A sample of the range of anti tank and anti personnel mines used by Cambodia's four warring ...

Accession Number P03258.196
Collection type Photograph
Object type Negative
Maker Smith, Heide
Place made Cambodia, Pacific Islands
Date made 1993
Conflict Period 1990-1999
Cambodia (UNTAC), 1992-1993
Copyright Item copyright: © Australian War Memorial
Creative Commons License This item is licensed under CC BY-NC
Description

A sample of the range of anti tank and anti personnel mines used by Cambodia's four warring factions on display at the Mine Clearance Training Unit (MCTU), located just outside Battambang. Three members of the MCTU chat in the background while a Cambodian man sits at a simple table and chair in front of the entrance to the centre's barracks. To the right of the doorway, three echelon bags sit on the window sill. Personnel are (left to right) unidentified British soldier; Corporal (Cpl) Walker (New Zealand); Sclater (rank unidentified, New Zealand). All are wearing a blue patch on their left breast pocket bearing the words 'Mine Clearance Training Unit UNTAC', while the two New Zealand officers are wearing two name patches each - one in English and one in Khmer - above their right breast pocket.

At least 28 different types of mines have been identified in use in Cambodia. This selection features, from left to right: a Czech PT-MI-K anti tank mine; a Soviet TM-72 anti tank mine; an unidentified copy of a M14 anti personnel mine; unidentified; a Soviet PMD-6M anti personnel mine (box shaped mine); PMNZ anti personnel mine (behind box shaped mine); an unidentified copy of a US Claymore M18A1; a Soviet PMN-2 anti personnel mine; a Vietnamese BLU-24B/B anti personnel mine; a People's Republic of China Type 69 bouncing anti personnel mine; a Czech PP-MI-SR bouncing anti personnel mine; and a OZM-3 anti personnel mine. Despite UNTAC's efforts, millions of such unspent rounds and anti-personnel mines still littered the Cambodian countryside, threatening life and tying up an estimated 800,000 hectares of otherwise productive agricultural land.