POMZ

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POMZ-2M mine, showing a potential bobby trap configuration.

POMZ-2 mine, showing detail of the mine and various fuze configurations.

The POMZ, POMZ-2 and POMZ-2M (ПОМЗ, ПОМЗ-2, ПОМЗ-2М) are three types Russian made stake mounted anti-personnel fragmentation mine. The POMZ mine was used during the Second World War, and was superseded by the POMZ-2, and later the improved POMZ-2M. The mines and copies of the mines have been used in numerous conflicts including the Vietnam War, Korean War.

1 Description
2 Variants
3 Specification
4 Packaging
5 See also
6 References

[edit] Description

The mines consists of a small TNT explosive charge inside a hollow cylinderical cast iron fragmentation sleeve. The sleeve has large fragments cast into the outside and is open at the bottom to accept the insertion of a wooden or plastic mounting stake. On top is a weather cap covering a standardised fuze well, which in operation is normally armed with a MUV or VPF tripwire fuze.

The POMZ-2M has a threaded fuze well, while the earlier POMZ-2 was unthreaded and the fuze and igniter would sometimes fall out if the mine was disturbed. The POMZ-2 has 6 rows of square performed fragments while the POMZ-2M has 5 rows and is slightly shorter.

The crude fragmentation jacket produces an uneven fragmentation effect and the effective radius of the mine is often quoted as four meters, but a small number of large fragments may be lethal at ranges far exceeding that.

The wooden stakes tend to rot in tropical climates, leaving the mine if armed, in an extremely unpredictable state.

[edit] Variants

Yugoslav PMR-2A variant of POMZ anti-personnel mine, Balkans 1996

Being of simple construction, these mines have been widely copied, including non-standardised patterns informal guerilla workshops. Some mass produced copies:

Type 58 and Type 59, Peoples' Republic of China (POMZ-2 and POMZ-2M copies respectively)
MAP and Model 15 (POMZ-2 and POMZ-2M copies)
PMR-1 and PMR-2A, Yugoslavia
PP Mi-SK, Czechoslovakia (POMZ-2, used with a RO-1 fuze)
MM-1, Myanmar (POMZ-2)
MBV-78A1, Vietnam (POMZ-2)
PMFH-1,PMFH-2, Cuba (POMZ-2 copies)

[edit] Specification

These specifications of a POMZ-2 and POMZ-2M are typical for their various copies

	POMZ-2	POMZ-2M
Diameter	60 mm
Height of case	130 mm	107 mm
Height of stake	~300 mm but easily varied
Weight	2.3 kg	1.8 kg
Charge	75 g rod of cast TNT
Fuze	MUV series tripwire (2 to 5 kg pull)

[edit] Packaging

The POMZ 2M comes packed in a rectangular wooden box which has a clamp in each corner to lock on the lid. It holds 8 mine bodies, 8 stakes, 8 x 75 g charges and 8 MUV series fuzes complete with detonators