Editing Land mine

{{short description|Explosive weapon, concealed under or on the ground}}
{{About|victim-activated explosive devices|underground tunnels|Tunnel warfare|other uses}}
{{Redirect|Minefield}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=August 2021}}
[[File:Mines 501556 fh000026.jpg|thumb|upright=1.35|Examples of anti-personnel mines. Center: [[Valmara 69]] (a [[bounding mine]]); right: [[VS-50 mine|VS-50]]]]
[[File:Minen.jpg|thumb|upright=1.35|Swedish [[FFV 028 mine|FFV 028]] anti-tank-mines of the German Bundeswehr (inert versions)]]
{{war}}

A '''land mine''', or '''landmine''', is an [[explosive weapon]] often concealed under or camouflaged on the ground, and designed to destroy or disable enemy targets as they pass over or near it.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Types of landmines |url=https://www.gichd.org/en/explosive-ordnance/types-of-landmines/ |access-date=2023-04-16 |website=GICHD |language=en |archive-date=June 2, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230602061903/https://www.gichd.org/en/explosive-ordnance/types-of-landmines/ |url-status=dead }}</ref>  Land mines are divided into two types: [[anti-tank mine]]s, which are designed to disable tanks or other vehicles; and [[anti-personnel mine]]s, designed to injure or kill people.<ref name="IMASglossary" />

Land mines are typically pressure activated, exploding automatically when stepped on by a person or driven over by a vehicle, though alternative detonation mechanisms are sometimes used.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |encyclopedia=Merriam-Webster |title=Land mine |url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/land%20mine |access-date=March 19, 2019 |date=2019 |archive-date=July 30, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190730223946/https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/land%20mine |url-status=live }}</ref> A land mine may cause damage by direct blast effect, by fragments that are thrown by the blast, or by both. Land mines are typically laid throughout an area, creating a ''minefield''<ref>{{Cite OED|minefield|id=252208}}</ref> which is dangerous to cross.

The use of land mines is controversial because of their indiscriminate nature and their potential to remain dangerous many years after a conflict has ended, harming civilians and the economy. With pressure from a number of campaign groups organised through the [[International Campaign to Ban Landmines]], a global movement to prohibit their use led to the 1997 Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on their Destruction, also known as the ''[[Ottawa Treaty]]''. To date, 164 nations have signed the treaty. However, [[China]], the [[Russia|Russian Federation]] and the [[United States]] are not signatories.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.apminebanconvention.org/states-parties-to-the-convention/|title=States parties to the convention|website=The Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on Their Destruction|access-date=March 19, 2019|archive-date=March 6, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160306163532/http://www.apminebanconvention.org/states-parties-to-the-convention/|url-status=live}}</ref>

==Definition==
The Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention (also known as the [[Ottawa Treaty]]) and the [[Protocol on Mines, Booby-Traps and Other Devices]] define a mine as a "munition designed to be placed under, on or near the ground or other surface area and to be exploded by the presence, proximity or contact of a person or vehicle".<ref name=Ottawa>{{cite web |title=Article 2: Definitions |url=https://ihl-databases.icrc.org/applic/ihl/ihl.nsf/Article.xsp?action=openDocument&documentId=86CACEA6721637D541256585003E3003 |website=Treaties, States parties, and Commentaries – Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention, 1997 |publisher=International Committee of the Red Cross |access-date=May 30, 2019 |archive-date=May 30, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190530175210/https://ihl-databases.icrc.org/applic/ihl/ihl.nsf/Article.xsp?action=openDocument&documentId=86CACEA6721637D541256585003E3003 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name=Protocol>{{cite web |title=Protocol on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Mines, Booby-Traps and Other Devices (Protocol II), Geneva, 10 October 1980. |url=http://hrlibrary.umn.edu/instree/1980d.htm |website=Human Rights Library |publisher=University of Minnesota |access-date=May 30, 2019 |archive-date=September 13, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180913041936/http://hrlibrary.umn.edu/instree/1980d.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> Similar in function is the ''[[booby trap|booby-trap]]'', which the protocol defines as "any device or material which is designed, constructed or adapted to kill or injure and which functions unexpectedly when a person disturbs or approaches an apparently harmless object or performs an apparently safe act".<ref name=Protocol/> Such actions might include opening a door or picking up an object. Normally, mines are [[Mass production|mass-produced]] and placed in groups, while booby traps are improvised and deployed one at a time.<ref name=CrollCh3/> Booby traps can also be non-explosive devices such as [[punji stick]]s.<ref name=Keeley>{{cite journal|last=Keeley |first=Robert |date=2017 |title=Improvised Explosive Devices (IED): A Humanitarian Mine Action Perspective |journal=Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction |volume=21 |issue=1 |page=Article 3 |url=http://commons.lib.jmu.edu/cisr-journal/vol21/iss1/3 |access-date=March 8, 2019}}</ref> Overlapping both categories is the ''[[improvised explosive device]]'' (IED), which is "a device placed or fabricated in an improvised manner incorporating explosive material, destructive, lethal, noxious, incendiary, pyrotechnic materials or chemicals designed to destroy, disfigure, distract or harass. They may incorporate military stores, but are normally devised from non-military components."<ref>{{cite book |chapter=01.40 – Glossary of terms, definitions and abbreviations |title=International Ammunition Technical Guidelines |date=February 1, 2015 |publisher=United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA) |page=16 |edition=2nd |url=https://www.un.org/disarmament/un-saferguard/guide-lines/ |access-date=May 30, 2019 |archive-date=May 1, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190501073642/https://www.un.org/disarmament/un-saferguard/guide-lines/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Some meet the definition of mines or booby traps and are also referred to as "improvised", "artisanal" or "locally manufactured" mines.<ref name=IMASglossary>{{cite book |chapter=Glossary of mine action terms, definitions and abbreviations. Second edition, Amendment 9 |chapter-url=https://www.mineactionstandards.org/fileadmin/MAS/documents/imas-international-standards/english/series-04/IMAS-04-10-Ed2-Am6.pdf |title=International Mine Action Standards |date=November 2018 |publisher=United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS) |location=New York, NY |page=20 |url=https://www.mineactionstandards.org |access-date=May 30, 2019 |archive-date=May 30, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190530175204/https://www.mineactionstandards.org/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Other types of IED are remotely activated, so are not considered mines.<ref name=Keeley/>

''Remotely delivered mines'' are dropped from aircraft or carried by devices such as artillery shells or rockets.<ref name=Protocol/> Another type of remotely delivered explosive is the [[cluster munition]], a device that releases several submunitions ("bomblets") over a large area.<ref>{{harvnb|GICHD Guide to Mine Action|pp=16–17}}</ref> The use, transfer, production, and stockpiling of cluster munitions is prohibited by the international [[Convention on Cluster Munitions|CCM treaty]]. If bomblets do not explode, they are referred to as [[Unexploded ordnance|''unexploded ordnance'' (UXO)]], along with unexploded artillery shells and other explosive devices that were not manually placed (that is, mines and booby traps are not UXOs). ''Explosive remnants of war'' (ERW) include UXOs and ''abandoned explosive ordnance'' (AXO), devices that were never used and were left behind after a conflict.<ref name=Protocol/><ref>{{harvnb|GICHD Guide to Mine Action|pp=18}}</ref>

==History==
The history of land mines can be divided into three main phases: In the ancient world, buried spikes provided many of the same functions as modern mines. Mines using gunpowder as the explosive were used from the Ming dynasty to the American Civil War. Subsequently, high explosives were developed for use in land mines.<ref>{{harvnb|Croll|2008|loc=Introduction}}</ref>

===Before explosives===
[[File:Roman caltrop.jpg|thumb|Roman [[caltrop]]]]
Some fortifications in the [[Roman Empire]] were surrounded by a series of hazards buried in the ground. These included ''goads'', {{convert|1|ft|cm|0|adj=mid|-long|spell=in}} pieces of wood with iron hooks on their ends; ''[[lilia]]'' (lilies, so named after their appearance), which were pits in which sharpened logs were arranged in a five-point pattern; and ''[[abatis]]'', fallen trees with sharpened branches facing outwards. As with modern land mines, they were "victim-operated", often concealed, and complicated attempts by the enemy to remove the obstacles by making them vulnerable to projectiles such as spears. A notable use of these defenses was by [[Julius Caesar]] in the [[Battle of Alesia]]. His forces were besieging [[Vercingetorix]], the leader of the Gauls, but Vercingetorix managed to send for reinforcements. To maintain the siege and defend against the reinforcements, Caesar formed a line of fortifications on both sides, and they played an important role in his victory. Lilies were also used by Scots against the English at the [[Battle of Bannockburn]] in 1314, and by Germans at the [[Battle of Passchendaele]] in the [[First World War]].<ref name=CrollCh1>{{harvnb|Croll|2008|loc=Chapter 1}}</ref>

A more easily deployed defense used by the Romans was the [[caltrop]], a weapon 12–15&nbsp;cm across with four sharp spikes that are oriented so that when it is thrown on the ground, one spike always points up. As with modern antipersonnel mines, caltrops are designed to disable soldiers rather than kill them; they are also more effective in stopping mounted forces, who lack the advantage of being able to carefully scrutinize each step they take (though forcing foot-mounted forces to take the time to do so has benefits in and of itself). They were used by the [[Jin dynasty (1115–1234)|Jin dynasty]] in China at the [[Battle of Zhongdu]] to slow down the advance of [[Genghis Khan]]'s army; [[Joan of Arc]] was wounded by one in the [[Siege of Orléans]]; in Japan they are known as ''tetsu-bishu'' and were used by [[ninja]]s from the fourteenth century onward. Caltrops are still strung together and used as roadblocks in some modern conflicts.<ref name=CrollCh1/>

===Gunpowder===
{{see also|History of gunpowder}}

====East Asia====
[[File:火龍經 明朝 焦玉二 13.jpg|thumb|Chinese illustration of a land mine with eight explosive charges, from the ''[[Huolongjing]]'', 14th century]]
[[File:武備志 茅元儀 明朝 火器五 34.jpg|thumb|A "self-tripped trespass land mine" from the ''[[Wubei Zhi]]'', 1621]]

[[Gunpowder]], an explosive mixture of [[sulfur]], charcoal and [[potassium nitrate]] was invented in China by the 10th century and was used in warfare soon after. An "enormous bomb", credited to Lou Qianxia, was used in 1277 by the Chinese at the Battle of Zhongdu.<ref name=needham192>{{harvnb|Needham|1987|pp=192–193}}</ref>

A 14th-century military treatise, the ''[[Huolongjing]]'' (''Fire Dragon Manual''), describes hollow [[cast iron]] [[Shell (projectile)|cannonball shells]] filled with gunpowder.<ref name="needham volume 5 part 7 264">{{harvnb|Needham|1987|p=264}}</ref> The wad of the mine was made of hard wood, carrying three different [[fuse (explosives)|fuses]] in case of defective connection to the touch hole. These fuses were long and lit by hand, so they required carefully timed calculations of enemy movements.<ref name=needham192/>

The ''Huolongjing'' also describes land mines that were set off by enemy movement. A {{convert|9|ft|m|0|adj=on}} length of bamboo was waterproofed by wrapping it in cowhide and covering it with oil. It was filled with compressed gunpowder and lead or iron pellets, sealed with wax and concealed in a trench.<ref name=needham192/> The triggering mechanism was not fully described until the early 17th century. When the enemy stepped onto hidden boards, they dislodged a pin, causing a weight to fall. A cord attached to the weight was wrapped around a drum attached to two steel wheels; when the weight fell, the wheels struck sparks against [[flint]], igniting a set of fuses leading to multiple mines. A similar mechanism was used in the first [[wheellock]] [[musket]] in Europe as sketched by [[Leonardo da Vinci]] around 1500 AD.<ref name="needham199">{{harvnb|Needham|1987|p=199}}</ref>

Another victim-operated device was the "underground sky-soaring thunder", which lured bounty hunters with [[halberd]]s, [[pike (weapon)|pike]]s, and [[lance]]s planted in the ground. If they pulled on one of these weapons, the butt end disturbed a bowl underneath and a slow-burning incandescent material in the bowl ignited the fuses.<ref name="needham203">{{harvnb|Needham|1987|pp=203–204}}</ref>{{refn|According to the ''Wubei Huolongjing'' (17th century), the material could burn continuously for 20 to 30 days without going out. Its formula included {{convert|1|lb|abbr=on}} of white sandal wood powder, {{convert|3|oz|abbr=on}} of iron rust ([[ferric oxide]]), {{convert|5|oz|abbr=on}} of "white" charcoal powder (from [[quicklime]]), {{convert|2|oz|abbr=on}} of willow charcoal powder, {{convert|6|oz|abbr=on}} of dried, ground, and powdered red dates, and {{convert|3|oz|abbr=on}} of bran.<ref name="needham203"/>}}

====Western world====
At [[Augsburg]] in 1573, three centuries after the Chinese invented the first pressure-operated mine, a German military engineer by the name of Samuel Zimmermann invented the ''Fladdermine'' (flying mine). It consisted of a few pounds of black powder buried near the surface and was activated by stepping on it or tripping a wire that made a [[flintlock mechanism|flintlock]] fire. Such mines were deployed on the slope in front of a fort. They were used during the [[Franco-Prussian War]], but were probably not very effective because a flintlock does not work for long when left untended.<ref name=CrollCh2>{{harvnb|Croll|2008|loc=Chapter 2: Gunpowder mines}}</ref><ref name=OriginsPart1>{{cite journal |last1=Schneck |first1=William C. |title=The origins of military mines: part I |journal=Engineer |date=July 1998 |pages=49–55 |url=https://usace.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p16021coll8/id/2679 |access-date=May 19, 2019 |archive-date=August 3, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200803012911/https://usace.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p16021coll8/id/2679 |url-status=live }}</ref>

The [[fougasse (weapon)|fougasse]], was a precursor of modern fragmentation mines and the [[M18 Claymore mine|claymore mine]]. It consisted of a cone-shape hole with gunpowder at the bottom, covered either by rocks and scrap iron (''stone fougasse'') or [[Mortar (weapon)|mortar]] shells, similar to large black powder hand grenades (''shell fougasse''). It was triggered by a flintlock connected to a tripwire on the surface. It could sometimes cause heavy casualties but required high maintenance due to the susceptibility of black powder to dampness. Consequently, it was mainly employed in the defenses of major fortifications, in which role it used in several European wars of the eighteenth century and the [[American Revolutionary War|American Revolution]].<ref name=OriginsPart1/>

Early land mines suffered from unreliable fuses which were vulnerable to damp. This changed with the invention of the [[safety fuse]]. Later, ''command initiation'', the ability to detonate a charge immediately instead of waiting several minutes for a fuse to burn, became possible after electricity was developed. An electric current sent down a wire could ignite the charge with a spark. The Russians claim first use of this technology in the [[Russo-Turkish War (1828–29)|Russo-Turkish War of 1828–1829]], and with it the fougasse remained useful until it was superseded by the Claymore mine in the 1960s.<ref name=CrollCh2/>

Victim-activated mines were also unreliable because they relied on a flintlock to ignite the explosive. The [[percussion cap]], developed in the early 19th century, made them much more reliable, and pressure-operated mines were deployed on land and sea in the [[Crimean War]] (1853–1856).<ref name=CrollCh2/>

During the [[American Civil War]], the [[General officers in the Confederate States Army#Brigadier general|Confederate brigadier general]] [[Gabriel J. Rains]] deployed thousands of "torpedoes" consisting of artillery shells with pressure caps, beginning with the [[Battle of Yorktown (1862)|Battle of Yorktown]] in 1862. As a captain, Rains had earlier employed explosive booby traps during the [[Seminole Wars]] in Florida in 1840.<ref>{{harvnb|Roy|Friesen|1999|p=4}}</ref><ref name=OriginsPart1/> Over the course of the war, mines only caused a few hundred casualties, but they had a large effect on morale and slowed down the advance of Union troops.<ref>{{harvnb|Roy|Friesen|1999|p=6}}</ref> Many on both sides considered the use of mines barbaric, and in response, generals in the [[Union Army]] forced Confederate prisoners to remove the mines.<ref name=CrollCh2/>

=== High explosives ===
Starting in the 19th century, more powerful explosives than gunpowder were developed, often for non-military reasons such as blasting train tunnels in the Alps and Rockies. [[Guncotton]], up to four times more powerful than gunpowder, was invented by [[Christian Schonbein]] in 1846. It was dangerous to make until [[Frederick Augustus Abel]] developed a safe method in 1865. From the 1870s to the First World War, it was the standard explosive used by the British military.<ref name=CrollCh3>{{harvnb|Croll|2008|loc=Chapter 3: High-explosive mines}}</ref>

In 1847, [[Ascanio Sobrero]] invented [[nitroglycerine]] to treat [[angina pectoris]] and it turned out to be a much more powerful explosive than guncotton. It was very dangerous to use until [[Alfred Nobel]] formulated a solid mixture he called [[dynamite]] and paired it with a safe detonator he developed. Even then, dynamite needed to be stored carefully or it could form crystals that detonated easily. Thus, the military still preferred guncotton.<ref name=CrollCh3/>

In 1863, the German chemical industry developed trinitrotoluene ([[TNT]]). This had the advantage that it was difficult to detonate, so it could withstand the shock of firing by artillery pieces. It was also advantageous for land mines for several reasons: it was not detonated by the shock of shells landing nearby; it was lightweight, unaffected by damp, and stable under a wide range of conditions; it could be melted to fill a container of any shape, and it was cheap to make. Thus, it became the standard explosive in mines after the First World War.<ref name=CrollCh3/>

==== Between the American Civil War and the First World War ====
The British used mines in the [[Siege of Khartoum]]. A [[Mahdist State|Sudanese Mahdist]] force much larger than British strength was held off for ten months, but the town was ultimately taken and the British massacred. In the [[Boer War]] (1899–1903), they succeeded in [[Siege of Mafeking|holding Mafeking]] against Boer forces with the help of a mixture of real and fake minefields; and they laid mines alongside railroad tracks to discourage sabotage.<ref name=CrollCh3/>

In the [[Russo-Japanese War]] of 1904–1905, both sides used land and sea mines, although the effect on land mainly affected morale. The naval mines were far more effective, destroying several battleships.<ref name=CrollCh3/>

==== First World War ====
[[File:Smine-diagram.jpg|thumb|Cutaway diagram of the [[S-mine]]]]
One sign of the increasing power of explosives used in land mines was that, by the First World War, they burst into about 1,000 high-velocity fragments; in the [[Franco-Prussian War]] (1870), it had only been 20 to 30 fragments.<ref name=OriginsPart1/> Nevertheless, anti-personnel mines were not a big factor in the war because machine guns, barbed wire and rapid-fire artillery were far more effective defenses. An exception was in Africa (now [[Tanzania]] and [[Namibia]]) where the warfare was much more mobile.<ref name=CrollCh3/>

Towards the end of the war, the British started to use tanks to break through trench defenses. The Germans responded with [[anti-tank gun]]s and mines. Improvised mines gave way to mass-produced mines consisting of wooden boxes filled with guncotton, and minefields were standardized to stop masses of tanks from advancing.<ref name=CrollCh3/>

Between world wars, the future [[Allies of World War II|Allies]] did little work on land mines, but the Germans developed a series of anti-tank mines, the [[Teller mine|''Tellermines'']] (plate mines). They also developed the ''Schrapnell mine'' (also known as the [[S-mine]]), the first [[bounding mine]]. When triggered, this jumped up to about waist height and exploded, sending thousands of steel balls in all directions.<ref name=CrollCh3/><ref name=OriginsPart1/> Triggered by pressure, trip wires or electronics,<ref name=CrollCh3/> it could harm soldiers within an area of about 2,800 square feet.<ref>{{harvnb|Roy|Friesen|1999|p=12}}</ref>

==== Second World War ====
[[File:German - Schu-Mine with Z.Z. 42 igniter.jpg|thumb|The ''[[Schu-mine 42|Schü-mine 42]]'', the most common mine used in the Second World War]]
Tens of millions of mines were laid in the [[Second World War]], particularly in the deserts of [[North African campaign|North Africa]] and the steppes of [[Eastern Front (World War II)|Eastern Europe]], where the open ground favored tanks. However, the first country to use them was Finland. They were defending against a much larger Soviet force with over 6,000 tanks, twenty times the number the Finns had; but they had terrain that was broken up by lakes and forests, so tank movement was restricted to roads and tracks. Their defensive line, the [[Mannerheim Line]], integrated these natural defenses with mines, including simple [[Fragmentation (weaponry)|fragmentation]] mines mounted on stakes.<ref name=OriginsPart1/>

While the Germans were advancing rapidly using ''[[blitzkrieg]]'' tactics, they did not make much use of mines. After 1942, however, they were on the defensive and became the most inventive and systematic users of mines. Their production shot up and they began inventing new types of mines as the Allies found ways to counter the existing ones. To make it more difficult to remove antitank mines, they surrounded them with S-mines and added [[anti-handling device]]s that would explode when soldiers tried to lift them. They also took a formal approach to laying mines and they kept detailed records of the locations of mines.<ref name=CrollCh4>{{harvnb|Croll|2008|loc=Chapter 4}}</ref><ref name=OriginsPart1/>

In the [[Second Battle of El Alamein]] in 1942, the Germans prepared for an Allied attack by laying about half a million mines in two fields running across the entire battlefield and five miles deep. Nicknamed the "[[Devil's gardens]]", they were covered by [[8.8 cm Flak 18/36/37/41|88 mm anti-tank guns]] and small-arms fire. The Allies prevailed, but at the cost of over half their tanks; 20 percent of the losses were caused by mines.<ref name=CrollCh5>{{harvnb|Croll|2008|loc=Chapter 5}}</ref>

The Soviets learned the value of mines from their war with Finland, and when Germany invaded they made heavy use of them, manufacturing over 67 million. At the [[Battle of Kursk]], which put an end to the German advance, they laid over a million mines in eight belts with an overall depth of 35 kilometres.<ref name=CrollCh4/>

Mines forced tanks to slow down and wait for soldiers to go ahead and remove the mines. The main method of breaching minefields involved prodding the dirt with a bayonet or stick at an angle of 30 degrees to avoid pressuring the top of the mine. Since all mines at the beginning of the war had metal casings, metal detectors could be used to speed up the locating of mines. A Polish officer, [[Józef Kosacki]], developed a portable mine detector known as the [[Polish mine detector]]. To counter the detector, Germans developed mines with wooden casings, the [[Schu-mine 42|Schü-mine 42]] (anti-personnel) and [[Holzmine 42]] (anti-tank). Effective, cheap and easy to make, the Schü-mine became the most common mine in the war. Mine casings were also made of glass, concrete and clay. The Russians developed a mine with a pressed-cardboard casing, the PMK40, and the Italians made an anti-tank mine out of [[bakelite]]. In 1944, the Germans created the [[Topfmine]], an entirely non-metallic mine. They ensured that they could detect their own mines by covering them with radioactive sand; the Allies did not find this out until after the war.<ref name=CrollCh4/>

Several mechanical methods for clearing mines were tried. Heavy [[Mine roller|rollers]] were attached to tanks or cargo trucks, but they did not last long and their weight made the tanks considerably slower. Tanks and bulldozers pushed ploughs that  pushed aside any mines to a depth of 30&nbsp;cm. The [[Bangalore torpedo]], a long thin tube filled with explosives, was invented in 1912 and used to clear barbed wire; larger versions such as the [[Mine-clearing line charge|Snake and the Conger]] were developed for clearing mines, but were not very effective{{Citation needed|date=November 2022|reason=citation for ineffectiveness needed; this type of system is still in use}}. One of the best options was the [[Mine flail|flail]], which had weights attached by chains to rotating drums. The first version, the Scorpion, was attached to the [[Matilda II|Matilda tank]] and used in the Second Battle of El Alamein. The Crab, attached to the [[M4 Sherman|Sherman tank]], was faster, at 2 kilometers per hour; it was used during D-Day and the aftermath.<ref name=CrollCh4/>

==== Cold War ====
[[File:US M18a1 claymore mine.jpg|thumb|[[Claymore mine]] with firing device and electric blasting cap assembly]]
During the [[Cold War]], the members of NATO were concerned about massive armored attacks by the Soviet Union. They planned for a minefield stretching across the entire West German border, and developed new types of mines. The British designed an anti-tank mine, the [[Mk 7 mine|Mark 7]], to defeat rollers by detonating the second time it was pressed. It also had a 0.7-second delay so the tank would be directly over the mine. They also developed the first scatterable mine, the [[No 7 Mk1 Dingbat mine|No. 7]] Dingbat. The Americans used the [[M6 mine|M6 anti-tank mine]] and tripwire-operated bounding anti-personnel mines such as the [[M2 mine|M2]] and [[M16 mine|M16]].<ref name=CrollCh7>{{harvnb|Croll|2008|loc=Chapter 7}}</ref>

In the [[Korean War]], land mine use was dictated by the steep terrain, narrow valleys, forest cover and lack of developed roads. This made tanks less effective and more easily stopped by mines. However, mines laid near roads were often easy to spot. In response to this problem, the U.S. developed the [[M24 mine|M24]], a mine that was placed off to the side of the road. When triggered by a tripwire, it fired a rocket. However, the mine was not available until after the war.<ref name=CrollCh7/>

The Chinese had a lot of success with massed infantry attacks. The extensive forest cover limited the range of machine guns, but anti-personnel mines were effective. However, mines were poorly recorded and marked, often becoming as much a hazard to allies as enemies. Tripwire-operated mines were not defended by pressure mines; the Chinese were often able to disable them and reuse them against U.N. forces.<ref name=CrollCh7/>

Looking for more destructive mines, the Americans developed the [[Claymore (mine)|Claymore]], a directional fragmentation mine that hurls steel balls in a 60-degree arc at a speed of 1,200m/s. They also developed a pressure-operated mine, the [[M14 mine|M14]] "toe-popper". These, too, were ready too late for the Korean War.<ref name=CrollCh7/>

[[File:L9 Bar mine.jpg|thumb|300px|An [[L9 Bar Mine]]]]
In 1948, the British developed the [[No 6 AP mine|No. 6 anti-personnel mine]], a minimum-metal mine with a narrow diameter, making it difficult to detect with metal detectors or prodding. Its three-pronged pressure piece inspired the nickname "carrot mine". However, it was unreliable in wet conditions. In the 1960s the Canadians developed a similar, but more reliable mine, the [[C3A1 mine|C3A1]] "Elsie" and the British army adopted it. The British also developed the L9 bar mine, a wide anti-tank mine with a rectangular shape, which covered more area, allowing a minefield to be laid four times as fast as previous mines. They also upgraded the Dingbat to the [[L10 Ranger Anti-Personnel mine|Ranger]], a plastic mine that was fired from a truck-mounted discharger that could fire 72 mines at a time.<ref name=CrollCh7/>

In the 1950s, the US Operation Doan Brook studied the feasibility of delivering mines by air. This led to three types of air-delivered mine. ''Wide Area Anti-Personnel Mines'' (WAAPMs) were small steel spheres that discharged tripwires when they hit the ground; each dispenser held 540 mines. The [[BLU-43 Dragontooth]] was small and had a flattened "W" shape to slow its descent, while the [[gravel mine]] was larger. Both were packed by the thousand into bombs. All three were designed to inactivate after a period of time, but any that failed to activate presented a safety challenge. Over 37 million gravel mines were produced between 1967 and 1968, and when they were dropped in places like Vietnam their locations were unmarked and unrecorded. A similar problem was presented by unexploded cluster munitions.<ref name=CrollCh7/>

The next generation of scatterable mines arose in response to the increasing mobility of war. The Germans developed the Skorpion system, which scattered [[AT2 mine]]s from a tracked vehicle. The Italians developed a helicopter delivery system that could rapidly switch between [[SB-33 mine|SB-33 anti-personnel mines]] and [[SB-81 mine|SB-81 anti-tank mines]]. The US developed a range of systems called the [[Family of Scatterable Mines]] (FASCAM) that could deliver mines by fast jet, artillery, helicopter and ground launcher.<ref name=CrollCh7/>

==== Middle eastern conflicts ====
The [[Iraq-Iran War]], the [[Gulf War]], and the [[Islamic State of Iraq|Islamic State]] have all contributed to land mine saturation in Iraq from the 1980s through 2020. In 2019, Iraq was the most saturated country in the world with land mines.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-landmines-iraq/global-death-toll-of-landmines-rises-due-to-mines-laid-by-militants-idUSKBN1Y11Q5|title=Global death toll of landmines rises due to mines laid by militants|author=Gwladys Fouche|work=Reuters |date=November 27, 2019|access-date=January 20, 2021|archive-date=April 8, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200408103956/https://www.reuters.com/article/us-landmines-iraq/global-death-toll-of-landmines-rises-due-to-mines-laid-by-militants-idUSKBN1Y11Q5|url-status=live}}</ref> Countries that provided land mines during the Iran-Iraq War included Belgium, Canada, Chile, China, Egypt, France, Italy, Romania, Singapore, the former Soviet Union and the U.S., and were concentrated in the Kurdish areas in the northern area of Iraq. During the Gulf War, the U.S. deployed 117,634 mines, with 27,967 being anti-personnel mines and 89,667 being anti-vehicle mines.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.hrw.org/legacy/campaigns/iraq/iraqmines1212.htm |date= December 2002 |title=Landmines in Iraq: Questions and Answers|work=Human Rights Watch |access-date=January 20, 2021|archive-date=January 26, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210126014757/http://www.hrw.org/legacy/campaigns/iraq/iraqmines1212.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> The U.S. did not use land mines during the [[Iraq War]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.armscontrol.org/act/2003-07/press-releases/us-military-not-use-landmines-iraq-war|title=U.S. Military Did Not Use Landmines in Iraq War|work= Arms Control Association |author=IWade Boese|access-date=January 20, 2021|archive-date=January 27, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210127110354/https://www.armscontrol.org/act/2003-07/press-releases/us-military-not-use-landmines-iraq-war|url-status=live}}</ref>

Landmines and other unexploded battlefield ordnance contaminate at least 724 million square meters of land in [[Afghanistan]]. Only two of Afghanistan's twenty-nine provinces are believed to be free of landmines. The most heavily mined provinces are Herat and Kandahar.<ref>{{Cite web |date=October 2001 |title=Backgrounder - Landmine Use in Afghanistan |url=https://www.hrw.org/legacy/backgrounder/arms/landmines-bck1011.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240223105010/https://www.hrw.org/legacy/backgrounder/arms/landmines-bck1011.pdf |archive-date=Feb 23, 2024 |website=Human Rights Watch}}</ref> Since 1989, nearly 44,000 Afghan civilians have been recorded to have been killed or injured by landmines and Explosive Remnants of War (ERW) averaging to around 110 people per month. Improvised mines and ERW from armed clashes caused nearly 99 percent of the casualties recorded in 2021.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Afghanistan |url=https://www.unmas.org/en/programmes/afghanistan |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240505153045/https://unmas.org/en/programmes/afghanistan |archive-date=May 5, 2024 |website=UNMAS}}</ref>

{{Clear}}

==== Invasion of Ukraine ====
During the [[2022 Russian Invasion of Ukraine]], both Russian and Ukrainian forces have used land mines. Ukrainian officials claim Russian forces planted thousands of land mines or other explosive devices during their withdrawal from Ukrainian cities, including in civilian areas.<ref>{{cite web|url= https://www.businessinsider.com/ukraine-officials-russian-forces-left-booby-traps-under-dead-bodies-2022-4 |first1=Azmi |last1=Haroun |date=Apr 14, 2022 |title= Ukrainian officials say retreating Russian forces left booby traps including explosives in car trunks, washing machines, and under dead bodies|website= [[Business Insider]]| access-date=April 19, 2022}}</ref> Russian forces have also utilized remotely delivered anti-personnel mines such as the [[POM-3]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.hrw.org/news/2022/03/29/ukraine-russia-uses-banned-antipersonnel-landmines |website=Human Rights Watch |title= Ukraine: Russia Uses Banned Antipersonnel Landmines |date= March 29, 2022 | access-date=April 19, 2022}}</ref>

=== Chemical and nuclear ===
In the First World War, the Germans developed a device, nicknamed the "Yperite Mine" by the British, that they left behind in abandoned trenches and bunkers. It was detonated by a delayed charge, spreading [[mustard gas]] ("Yperite"). In the Second World War they developed a modern chemical mine, the Sprüh-Büchse 37 (Bounding Gas Mine 37), but never used it.<ref name=OriginsPart1/> The United States developed the [[M1 chemical mine]], which used mustard gas, in 1939; and the [[M23 chemical mine]], which used the [[VX (nerve agent)|VX nerve agent]], in 1960.<ref>{{Cite report |title=A century of innovation: The army's chemical and biological defense program |last=Smart |first=Jeffery K. |date=2015 |publisher=U.S. Army Research, Development and Engineering Command History Office |pages=16, 43}}</ref> The Soviets developed the KhF, a "bounding chemical mine".<ref>{{cite book |last1=Spiers |first1=Edward M. |title=Chemical Weaponry : a Continuing Challenge |date=1989 |publisher=Springer |isbn=9781349198818 |pages=33–34}}</ref> The French had chemical mines and the Iraqis were believed to have them before the invasion of Kuwait.<ref>{{cite book |chapter=9. The spread of chemical weapons |last1=Barnaby |first1=Frank |title=The Role and Control of Weapons in the 1990s |date=2003 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |isbn=0203168313 |edition=e-book}}</ref> In 1997, the [[Chemical Weapons Convention]] came into force, prohibiting the use of chemical weapons and mandating their destruction. By July 2023 all declared stockpiles of chemical weapons were destroyed.<ref>{{cite web |title=OPCW confirms: All declared chemical weapons stockpiles verified as irreversibly destroyed |url=https://www.opcw.org/media-centre/news/2023/07/opcw-confirms-all-declared-chemical-weapons-stockpiles-verified |website=OPCW |publisher=Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons |access-date=2023-09-21 |language=en }}</ref>

For a few decades during the [[Cold War]], the U.S. developed [[atomic demolition munition]]s, often referred to as nuclear land mines. These were portable nuclear bombs that could be placed by hand, and could be detonated remotely or with a timer. Some of these were deployed in Europe. Governments in [[West Germany]], [[Turkey]] and [[Greece]] wanted to have nuclear minefields as a defense against attack from the [[Warsaw Pact]]. However, such weapons were politically and tactically infeasible, and by 1989 the last of these munitions was retired.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Bird |first1=Matthew D |title=Nuclear History Note US Atomic Demolition Munitions 1954–1989 |journal=The RUSI Journal |date=April 2008 |volume=153 |issue=2 |pages=64–68 |doi=10.1080/03071840802103306|s2cid=153830269 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Srubas |first1=Paul |title=The horrifying purpose of Special Atomic Demolition Munition units: 'We all knew it was a one-way mission, a suicide mission' |url=https://www.armytimes.com/news/your-army/2019/01/14/the-horrifying-purpose-of-special-atomic-demolition-munition-units-we-all-knew-it-was-a-one-way-mission-a-suicide-mission/ |access-date=June 9, 2019 |work=Army Times |date=January 8, 2019}}</ref> The British also had a project, codenamed [[Blue Peacock]], to develop nuclear mines to be buried in Germany; the project was cancelled in 1958.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Edwards |first1=Rob |title=British army planned nuclear landmines |url=https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn3943-british-army-planned-nuclear-landmines/ |access-date=June 9, 2019 |work=New Scientist |date=July 16, 2003 |archive-date=June 9, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190609005529/https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn3943-british-army-planned-nuclear-landmines/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Gault |first1=Matthew |title=The Ultimate Weapon of War: Nuclear Land Mines? |url=https://nationalinterest.org/blog/the-buzz/the-ultimate-weapon-war-nuclear-land-mines-13890 |access-date=June 9, 2019 |work=The National Interest |date=September 20, 2015 |language=en |archive-date=June 9, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190609005531/https://nationalinterest.org/blog/the-buzz/the-ultimate-weapon-war-nuclear-land-mines-13890 |url-status=live }}</ref>

==Characteristics and function==
[[File:Panzermine im Schnitt.jpg|thumb|Section of an [[anti-tank mine]]. Note the yellow main charge wrapped around a red [[explosive booster|booster charge]], and the secondary [[fuze]] well on the side of the mine designed for an [[anti-handling device]].]]
[[File:Mine-components.jpg|thumb|Diagram of components]]

A conventional land mine consists of a casing that is mostly filled with the main charge. It has a firing mechanism such as a pressure plate; this triggers a detonator or igniter, which in turn sets off a booster charge. There may be additional firing mechanisms in anti-handling devices.<ref name=FieldManual>{{cite book |chapter=1. Conventional mines |chapter-url=http://library.enlistment.us/field-manuals/series-2/FM20_32/CH1.PDF |title=US Army Field Manual 20–32 – Mine/Countermine Operations |date=September 30, 1992 |publisher=Department of the Army |url=http://www.enlistment.us/field-manuals/fm-20-32-mine-countermine-operations.shtml |access-date=June 15, 2019 |archive-date=June 20, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190620080520/http://enlistment.us/field-manuals/fm-20-32-mine-countermine-operations.shtml |url-status=live }}</ref>

===Firing mechanisms and initiating actions===
A land mine can be triggered by a number of things including [[pressure]], movement, sound, [[magnet]]ism and [[oscillation|vibration]].<ref name=FieldManual/> Anti-personnel mines commonly use the pressure of a person's foot as a trigger, but [[tripwire]]s are also frequently employed. Because modern anti-vehicle mines usually employ magnetic triggers, they can detonate even if the victim's tires or tracks do not directly impact it. Advanced mines are able to sense the difference between friendly and enemy types of vehicles by way of a built-in signature catalog (an [[identification friend or foe]] system). This theoretically enables friendly forces to use the mined area while denying the enemy access.

Many mines combine the main trigger with a touch or tilt trigger to prevent enemy engineers from defusing the mine. Land mine designs tend to use as little metal as possible to make searching with a metal detector more difficult; land mines made mostly of plastic have the added advantage of being very inexpensive.

Some types of modern mines are designed to [[self-destruct]], or chemically render themselves inert after a period of weeks or months to reduce the likelihood of civilian casualties at the conflict's end. These self-destruct mechanisms are not absolutely reliable, and most land mines laid historically are not equipped in this manner.

There is a common misconception that a landmine is armed by stepping on it and only triggered by stepping off. This is not the case for almost all types of mine. In virtually all cases the initial pressure trigger detonates the mine, since mines are designed to kill or maim the victim rather than standing still until the mine can be disarmed. This misperception originated with the fictional portrayal of mines, often in movies in which the disarming of a mine is a source of narrative tension.<ref>{{cite news |author=Ju Shardlow and David Ibekwe  |title=Special forces bomb disposal expert rates 10 bomb disposal scenes in movies and TV |url=https://www.insider.com/sas-bomb-disposal-expert-rates-bomb-disposal-scenes-in-movies-2020-9 |publisher=Insider |date=2020-11-11}}</ref>

===Anti-handling devices===
{{Main|Anti-handling device}}
[[File:Landmine anti-handling devices.png|thumb|Examples of anti-handling devices]]
Anti-handling devices detonate the mine if someone attempts to lift, shift or disarm it. The intention is to hinder deminers by discouraging any attempts to clear minefields. There is a degree of overlap between the function of a [[boobytrap]] and an [[anti-handling device]] insofar as some mines have optional [[fuze]] pockets into which standard pull or pressure-release boobytrap firing devices can be screwed. Alternatively, some mines may mimic a standard design, but actually be specifically intended to kill deminers, such as the MC-3 and PMN-3 variants of the PMN mine. Anti-handling devices can be found on both anti-personnel mines and anti-tank mines, either as an integral part of their design or as improvised add-ons. For this reason, the standard [[render safe procedure]] for mines is often to destroy them on site without attempting to lift them.

===Smart mines===
{{main article|Smart mine}}
"Smart mines" utilize a number of advanced technologies developed in the late 20th and early 21st century. Most commonly, this includes mechanisms to deactivate or self-destruct the mine after a preset period of time. This is intended to reduce civilian casualties and simplify demining.

Other innovations include "self-healing" minefields, which detect gaps in the field and can direct the mines to rearrange their positions, eliminating the gaps.<ref name="smart mines wired">{{cite magazine |url=https://www.wired.com/2004/04/u-s-bets-on-land-mine-technology/amp |title=U.S. Bets on Land Mine Technology |date=4 April 2004 |magazine=[[Wired (magazine)|Wired]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220729205432/https://www.wired.com/2004/04/u-s-bets-on-land-mine-technology/amp |archive-date=29 July 2022}}</ref>

==Anti-tank mines==
{{Main|Anti-tank mine}}

[[Anti-tank mine]]s were created in response to the invention of the [[tank]] in the [[First World War]]. Though improvised at first, purpose-built designs were soon developed. Set off when a tank passes, they attack the tank at one of its weaker areas – the tracks. They are designed to immobilize or destroy vehicles and their occupants. In U.S. military terminology destroying the vehicles is referred to as a [[catastrophic kill]] while only disabling its movement is referred to as a [[mobility kill]].

Anti-tank mines are typically larger than anti-personnel mines and require more [[pressure]] to detonate. The high trigger pressure, normally requiring {{convert|100|kg|lb}} prevents them from being set off by [[infantry]] or smaller vehicles of lesser importance. More modern anti-tank mines use [[shaped charge]]s to focus and increase the armor penetration of the explosives.

==Anti-personnel mines==
{{Main|Anti-personnel mine}}
[[File:Anti personnel mine.JPG|thumb|[[Anti-personnel mine]] in Cambodia]]

Anti-personnel mines are designed primarily to kill or injure people, as opposed to vehicles. They are often designed to injure rather than kill to increase the logistical support (evacuation, medical) burden on the opposing force. Some types of anti-personnel mines can also damage the tracks or wheels of armored vehicles.

In the [[asymmetric warfare]] conflicts and civil wars of the 21st century, improvised explosives, known as [[Improvised explosive device|IED]]s, have partially supplanted conventional land mines as the source of injury to dismounted (pedestrian) soldiers and civilians. IEDs are used mainly by insurgents and terrorists against regular armed forces and civilians. The injuries from the anti-personnel [[Improvised explosive device|IED]] were recently reported in [[BMJ Open]] to be far worse than with landmines resulting in multiple limb [[amputation]]s and lower body mutilation.<ref>{{cite journal |last1= Smith |first1=S. |first2=Melissa |last2=Devine |first3=Joseph |last3=Taddeo |first4=Vivian Charles |last4=McAlister |date= 2017|title= Injury profile suffered by targets of antipersonnel improvised explosive devices: prospective cohort study|journal= BMJ Open|volume= 7|issue= 7|page= e014697|doi= 10.1136/bmjopen-2016-014697|pmc= 5691184|pmid= 28835410}}</ref>

==Warfare==
[[File:mine sweep.jpg|thumb|A U.S. Army Explosive Ordnance Disposal technician removing the [[fuze]] from a Russian-made mine to clear a minefield outside of Fallujah, Iraq]]
[[File:Falklands-Minefield.JPG|thumb|Minefield laid by Argentinian forces in Port William, Falkland Islands in [[Falklands War|1982]]. Demining was inhibited by the boggy terrain]]

Land mines were designed for two main uses:
* To create defensive tactical barriers, channelling attacking forces into predetermined fire zones or slowing an invading force's progress to allow reinforcements to arrive.
* To act as passive [[area-denial|area denial]] weapons (to deny the enemy use of valuable terrain, resources or facilities when active defense of the area is not desirable or possible).

Land mines are currently used in large quantities mostly for this first purpose, thus their widespread use in the [[demilitarized zone]]s (DMZs) of likely flashpoints such as [[Cyprus]], [[Afghanistan]] and Korea. Syria has used land mines in [[Syrian civil war|its civil war]].<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.economist.com/asia/2013/07/13/politically-explosive |title=Landmines in Myanmar: Politically explosive |date=July 13, 2013 |newspaper=The Economist |access-date=March 19, 2019 |archive-date=August 2, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200802231227/https://www.economist.com/asia/2013/07/13/politically-explosive |url-status=live }}</ref> Since 2021, land mine use has risen in [[Myanmar]]<ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-02-19 |title='I just want my legs back': Myanmar landmine casualties soar |url=https://apnews.com/article/myanmar-government-china-0451f807790016c8e46114bb01441fe4 |access-date=2023-10-27 |website=AP News |language=en}}</ref> during its [[Internal conflict in Burma|internal conflict]]. As of 2023, both Russia and Ukraine have deployed land mines.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2023-07-22 |title=Ukraine is now the most mined country. It will take decades to make safe. |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/07/22/ukraine-is-now-most-mined-country-it-will-take-decades-make-safe/ |access-date=2023-10-27 |newspaper=Washington Post |language=en}}</ref>

In [[military science]], minefields are considered a defensive or harassing weapon, used to slow the enemy down, to deny certain terrain to the enemy, to focus enemy movement into [[kill zone]]s, or to reduce [[morale]] by randomly attacking materiel and personnel. In some engagements during World War II, anti-tank mines accounted for half of all vehicles disabled.

Since [[combat engineer]]s with mine-clearing equipment can clear a path through a minefield relatively quickly, mines are usually considered effective only if covered by fire.

The extents of minefields are often marked with warning signs and cloth tape, to prevent friendly troops and non-combatants from entering them. Of course, sometimes terrain can be denied using dummy minefields. Most forces carefully record the location and disposition of their own minefields, because warning signs can be destroyed or removed, and minefields should eventually be cleared. Minefields may also have marked or unmarked safe routes to allow friendly movement through them.

Placing minefields without marking and recording them for later removal is considered a [[war crime]] under Protocol II of the [[Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons]], which is itself an annex to the [[Geneva Conventions]].

Artillery and aircraft-scatterable mines allow minefields to be placed in front of moving formations of enemy units, including the reinforcement of minefields or other obstacles that have been breached by enemy engineers. They can also be used to cover the retreat of forces disengaging from the enemy, or for interdiction of supporting units to isolate front line units from resupply. In most cases these minefields consist of a combination of anti-tank and anti-personnel mines, with the anti-personnel mines making removal of the anti-tank mines more difficult. Mines of this type used by the United States are{{Citation needed|date=April 2012}} designed to self-destruct after a preset period of time, reducing the requirement for mine clearing to only those mines whose self-destruct system did not function. Some designs of these scatterable mines require an electrical charge (capacitor or battery) to detonate. After a certain period of time, either the charge dissipates, leaving them effectively inert or the circuitry is designed such that upon reaching a low level, the device is triggered, destroying the mine.

===Guerrilla warfare===
None of the conventional tactics and norms of mine warfare applies when they are employed in a guerrilla role:{{citation needed|date=September 2019}}
* The mines are not used in defensive roles (for specific position or area).
* Mined areas are not marked.
* Mines are usually placed singly and not in groups covering an area.
* Mines are often left unattended (not covered by fire).

Land mines were commonly deployed by insurgents during the [[South African Border War]], leading directly to the development of the first dedicated [[MRAP|mine-protected armoured vehicles]] in South Africa.<ref name=SurviveRide>{{cite book |last1=Camp |first1=Steve |last2=Helmoed-Römer |first2=Heitman |title=Surviving the Ride: A pictorial history of South African Manufactured Mine-Protected vehicles |date=November 2014 |pages=19–34 |publisher=30 Degrees South |location=Pinetown |isbn=978-1-928211-17-4}}</ref> Namibian insurgents used anti-tank mines to throw South African military convoys into disarray before attacking them.<ref name=SurviveRide /> To discourage detection and removal efforts, they also laid anti-personnel mines directly parallel to the anti-tank mines.<ref name="Mines1">{{cite web |title=Namibia |url=http://archives.the-monitor.org/index.php/publications/display?url=lm/2004/namibia.html |website=Landmine and Cluster Munition Monitor |access-date=March 19, 2019 |archive-date=August 3, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200803113024/http://archives.the-monitor.org/index.php/publications/display?url=lm%2F2004%2Fnamibia.html |url-status=live }}</ref> This initially resulted in heavy South African military and police casualties, as the vast distances of road network vulnerable to insurgent [[sapper]]s every day made comprehensive detection and clearance efforts impractical.<ref name=SurviveRide /> The only other viable option was the adoption of mine-protected vehicles which could remain mobile on the roads with little risk to their passengers even if a mine was detonated.<ref name=SurviveRide /> South Africa is widely credited with inventing the [[v-hull]], a vee-shaped hull for armoured vehicles which deflects mine blasts away from the passenger compartment.<ref name=SurviveRide />

During the ongoing [[Syrian Civil War]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://reliefweb.int/report/iraq/new-landmine-emergency-threatens-communities-iraq-and-syria|title=New landmine emergency threatens communities in Iraq and Syria|author=Mines Advisory Group|date=January 11, 2017|website=reliefweb.int|access-date=March 19, 2019|archive-date=October 11, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171011152309/https://reliefweb.int/report/iraq/new-landmine-emergency-threatens-communities-iraq-and-syria|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.economist.com/news/middle-east-and-africa/21719830-clearing-syria-and-iraq-unexploded-bombs-and-booby-traps-could-take|title=Islamic State is losing land but leaving mines behind|date=March 30, 2017|newspaper=The Economist|access-date=March 19, 2019|archive-date=March 7, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180307161459/https://www.economist.com/news/middle-east-and-africa/21719830-clearing-syria-and-iraq-unexploded-bombs-and-booby-traps-could-take|url-status=live}}</ref> [[Iraqi Civil War (2014–2017)]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2015/02/treacherous-battle-free-iraq-landmines-150209103531036.html|title=The treacherous battle to free Iraq of landmines|last1=Cousins|first1=Sophie|date=February 20, 2015|publisher=Al Jazeera|access-date=March 19, 2019|archive-date=October 11, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171011201525/http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2015/02/treacherous-battle-free-iraq-landmines-150209103531036.html|url-status=live}}</ref> and [[Yemeni Civil War (2015–present)]]<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.hrw.org/news/2017/04/20/yemen-houthi-saleh-forces-using-landmines|title=Yemen: Houthi-Saleh Forces Using Landmines|date=April 20, 2017|publisher=Human Rights Watch|access-date=March 19, 2019|archive-date=March 22, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180322202754/https://www.hrw.org/news/2017/04/20/yemen-houthi-saleh-forces-using-landmines|url-status=live}}</ref> land mines have been used for both defensive and guerrilla purposes.

===Laying mines===
[[File:Minefield warning.JPG|thumb|Minefield warning on the [[Golan Heights]], still valid more than 40 years after creation of the field by the Syrian army]]

Minefields may be laid by several means. The preferred, but most labour-intensive, way is to have engineers bury the mines, since this will make the mines practically invisible and reduce the number of mines needed to deny the enemy an area. Mines can be laid by specialized mine-laying vehicles. Mine-scattering shells may be fired by [[artillery]] from a distance of several tens of kilometers.

Mines may be dropped from [[helicopter]]s or airplanes, or ejected from [[cluster bomb]]s or [[cruise missile]]s.

Anti-tank minefields can be scattered with anti-personnel mines to make clearing them manually more time-consuming; and anti-personnel minefields are scattered with anti-tank mines to prevent the use of armored vehicles to clear them quickly. Some anti-tank mine types are also able to be triggered by infantry, giving them a dual purpose even though their main and official intention is to work as anti-tank weapons.

Some minefields are specifically [[booby-trap]]ped to make clearing them more dangerous. Mixed anti-personnel and anti-tank minefields, anti-personnel mines ''under'' anti-tank mines, and fuses separated from mines have all been used for this purpose. Often, single mines are backed by a secondary device, designed to kill or maim personnel tasked with clearing the mine.

Multiple anti-tank mines have been buried in stacks of two or three with the bottom mine fuzed, to multiply the penetrating power. Since the mines are buried, the ground directs the energy of the blast in a single direction—through the bottom of the target vehicle or on the track.

Another specific use is to mine an aircraft runway immediately after it has been bombed to delay or discourage repair. Some cluster bombs combine these functions. One example was the British [[JP233]] cluster bomb which includes munitions to damage (crater) the runway as well as anti-personnel mines in the same cluster bomb. As a result of the anti-personnel mine ban it was withdrawn from British Royal Air Force service, and the last stockpiles of the mine were destroyed on October 19, 1999.<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm199899/cmhansrd/vo991025/text/91025w12.htm#91025w12.htm_sbhd4 | title=House of Commons Hansard Written Answers for 25 Oct 1999 (pt 12) | access-date=January 22, 2019 | archive-date=December 13, 2021 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211213172148/https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm199899/cmhansrd/vo991025/text/91025w12.htm#91025w12.htm_sbhd4 | url-status=live }}</ref>

==Demining==
{{Main|Demining}}
[[File:Mines-raffi-kojian-IMG 1384.JPG|thumb|School posters in [[Nagorno Karabakh|Karabakh]] educating children on mines and [[Unexploded ordnance|UXO]]]]
[[Image:British engineers demining.jpg|thumb|right|British [[Royal Engineers]] practice mine clearance.]]

Metal detectors were first used for demining, after their invention by the Polish officer [[Józef Kosacki]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Croll |first1=Mike |title=The history of landmines |date=1998 |publisher=Leo Cooper |isbn=9780850526288}}</ref> His invention, known as the [[Polish mine detector]], was used by the Allies alongside [[mine flail|mechanical methods]], to clear the German mine fields during the [[Second Battle of El Alamein]] when 500 units were shipped to [[Bernard Montgomery, 1st Viscount Montgomery of Alamein|Field Marshal Montgomery]]'s Eighth Army.<ref>Tadeusz Modelski ''The Polish Contribution to The Ultimate Allied Victory in The Second World War'', Worthing, England 1986, Page 221</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Modelski |first1=Tadeusz |title=The Polish contribution to the ultimate Allied victory in the Second World War |date=1986 |publisher=T. Modelski |isbn=9780951117101|page=221}}</ref>

The Nazis used captured civilians who were chased across minefields to detonate the explosives. According to Laurence Rees "[[Curt von Gottberg]], the SS-Obergruppenführer who, during 1943, conducted another huge anti-partisan action called [[Operation Cottbus|Operation Kottbus]] on the eastern border of [[Belarus]], reported that 'approximately two to three thousand local people were blown up in the clearing of the minefields'."<ref>Laurence Rees (1999). ''[[War of the Century]]: when Hitler fought Stalin''. [[BBC Books]]. p.118. {{ISBN|0-563-38477-8}}</ref>

Whereas the placing and arming of mines is relatively inexpensive and simple, the process of detecting and removing them is typically expensive, slow, and dangerous. This is especially true of irregular warfare where mines were used on an ad hoc basis in unmarked and undocumented areas. Anti-personnel mines are most difficult to find, due to their small size and many being made almost entirely of [[minimum metal mine|non-metallic materials]] specifically to evade [[metal detector]]s.

Manual clearing remains the most effective technique for clearing mine fields, although hybrid techniques involving the use of animals and robots are being developed. Many animals are desirable due to having a strong sense of smell capable of detecting a land mine.<ref>[http://www.apopo.org/detection_rats.php APOPO Landmine Removal Rats] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100131075506/http://www.apopo.org/detection_rats.php |date=January 31, 2010 }}</ref> Animals such as rats and dogs can be trained to detect the explosive agent.<ref>{{cite news|last=Mott |first=Maryann |url=https://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/02/0210_040210_minerats.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180202033509/https://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/02/0210_040210_minerats.html|archive-date=2 February 2018|title=Bees, Giant African Rats Used to Sniff Landmines |publisher=National Geographic News |date=February 10, 2004 }}</ref>

Other techniques involve the use of [[geolocation]] technologies. {{As of|2008}} a joint team of researchers at the University of New South Wales and Ohio State University was working to develop a system based on multi-sensor integration.<ref>{{cite web |last=Grad |first=Paul |title=Detecting Land Mines: New Technology |url=http://www.asmmag.com/features/new-technology-for-detecting-land-mines |date=14 February 2009 |publisher=Asian Surveying and Mapping |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090213173621/http://asmmag.com/features/new-technology-for-detecting-land-mines |archive-date=February 13, 2009 }}</ref> Furthermore, defence firms have been increasingly competing on the creation of unmanned demining systems. In addition to conventional remote control mine defusing robots that operate either through precise mechanical dismantling, electronic destabilization and kinetic triggering methods, fully autonomous methods are in development. Notably, these autonomous methods utilize unmanned ground systems, or more recently subterranean systems such as the EMC Operations Termite, using either outward pressure differentials along system bodies, or corkscrew mechanisms.

The laying of land mines has inadvertently led to a positive development in the [[Falkland Islands]]. Minefields laid near the sea during the [[Falklands War]] have become favorite places for penguins, which do not weigh enough to detonate the mines. Therefore, they can breed safely, free of human intrusion. These odd sanctuaries have proven so popular and lucrative for [[ecotourism]] that efforts existed to prevent removal of the mines,<ref>{{cite news |last=Milliken |first=Mary |title=Penguins Find Peace in Falklands War Minefields |url=https://www.enn.com/articles/2716-penguins-find-peace-in-falklands-war-minefields |date=September 28, 2005 |agency=Reuters |work=Environmental News Network}}</ref> but the area has since been demined.<ref>{{cite news |last=Teller |first=Matthew |title=The Falklands penguins that would not explode |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-39821956 |date=May 7, 2017 |work=BBC}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |author=<!--not stated--> |title=Falkland islanders celebrate being landmine free - after nearly 40 years |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-54894171 |date=November 14, 2020 |work=BBC}}</ref>

==International treaties==
{{Main|Ottawa Treaty}}
[[File:Ottawa Treaty members.svg|thumb|upright=1.35|Party states to the Ottawa Treaty as of 2018{{legend|#0078AC|Signed and ratified}}
{{legend|#0096D7|Acceded or succeeded}}{{legend|#AC0078|Only signed}}]]

The use of land mines is controversial because they are indiscriminate weapons, harming soldier and civilian alike. They remain dangerous after the conflict in which they were deployed has ended, killing and injuring civilians and rendering land impassable and unusable for decades. To make matters worse, many factions have not kept accurate records (or any at all) of the exact locations of their minefields, making removal efforts painstakingly slow. These facts pose serious difficulties in many developing nations where the presence of mines hampers resettlement, agriculture, and tourism. The [[International Campaign to Ban Landmines]] campaigned successfully to prohibit their use, culminating in the 1997 Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on their Destruction, known informally as the [[Ottawa Treaty]].

The Treaty came into force on March 1, 1999. The treaty was the result of the leadership of the Governments of Canada, [[Norway]], South Africa and [[Mozambique]] working with the ''[[International Campaign to Ban Landmines]]'', launched in 1992. The campaign and its leader, [[Jody Williams]], won the [[Nobel Peace Prize]] in 1997 for its efforts.

The treaty does not include [[anti-tank mine]]s, [[cluster bomb]]s or [[claymore mine|Claymore-type mines]] operated in command mode and focuses specifically on anti-personnel mines, because these pose the greatest long term (post-conflict) risk to humans and animals since they are typically designed to be triggered by any movement or pressure of only a few kilograms, whereas anti-tank mines require much more weight (or a combination of factors that would exclude humans). Existing stocks must be destroyed within four years of signing the treaty.

Signatories of the [[Ottawa Treaty]] agree that they will not use, produce, stockpile or trade in anti-personnel land mines. In 1997, there were 122 signatories; as of early 2016, 162 countries have joined the Treaty. Thirty-six countries, including the People's Republic of China, the Russian Federation and the United States, which together may hold tens of millions of stockpiled anti-personnel mines, are not party to the Convention.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.apminebanconvention.org/states-parties-to-the-convention/|title=Ensuring universal adherence|website=The Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on Their Destruction|access-date=March 19, 2019|archive-date=March 6, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160306163532/http://www.apminebanconvention.org/states-parties-to-the-convention/|url-status=live}}</ref> Another 34 have yet to sign on. The United States did not sign because the treaty lacks an exception for the [[Korean Demilitarized Zone]].

Article 3 of the Treaty permits countries to retain land mines for use in training or development of countermeasures. Sixty-four countries have taken this option.

As an alternative to an outright ban, 10 countries follow regulations that are contained in a 1996 amendment of Protocol II of the [[Convention on Conventional Weapons]] (CCW). The countries are China, [[Finland]], India, Israel, [[Morocco]], [[Pakistan]], [[South Korea]] and the United States. [[Sri Lanka]], which had adhered to this regulation, announced in 2016 that it would join the [[Ottawa Treaty]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.apminebanconvention.org/newsroom/press-releases/detail/article/1457097214-sri-lanka-soon-to-be-the-163rd-state-party-to-the-anti-personnel-mine-ban-convention/|title=Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention|website=apminebanconvention.org|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160412115746/http://www.apminebanconvention.org/newsroom/press-releases/detail/article/1457097214-sri-lanka-soon-to-be-the-163rd-state-party-to-the-anti-personnel-mine-ban-convention/|archive-date=April 12, 2016}}</ref>

Submunitions and [[unexploded ordnance]] from [[cluster munition]]s can also function as land mines, in that they continue to kill and maim indiscriminately long after conflicts have ended. The [[Convention on Cluster Munitions]] (CCM) is an international treaty that prohibits the use, distribution, or manufacture of cluster munitions. The CCM entered into force in 2010, and has been ratified by over 100 countries.

==Manufacturers==
Before the Ottawa Treaty was adopted, the Arms Project of [[Human Rights Watch]] identified "almost 100 companies and government agencies in 48 countries" that had manufactured "more than 340 types of anti-personnel land mines in recent decades". Five to ten million mines were produced per year with a value of $50 to $200&nbsp;million. The largest producers were probably China, Italy and the [[Soviet Union]]. The companies involved included giants such as [[Daimler AG|Daimler-Benz]], the [[Fiat Chrysler Automobiles|Fiat Group]], the [[Daewoo]] Group, [[RCA]] and [[General Electric]].<ref>{{harvnb|Landmines: a Deadly Legacy}}</ref><ref>{{Cite report |url=https://www.hrw.org/reports/1997/gen2/General2.htm |title=Exposing the source: U.S. Companies and the Production of Antipersonnel Mines |last=Human Rights Watch |issue=2 |volume=9 |date=April 1997 |access-date=June 4, 2019 |website=hrw.org |archive-date=December 28, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191228153605/https://www.hrw.org/reports/1997/gen2/General2.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>

As of 2017, the ''Landmine & Cluster Munition Monitor'' identified four countries that were "likely to be actively producing" land mines: India, [[Myanmar]], [[Pakistan]] and [[South Korea]]. Another seven states reserved the right to make them but were probably not doing so: China, [[Cuba]], [[Iran]], [[North Korea]], Russia, Singapore, and [[Vietnam]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.the-monitor.org/en-gb/the-issues/faqs/most-common/how-many-countries-produce-mines-or-cluster-munitions.aspx |title=How many countries produce mines or cluster munitions? |website=Landmine & Cluster Munition Monitor: The Issues |publisher=International Campaign to Ban Landmines and Cluster Munition Coalition |access-date=June 4, 2019 |archive-date=June 4, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190604223555/http://www.the-monitor.org/en-gb/the-issues/faqs/most-common/how-many-countries-produce-mines-or-cluster-munitions.aspx |url-status=live }}</ref>

In recent years, arms industry manufacturers have been utilizing non-static mines that can be specifically targeted in order to remove the imprecision of anti-personnel devices, promoting the use of movable underground systems, movable above ground systems and systems that can be expired (automatically or manually via strategic operators.)
Development of systems such as Termite, by arms firm EMC Operations has led to criticism from proponents of past multilateral agreements against the placement of land mines and submunitions due to expectations of similar long-dormancy period issues after systems break or fail after it was announced that vehicles would likely be armed to destroy static targets, rather than focus purely on demining efforts.

== Impacts ==
Throughout the world there are millions of hectares that are contaminated with land mines.<ref name="Leaning 1157–1161">{{Cite journal|last=Leaning|first=Jennifer|date=October 31, 2000|title=Environment and health: 5. Impact of war|pmc=80251|journal=CMAJ: Canadian Medical Association Journal|volume=163|issue=9|pages=1157–1161|issn=0820-3946|pmid=11079063}}</ref>

=== Casualties ===
From 1999 to 2017, the ''Landmine Monitor'' has recorded over 120,000 [[Casualty (person)|casualties]] from mines, IEDs and ERW; it estimates that another 1,000 per year go unrecorded. The estimate for all time is over half a million. In 2017, at least 2,793 were killed and 4,431 injured. 87% of the casualties were civilians and 47% were children (less than 18 years old). The largest numbers of casualties were in Afghanistan (2,300), Syria (1,906), and Ukraine (429).<ref>{{Cite report |url=http://www.the-monitor.org/en-gb/reports/2018/landmine-monitor-2018.aspx |title=Landmine Monitor 2018 |date=November 20, 2018 |publisher=International Campaign to Ban Landmines and Cluster Munition Coalition |pages=49–51 |access-date=June 5, 2019 |archive-date=November 6, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211106215828/http://www.the-monitor.org/en-gb/reports/2018/landmine-monitor-2018.aspx |url-status=live }}</ref>

=== Environmental ===
Natural disasters can have a significant impact on efforts to demine areas of land. For example, the floods that occurred in Mozambique in 1999 and 2000 may have displaced hundreds of thousands of land mines left from the war. Uncertainty about their locations delayed recovery efforts.<ref name="Leaning 1157–1161"/>

=== Land degradation ===
From a study by  [[Asmeret Asefaw Berhe]], [[land degradation]] caused by land mines "can be classified into five groups: access denial, [[Biodiversity loss|loss of biodiversity]], micro-relief disruption, chemical composition, and loss of productivity". The effects of an explosion depend on: "(i) the objectives and methodological approaches of the investigation; (ii) concentration of mines in a unit area; (iii) chemical composition and toxicity of the mines; (iv) previous uses of the land and (v) alternatives that are available for the affected populations".<ref name=Berhe2006>{{Cite journal|last=Berhe|first=A. A.|date=August 7, 2006|title=The contribution of landmines to land degradation|journal=Land Degradation & Development|volume=18|issue=1|pages=1–15|doi=10.1002/ldr.754|s2cid=5848182 |issn=1085-3278}}</ref>

==== Access denial ====
The most prominent ecological issue associated with land mines (or fear of them) is denial of access to vital resources (where "access" refers to the ability to use resources, in contrast to "property", the right to use them).<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Ribot|first1=Jesse C.|last2=Peluso|first2=Nancy Lee|date=October 22, 2009|title=A Theory of Access |journal=Rural Sociology|volume=68|issue=2|pages=153–181|doi=10.1111/j.1549-0831.2003.tb00133.x|s2cid=146470055 |issn=0036-0112}}</ref> The presence and fear of presence of even a single land mine can discourage access for agriculture, water supplies and possibly conservation measures.<ref name=Berhe2006/> Reconstruction and development of important structures such as schools and hospitals are likely to be delayed, and populations may shift to urban areas, increasing overcrowding and the risk of spreading diseases.<ref name=Newman>{{Cite journal|last1=Newman|first1=Robert D.|last2=Mercer|first2=Mary Anne|date=July 19, 2013|title=Environmental Health Consequences of Land Mines|journal=International Journal of Occupational and Environmental Health|volume=6|issue=3|pages=243–248|doi=10.1179/oeh.2000.6.3.243|pmid=10926729|s2cid=20819737|issn=1077-3525}}</ref>

Access denial can have positive effects on the environment. When a mined area becomes a "no-man's land", plants and vegetation have a chance to grow and recover. For example, formerly arable lands in Nicaragua returned to forests and remained undisturbed after the establishment of land mines. Similarly, the penguins of the Falkland Islands have benefited because they are not heavy enough to trigger the mines present.<ref>{{Cite news| url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-39821956| title=The penguins that would not explode| work=BBC News| date=May 7, 2017| access-date=January 23, 2019| archive-date=January 16, 2019| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190116173812/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-39821956| url-status=live}}</ref> However, these benefits can only last as long as animals, tree limbs, etc. do not detonate the mines. In addition, long idle periods could "potentially end up creating or exacerbating loss of productivity", particularly within land of low quality.<ref name=Berhe2006/>

==== Loss of biodiversity ====
Land mines can threaten [[biodiversity]] by wiping out vegetation and wildlife during explosions or demining. This extra burden can push threatened and endangered species to extinction. They have also been used by poachers to target endangered species. Displaced refugees hunt animals for food and destroy habitat by making shelters.<ref name=Berhe2006/>

Shrapnel, or abrasions of bark or roots caused by detonated mines, can cause the slow death of trees and provide entry sites for wood-rotting fungi. When land mines make land unavailable for farming, residents resort to the forests to meet all of their survival needs. This exploitation furthers the loss of biodiversity.<ref name=Berhe2006/>

==== Chemical contamination ====
Near mines that have exploded or decayed, soils tend to be contaminated, particularly with heavy metals. Products produced from the explosives, both organic and inorganic substances, are most likely to be "long lasting, water-soluble and toxic even in small amounts".<ref name=Berhe2006/> They can be implemented either "directly or indirectly into soil, water bodies, microorganisms and plants with drinking water, food products or during respiration".<ref name=Berhe2006/>

Toxic compounds can also find their way into bodies of water and [[bioaccumulation|accumulate]] in land animals, fish and plants. They can act "as a nerve poison to hamper growth", with deadly effect.<ref name=Berhe2006/>

==See also==
{{col-begin}}{{col-break}}
* [[Convention on Cluster Munitions]]
* [[Countermine System]]
* [[Demolition belt]]
* [[List of global issues]]
* [[Mine Protected Vehicle (disambiguation)|Mine Protected Vehicle]]
* [[Unexploded ordnance]] (UXO)
* [[Improvised explosive device]]
* [[TM 31-210 Improvised Munitions Handbook]]

;Mines
* [[Anti-personnel mine]]
* [[ARGES mine]]
* [[Blast resistant mine]]
* [[Intelligent Munitions System]]
* [[List of land mines]]
* [[LPZ mine]]
* [[Minimum metal mine]]
* [[PFM-1]]
* [[Smart mine]]
* [[Wooden box mine]]
* [[Bulgarian anti-helicopter mines]]

{{col-break}}
[[File:Minenraeum anzug.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Bomb disposal]] [[Advanced Bomb Suit]]]]
;Places
* [[Land mines in Latin America and the Caribbean]]
* [[Land mines in Cambodia]]
* [[Landmines in Israel]]
* [[Land mines in North Africa]]
* [[Uzbek-Tajikistan border minefields]]

;Organisations
* [[Mines Advisory Group]] (MAG)
* [[Mine clearance agencies]]
{{col-end}}

==Notes==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==References==
{{Refbegin}}
* {{cite book |title=A Guide to Mine Action |date=March 2014 |publisher=Geneva International Centre for Humanitarian Demining |location=Geneva, Switzerland |isbn=978-2940369-48-5 |edition=5th |url=https://www.gichd.org/fileadmin/GICHD-resources/rec-documents/Guide-to-mine-action-2014.pdf |access-date=March 26, 2019 |ref={{harvid|GICHD Guide to Mine Action}} |archive-date=October 19, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181019084559/https://www.gichd.org/fileadmin/GICHD-resources/rec-documents/Guide-to-mine-action-2014.pdf |url-status=live }}
* {{cite book |last1=Croll |first1=Mike |title=Landmines in War and Peace: From Their Origin to the Present Day |date=2008 |publisher=Casemate Publishers |isbn=9781844685011 |edition=Kindle }}
* {{cite report |last1=Finaud |first1=Marc |last2=Finckh |first2=Elena |last3=Hardy |first3=Giezendanner |title=Addressing Improvised Explosive Devices |url=http://www.unidir.org/files/publications/pdfs/-en-641.pdf |publisher=United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research |date=2015 |access-date=March 20, 2019 |archive-date=November 23, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181123184037/http://www.unidir.org/files/publications/pdfs/-en-641.pdf |url-status=live }}
* {{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/landminesdeadlyl00arms |title=Landmines: a Deadly Legacy |last1=The Arms Project of Human Rights Watch |last2=Physicians for Human Rights |date=1993 |publisher=Human Rights Watch |isbn=1564321134 |location=New York |ref={{harvid|Landmines: a Deadly Legacy}} |url-access=registration }}
* {{cite book |last1=Needham |first1=Joseph |title=Science and Civilisation in China: Volume 5, Chemistry and Chemical Technology, Part 7, Military Technology: The Gunpowder Epic |date=1987 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=9780521303583}}
* {{cite report |first1=Roger L. |last1=Roy |first2=Shaye K. |last2=Friesen |publisher=[[Department of National Defence (Canada)]] |date=October 1999 |docket=Research Note 9906 |url=http://213.162.22.164/fileadmin/pdf/review_conference/regional_conference/amman/Historical_Uses_Study.pdf |title=Historical Uses Of Anti-Personnel Landmines: Impact On Land Force Operations |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080626141634/http://213.162.22.164/fileadmin/pdf/review_conference/regional_conference/amman/Historical_Uses_Study.pdf |archive-date=June 26, 2008 }}
* {{cite journal |last1=Schneck |first1=William C. |title=The origins of military mines: part II |journal=Engineer |date=November 1998 |pages=44–50 |url=https://usace.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p16021coll8/id/2679 |access-date=May 19, 2019 |archive-date=August 3, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200803012911/https://usace.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p16021coll8/id/2679 |url-status=live }}
{{Refend}}

==External links==
{{Commons|Land mine}}
* [https://icbl.org/en-gb/home.aspx ICBL: International Campaign to Ban Landmines] 
* [http://www.icrc.org/Web/Eng/siteeng0.nsf/htmlall/section_ihl_landmines Landmines and international humanitarian law], ICRC
* [https://books.google.com/books?id=vSYDAAAAMBAJ&dq=popular+science+june+1941&pg=PA93 Detector Spots Buried Mines] 1943, Popular Science article on the "Polish" mine detector.
* [https://books.google.com/books?id=2ykDAAAAMBAJ&dq=popular+science+may+1941&pg=PA128 "How Axis Land Mines Work", April 1944] detailed article on types of land mines
* [http://mineaction.org E-Mine] Electronic Mine Information Network by United Nations Mine Action Services
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20090213173621/http://asmmag.com/features/new-technology-for-detecting-land-mines Detecting Land Mines: New Technology], by Paul Grad. Published by [http://www.asmmag.com ''Asian Surveying and Mapping'']
* [[Ken Rutherford (scientist)|Ken Rutherford]], [http://maic.jmu.edu/journal/6.3/focus/rutherford/rutherford.htm "Landmines: A Survivor's Tale"] – [[Mine Action Information Center|Journal of Mine Action]]

{{Fortifications}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Land Mine}}
[[Category:Chinese inventions]]
[[Category:Explosive weapons]]
[[Category:Land mines| ]]