireworks, safety matches, oxygen candles, explosive bolts and other fasteners, parts of automotive airbags, as well as gas-pressure blasting in mining, quarrying, and demolition ...

delay fuse triggers the mine when it has risen to between two and three meters in height. The lethal radius of the mine is reported to be approximately ten meters.

Development

The US began development of the anti-personnel mines in the summer of 1940 spurred on by events in the Second World War. A French officer, Major Pierre Delalande (sometimes Paul Delalande) who had escaped the

fall of France The Battle of France (french: bataille de France) (10 May – 25 June 1940), also known as the Western Campaign ('), the French Campaign (german: Frankreichfeldzug, ) and the Fall of France, was the German invasion of France during the Second Wo ...

came to the US with the plans of the Modele 1939 bounding mine.The mine was patented in the United States under the name "Paul Delalande
US Patent 2,374,179 at GooglePatents
/ref> The M2 series of mines were based on this design, and were first fielded in mid-1943.

Status

The mine has not been in US service for some time, having been replaced by the

M16 mine The M16 mine is a United States-made bounding anti-personnel mine. It was based on captured plans of the World War II era German S-mine and has similar performance. The mine consists of a cast iron body in a thin steel sleeve. A central fuze we ...

soon after the Second World War. The M2 was not considered a successful design, and was replaced with more successful German-based designs.Lieutenant-Colonel John Ingraham & Col. Dalton Jones. ''Technical Intelligence Bulletins'' 8(5), 2003
(available online)
With the advent of the

Ottawa Treaty The Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on their Destruction of 1997, known informally as the Ottawa Treaty, the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention, or often simply the Mine ...

, large stockpiles of this mine have been eliminated.

,Is in the process of eliminating its mine stockpile, and currently has an uncertain number of M2A1 and M2A3 mines in its stockpile. It has also kept approximately 100 each of the M2A1 and M2A3 types for research and trainin
2006 ICBL report
/ref> Greece,A reported stockpile of 214,374 mine
ICBL report 2006
/ref>

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

, Stockpile of 146,882 mine
2006 ICBL report
/ref> and possibly

The government refuses to release details of their stockpiles and they have produced the M2 under licens
2006 ICBL report
/ref> hold stockpiles of this mine. Cyprus, Greece and Turkey are expected to have destroyed their stockpiles of the mine by March 2008.

Variants

The variants of the mine differ in detail of the fuze and base section of the mine. The early mines had a large thin flat circular base while later mines had a smaller thicker base. Later version of the mine were also better waterproofed. *M2A1 *M2A1B *M2A1B1 - A variant of the mine using the same shell - however the fuze holder and body of the mine are merged into a single piece of cast iron intended to simplify mass production. The mine was 3.78 inches wide at the widest point and 8.63 inches high, weighing a total of 7.16 pounds.Standard Ordnance Items Catalog 1944 volume 3, page 596 *M2A2 *M2A3 - This variant was in service during the second world war. The principal difference between this mine and later variants appears to have been the use of an increased propellent charge in this variant.This diagram shows a cross section of the mines - note that the M2A3 has a double charge indicated
Diagram at ORDATA mines
*M2A3B2 *M2A4 *M2A4B2

References

* * ''Jane's Mines and Mine Clearance 2005-2006'' * ''Brassey's Essential Guide to Anti-personnel Landmines'' * ''US Army FM 20-43''

Notes

{{reflist, 2 Anti-personnel mines Land mines of the United States