Various mines designed to destroy enemy personnel and equipment were one of the main threats on the battlefields of World War II. The military and engineers of all countries were looking for effective ways to combat mines, and in some cases, such a search led to the emergence of completely new technology. So, for the British army, the first of its kind towed rocket launcher demining called the Conger device was developed.
At the outbreak of the war, the British army did not have highly effective demining equipment capable of making wide and long passages in dangerous areas at one time. The development of such devices started only in the early forties, and soon led to the desired results. In the future, some of the proposed ideas were developed and, ultimately, led to the emergence of modern concepts and techniques.
The Conger device is towed by the Churchill tank. Photo Mapleleafup.net
The Snake product can be considered the first step towards the emergence of the Conger device system. At the end of 1941, the Canadian military proposed to collect standard elongated charges (the so-called Bangalore torpedoes) in long, rigid chains. With the help of a tank, such an assembly should have been pushed into a minefield. The simultaneous detonation of several elongated charges was supposed to destroy explosive devices in a strip several meters wide, sufficient for the passage of people and equipment. Soon, the "Snake" was tested and was adopted by the entire British Commonwealth.
The use of the assembly of "Bangalore torpedoes" made it possible to destroy mines, but it was associated with certain difficulties. In particular, the Snake product turned out to be not rigid enough and could break when brought to a minefield - in order to avoid breakage, it was necessary to limit the length of the assembly. In addition, the towing tank risked becoming an easy target for enemy artillery. For a more effective solution to the tasks of demining, a new technique was required.
In 1942-43, the Corps of Royal Engineers conducted research work, during which it was able to find new effective ways to simultaneously clear large areas of terrain. One of the techniques, it was assumed, made it possible to speed up the process of clearing mines, and in addition, it was devoid of the main disadvantages of the "Snake". It should be noted that later this concept, having undergone certain changes, found application in foreign armies.
As conceived by the designers, the minefield should have been laid not with a rigid chain of metal "torpedoes", but a flexible sleeve with an explosive. For its quick placement on the ground, a simple solid-propellant rocket should have been used. The requirements for the latter were reduced due to the fact that the sleeve had to remain empty during launch and installation: it was proposed to fill it with explosives after being placed in the minefield.
Installation "Eel" on the battlefield. Photo Mapleleafup.net
Soon, the composition of the equipment necessary to solve the problem in the proposed manner was determined, and in addition, the general appearance of the future engineering machine was formed. Also, the new project was named - Conger device ("Device" Eel "). Indeed, one of the main elements of the new demining plant was similar to the corresponding fish.
The mobility issue of the installation was solved in the most interesting way. It was proposed to build it on the basis of a serial Universal Carrier armored personnel carrier. At the same time, only the armored hull and the chassis were borrowed from the finished model. The power plant had to be removed from the car, which was to be replaced by new devices. Thus, the redesigned armored personnel carrier received new functions, but at the same time needed a separate tug. In this capacity, first of all, Churchill tanks were considered, which were actively used by the engineering troops.
The Universal Carrier hull remained largely unchanged. The characteristic frontal part with a polygonal lower unit and broken contours of the upper one was retained. The sides of the hull formed large fenders, which increased the useful protected volume. At the same time, a new armored casing appeared in the center of the hull, in the place of the former engine compartment. It consisted of a rectangular box and a gable roof, the planes of which could be raised to access the internal devices. The thickness of the armor of such a case reached 10 mm, which was supposed to provide protection against bullets and shrapnel.
"Eel" did not have its own engine and was not equipped with a transmission, but at the same time it retained the chassis of the basic model. Used the so-called. Horstman's suspension, with the help of which three road wheels were mounted on each side. In the front part of the hull, the guide wheels were preserved, and the aft rear ones lost their main function. The demining installation was supposed to move around the battlefield using a triangular towing device on the front of the hull.
View of the installation from the roof of the towing tank. You can consider all the main units. Photo Mapleleafup.net
The body layout has changed noticeably. The frontal part of the hull, which previously contained the workplaces of the driver and machine gunner, was now intended to store boxes with flexible arms. In a new casing in the middle of the hull, an explosive tank and some auxiliary equipment were placed. To his left was a launcher for a towing rocket. At the starboard side there is a small compartment for gas cylinders.
To lay an elongated charge on a minefield, it was proposed to use a towing rocket of an extremely simple design. In this capacity, the Conger project used one of the serial solid-propellant rocket engines. The product with a caliber of 5 inches (127 mm) had a simple cylindrical body, completely filled with solid fuel. On the body there were devices for a towing cable pulling a sleeve.
A simple launcher was proposed for the rocket. Its main element was a guide, assembled from three longitudinal pipes connected by several open rings. The rear of the rail was covered with a metal casing designed to remove hot gases from other devices. The launcher was mounted on an axis and equipped with vertical guidance devices. With their help, the calculation could change the firing range and, accordingly, the sleeve packing.
During the flight, the rocket had to pull out a flexible sleeve from the corresponding box. As the body of the extended charge, the designers used a textile hose with a diameter of 2 inches (about 50 mm) and a length of 330 yards (300 m). One end of the sleeve was made closed, and the open second was to be connected to the on-board systems of the installation. A sleeve several tens of meters long was compactly packed into a metal box. The latter, when launched, was located directly in front of the rocket launcher, which ensured its smooth exit and straightening in the air.
Conger device at the museum. Photo Wikimedia Commons
The shock wave for the destruction of mines in the ground was to be created by a liquid explosive mixture 822C, made on the basis of nitroglycerin. 2,500 lb (1,135 kg) of this mixture was transported in a tank housed inside the central armor casing. A simple system with valves and a hose was used to supply the mixture to the elongated charge sleeve. The mixture was supplied from the tank using the pressure of compressed gas coming from separate cylinders. It was proposed to detonate the charge using a standard remote controlled fuse.
According to some reports, the means for working with an explosive mixture were not created from scratch. The tank, compressed gas cylinder, pipelines and other elements of special equipment were borrowed from the Wasp serial self-propelled flamethrower, also built on the basis of the Universal Carrier armored personnel carrier. However, the borrowed devices had to be significantly rebuilt.
The towed mine clearance Conger device needed a crew of three or four people, who, during combat work, had to perform all the necessary operations. At the same time, she did not have any weapons for self-defense, and the calculation had to rely only on personal weapons and on accompanying armored vehicles.
The widespread use of ready-made components led to the fact that the size and weight of the "Eel" differed little from the basic armored personnel carrier. The length still reached 3, 65 m, width - a little more than 2 m. Due to the presence of a non-retractable launcher, the height exceeded the original 1, 6 m. The combat weight with a full load of the 822C mixture slightly exceeded 3.5 tons. The product could not move independently, but in tow, the tank accelerated to 25-30 km / h. This speed was quite enough for moving over rough terrain and entering a firing position.
Stern view. Photo Wikimedia Commons
The Conger device differed from other means of mine clearance of its time in its original work algorithm. The towed system was supposed to be displayed on the edge of the minefield, having a rocket on the launcher and a full supply of explosive mixture in the tank. One end of the flexible sleeve was connected to the rocket, the other to the mixture supply system.
At the command of the operator, the rocket had to go off the guide and go flying along a ballistic trajectory, pulling out the sleeve behind it. After the flight, it stretched straight along the future passage. Then the crew had to open the necessary valves and pump explosives inside the sleeve. Then it was necessary to install a fuse on an extended charge and retire to a safe place. Undermining 2500 pounds of the mixture led to mechanical destruction or detonation of explosive devices in a strip up to 330 yards long and up to 3-4 m wide, which was enough for the safe passage of people and equipment.
The new sample of engineering equipment passed the necessary tests, during which both its advantages and disadvantages were revealed. The main advantage of the rocket launcher was the ability to make a passage hundreds of yards long at once. Other demining systems of that time were distinguished by much more modest characteristics. The operation of the Conger device was not too difficult, although some of its features could lead to difficulties.
However, there were also disadvantages. First of all, the reason for the significant risks was the presence of a large explosive tank, covered only with bulletproof armor. Moreover, the 822C blend was based on nitroglycerin, which is known for its shock sensitivity. As a result, any projectile could instantly destroy a demining installation, and the main contribution to its death would have been made by its own "ammunition". An ambiguous feature of the new model was the absence of its own power plant: it needed a separate tug tank, which affected the work of the entire engineering unit.
However, the Royal Engineers' command deemed the Eel installation fit for service. Serial construction of such systems began no later than the turn of 1943-44. As far as we know, towed mine clearance installations, like other engineering equipment, were not built in the largest series. According to various sources, no more than a few dozen Conger devices were built.
The sample from the museum is complete with all the necessary devices. Photo Massimo Foti / Picssr.com
In June 1944, British troops landed in Normandy and, along with other engineering equipment, they used Eel demining units. At the same time, as far as is known, this technique was not used very often. There is only one reliably known case of using a flexible extended charge on a real battlefield. On September 25, 1944, during the fighting in France, the 79th Armored Division, armed with special models of equipment, used its rocket launchers to make passages. After the detonation of the elongated charge, vehicles and people passed across the battlefield. There are no exact data on other cases of the combat use of such equipment.
It is also known about the presence of Conger installations in the Netherlands, but in this case we are talking about a terrible tragedy. On October 20, 1944, during the battles in the area of Iisendijke, sappers filled the Eel tank with an explosive mixture. Due to a number of factors, the mixture was transported by trucks in conventional metal cans. Someone's carelessness or coincidence caused the sensitive nitroglycerin to explode. The first explosion provoked the detonation of all the surrounding containers with the mixture. Apparently, at least 2,500 pounds of 822C mixture exploded. The explosion completely destroyed the mine clearing plant itself and two trucks standing nearby. Also, various damage, including the most serious, received four engineering tanks located nearby. 41 people died, 16 are missing. Several dozen soldiers and officers were injured. Several structures, next to which the equipment stood, were destroyed.
There is every reason to believe that it was this incident that determined the further fate of the entire project. The towed mine clearance installation coped with its tasks, but at the same time presented an extreme danger both for its own crew and for everyone around. If an accidental explosion during maintenance resulted in casualties, what could have happened on the battlefield? As a result, by the end of the autumn of 1944, the Conger device products were gradually withdrawn from active use.
Until the end of the war, this technique stood idle, and then it was disposed of as unnecessary. Only one "Eel" has survived. A unique example of engineering technology is now kept in the military museum in Overloon (Netherlands). Along with this installation, a mock rocket and a set of elongated charge sleeves are demonstrated.
The Conger device used new principles of operation and became the world's first representative of the so-called class. mine clearance rocket launchers. It had rather high characteristics, but it was too dangerous even for its own calculation, which determined its further fate. However, the ideas first implemented in the British project had a great future. Subsequently, in the UK and a number of other countries, new versions of demining installations were created using a flexible elongated charge with a rocket.
