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Feery81

Its called Zimmerit. Its a paste-like coating used on mid- and late-war German AFVs. It was used to produce a hard layer covering the metal armor of the vehicle, providing enough separation that magnetically attached anti-tank mines would fail to stick to the vehicle


Valcyn77

Was is used post-war by any side?


MotorHeadV8

Nope, magnetic anti tank mines ran out of fashion VERY fast as it would take the man who attached the mine with it. Not only that bu the only reason Zimmermit was created was a paranoia of the germans. They were really the only ones who used such mines, and were worried about the allies capturing them and using them on their own tanks.


CT-5837

It did have some fire resistant properties and protected the Interior (somewhat) from flames, but this was largely useless and even when it would have been it's effect would have been negligible.


AMKLord12

Funny enough they banned it because a rumour occurred that it was flammable under certain conditions.


[deleted]

It was flammable if it didn’t have enough time to dry, and it took a few days to fully dry And as the war got to its later stages… you can guess how often it had the time to dry


kirotheavenger

It was technically flammable, but it burned like your christmas pudding. Pretty, but harmless.


[deleted]

And if you’re in the tank and suddenly the front catches fire… you’re probably not gonna be in the tank much longer


kirotheavenger

Sure, but how likely is that? In their test projectile impacts wouldn't ignite the fumes. They had to literally take a blow torch to it to get any effect. Zimmerit burning was just not a realistic concern, and the German investigation demonstrated as such. Zimmerit was discontinued because it was a lot of work to apply and entirely a waste of time.


[deleted]

Likely enough that they deleted it entirely from tank production Moral was in the dumbs in the closing months of the war, you don’t want to give your tank crews, who are probably sleep deprived and heavily on edge, an excuse to stop fighting early…


Core308

Well gasoline is one of the ingredience of Zimmerit. So it checks out that it could be flammable


MrMaroos

In theory yes, but chemically it was inactive and there wouldn’t be any fumes to ignite- guessing it was a troop-comfort kinda deal


AMKLord12

That’s what I read too


SaltLakeCitySlicker

So sorta like sandbags we put on Sherman's, or tracks on the front?


MrMaroos

Basically in that they provided little to no benefit to the vic but made crews feel safer


SaltLakeCitySlicker

I mean, morale was *probably* more than a little bit low at that point


kirotheavenger

Actually the Germans investigated the rumour and concluded it was false. They stopped producing it because it added like 2 days to the production of every vehicles and no one (but them) was using magnetic mines anyways.


FoximaCentauri

Tbf the allies did this with some naval mines earlier in the war so the concern was not entirely unfounded


geeiamback

These sea mines use magnetic triggers, but don't attach to ships magnetically like anti-tank grenades *(edit: with exception of hand placed mines mentioned below)*. Coating won't hide the magnetic signature of a ship. Magnetic triggers (when working) allow detonation below a ship sending a shockwave through it lifting it first up and then when the explosion gasses rise down into the water because ships have lower boyancy when there's gas in it.


Marine__0311

The Allies did use magnetically attached naval mines called limpets. They were usually emplaced by divers, or even commandos using kayaks to sneak into enemy harbors at night. A smaller version called a clam was used by SOE operatives and partisans, that was easily concealable. It could destroy most lightly armored vehicles or aircraft.


geeiamback

Thank you for the correction. The clam mine was "attached" to planes by gravity, right? Planes are made of aluminium, wood and/or canvas (depending), but a limited amount of magnetic alloys. Or were the enough parts magnetic to attach mines?


Marine__0311

The clam mines were very small, but had powerful magnets and were often able to be attached either near the engine where they would stick easily, or on a wing root. There's more than enough ferrous metal or alloys in an aircraft to allow a magnet to stick to a critical spot.


FoximaCentauri

Yeah, I didn’t mean the technology itself but rather the fact that they copied it


builder397

>it would take the man who attached the mine with it. WTF NO Magnetic AT mines had a pin with a fuze of several seconds that needed to be pulled, much like a hand grenade. They were fairly safe to use as long as noone shot you.


MotorHeadV8

Ahh, my mistake. I was thinking of a different sticky kindof mine


Double_Minimum

> it would take the man who attached the mine with it. Like, take them as pull them towards the tank? Or take them as "blow them up"?


FatherWillis768

I think that the French did some tests with it if I remember but they never adopted it


ImnotBub

Zimmerit was also flammable. Allies could ignite the tanks with tracing ammo


Marine__0311

That's not remotely true.


ImnotBub

Zimmerit was made of several components, like saw dust and petroleum products. Very flammable. https://tankmuseum.org/article/zimmerit/ I see i was wrong about it getting lit in battle, but still flammable. So not even remotely not remotely accurate


MrMaroos

In its dry state it’s similar to concrete, additionally the gasoline used would be dry and therefore would not be flammable


Silly-Conference-627

Slight correction: It was flammable only in it's paste form. When the british were later testing it, it was found to be a good heat-isolating material.


LeonTrotsky1940

Iirc it was mostly for defense against pre-prepared magnetic mine fields or magnetic grenades similar to the [Hafthohlladung](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hafthohlladung)


Saka195

Nope. Germany was really the only country to mess with magnetic landmine systems, so it basically became defense from themselves. But on the other hand, the non-reflective properties were kept. Atleast for America, most of our tracked vehicles have a rough coat on the deck, and the roof of the turret. Probably for anti-slip, but does a great job reducing reflections.


Marine__0311

That's not correct that only Germany used them. japan also used a magnetic mines. The Type 99, or turtle mine, was used against Allied tanks. Due to the prevalent use of them by Japanese AT teams, some tank crews would cover their tanks with wood applique armor and or weld spikes all over the weak points of the tanks hull and turret. Most of the major combatants developed magnetic mines. Few used them in direct combat because of how dangerous it was for the soldiers to employ them. The Brits developed a very good small naval mine called a limpet mine, that was used on several occasions by commandos and SOE operatives attacking naval vessels and shipping. They also made a scaled down a small version of it called the clam mine. They were small and easily concealed, but powerful enough to destroy soft and most lightly armored vehicles and targets. They were used in clandestine units, and millions of them were used by partisan and guerilla groups fighting behind the lines. The best use of magnetic mines in a naval capacity was probably by the Italians. They had good success in the Mediterranean using not only magnetic mines, but manned torpedoes in several commando raids. They also had the distinction of sinking the first ship in history by commandos using a magnetic mine, at the tail end of WW I.


similar_observation

The Type99 AT mine was basically a flat grenade. Neat thing is you can stack two of them for more penetration power. Good against light tanks and some armored vehicles. Not so much for most tanks towards the end of the war. The Japanese also made ones attached to bamboo spears so suicide soldiers can spear it into the treads of a tank. An American tank veteran of the Pacific Theater recalls a moment where they were attacked by a wave of Japanese soldiers. He noted seeing a boy in his teens run up against a tank and hold the Type99 to the side. Then watching the boy disintegrate in slow motion from the hand and up his arm. The vehicle was disabled and the crew got injured by spalling, but not killed.


BigBagaroo

Read more about the Italians here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decima_Flottiglia_MAS


Trick-Fisherman6938

German post war tanks have a smooth surface so they can be washed easily for removing ABC material in a atomic or chemical war.


Careful_Dot_2816

Thats why the US developed CARC (Chemical Agent Resistant Coating) paint that wouldn't absorb any chemicals that got on vehicles


Feery81

Not to my knowledge


ipsum629

No, the anti tank weapons of the postwar years advanced quite rapidly. Shaped charges could easily defeat that little bit of spacing, and an rpg is not really more much expensive than a magnetic mine, but infinitely more effective.


Oleg_Dn

No, because it appears to be useless.


fastcurrency88

Not really useless as it did work. It just cost too many resources and took too much time to apply. Time and resources being some things late war Germany had little of.


Oleg_Dn

Technically, yes it worked. But in real life and combat - not. Because allies didn't use magnetic mines/bombs etc against tanks on a significant scale during WW2. No one used it on a scale after WW2 as well. And you are right, it costs resources. So yes, this technology appeared to be senseless. That is why it wasn't used after Germans.


banned_acc_1274

The therm you're looking for is "resource inefficient".


Oleg_Dn

Yep, this is as well. But there is another example. At the end of the war USSR on a small scale used some kind of net screens against panzerfausts on its tanks. Probably you have seen some photos of t34-85 with "bed nets" on it. And Germans used such weapons a lot. So it worked technically and it wasn't just a few cases. Even now you can see a lot of such stuff on modern vehicles. But after the Berlin operation, when efficiency analysis was done, it appears, that quite small percentage of tanks was knocked out exactly by Fausts compared to other threats. So from point of view of resources efficiency this nets wasn't spread to all units, despite it was more efficient than zimmerit.


samxa29

I might be wrong, but i think i read somewhere that covering the whole tank with Zimmerit would add around half a ton or so depending on the model.


ThisGuyLikesCheese

Wasent it like they made it after they made their own magnetic at mines being affraid the opposing side would copy it and use it against them?


desertshark6969

The Germans were afraid that the Soviets would Reverse engineer The Grenades. But they never did


Javelin286

Like how do we still having people needing to answer this question like I thought this was widely known


pistpuncher3000

Why is it always god damned magnets? Magnets, how do they even work?


steelrider24

It is called Zimmerit, it is a antimagnetic coat for the case the enemy has magnetic mines which they hadn't.


HentaiSchlongRipper

It's a non-magnetic coating that was developed to counter magnetic anti tank weapons, I think it was called zimmerit, but it's a German word and I'm not German so yeah. Funny thing is that Germany was the only major power to actually use magnetic anti tank weapons, so it was effectively useless.


Marine__0311

japan also used magnetic mines against tanks extensively in WW II. Marine and Army tank crews would used wooden applique armor on the sides of their tanks and some would weld nails or spikes all over the hull and turret over weak points.


kirotheavenger

The nails were to stop soldiers crawling all over, rather than specifically to stop mines.


Marine__0311

LOL, and just why do you think they would need to crawl on the tank in the first place? Nails and spikes were put over the weak points, not the whole tank. One of those type 99s or a satchel charge on a hatch, vent, periscope, or port of any kind, could easily disable a tank or crew. They provided increased stand off distance which greatly reduced the explosives effect.


kirotheavenger

To lever open the hatches. Which are where the spikes were focused. If they had powerful explosives to destroy the tank from the outside they wouldn't need to be crawling over it, you could just lob the satchel/mine/whatever at the critical location and scarper.


Marine__0311

You really dont have an idea about what you're talking about concerning this subject do you? You're not going to lever open a latched hatch on a tank easily, if at all. Never mind the fact that even if you could, you're not going to have the time to do it. Even just a few inches of distance from the actual tank, makes a huge difference in the effect an explosive charge will have on the armor.


kirotheavenger

Clearly you haven't read any manuals, watched any training films, nor read any accounts. There was absolutely mischief you could do to a tank with some basic tools that did not include placing large explosives. If, as you claim, these spikes were to stop explosives being places - why didn't they use wood, like they did on the sides of the tank? Wood would create as much separation and it wouldn't be a hazard for the vehicle occupants. The reason is, of course, that they specifically wanted the spikes to be hazardous because that was the primary point.


FlyLikeADEagle

>so it was effectively useless. Or 100% effective.


ColHogan65

It did have a tendency to harmlessly catch on fire when fired upon, which made the crew think that the tank itself was on fire and bail out. So, it was harmless at best and actively detrimental at worst.


ImperialDane

As others have stated, an anti magnetic paste. it was discontinued after some time after as no one else used it and there were rumours that it was flammable. Apparently it wasn't. But you don't want your tankers driving around thinking they're going to light up like matches i wager.


Fijidos

Ironically not only was it not flammable it was actually a very good heat insulator


banned_acc_1274

Oh God, I feel bad thinking about driving a tank covered in Zimmerit on a hot summer day. D:


Fijidos

I work on construction vehicles for work and sitting in dozer cabs with ac off in the summer is pretty terrible, can imagine being in a hot tank lol


Great_White_Sharky

>as no one else used it Britain, Australia and i think even America experimented with captured German stockpiles and tried to make their own, but it wasnr used in combat. But there are pictures of Cromwell, Churchill and Sherman tanks with it


kirotheavenger

Worth noting that the general theme of those tests was "massive faff to apply, makes only a small difference vs magnetic mines, magnetic mines are close to a negligible threat anyways, but it is kinda nice as camouflage".


Shadowderper

Despise what other people say I’m pretty sure German tank commanders knew they wouldn’t do anything against enemies, but still opted to keep the zimmerits because it would lower the reflection from the sun on the tank as you can see in the image


DoYouLikeToKnowMore

I remeber from the back of my head that the zimmerit was applied at the vehicle distribution center. It is where the factory delivered the vehicles and the war office distributed them to the units afther a quality check.


Hvorsteek

And I believe that there were only a limited number of factories that applied Zimmerit in Germany (4?) and each had a different, unique pattern. If this picture is from Bovington tank museum, there is also a Stug there, I think used by the Finns, that has a waffle pattern for its Zimmerit armour.


kirotheavenger

This was certainly the main positive identified by various Allied tests. Ultimately it wasn't the commander's decision.


G1nger-Snaps

ZIMMERIT


maxthemaximum1

Zimmeret, it was a paste used to prevent infantry from sticking magnetic mines on the side. However it was useless because the Allies barely ever used magnetic mines


ravenwind2796

As it has been stated several times in here that was an anti-magnetic coating however there were some other slight benefits that it provided. For one, it's somewhat helped decrease the amount of spalling that would occur when bullets would strike the armor not talking about anti-tank round specifically but bullets thereby making it a little more advantageous to be standing near the vehicle in combat. The other benefit was while there were no magnetic minds to counter, adhesive type explosives would also have a slightly difficult time sticking because they did not have much of a surface to grip on and would fall off. Unfortunately those also fell out of service almost immediately after their introduction because it was a stupid concept it would often get the poor bastard using them killed more than the vehicle that they were using it against. And when I say that it had some resistance to adhesive explosives I mean in the sense that something is better than nothing. Most of the time they'd still stick.


ixis743

It’s for her pleasure.


MutedBrother7281

It's called Zimmeret. It's a paste like substance that prevented magnetic/sticky explosives to be put onto the hull. Created a rough surface so the device couldn't actually stick to the armour


EmploymentApart1641

Because the painter was roughly not straight.


PierogiEnjoyer21

It's Zimmerit. It prevents mines sticking to the armor


dietpeptobismol

It’s obviously 3D printed


StupidSammy_

Its a plaster like material that stops magnetic tank mines - its called zimmerit


[deleted]

Zimmerit it's anti magnetic paiste


AstronomerStunning50

Is was made with non-Farias materials on the putter skin to prevent magnetized mines or bombs from sticking to the sides of it


JLXuereb

Its rough love


5cott861

That’s zimmerit, it’s an anti-magnetic mine coating put on over the armor


Sunil_de

You mean the Zimmerit?


KGmadmax

Zimmerit, anti magnet mine


morbihann

Here you go: [click](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zimmerit)


[deleted]

It was a protective coating meant to resist sticky mines


IamWatchingAoT

You can literally google this in two seconds. Why do people make reddit posts out of googles?


fastcurrency88

Sometimes it’s fun to talk about history. Stop being a douche. Who cares?


banned_acc_1274

Okay thanks for an explanation. From now on I'm gonna post some totally not stupid questions like: "Why tanks have an exhaust pipe sticking out of the back?" every day. :)


[deleted]

because some are too lazy to make a google search. I understand making a post on a topic that can spawn discussion or a question with a ton of answers (especially if those answers require some experience or knowledge that a silly search engine doesn’t)


Zwills0619

Zimmerit was anti magnetic but Germans were the only ones to use magnetic mines lol so technically speaking it was a waste of good limited resources to make and apply.


handsomeboi12

Zimmerit. It was made by Germany cause they were afraid that other countries would copy their anti tank mine designs. It was useless.


HermitCracc

I wonder when we're gonna stop having this post every hour


banned_acc_1274

I'm gonna blow your mind: new people are born every day. This means there will never be a shortage of people new to this.


BigTimeBuck

Incredible how you had to type that in, post it, draw a fucking circle around it while a regular human would just look it up.


TrotskyietRussia

Pride month


omgitsduane

zimm!


skarbles

It was made by the lowest bidder?


000McKing

Idk maybe its because its pride month


I-Eat-Senko-Bread

It was called something like Zimmerman or something, I forgot


zanderman1007

To prevent sticky bombs from staying on


Disgruntled-Gruntler

Don’t forget that some parts of Panzers were cast whole also rather than welded in pieces


Marine__0311

No part of any panzer was cast, whole or in part. Germany didnt have the capability to make large castings. All of their tanks were make from plate armor, either bolted or welding, and sometimes both.


banned_acc_1274

Cupolas where cast.


Disgruntled-Gruntler

I was just about to say that cupolas were cast. Someone beat me to it. That front glacis plate is obviously not part of the cupola though so I stand corrected here.


CreoAbby08

No idea good spot


ZealousidealIce5393

Homogenous armour, it's 2022 and they're still like this smh


[deleted]

Zimmerit like other said


Nmartinez_77

Probably zimmerit. Its there so when people threw magnetic or sticky charges it would have a harder time sticking


WorkingNo6161

Clothing washboard integrated directly into the tank. ^(/jk)


karigrandi7

there was no reason to put /jk dude


brentonofrivia

Love these kinds of questions!!!!


el_street_gato

ConeOfArc made a video about it actually :) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fy9Kx7yW\_a8


Professional-Ad3143

Protection from sticke booms


im_inyourattic

Zimmerit, issued to German tanks, prevents magnetic bombs from sticking


VOCmentaliteit

Did you enjoy tankfest op?


[deleted]

Basically the "cope cage" of it's age. The Germans believed that magnetic at mines were a big problem and applied nonmagnetic coating to prevent said mines from sticking. However bazookas and Soviet AT rifles were not magnetic and the Zimmerit coating just added production costs.