I was reading this riveting article about the incident caused by the trimming of a large poplar tree in the Korean Demilitarized Zone in 1976. It is a fantastic read invoking axe murders by the North Koreans and the tremendous US response with a mile of helicopters, B-52s aloft, U2s overhead and every able bodied US soldier that was near. During the confrontation the South Korean soldiers rushed to the front of the zone and tore off their shirts revealing a Claymore mine strapped to each man’s chest and his hand on the trigger. They dared the North Koreans to come closer. This was the their own initiative, a complete surprise to the US command. Fortunately they did not need to set them off.
I wonder what would have happened? How much thrust does a Claymore have? I know it’s a focused blast but would their faces have been in the blast zone?
Enough thrust to throw a thousand ball bearings the length of a football field. I suspect the blast would do something similar to the rib cage of anyone who strapped a Claymore to their chest.
A “shaped charge” sends most of the energy in a specific direction, but far from all of it. You’d be quite dead.
I did see something interesting in the movie, “Nobody”, however. The hero charged the villain with a Claymore strapped to the outside of a bullet proof shield and facing outward towards the villain, of course, It exploded and killed the villain. The explosion blew the hero backwards, but he survived intact because the shield prevented any shrapnel from hitting him. I’m still very dubious, however, that the concussion wouldn’t do him in.
Their chests would have caved in from the explosive recoil. But perhaps the South Korean troops knew that perfectly well. They were just daring the North Koreans, or intimidating them.
Not a “shaped charge” in the traditional/classical/common vernacular. The design pushes shrapnel (ball bearings) in one direction but the explosive force is not focused to increase penetration or cutting action. Not really different from a shotgun cartridge with shot. The mass of the shooter and shotgun absorbs the rearward force. In this case, the soon to be victim’s chest cavity will absorb the force with fatal results. The plastic back will kill them too (see airbag deaths).
I’ve seen photos of Vietnam era soldiers with claymore mines strapped to their helmets, I wonder if that was for the same intimidation factor or if it was just seen as easier to carry that way.
I think the claymore mine is one of the biggest misconceptions in the public’s mind from what they see in movies/dramas, etc. vs. reality. When I was in basic, we had a demonstration of a live fire of a claymore mine and any misconception I had before that moment has been forever dispelled. I also saw that scene is “Nobody”, along with a bunch of other movies/dramas where claymores are deployed, and I laugh every time had how ridiculously off they are with the strength of the explosion. It’s a detonation of 1.5 pounds of C4. In the OPs scenario, you’d be lucky to find pieces of the torso left.
I never worked with them, but in my era the ROK army was famous for their disregard for the welfare of their troops. Ordering a couple of expendable grunts to strap on a mine and go confront the axe-wielding NKers would not be out of character for them as I understood it back then.
Even if the body of the wearer were somehow protected from direct impingement of the blast and shrapnel, the shockwave from an explosion powerful enough to throw a body backwards many meters will also do massive pulmonary contusion and flail chest, massive concussive injury, shatter or sever limbs, and basically liquify organs like the kidneys, liver, and spleen.
Yup. Frankly, it would look like the aftereffects of a suicide bomber with a bomb vest. As I’ve heard it described, a disembodied head and detached limbs yards away from the vaporized remains of a torso
(Spoilered because of a fairly distressing and graphic description.)
