Clearing of enemy dug-in positions usually consists of artillery barrage, throwing grenades into dugouts and slowly moving through the maze of trenches. It is brutal stuff, but something people at war have to do to take enemy positions. Interestingly, in a new video you can see how the defenders of Ukraine use landmines in their trench-clearing operations.
Soviet anti-tank landmine TM-62 is a very common weapon, but is rarely used as a hand grenade. Image credit: RG72 via Wikimedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Landmines are meant to slow down enemy advances. They are placed in the ground as a form of a trap. However, the war forces people to be creative. For example, the TM-62 is a very common weapon. It is a Soviet anti-tank landmine, featuring the classic pancake shape.
The warehouses of many former Soviet countries are full of these mines, because they were once extremely common, made in huge numbers. And Ukraine, of course, has many of the TM-62 landmines in stock, which they use in a variety of ways. Sometimes they put them in the ground in places where they want to stop the advancement of Russian forces, sometimes they use them as hand grenades, apparently.
To be fair, while Ukraine is very short on ammunition, it probably isn’t short on hand grenades. Missiles and, of course, artillery shells are something the defenders of Ukraine are lacking the most. However, simple regular hand grenades are sometimes just too weak.
An interesting video appeared on the Internet, which shows how Ukraine’s 81st brigade destroyed Russian positions near Bilohorivka in the Luhansk region. Simple, fast and methodical operation is carried out in the middle of the day. The defenders of Ukraine reported that the operation didn’t cost them any casualties. It is interesting that Russian dugouts were destroyed not only by regular hand grenades, but also by modified TM-62 anti-tank mines.
Footage showing Ukrainian servicemen clearing trenches and dugouts using anti-tank TM-62 mines.
Operation of 81st Brigade near Bilohorivka.
Source: https://t.co/JPDNIm6FC6According to the uploader, the positions were taken without losses, one enemy was found dead, two managed… pic.twitter.com/yr05dBhLxI
— WarTranslated (Dmitri) (@wartranslated) March 19, 2024
TM-62 landmines were modified for this purpose – they received a long fuse that can be ignited with a simple lighter. The soldier simply lights a fuse and throws the landmine at the Russian positions. A few seconds later, a powerful explosion is heard and the dirt starts raining down on the soldiers’ heads.
The TM-62 anti-tank landmine weighs 9.5 kg and 7.5 kg is the explosive material. By comparison, one hand grenade can contain as little as 60 grams of explosive material. That is why transformed into a bomb TM-62 blows up the entire dugout. It essentially replaces 10 hand grenades.
By the way, larger Ukrainian drones often throw anti-tank mines on the heads of the Russian soldiers as a kind of aerial bomb. Thus, the TM-62 is used not only as a conventional anti-tank landmine, but also as a hand grenade and as a bomb dropped by a drone. Quite many use cases for something that was made just as a simple anti-tank mine.
Written by Povilas M.
Sources: WarTranslated (Dmitri) Twitter, Wikipedia