Teller mine

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

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. 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 Tellermines, 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 Tellermine. The T.Mi.Z.43 fuze can be fitted to the Tellermine 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:

• Teller Mine 43
• Teller Mine 42
• Teller Mine 35
• Teller Mine 29

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

Gallery

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  Teller mine on Utah beach. Intended to explode against landing craft at high tide.

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  British engineers removing the charges which the Germans had set to blow the Nijmegen bridge, September 1944

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  Tellermine 43 anti-tank mine

References