An Indian soldier searching for mines with a metal detector, 1943 (c)

Photograph, World War Two, Far East, 1943 (c).

Mine detectors were introduced for the purpose of mine clearance from 1942 onwards. These greatly reduced the hazards of mine clearance. The mine clearing teams consisted of six men, comprising a detector operator and assistant, a marking tape layer, a controller and two reserves. The teams could advance at the rate of three metres a minute. By the Second World War land mines had largely replaced barbed wire as the principle defensive military obstacle. In their preparations for the defence of Alamein in October 1942 the Axis forces made extensive use of minefields. Just how important clearing pathways through these minefields was to the success of Allied attempt to break the Axis position is indicated in the use of the somewhat distasteful code name of 'Lightfoot' for the initial phase of this operation.

From a collection of official photographs collected by Major General (later Lieutenant General) Sir Frank Walter Messervy.