A Soviet sapper locating mines, 1944 (c)

Photograph, World War Two, Eastern Front (1941-1945), 1944 (c).

By the Second World War land mines had largely replaced barbed wire as the principle defensive military obstacle. Mine detectors greatly reduced the hazards of clearing them. Prior to their adoption soldiers used the crude and dangerous method of probing the ground with bayonets to reveal the location of mines.

From a collection of 650 photographs compiled by the Commando Association.