A mine flail is a vehicle-mounted device that makes a safe path through a minefield by deliberately detonating land mines in front of the vehicle that carries it. They were first used by the British during World War II.
A preserved World War II Sherman Crab, an M4 Sherman tank fitted with a flail
Matilda Scorpion Mk 1. The position of the flail operator is outside the tank.
Turretless Matilda Baron under test - 13 August 1943.
Experimental flail mounted on a Valentine tank; the Valentine Scorpion was never used operationally.
A land mine, or landmine, is an explosive weapon concealed under or camouflaged on the ground, and designed to destroy or disable enemy targets, ranging from combatants to vehicles and tanks, as they pass over or near it.
Examples of anti-personnel mines. Center: Valmara 69 (a bounding mine); right: VS-50
Swedish FFV 028 anti-tank-mines of the German Bundeswehr (inert versions)
Roman caltrop
Illustration of the "self-tripped trespass land mine" from the Huolongjing