Bangalore Torpedo

The Bangalore torpedo is an explosive charge carried inside a set of connected tubes that combat engineers push forward from cover to blow a path through barbed wire, minefields, or heavy undergrowth without having to approach it directly. Captain R. L. McClintock of the Royal Engineers devised it in British India in 1912, and a single charge can clear a path three to four meters wide. It first proved itself clearing wire ahead of infantry assaults in the First World War, including at the Battle of Cambrai in 1917, was adopted by the United States Army as the M1A1 for the Second World War and used in the Western Desert campaign, and has remained in service through the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the 1973 Yom Kippur War, and operations in Afghanistan, with newer versions such as the Advanced Performance Bangalore Torpedo still being developed.