Mine flail
（重定向自Flail tank）
![A preserved, World War 2, Sherman Crab – an M4 Sherman tank fitted with a flail](/Images/godic/202501/13/M4a4_flail_cfb_borden_11551.JPG")
![Matilda Scorpion Mk 1. Note the position of the flail operator, outside the tank.](/Images/godic/202501/13/Matilda-Scorpion1551.jpg")
![Turretless Matilda Baron under test - 13 August 1943.](/Images/godic/202501/13/H_0318471551.jpg")
![Experimental flail mounted on a Valentine tank; the Valentine Scorpion was never used operationally.](/Images/godic/202501/13/IWM-MH-9308-valentine-scorpion1551.jpg")
A mine flail is a vehicle-mounted device that makes a safe path through a mine-field by deliberately detonating land mines in front of the vehicle that carries it. They were first used by the British during World War II.
The mine flail consists of a number of heavy chains, ending in fist-sized steel balls, (flails) that are attached to a horizontal, rapidly rotating rotor mounted on two arms in front of the vehicle. The rotor's rotation makes the flails spin wildly and violently pound the ground. The force of a flail strike above a buried mine mimics the weight of a person or vehicle and causes the mine to detonate, but in a safe manner that does little damage to the flails or the vehicle.