Sherman M4A2 – T10 Mine Exploder (M4A2 T10).

      Land mines are explosive apparatus installed concealed under or on the ground and designed to destroy or cripple enemy targets ( animals, men,vehicles or tanks…), as they pass over or near them. They typically explode automatically by pressure when a target walk or drive on them, although other detonation triggers are also sometimes used.

      The land mines may cause damage by direct blast effect, by shrapnel or by both. To increase their effectiveness, landmines (personal and/or anti-tank) are generally installed in large numbers in an area called minefield. In military science, minefields are considered a defensive or desabling weapon, used to slow the enemy advance, to interdict certain terrain to the enemy, to direct the enemy into kill zones, or to reduce the morale, affecting randomly equipment and personnel. In some battles during World War II, anti-tank mines accounted for half of all vehicles disabled.

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

      During the planning for D-day, a rapid means of clearing the extensive minefields expected in Normandy was considered essential for the success of the Invasion. As for the other types of specialized armor, the development of such equipment and its associated tactical doctrine was assigned by the British to their 79th Armoured Division.

       One early mine clearing device was the rotary flail consisting of a cylindrical rotor with chains attached. When rotated, the chains beat the ground ahead of the vehicle in the hope of detonating any mines at a safe distance. The early flails (Scorpion devices) fitted to the British tanks Matilda and Valentine were unreliable, but they were improved with further development. The Sherman Crab can be considered the apex of this development.

      In United States, the early work of the Ordnance Department on mechanical exploders concentrated on roller type equipment. The first of these was the mine exploder TI fitted to the M3 medium tank. It consisted of two large rollers pushed in front of the tank with one ahead of each track. Each roller was assembled from four heavy steel discs 1 meter in diameter spaced apart on a central shaft. A third roller of five such discs was towed at the center rear of the tank to give complete path coverage.

      In the beginning of 1944, the NDRC (National Defense Research Committee) designed a self-propelled mine exploder using two large (244cm in diameter) power driven wheels  mounted on a common shaft, that was to be wire-guided from an armored vehicle following in the cleared path.            Heavy steel discs were loosely mounted on the shaft allowing articulation when moving over rough ground. Thus they would explode any mines between the two wheels. A long trail extended behind the exploder assembly to a third wheel in the rear. Referred to as the Tricycle, plans called for the installation of an engine in each large wheel. Tests were run at Aberdeen in late 1943 using just the wheel and trail assembly without the engines or the loose center discs.

The exploder proved effective, but an operational perspective, field-changing an expendable wheel would be much easier, faster, and less expensive than replacing a far more complex self-powered wheel. This unorthodox complication was fortunately dropped in favor of a more practical approach when the Tricycle concept evolved into the T10 Mine Exploder. Prototyped by the Fisher Body Division of General Motors in Grand Blanc, M1, the pilot vehicle was an adaptation of the Sherman M4A2 large hatch/ high bustle turret.

font: http://the.shadock.free.fr/sherman_minutia

font: http://the.shadock.free.fr/sherman_minutia

The tank body was stripped of its tracks and running gear so that its front-mounted differential could be coupled (through a projecting pinion gear) to the oversize slotted wheels. The M4A2 high bustle turret with its 75mm gun was operationally retained, though presumably of no tactical use when the vehicle was remotely operated.

M4A2 T10 mine exploder – side view

Specs:

M4A2 T10 Mine Exploder
Type	Mine exploder tank
Place of origin	USA
Service history
In service	prototype (1944)
War	World War II
Production history
Designed	1940
Manufacturer	Fisher Body- Division of General Motors
No. built	1
Specifications
Weight	52.800 Kg
Length	8,74 m
Width	3,81 m
Height Ground clareance	3,58 m 1.410mm
Crew	remoted controled or 5 (commander, gunner, loader, driver, co-driver)
Armor	93 mm (3.7 in) effective against 7.5 cm APCBC with cast glacis 118 mm (4.6 in) effective against 7.5 cm APCBC with 47° RHA glacis
Main armament	75 mm M3 L/40 gun (90 rounds)
Sec. armament	.50 cal Browning M2HB machine gun (300 rounds), 2×.30-06Browning M1919A4machine guns (4,750 rounds)
Engine	G.M. 6046twin inline diesel; 375 hp @ 2,100 rpm
Power/weight	6,6 hp  / metric ton
Suspension Fuel capacity	2 front wheels and 1 rear wheel 560 liters
Operational range	241 km at 560 L; Diesel
Speed	11 km/h