Japanese WW2 Lunge Mines - Insane and Ineffective

An overview of Japanese Lunge Mines used during WW2 featuring some amusing video game footage.
More War Movie Content: / johnnyjohnsonesq
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Movies/Video Games Featured:
My Way 2011
Battlefield V (Video Game)
Lego Animation (Daddy Xi)
Roblox (Video Game)
Stalingrad 1993
Tali-Ihantala 1944 (2007)
The Bridge at Remagen 1969
The Bridge 1959
Letters From Iwo Jima 2006
#ww2 #war

[@JohnnyJohnsonEsq]

My use of the word "Melt" was my lazy way of saying the copper liner deforms or collapses into a particle jet. Though these rounds are called "HEAT" rounds temperature has little to do with the effect of a HEAT round. The penetrating effect is kinetic. The copper liner pierces through the armor - there is no melting that takes place through the armor.

[@warpartyattheoutpost4987]

HEAT=H.igh E.xplosive A.nti T.ank

[@LazyLifeIFreak]

Munroe effect is another keyword.

[@User_Un_Friendly]

It actually eroded the armor...like a water jet. The velocity of the jet of copper molecules exceeds Mach 5.

[@pleasedisregardthefollowin5568]

My grandpa, who was a US armored cavalry captain in the 80s, once told me that the copper jet literally melts through the armor. Makes me wonder where the fallacy came from.

[@JohnnyJohnsonEsq]

I think it's just an easier way to visualize it, really

[@michaeltriola3978]

Early war Japan: Impressive organization, tactics and examples of bravery. Late war Japan: “How do we unalive ourselves the most creatively?”

[@reform-revolution]

I mean .... they werent really well organized if we are honest the amount of times the navy or army tried to unalive each other in the early years is amazingly stupid

[@masrendra8625]

@@reform-revolution that's right, the army and the navy had some conflicts for some reason

[@Thickcurves]

At this point I wouldn't be surprised to learn they had a machine that you loaded with belt fed babies.

[@Necrodermis]

@@masrendra8625 it all stems from when imperial japan came about. The modern army and navy were put under the command of two rival families who would only answer to the emperor. to be honest how Japan even managed to get that far under such circumstances is baffling

[@xXFlameHaze92Xx]

@@Necrodermis yes, many of the battles for the japanese became so dysfunctional due to the Japanese Army/Navy rivalry, Guadalcanal is the best example of "How fucked up is the rivalry to literally make you lose the battle", the lack of cordination was so jarring than the Navy literally take weeks to inform the army they already lose Midway, Army has literally to make their own float and the navy have their own infantry and paratroopers due to they despite them each other into cartoonish levels..... but the pride is first

[@whoareyou1034]

I love how it's not just BF V that was used as footage, but also Roblox and Lego animations

[@matiasfpm]

Ultra-bizarre IMO 😂

[@bernardoheusi6146]

Roblox. Fucking Roblox.

[@meatbleed]

@@matiasfpm as he said in the vid, footage in-action is scarce. Because the users uuhh exploded usually.

[@FutaCatto2]

Genderfield.

[@klausstock8020]

3:02 appears insane, but is actually as useful tactic in the game. You send your plane into a dive, exit the plane, attack the enemy plane "on foot" and re-enter your own plane.

[@gasmonkey1000]

@0:15 most effective use of a plunge mine "Row, row, row your boat, gentery down the stream. Oop, I think my dingy hanging out."

[@NemesisOgreKing]

Who wanta sum Whang?

[@RUGER5264]

😂😂😂😂

[@zamnodorszk7898]

The sheer contempt Japanese leadership had for their soldiers’ lives never fails to shock and appal.

[@coh2conscript851]

Also the civilians lives given that a lot of the brass saw the nukes drop and wanted to continue the fight

[@frankgesuele6298]

Death before defeat. That's all they cared about.

[@Dan-sw8tg]

thats what many people dont know and think the nukes were mean or not needed ( and I say that as someone who lived in Japan for a year and has a japanese GF)

[@Dan-sw8tg]

also, their nowadays work culture is similarly sick lol

[@oxvendivil442]

What's appalling is that their citizens were onboard with it, as if they were mindless robots or zombies that more than agreed with their leadership, they went into the meat grinder and ended up as ground meat.

[@Svarog.The.Bonker]

i literally watched that lunge mine to the plane at least 10 times now. that was beautiful

[@DeadManSinging1]

top ten legendary gaming kills

[@richardsamuelgustavo]

wow, you literally? you LITERARLLY? thanks for letting us know!!!

[@DeadManSinging1]

@@richardsamuelgustavo Wow you're so cool, being upset that someone said the word literally. Never seen this before

[@trolly4233]

@@richardsamuelgustavo go back to your 2 hour video essays on trains, grammar autistmoid

[@uwuwuewuewueunjetjemuwueub2385]

You can land some insane trick shots tho, even if this magic stick can be considered as garbage on ground close range….

[@PitFriend1]

There was an old miniatures game called “Gear Krieg” which was an alternate WWII where mechs existed. The Japanese ones were armed with giant versions of lunge mines called teppo-yari, or “iron cannon spear.”

[@joshuadickinson4614]

Ironically they make more sense there as at least mechs are shrapnel proof.

[@elchjol2777]

​@@joshuadickinson4614 Well until your armor has been battered down, shrapnel in a servo or cable could cause issues. But if your armor is that beat up,you are probably not going to live much longer any way.

[@alltat]

@@elchjol2777 If your armor is so badly damaged that shrapnel is a concern, you're probably effectively out of the fight already.

[@elchjol2777]

@@alltat Ya had a few close calls in MechWarrior where a few MG hits could have taken a critical weapon out...mostly due to getting stuck in a 4 vs an entire mech platoon fight in a few different missions.

[@joshuadickinson4614]

@@elchjol2777 A mech would still deal with that better than the human body.

[@AudieHolland]

German magnetic mines with hollow charge were pretty much suicide weapons in my opinion, because the soldier had to leave the relative safety of his fox hole, approach an enemy tank from behind *while it was driving just slowly enough to be overtaken by a soldier.* When tanks drove that slowly, it was usually to allow their own infantry to disembark from their vehicles or jumping down from the tanks they were catching a ride on. Because of their own invention, the Germans became so paranoid that their enemies would try to develop their own magnetic mines, they started to coat all their tanks with a wood/earth/glue mixture so no magnetic mines could be attached. Long after everyone in the war had switched to rocket propelled hollow charges (bazookas, Panzerschreck), the Germans were still covering all their tanks with Zimmerit untill early 1945, when the situation became so desperate they didn't even bother with painting camouflage schemes on their tanks. That Zimmerit account manager must have been one hell of a salesman. No other country that took part in WW2, used Zimmerit or similar anti magnetic mines measures.

[@seregill13]

American's and Brits used the sticky mine occasionally like shown in Saving Private Ryan. It was pretty much only a desperation move though and not a commercially produced weapon or magnetic.

[@stevekaczynski3793]

Some Soviet tanks had a machine gun in the rear of the turret - KV-1 variants, I believe, to watch out for such attacks. More often there was a small aperture that a crew member could fire a pistol through, to combat infantry attacks on the tank's rear. But the most effective solution was simply to have friendly infantry accompany the tank.

[@einundsiebenziger5488]

@@seregill13 Americans* (same as "Brits": plural, no apostrophe)

[@seregill13]

@@einundsiebenziger5488 yes

[@AudieHolland]

@@stevekaczynski3793 Now I remember the Ferdinand, later Elefant, tank destroyer. Initially, it didn't come equipped with a machinegun for protection against infantry. So Soviet infantry took the opportunity to set the crew on fire or throw in grenades.

[@bigblue6917]

Another fun thing the Japanese did was dig a hole in the middle of the road and place a man with an artillery shell and a hammer at the bottom of it. When a tank drove over the hole he would hit the detonator with the hammer blowing himself and the tank up. The Japanese soldier was ordered only to blow up tanks when so the Americans caught on to what was happening they would stop the tank away from the hole while one of the infantry would approach the hole and shoot the Japanese soldier in the head. In several cases the Japanese soldier was talked into surrendering rather than blowing himself up.

[@flyingdeathcatsgo]

IEDs aren't even that hard to make. Honestly the whole idea is just officer incompetence. The idea of just wasting lives unnecessarily is just insane.

[@bigblue6917]

@@flyingdeathcatsgo Well Japan had little regard for anyone's life. We all know how brutal training in both the army and the navy was. Many of those banzai charges came after they had made the soldiers drunk. Interestingly a number of Japanese soldiers in these holes when given the chance would surrender.

[@timg1246]

​​@@bigblue6917 Perhaps they were willing to surrender because, all alone, they were away from the over bearing peer pressure to follow orders, however insane the order was.

[@bigblue6917]

@@timg1246 I have long held the believe that this was true of many Japanese soldiers. This why I mentioned getting them drunk before a banzai charge.

[@Trbrigade]

Just another fake crappy story. You shouldnt believe anything you heard in the internet, and especially from war veterans.

[@daddyxi1797]

Never thought my Lego animations would end up in a historical vid lol.

[@BattleAxe1345]

I think there were lunge mines as well in Medal of Honor: Rising Sun. They were in the Manila mission when you had to protect the Stuart tank through the streets.

[@cadjebushey6524]

Yes. You are correct.

[@bCKization]

Thanks for memories

[@mikloridden8276]

Haha I hated that mission, kept dying. Good times

[@michaelandreipalon359]

Pacific Assault is the better game, though, and even then, that game is now incapable of playing well on modern systems, as far as I know.

[@aaronhancock9864]

I hated that stupid mission. Any mission involving those guys really.

[@SaltyMartian]

I can share you some stories about the Việt Minh suicide squads. During the battle of Hà Nội (19/12/1946 - 18/02/1947), Việt Minh didn't has any effective anti tank weapons to counter French amours (mostly m8 greyhound, m24 chaffee,...) so the lunge mines were the only opption. After the Japanese retreated, Việt Minh captured a total of 93 lunge mines. Note that at that time Việt Minh was trained by former IJA soldiers and armed with Japanese weapons (after ww2, up to 1000 IJA soldiers decided to stay and helped train the Việt Minh). During the battle, of 93 mines, 47 were used, 35 sacrificed as a result. There were 10 suicide squads formed at a total of 100 soldiers. As you have noted the number of mines used higher than that of soldiers sacrificed. Because some actually survived doing the act to came back for another tour or the mines were just failed to detonate. Nguyễn Văn Thiềng (Trần Thành) was one famous member of the suicide squads as he is the soldier in "Viet Minh soldier Nguyen Van Thieng holding a Lunge mine at Hàng Đậu Street on December 1946" picture. He survived the blast after destroyed a m24. His second tour (attacking a m8) was not as fortunate as the mine failed and he was gunned down by infantry. In fact, most was killed by French soldiers rather than died in the blast. After 1947, captured bazookas (as well as homemade one), recoilless rifles (DKZ) started to replaced lunge mines as Việt Minh's main anti amour weapons.

[@khanhgiapham-mi4hg]

any suicide weapon = literally terrorist.

[@31oannamphong66]

Thanks god our Vietminh only have 97 lunges mines Imagine if they had more

[@MrEFMinecraft]

Got any other cool stories about the Vietnamese shitting on the French with rudimentary weapons?

[@TheRealNeonwarrior]

You can put as many fancy accent marks above or below your vowels as you want, but I'm still going to pronounce the words as if they weren't there.

[@pelmeni_va]

Việt Minh 💪

[@JJAB91]

This video: "This was a suicidal weapon and led many solders to their untimely deaths" Also this video: *Roblox and Lego*

[@ahhloss5404]

war is hell

[@Imperial_Lizardgirl]

@@ahhloss5404 "war is shit, who disapproves can go and eat it" - power armor soldier

[@RoulicisThe]

Well, considering anyone who uses this weapon dies it's kinda hard to get IRL footage of it, you have to take it where you can I guess xD

[@dimasthefox9410]

You forgot BFV

[@dragons123ism]

The 'lunge mine' (I didn't know the name of it until now) is often depicted on heroic monuments in Vietnam dedicated to the Indochina War

[@brownwoodboy96]

I saw so many of these statues in Vietnam and had no idea what it was until now!

[@Peter_Turbo4]

The Viet-Chads fear nobody.

[@duskworker8469]

it is a pretty potent symbol of sacrifice, i guess.

[@That_Freedom_Guy]

I guess you could throw it like a spear to gain a little more distance. Is that a thing?

[@Peter_Turbo4]

@@That_Freedom_Guy too heavy

[@GerardMenvussa]

Now THIS is what I call a boomstick. Crazy concept.

[@clearcreek69]

Is it available from S-Mart?

[@reform-revolution]

@@clearcreek69 its in sporting goods next to the fish bait

[@Gufupandi09th13]

The weapon is terrified

[@ShadowMoon878]

My Dad joined the NVA during the Vietnam War. He said the there were leftover japanese lunge mines and the suicide bombers sawed off the pole to make it shorter so it will be easier to run with it. They were actually quite effective in disabling tanks but not destroy it.

[@justinjimenez8015]

Medal of honor rising sun the weapon had a breaf appearence when escorting a tank In the second mission. A few japanese troops would charge straight down a long street with the weapon at hand. I was really confused the first time I saw it.

[@robertstaples3256]

Ah man, you beat me to it. I was about to make mention of it. I was 10 or so when I played it, and it was so different than any other weapon that it confused me to. I actually found it funny that they'd just run up to the tank and just blow up.

[@cadjebushey6524]

I recall first seeing these in Medal of honor rising sun during the part where you escort an M3 Stuart in the Phillipines. As a kid I was baffled as to why they'd charge a tank knowing the device in their hands explodes.

[@reform-revolution]

I thought it was a game bug and their weapons didnt load properly

[@lieutenantratman748]

innocence: the calm before the storm

[@grizwoldphantasia5005]

The spar mine did have a timer of some sort IIRC, and its explosion did not sink the Hunley. Someone investigated a bit and found she sank while backing away, I believe.

[@OLDMANWAFFLES]

Holy shit I remember this game, I used to play multiplayer with my friends a lot, but I remember that mission, and if I remember correctly you gotta go into a baseball field.

[@cadjebushey6524]

@@OLDMANWAFFLES yes. Therss a cool baseball field you move across.

[@clearcreek69]

This reminds me of the first submarine encounter during the American Civil War where the torpedo was strapped to a pole in order to sink the Housatonic

[@garfieldsmith332]

The good old range limited 'spar torpedo'.😊

[@commandere2475]

Didn't that result in everyone on the submarine dying and the hit ship surviving?

[@garfieldsmith332]

@@commandere2475 Both sank.

[@mbryson2899]

I had the same thought! Fun fact: More died on the _CSS Hunley_ than on the _USS Housatonic._

[@alltat]

That used to be a fairly common thing. When you have a boat, you can use a much longer pole and can use the boat's sides for cover before the torpedo explodes. It's still dangerous, but not suicidal. The biggest threat would have been swivel guns and small arms fire from the target ship.

[@AndrewTranBaseball]

In the Indochina war, especially during the battle of Hanoi in December, 1946, any Viet Minh soldier tasked with the lunge mine would witness his own prematurely funeral, since everyone knew it's a suicidal mission.

[@khanhgiapham-mi4hg]

any suicide weapon = literally terrorist.

[@Mr.Nin10do.]

God I wish Battlefield 5 had a few more years

[@alexvisser5913]

They are so dumb leaving it like I bet more people play bf5 then 2042

[@civilprotection3114]

Sad to see it was finally looking like a WW2 game then they abandoned it for 2042…

[@chrisd7803]

O think if they kep going and added the eastern front like in BF1 a lot more people would have been happy, me included

[@hidsgi-games5369]

People are still playing it

[@andrewmaddox2889]

Eastern front update

[@NguyenBaKhanhDuy_]

Fact: In battle of Hanoi (1946) of the First Indochina war, a lots of Viet Minh soldier have been seen using lunge mine which the Japanese army left after being disarm by Allies forces during the Second World War. The number of this type of weapon is not really much ( only 6-7 for per squad ) but is't the only way to destroy French's tanks and armored vehicles. Because of the dangerous when using lunge mine, soldiers advised not to use it.

[@khanhgiapham-mi4hg]

any suicide weapon = literally terrorist.

[@Volokitin]

They probably should have thrown that like a spear on a short distance, and often had no time to hide

[@vinhbuiquang3906]

@@Volokitin Given the heavy head of the mines, i doubted it will go far or powerful enough to activate the mine. Launcher are much better idea

[@Volokitin]

@@vinhbuiquang3906 no, a soldier won’t go do a suicide at once, more he will think to throw. But distance is hard to reach, so he will run closer

[@vinhbuiquang3906]

@@Volokitin Have you ever throw a spear, the imbalance of the mine will make it dip to the ground the very moment you throw it. Therefore, you MUST thrust the mine, not throw it, im in Viet Nam, I saw these mine in the museum, you cant throw it

[@cooperreynolds5041]

*the lining doesn't melt in a HEAT device, it's just forced into a high velocity jet by the explosives

[@JohnnyJohnsonEsq]

I should have avoided the use of that word as I'll hear this 100x now. Fair enough. The important thing to know for science-curious people is that it does not melt through the tank - it's a kinetic impact that cuts through the armor. Melt was my lazy way of saying it deforms or collapses.

[@LazyLifeIFreak]

Hmm, I think one option would've been to attach the AT warhead on a javelin and then fire said missile off using a ballista-type torsion device, nevermind, it sounds just as batshit insane.

[@User_Un_Friendly]

Yep. 😅

[@c0ya1]

Well that COULD'VE worked.

[@psychoairsoft7146]

it DOES sound insane, but also like something the Japanese would have thought of and tried. but the sticks were probably waaay too front-heavy to fly or be thrown... they would have been better off just boot-legging the German Panzerfaust tbh

[@bakatzen6243]

@@psychoairsoft7146 bootleg panzerfaust or even AT rifle grenade is one thousand times better idea than this.

[@User_Un_Friendly]

Or they could have had the Slingshot Channel guy cobble together a rubber band powered crossbow to shoot them...🧐🤣🤣🤣 Nah, that still idiotic.🫣🙄

[@Daniel4646]

3:34 Apparently, they were intended as true multiple-purpose devices: makeshift super-speed paddles, toilet plungers, hand-held anti-aircraft weapons, Japan-style tank door-knockers, improvised alphorns...

[@NeoVault_]

A weapon to surpass Metal Gear.

[@Daniel4646]

@@NeoVault_

[@kuraiwolf4047]

"Good new is, your toilet is unclogged! Bad news is, you're gonna have to remodel the bathroom now." On the plus side, you don't need to tear anything down. Its been done already!

[@Daniel4646]

@@kuraiwolf4047 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@berserkasaurusrex4233]

If the mine was on the end of a long "L" bend, you could just swing it down on a tank and probably avoid most of the suicidal back blast (which would be directed up and away from you). Still dangerous, but probably more effective than the spear-style thrusting setup they used.

[@junibug6790]

Maybe, but it would undoubtedly be more cumbersome, prone to snagging on terrain, and harder to get a solid enough strike on a vehicle for it to be actually effective.

[@munk6576]

i think the explosiong goes off in all directions. Also. It might not be possible to swing it around in a jungle enviroment but i like your thinking

[@Treblaine]

I'm no explosives expert but looking at simulations indicates that the blast expands in all directions more or less equally after the jet of hypervelocity metal is formed. The stupid thing is that it's just not that hard to make some sort of launcher system, a panzerfaust is literally just a tube filled with black powder. It's 15th century firework technology. To an extent a disregard for individual safety can give an overall advantage but this disregard for the individual is so extreme here not only do they have no chance of escape they don't even have a chance of living long enough to have an effect.

[@MM22966]

What are you, some sort of baka that DOESN'T want to die for the Emperor?!

[@Ganara426]

@@MM22966 shut up weeb

[@biggiouschinnus7489]

I think the IJA can very much be considered a one-shot army in WWII. At the early stages, it was able to overwhelm British, US and Dutch forces by fighting aggressively and at a faster "Tempo." One the allies got wise though, the IJA showed just how deeply flawed its way of thinking really was. Wasting experienced troops, refusing to adapt battle plans, etc. etc.

[@norwegianboyee]

Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto on the decision to go to war with America: ""I can run wild for six months ... after that, I have no expectation of success"

[@agentepolaris4914]

It's more because a la k of resources

[@LordDarthHarry]

Add to that the utterly insane conflict between the Japanese Navy and Army.

[@tiagodecastro2929]

Refusing to change and adapt their plans & tactics is one thing that always boggled my mind. The Allies and even the Germans were always able to be creative and change things on the fly as necessary. I recall one story of an American unit at Iwo Jima which realized that the Japanese were accustomed to the Americans always doing an artillery barrage before US troops advanced, so the Americans just snuck up on the Japanese positions without calling for artillery first and caught the Japanese completely by surprise. Meanwhile, General Kuribayashi explicitly banned bonzai charges, and some of his officers still refused to listen. Stubbornness really is a... well, let's call it a female dog.

[@norwegianboyee]

@@tiagodecastro2929 I wouldn’t say the Japanese were incapable of it. Iwo Jima was already a place where tactics was changed by the Japanese. Deciding to focus less on decisive beach fighting and instead digging extensive cave networks and fighting more defensively from cover rather than relying on the suicidal Banzai attacks.

[@xuanhieulanpham904]

DRV's forces used this extensively in 1946 during the battle of Hanoi against French light tanks. There is a big monument of a soldier holding lunge mines located in the Hoan Kiem district in Hanoi, Vietnam.

[@khanhgiapham-mi4hg]

any suicide weapon = literally terrorist.

[@yukipaw1702]

@@khanhgiapham-mi4hg Are you stupid? they were using weapons left behind by the Japanese after they surrender to the Allies to fight the French colonizer, in 1946 they'll use what ever they get to fight but when supplies from the Soviets and Chinese arrive, the Vietnamese switch entirely to using RPG.

[@MyHentaiGirl]

I wonder if we invented it ourselves or learn it from the Japanese ?

[@unserkatzenland8884]

@@MyHentaiGirl Japan, the mines were also Japanese left overs

[@tntvsouy]

​@@MyHentaiGirlAfter the war, Japanese soldiers remained in Vietnam and trained Vietnamese soldiers fighting against France

[@Karl_Marksman]

I wish your videos were longer, but I love that there's no fluff! It's like an hour of history channel squeezed into a few minutes, but about new stuff I didn't already know xD

[@paleoph6168]

1:43 Ah yes, very relaxing tank destruction.

[@ScarletRebel96]

Ive been waiting for this specific weapon forever, thank you

[@KMZX_700]

1:50 _"Hey kids"_

[@redenginner]

Honestly I wouldn’t be surprised if a slightly smaller version that could be thrown like a Javelin/throwing spear at a tanks side armor would be marginally more effective then some of the other light AT options at the time. Hell it would be perfect for urban warfare,where Japanese infantry could drop it on tanks from rooftops like lawndarts from hell.

[@seanmalloy7249]

It wasn't a magnetic deviece, but the Russian RKG-3 anti-tank grenade was like this; it was grossly similar in appearance to the German 'potato masher' grenade, but had a 'spoon' extending up each side of the handle. When the pin is pulled, the spoon falls away, and when thrown, a spring deploys a four-paneled dorgue parachute that stabilizes the grenade in flight and ensures that it strikes the target at a 90° angle for maximum penetration. Realistic throwing range was 15 to 25 meters. The Aeororsvidka unit of the Ukranian military has used RKG-3 grenades modified by PJSC Mayak into RKG 1600 grenades with modified fuzing and 3D-printed fins to be dropped from commercial drones. The Japanese Type 3 Grenade was a similar thrown HEAT grenade, with a hemp tail to keep it pointed in the direction of flight. It had a much smaller penetration capability than the RKG-3. The Germans also had the Panzerwurfmine, used by Luftwaffe ground troops, which had a shaped charge and four spring-loaded fins (later replaced by a canvas tail that unrolled when thrown) to stabilize the grenade. All of the thrown anti-tank mines, regardless of the stabilization, would often achieve less than desirable impact angles, and had reduced effectiveness as a result.

[@JosephusAurelius]

1:03 wow how did you get that colour footage of WW2???

[@JohnnyJohnsonEsq]

I know right? People were thicker back then

[@HandyMan657]

Love the music choice. Nice presentation, thanks, Johnny. Catch ya in the next one.

[@ANewYorkerTeaches]

Thanks again and nice ending. Good job. Glad I got this in my feed. Best.

[@DANNYonPC]

1:34, hey i know that guy! Didnt expect to ever show up in educational content lol

[@JohnnyJohnsonEsq]

haha my man! Thanks for popping in and adding a little flavor to the video. You have a great channel!

[@DANNYonPC]

@@JohnnyJohnsonEsq

[@trappenweisseguy27]

The Japanese also resorted to shoving steel rods between the “spokes” of the early type of road wheels used by Sherman and Lee tanks in the hopes of disabling the tanks. Later road wheels were of a solid pressed dish type to prevent this from happening.

[@orionakd]

Imagine a disguised American tank with armor thickened to the point that this weapon cannot penetrate, carrying no ammunition, just slowly advancing, and then watch a bunch of Japanese soldiers rush towards this tank.

[@unkindled6410]

i think this tank woulsnt go far enough with how heavy it would be. also the threads cant be so heavily fortifies

[@geoffreyherrick298]

Makes me think of the Maus. It's armor was thick enough to be impervious to shells and mines, but was too heavy for most roads.

[@CyberVonCyberus]

If you want to counter HEAT explosives the best way is to have an extra layer of armor separated from the main body of the vehicle, that way the explosive detonates early against the outer layer reducing the penetration .

[@klausstock8020]

Just a tank-shaped piece of concrete. Doesn't move, but what the heck. Then air-drop crates full of lunge mines all over the place. "Just one per person, please."

[@klausstock8020]

@@geoffreyherrick298 Everyone hates the idea of the Panzerkampfwagen VIII „Maus“, except Hitler...and (for obvious reasons) the German steel industry. 188 metric tons. Good news was that it was a hybrid, so I guess it would count as "eco-friendly". Next, the German steel industry sold Hitler the Landkreuzer P-1000 „Ratte“ ("rat", 1000 tons) and the Landkreuzer P-1500 „Monster“ (1500 tons). These weren't called "tanks" but "land cruisers" - basically battleships for dry land, equipped with marine guns. The P-1000 would have required 20 person to just *drive* it, and 40 person for combat (the 40 person figure is disputed and probably very unrealistic, a comparable battleship *turret* required more than 100 persons during combat).

[@Daikini0]

- General San! I invented a new weapon. - Do the handler die while using it? - Yes General San! - Accepted. Great job!

[@paleoph6168]

3:33 So this is how they were used in the First Indochina War...

[@quochainguyen7194]

The weapons was later seen action during early stages of 1st Indochina War. During the siege of Hanoi in 1946, Viet Minh troops was short on anti-tank weapons at that time so they have to used lunge mines against French's armor (Vietnamese named these weapon "bom ba càng" or three-pronged bomb). The soldiers that carried the weapons usually seen at deadman walking and received special ceremony before entering combat. There is a famous photo named "Quyết tử cho tổ quốc quyết sinh" (Sacrifice so the nation may live) depicted a Viet Minh soldier carrying a three-pronged bomb in the city rumbles, waiting for enemy armors to approach.

[@MartDaMarMot]

I’ve been waiting forever for this

[@richjjones86]

I'd like to take a moment to show my appreciation for the logo animation. Whoever came up with that, Sterling effort.

[@jonathanwilliams1065]

Insane abs ineffective basically describes everything about the Japanese post Midway/Guadalcanal

[@amailman3705]

I'm surprised you didn't use enlisted at all in this video as it has the lunge Mine and both the type 5 and 4 rocket launchers in the game.

[@JohnnyJohnsonEsq]

Sometimes I get tunnel vision going down a rabbit hole. This time that hole was BFV.

[@mattwernecke2342]

I learned something new! Thanks!

[@TheAlison1456]

i really like how you incorporate movie footage

[@sakkra93]

I first encountered the Lunge Mine during the Manila mission of MOH: Rising Sun, a fair number of soldiers would ambush the tank you're protecting. Could be a bit of bother if you didn't take them out quickly enough.

[@Goober_80]

Me on Star wars death sticks: ☠️ Me on Japanese WW2 death sticks: ☠️

[@germany456]

Thanks Johnny

[@mcintoshpc]

Love the BFV clips Makes the charge of the light brigade look completely sensible

[@interstellarsurfer]

Shaped charge on a way-too-short stick.

[@tilted_axis9819]

It’s amazing what you can do or make when you have a complete disregard for things like “safety” or “consequences”

[@SelectCircle]

Yeah - like mass vaccination programs.

[@therandomlaniusedward2140]

​@@SelectCirclecope harder antivaxxer. Unlike Japanese lunge mines, it worked. You are alive cause your parents weren't complete dumbass like you.

[@Eyeballman24]

What an interesting weapon, I had never heard of this before this video. I'm usually skeptical of hearing about new things about WW2 after 30 years of learning, but yeah. Thanks!

[@randomuser7395]

Love your content bro!!!!

[@KB-313]

I was always shocked you wouldn't die when using these in BF5 lol

[@SandrasSpicySpanishSalami]

"You don't want to sell me death sticks". Ah, I don't want to sell you death sticks. *"You want to go home and rethink your life."*

[@jeremiahardales6597]

Hello there

[@jakeman52]

Some really wild clips in this one

[@amata415]

Love your videos! Lego animation!? Hell yeah!

[@lachy_942]

Possibly a foolish question, but could the wielder throw the mine like a javelin at the tank from a short (but presumably safer) distance, or would this cause the detonation to fail? I guess from the moment you pick that thing up you've resigned to die.

[@themaniomarian]

It would fail, because what activates the charge is thrusting the handle into the charge that is pressed against the target. The handle wouldn't have enough inertia to do it by itself, unless you would attach something about as heavy as the charge itself on the opposite end and even then you could throw it like really just a few meters. And even if that worked, it is the shrapnel that is the main concern for your life and those additional few meters don't help much. There is another problem with an angle, where if armor is not struck by all three pins (perfect angle), then the efectiveness of HEAT charge decreases.

[@lachy_942]

@@themaniomarian Cheers man, I figured there must have been a reason, glad to have some in-depth explanation.

[@doombringer3498]

in fact, some of the "tank spear" users did made it alive. This thing can be: 1) mounted to a longer shaft. this make most of the shrapnel cone fly sideways from the user. 2) thrown from the trees, cliffs, roofs or, well, thrown as a spear. Some japanese infantrymen even used it more than once.

[@liammeech3702]

Source?

[@Alf_the_Great]

I mean the force needed to activate it would probably not be that great so it could be possible to just yeet it

[@jackmcslay]

Throwing it from a cliff or rooftop also has the benefit that the attack will be much more effective as the armor on the top of the tank is weaker than the sides.

[@doombringer3498]

@@liammeech3702 Shimota Seizi -- Empire's Soldier.

[@Kozo-Sushi]

@@liammeech3702 57 kills with the NVA in close combat against French tanks for a loss of 46 lunger troops, NVA recorded most deaths were from infantry gunning them down during the sprint so most lungers had a higher chance of dying to riflefire than their weapon. Even stranger, the Japanese held it by the bottom and with one hand reinforcing it from the base and using it like an exploding ice pick, the NVA charged with it like a spear according to pictures which you'd think would put them in even more of harm's way. The Japanese Navy put suction cups on the end instead and added a 15 second fuze delay, they used it successfully in Okinawa against parked aircraft using Teishin Shudan paratroopers as well as magnetic TNT frisbees that also doubled as magnetic satchel charges that only fell out of use when the Sherman entered and they couldn't pen the armor from the side or rear.

[@nursestoyland]

I’m glad u included a Lego animation in ur video!

[@Merkdawgm16]

The scenes from the movie my way were great! That is one of the greatest war movies ever!

[@jonny-b4954]

Effective in BF5 though hahaha 0:30 That's so dope of a kill

[@squidoftheland]

Yeet

[@sinisterisrandom8537]

Honestly, I'd say it was adequate for what the intent it was needed for, but its problem is more down to practicality, and given that the Japanese army was lacking the necessary troops, equipment and so on to really at all make it effective, was simply not worth the time. When they could train those said soldiers for other purposes such as engineering, machine gunner, and so on.

[@The_whales]

If japan was only fighting China then it wouldn’t be as bad but they had to pick a fight with the biggest economy

[@imgvillasrc1608]

​@Blue They didn't have much of a choice, the Japanese dug themselves to their graves when the war with China turned to a stalemate and their horrific warcrimes and blind expansionism caused their largest oil exporter to cut them off completely.

[@dereenaldoambun9158]

@@The_whales Meanwhile Germany: Hey, let me declare war on the US while we were busy fighting the Brits & the Soviet!

[@unkindled6410]

even for a last ditch economy standpoint im pretty sure one could sit for a few minutes and think of a better improvise anti-armor weapon than making a suicidal-spear. like, couldnt they make a bomb to throw at or use slingshots? some other people mentioning just using firework technology with these explosives which is 15th century tech.

[@abelstrd]

Thanks, because I was thinking about getting myself about a dozen of these.

[@sethleoric2598]

The guys using the Lunge mines as paddles in BFV had me dead ngl.

[@Clive697]

Jeez, and I thought Panzerfaust users had balls to get so close to enemy tanks. I wonder if Japan might have prolonged the Pacific War if they'd used kamikaze planes and lunge mines from the start?

[@SuperMrHiggins]

Probably would have shortened it. They wasted so many skilled (or at worst competent) pilots due to kamikazi attacks. By the end of the war they didn't have enough pilots to man their even severely reduced airforce

[@reform-revolution]

@@SuperMrHiggins to be fair the kamikazi did more damage on average then regular plane strikes its why they started doing it as it took fewer planes to do more damage and they thought it was worth it as they would lose those planes and pilots anyway its one of those "doesnt make sense to US but it made some sense to THEM" things like the germans using larger tanks instead of building more smaller ones

[@joelvannatta3266]

@@SuperMrHiggins The Japanese used kamikaze pilots specifically because they had lost all of their skilled pilots prior in the war. At the time of the attack on Pearl Harbor, Japan had some of the best pilots in the world. They suffered because--like the Germans--they had their pilots fly missions until they were shot down, rather than do what other countries like the USA did, which was have them fly so many missions, then be sent home to instruct new pilots, resulting in your average pilot being more skilled overall.

[@ngthanhphong8537]

During the First Indochina War, Viet Minh used the Lunge Mines to help taking out armored cars and light tanks, the Generals knews these would work but wanted to limited on many soldiers on using it so they would make contracts for the volunteers that willing to die in honor for the country, knowing they will destroyed one armored vehicle to help the Librate Soldiers to win the battles, you can find their's uniform for it in a video and pictures of them holding the stick mines too during Ha Noi defense

[@bobbyhillthe3rd]

The wars that happen in jungle areas like the veitnam war have the craziest methods of taking out people. The mine feilds, the tiny tunnels that allowed them to sneak up on enemys and when american soilders went ro the tunnels they set all kinds of traps

[@TheDeputy173]

I always saw this in the 1939 weapon research in hearts of iron 4 in Japan but never knew what it was, that's Johnny 👍

[@MH-kc1eu]

It’s way more effective on the battlefield 5 game than it was in real life

[@xxfalconarasxx5659]

Yeah, that's probably because it barely harms the player when using it, only stunning them and dealing a bit of scratch damage that is regenerated in a few seconds, whereas in real life, a lunge mine would have easily killed or severely injured its user, regardless of the shaped charge. You can also maneuver around with it easily in the game, even though the lunge mine weighs 7 kg, with the device being especially front heavy, and is about 2 meters long.

[@russby3554]

I have a funny story about this weapon from the board game Bolt Action. Because it is classified as an anti vehicle weapon, the bomb wouldn't detonate unless used against a vehicle. So my opponent would charge one guy into each of my squads and completely wreck them in combat before running that same mad lad into the next unit! He would beat down my guys with a landmine on a pole that wouldn't go off.

[@TheReaper-ep2cq]

I was wondering what you would use for footage since I only saw the lunge mine being used once in the film My Way. But then I remembered that Bf5 made the lunge mine more well known.

[@Sion_Revan]

Soldier: So we throw these right? Officer: Not exactly

[@CrimsonSteelMoonTheWolf64]

How much force is required to trigger a detonation? Could it be thrown like a spear? Probably would sacrifice some of its effectiveness for safety

[@robinrayee6333]

considering it was ineffective anyway i don't think it mattered, but i imagine the excuse would be that it wouldn't land perpendicular enough to the armor to be effective or deflect just before detonating. in reality they were probably just taking advantage of the fanaticism for the emperor and peer pressure to make them kill themself in vain as to have an "honorable death"

[@pedrokantor3997]

A modern peltast?

[@LowPing156]

Didn't the Japanese use magnetic explosive devices too in small numbers?

[@halfgecko3202]

They did the Type 99 magnetic mine, their useage in the Pacific (as either single mines, or multi-pack charges) were one of the reasons tanks in the Pacific were often covered in wood. Well, untill that was forgoten about and they just started welding whatever steel they could find to them.

[@einundsiebenziger5488]

Didn't the Japanese use* ...

[@ME262MKI]

Germany's last ditch AT weapons: short range RPGs Japan's last ditch AT weapons: best i can do is a broom stick filled with explosives

[@user-bv7zo6vd4m]

Warning: Overused joke Instructor: now watch carefully, because I'm only going to be doing this ONCE

[@stoneylonesome4062]

They might as well have designed some type of giant ballista to launch it at vehicles, or attached a crude rocket motor to it, or launched it out of a tube with compressed air or gunpowder.

[@bakatzen6243]

they already have knee mortar, why not just make some HEAT mortar round.

[@ThePotatoMan04]

you just invented the rocket launcher

[@GameFuMaster]

well the british had a spring loaded one lol

[@stoneylonesome4062]

@@GameFuMaster The P.I.A.T. had a small powder propellant charge in it to help launch the warhead.

[@mrbushi1062]

They are insanely satisfying to use in Enlisted and in Bolt Action

[@duongtieuta223]

I had a few drinks with Vietnamese war vet from post-75 era recently, some are T-54 tank crews, and they joked that they would not waste this thing on a tank but would rather use it to attack a bunker or a strong point. If they ever get close enough to use the lunge mine or three-prongs-bomb in Vietnamese, a Molotov bottle over the engine vent is better and cheaper anyway. The explosive is better saved for higher value target.

[@cyphre]

Love the rowboat action! Very inventive

[@OLDMANTEA]

Despite the unorthodox technique, it’s really going fast!

[@mckrunchytoast2469]

I made a terrible but funny joke and sent it to some friends. I had a tamper, essentially a pole with a flat metal plate on the bottom, and was redoing my driveway. I took a picture of me thrusting it at my tractor and sent it with the caption "POV: Commander gave you a canteen of Saké and said charge the tank"

[@jujujunya]

伏龍と刺突爆雷ですか。 旧日本軍の窮状を露わにする悲しい兵器ですね。

[@Monster0_0503]

This channel is amazing.

[@JohnnyJohnsonEsq]

Thanks Michael! :)

[@Fistmybeer]

Thx! ^^

[@SkilledOutdoorsman]

Mad Max: Fury Road had a similar weapon, except it was used as a javelin. TFW even postapocalyptic warlords in an over-the-top movie have more common sense than whoever invented this weapon

[@MrLoobu]

I always wondered why no one just made smaller shaped charges on a stick with fletchings to throw it like a giant explosive javelin. Beneficial because it doesn't kill you.

[@junibug6790]

Smaller shaped charge = less likely you'd actually penetrate the armor, along with the fact that such a weapon would be so hard to aim and have such low range that you may as well just walk up to a tank and bonk it with the javelin. ;)

[@MrLoobu]

@Juni Bug With this type of weapon, the diameter of the cone doesn't matter for penetration, it still has the same cutting power. It would do less damage but still cut through the tank and probably hurt the crew. Back then, it would have been impossible to make it detonate at the correct moment, but you could do that now with modern electronics. Or you could have high explosive darts and send them like a larger grenade vs infantry. In both cases, it would be more effective than any grenade and a lot cheaper than a launcher+ rockets.

[@ne0nmancer]

Well, but that would require japanese officers to actually train their troops to use instead of just using them as cannon fodder.

[@danielc2701]

@@MrLoobu That's not really true. The penetration of a shaped charge is related to the overall diameter, which is why AT rockets are getting fatter over time.

[@MrLoobu]

@@danielc2701 It is true, and that's not why.

[@korbell1089]

Japanese Commander: "We want you to run up and poke that tank with a stick! And remember, the Emperor is your friend!"

[@DamienDarkside]

Imagine being a Japanese soldier in the afterlife, you've used a Lunge Mine to get there. You're just staring at my white ass eating a Pizza Pocket at 3am not even 100 years later watching a representation of your desperation weapon being replicated by Lego and used as fake improv boat paddles in a video game. The same video game where you live if you use the mine, and get my actual respect for using it on a plane. I fucking love this planet sometimes.

[@alm5992]

An airsoft or paintball one would be interesting. You would have to call hit on yourself when you use it.

[@ogre7699]

Despite the tragic and horrific events that gave life to this explosive, it will, hopefully, have the potential to live on through games as just this wacky mad max weapon. And honestly, I can't help but respect the balls it must take to use one of these generally. Especially against a plane. Now THAT is what I call an Anti Air measure.

[@jackmckeown7601]

This makes the demo man's caber look sensible

[@Rockinruffhouser]

First seen them in Medal of Honor rising sun during the “fall of the Philippines” mission. Always wondered what those explosives were

[@jabonorte]

Amazing that they are appearing in video games. What next? Dog mines?

[@patricknoel9096]

Impressive on paper but even a longer stick or stronger ones a baracka effect .. intriguing yes intra gooing

[@CowboysCrusaderTTC]

"You want to go home and rethink your life" -Obi Wan Kenobi

[@eamonnclabby7067]

This reminds of that picture of a dead Japanese soldier in Burma, lying in a hole clutching a shell hoping to do something similar to a British tank...obviously he did get the chance ..cheers Johnny...E..😊🎉