Editing Mine roller (section)

==History==
During the [[interwar period]], the British were the first to work on mine clearing devices.{{sfn|Bishop|2014|page=61}} After being removed from the [[Dover Patrol]] and joining the newly created Tank Board, Admiral [[Sir Reginald Bacon]] designed the Invicta Roller, which was a pair of steamrollers rigged in front of a [[Mark V tank]].<ref>{{cite web |last1=Fletcher |first1=David |title=Experimental WWI Tanks - Part II |url=https://tankmuseum.org/article/experimental-tanks-part-two |website=The Tank Museum |access-date=24 April 2025 |date=19 May 2017}}</ref> It was a cumbersome design and the rollers had to be re-rigged every time a mine detonated beneath them, making the clearing process slower and more complicated than "crawling along the ground with a bayonet".{{sfn|Hogg|1996|pages=246−247}} 

In 1937, the concept was revived with sprung rollers mounted in front of a [[Covenanter tank]]. When the rollers detonated a mine, the explosion simply pushed the rollers up against the spring and then rebounded back to the ground, allowing the tank to continue mine clearing without interruptions. This design would become the AMRA (Anti-Mine Roller Attachment),{{sfn|Hogg|1996|page=247}} which would be used in their [[Matilda II]], [[Valentine tank|Valentine]], and [[Crusader tank]]s in the [[North African campaign]] during [[World War II]]. The rollers only covered the width of each track rather than clearing a tank-width path for subsequent vehicles and troops. To these were added a [[Churchill tank]] with the evocatively named Canadian Indestructible Roller Device (CIRD). The British used mine rollers to detect the presence of minefields and then used [[mine flail]]s for the clearance.<ref>Fletcher ''The Universal Tank'' HMSO</ref>

After great difficulties caused by minefields in the [[Winter War]] against Finland, the Soviet [[Red Army]] assigned [[P.M. Mugalev|P. M. Mugalev]] at the Dormashina Factory in [[Mykolaiv|Nikolayev]] to design a mine-clearing vehicle. Prototypes were tested based on the [[T-28 (medium tank)|T-28]] medium tank in 1940. Development was interrupted by the start of World War II, but resumed in 1942. T-60 and KV tank chassis underwent trials, but only the [[T-34]] was deemed to have a sufficiently robust transmission and clutch.

Experimental detachments of PT-34 mine roller tanks were formed in May 1942, and saw action at [[Voronezh]] in August. The first Independent Engineer Tank Regiment with eighteen mine rollers was fielded in October 1943. At least five regiments were formed during the war.

The PT-34's huge roller fork was semi-permanently mounted on a T-34 or T-34-85 tank. The rollers were usually removed for travel, and only installed for mine clearing operations. Adaptations for later tanks consisted of two lighter arms. The Mugalev system was adopted by U.S. and Israeli forces in the 1980s.

The Germans worked on several designs mounted on different tanks, but none ever entered service before the end of WWII. As early as of 1939, they worked on a radio-controlled miniature tank with a set of toothed rollers mounted behind it. While prototypes were tested, development took a different turn and it ended up becoming the [[Goliath tracked mine]]. Another German prototype was the Räumer S: a 130 [[tonne]] articulated vehicle with two pairs of {{cvt|2.7|m}} diameter roller wheels, each one powered by a [[Maybach]] engine to cover as much ground as possible. Heavily armoured, it was impervious to any anti-tank mine, but it was too heavy to cross most bridges. The prototype was captured by the Allies at a [[Krupp]] testing ground at the end of the war.{{sfn|Hogg|1996|pages=248−249}}

Throughout 1942 and 1943, the [[United States Army Ordnance Department]] experimented with several mine roller designs. Their limitations were excessive weight, slow speeds, and frequent breakdowns. After testing over 15 different designs, the US Army adopted  the T1E3 Mine Exploder, which was first fielded by early 1944.{{sfn|Murphy|Cain III|1985|page=37}} It was attached to the [[M4 Sherman]] medium tank and was nicknamed ''[[Aunt Jemima]]'' because of its [[pancake]]-like appearance. It had two sets of five disc rollers, {{convert|10|ft|m|abbr=off|sp=us}} in diameter each.{{sfn|Rottman|2013|page=77}}