SM-70 (Splittermine Modell 1970)
This type of East German anti-personnel mine was installed in rural areas on the border fences between East and West Germany. The role of the SM-70 was not to protect the border from intruders; they were in fact installed on the East side of the border to stop East Germans from trying to escape to the West!
Design and Deployment
It was a simple trip wire design which proved to be costly and tricky to install: the trip wire was very sensitive and could be triggered by heavy wind, ice, or birds.
It also led to a public outcry in the West in the late 1970s and early 1980s, as this was an indiscriminate weapon system.
Public Outcry and Consequences
The East Germans subsequently dismantled the SM-70s and replaced them with buried anti-personnel mines which were less visible but no less lethal and indiscriminate.
-RBM.
