Check out this fancy piece glass bowl:
Well not exactly a glass bowl :)
Instead, it's one of those trivia weapons developed during World War II.
This one was made by the Nazis and is known as the Glasmine 43. Tldr, it was an anti-personnel mine with a glass body.
Despite its small size, the mine was incredibly effective at maiming and killing enemy soldiers.
Being made mostly of glass came with two main benefits. First, it highly reduced the chances of being detected by a metal detector. And second, it saved valuable metal that could be used elsewhere.
An other benefit is that glass shrapnel largely evades X-rays and as a result victims were harder to treat.
The weapon was released in 1944. A total of about 11 mines were produced but with the end of the war approaching the Germans only managed to used only a million of these bad boys.
After the war, the glasmine was banned under the Ottawa Anti-Personnel Mine Convention, which banned the use and putting anti-personnel mines. Having said that, thousands, if not millions, of these mines remain buried in former conflict zones, like for example the Eifel National Park on the grounds of the Vogelsang Military Training Area.
And that's the quick story of yet another ingenious World War 2 weapon.
Here's a link to Wikipedia if you like to read more on this... fancy gadget
Posted Using InLeo Alpha
