An anti-personnel mine or anti-personnel landmine (APL) is a form of mine designed for use against humans, as opposed to an anti-tank mine, which target vehicles. APLs are classified into: blast mines and fragmentation mines; the latter may or may not be a bounding mine.
APLs are often designed to injure and maim, not kill, their victims to overwhelm the logistical (mostly medical) support system of enemy forces that encounter them. Some types of APLs can also damage the tracks on armoured vehicles or the tires of wheeled vehicles.
The International Campaign to Ban Landmines has sought to ban mines and destroy stockpile. For this purpose, it introduced in 1997 the Ottawa Treaty, which has not yet been accepted by over 30 states and has not guaranteed the protection of citizens against APLs planted by non-state armed groups.
Use
Anti-personnel mines are used in a similar manner to anti-tank mines, in static "mine fields" along national borders or in defense of strategic positions as described in greater detail in the land mine article. What makes them different from most anti-tank mines, however, is their smaller size, which enables large numbers to be simultaneously deployed over a large area. This process can be done manually, via dispensers on land vehicles, or from helicopters or aircraft. Alternatively, they can be dispensed by cargo-carrying artillery shells.
Other uses specific to anti-personnel mines are where they are deployed on an ad hoc basis in the following situations:
When laying an ambush
Protecting a temporary base
To force any attackers to travel through a narrow, cleared path where firepower can be focused on the enemy To evade pursuit (e.g. M86 Pursuit Deterrent Munition) To protect equipment by employing the mines as booby traps To booby trap other mines as a form of anti-handling device
Blast mines
Typically, anti-personnel blast mines are triggered when the victim steps on them. Their primary purpose is to blow the victim's foot or leg off, disabling them. Injuring, rather than killing, the victim is viewed as preferable to increase the logistical (evacuation, medical) burden on the opposing force.
Effect
When a person steps on a blast mine and activates it, the mine's main charge detonates, creating a blast shock wave consisting of hot gases travelling at extremely high velocity. The shock wave sends a huge compressive force upwards, ejecting the mine casing and any soil covering the mine along with it. When the blast wave hits the surface, it quickly transfers the force into the subject's footwear and foot. This results in a massive compression force being applied. In most cases, the victim's foot is blown off by the blast wave.
The resulting injuries to a human body depend on the size of the mine's main charge, the depth, type of soil it was laid in and how the victim contacted it, e.g. stepping on the mine, using all or part of the foot. Different types of soil will result in different amounts of energy being transferred upward into the subject's foot, with saturated "clay-like" soil transferring the most. Larger main charges result in a release of significantly more energy, driving the blast wave further up a target's foot and leg and causing greater injury, in some cases even described as severe as traumatic amputation of the leg up to the knee.
Secondary injuries from a blast mine are often caused by the material that has been torn loose by the mine's explosion. This consists of the soil and stones that were on top of the mine, parts of the victim's footwear and the small bones in the victim's foot. This debris creates wounds typical of similar secondary blast effects or fragmentation. Special footwear, including combat boots or so-called "blast boots", is only moderately protective against the destructive effects of blast mines, and the loss of a foot is a typical outcome.
Blast mines have little effect on armoured vehicles, but can damage a wheeled vehicle if it runs directly over the mine. Small blast mines will severely damage a tire, rendering it irreparable while some types could also damage adjacent running gear.
Components
Mine casing
The mine casing houses the components of the mine and protects it from its environment. Early mines, such as the ones used in the World War II era, had casings made of steel or aluminium. However, by the middle of the conflict, the British Army was using the first, practical, portable metal detector – the Polish mine detector. The Germans responded with mines that had a wooden or glass casing to make detection harder.