German pioneers, the foot soldiers who went ahead of the main company to pave the way for them, initially used existing artillery and mortar shells fitted with sensitive fuses. They also employed command-detonated mines, which are the forerunners of modern full-width attack anti-tank mines. These earliest anti-tank mines were scattered at random to reinforce wire obstacles and anti-tank ditches in front of the trench lines. Most of the early improvised anti-tank mines used by the Germans were very large with one dimension in excess of a meter. Because of the size, large holes were dug to bury the mines which made it relatively easy for the Allied sappers (military engineer who lays, detects and disarms mines) to locate the mines.

The German Flachmine 17 landmine was mass produced starting in 1916 after the appearance of British and French tanks. Consisting of a wooden box measuring approximately 20 x 30 x 5 cm and weighing about 4.6 kg, the box was filled with 18, 200 g explosive blocks. They were buried about 25 cm deep. Detonation was caused by one of four ‘spring percussion lighters’ and triggered either automatically by the weight of the tank passing over it, or remotely (which was greatly facilitated by the use of electric detonators).

During the course of the war, the Germans had produced approximately 3,852,000 land mines, with an average monthly production rate of 108,000 in 1917 and 128,000 in 1918.

The British also produced at least two varieties of anti-tank mines: one based on a pipe bomb (improvised from lengths of metal pipe, which were filled with explosives) and the other based on a trench mortar shell.

Early in 1918 the Experimental Section of the Royal Engineers was asked to produce a mine for use against the German tanks that were beginning to appear on the battlefield. The design eventually used was a wooden box, 18 in x 14 in at the base and 8 in high packed with 14 lb of gun cotton. It was triggered by depressing a hinged lid that operated a firing lever which was connected to a detonator.

The Bangalore Torpedo was used primarily for clearing barbed wire prior to an attack. It could be used while under fire, from a protected position in a trench. The torpedo was standardized to consist of a number of five-foot (1.5-meter) lengths of threaded pipe, one of which contained the explosive charge. The lengths of pipe were screwed together using connecting sleeves to make up the required length. A smooth nose cone was screwed onto the end to prevent snagging on the ground. From a protected position, it would then be pushed forward to a position under the thick barbed wire entanglements and detonated to clear an opening.

In an attempt to break the stalemate of trench warfare, the Germans were the first to begin tunneling under ‘no man’s land’ to plant large quantities of explosives beneath the Allied trenches. The British followed suit and by February 1915 had enlisted sewer workers to establish the 170th Company of Royal Engineers, to start mining under German positions. By June of 1916 no fewer than 25,000 men from Canada, Australia and Britain were involved in this form of mine warfare.

Mine warfare was possible due to the static nature of the fighting. The tunnels were often hundreds of yards long, with dug-out caverns in which to place the large quantities of explosives. Initially the mines used were made with gun cotton (nitrocellulose), a substance produced by the reaction of nitric and sulfuric acids on cellulose (in the form of carded cotton, flax, or any other woody fiber). The British later used a compound know as Ammonal which was a mixture of 65% ammonium nitrate, 15% TNT, 17% coarse aluminum and 3% charcoal.

Perhaps the most notable example of this type of warfare took place during the Battle of Messines on June 7, 1917. For more than a year leading up to the battle a large corps of Canadian, Australian, and British engineers had been working on tunneling under the German trenches. The tunnels, totaling more than 8,000 yards in length had been constructed in the face of tenacious German counter-mining efforts. Twenty-one mines were laid, using approximately 100,000 lbs of Ammonal. The Germans were also tunneling and on several occasions, were within meters of large British mine ‘chambers.’ The Germans found one mine and the chamber was wrecked by a counter-mine.

When 19 of the mines were simultaneously detonated on June 7, 1917 the tremendous explosion was heard in London. Approximately 10,000 German troops were killed and the German line which had stymied the British advance for almost three years was finally breached.