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To: Oorang; Squantos; Clive
I emailed this to my brother who has spent a lot of time (years) throughout Africa, for his job. This was his reply "Don't laugh. This is true - throughout Africa. They really believe this kind of stuff - even today!"

Oh yes, and it's not at all limited to the locale or tribal cultures around Liberia.

During the Rhodesian counterinsurgency of the late 1970s, a pal of mine located there to pursue his occupation as a highway paver, a critical occupation when a large part of that fight was the mining of public roads to harass and terrorize the civilian forces and destroy the occasional military vehicle as well. One tale he related from that period is certainly germaine.

It seems two border-crossing terrorists had successfully pulled off their infiltration from Zambia, bringing along with them a Soviet TM-46 antitank mine. While inserting the fuse and arming the device, they noted that the slaked TNT filler inside was a crumbly dull yellow clumped powder, and decided to enhance the magic of the device by doubling its charge by surrounding the mine in the hole they'd dug for it with mealie meal, approximately the corn meal staple of the African diet in those parts. Trouble was, the ground was wet, making the meal swell up in a mound that betrayed the location of their little surprise. No problem.

They began tamping it down, stomping it back down flat, until in the best traditions of roadrunner foe Wiley Coyote, one of them jumped down directly atop the detonator, originally designed to go only beneath the weight of a heavy armoured vehicle, but which had been field modified to fire from the lesser weight of a civilian halfton farm pickup or passenger car. In any event, the combined weight and enthusiusm was enough.

The guy's stunnned partner was captured still alive and explained the African logic behind the event to the bemused troopies who took charge of him. Kids, don't try this at home with your antitank land mines....

21 posted on 08/06/2003 10:05:16 AM PDT by archy (Keep in mind that the milk of human kindness comes from a beast that is both cannibal and a vampire.)
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To: archy
My favorite nasty mine trick was something that I read about coming from either Rhodesia or SA, I don't recall which- AT mines boobytrapped with a photoelectric cell.

24 posted on 08/06/2003 10:10:59 AM PDT by Riley
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To: archy
LOL....Sounds like the old polish mine clearing joke.....:o)

Kewl Story Archy ......Thanks and Stay Safe !

26 posted on 08/06/2003 10:17:21 AM PDT by Squantos (Cum catapultae proscriptae erunt tum soli proscript catapultas habebunt.)
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