German Army M43 anti-personnel Betone mine [Concrete mine] with its fuse and original paintwork used by the Whermacht 1st Panzer Army recovered from the Valley of Death the battlefield of late 1944 in the Dukla Pass on the Polish-Slovakian border.
This is a German Army M43 anti-personnel Betone mine [Concrete mine]with no wooden stick ground stake but does have its fuse in the top this is held with tack for display reasons. The mine is empty and inert the concrete is very solid not braking up or falling apart it is a bit pitted and has a lot of its original yellow paintwork it has been very well cleaned it does have a bit of damage from being buried but nothing to bad but overall it is in very nice solid condition with no holes it is perfect for display or any collection. The mine was used by the Whermacht 1st Panzer Army recovered from the Valley of Death the battlefield of September-October 1944 in the Dukla Pass on the Polish-Slovakian border. The mine comes with 2xA5 laminated information cards with pictures.
German Stock-Mine 43 consists of a small hollow concrete cylinder, made of weak cement mortar composition containing a shrapnel filling. An explosive charge of about 3.5oz was contained by the concrete cylinder, and the mine was mounted on a stake that was set in the ground. Three different igniters could be used, namely the ZZ 35, the ZZ 42 Pull Igniter and the Zu ZZ 35 Push-Pull Igniter. The mine is 45cm long, with a body diameter of 7.5cm.
The Battle of the Dukla Pass, also known as the Dukla, Carpatho–Dukla, Rzeszów–Dukla, or Dukla–Prešov offensive, was the battle for control over the Dukla Pass on the border between Poland and Slovakia on the Eastern Front the retreating German Army tried to stop the Russian advance West in September–October 1944. The German resistance by the 1st Panzer Army in the eastern Carpathian region was much stronger than expected. The battle which began on 8 September would not see the Soviet forces on the other side of the pass until 6 October, and German forces would stop their heavy resistance in the region only around 10 October. Five days to Prešov turned into fifty days to Svidník alone with over 70,000 casualties on both sides. Prešov that was to be reached in six days remained beyond the Czechoslovaks' grasp for four months. The battle would be counted among the bloodiest in the entire Eastern Front and the history of Slovakia; one of the valleys in the pass, near the villages of Kapišová, Chyrowa, Iwla and Głojsce, would become known as the "Valley of Death".
