Modèle_1939_(mine)
Modèle 1939 (mine)
French anti-personnel bounding mine
The Mle 1939 (Model 1939) was a French anti-personnel bounding mine used at the start of the Second World War, it was developed largely in response to the German S-mine bounding mine.[1] It saw very little service before the fall of France. The plans escaped to the US via Major Pierre Delalande, a member of the French Corps of Engineers, and were used as the basis for the American M2 bounding mine which saw wider service during the war but was considered largely ineffective.[2] The M2 mine was replaced almost immediately afterwards with the M16 bounding mine, an almost exact copy of the German S-mine.[2] The French also later produced a copy of the S-mine, the Mle 1951 mine.[3]