Bangalore torpedo

Bangalore torpedo: A device for clearing a pathway through a barbed-wire entanglement. A tube of sheet-iron with conical wooden head, filled with high explosive, thrust in advance into the obstacle and exploded by a safety lighter or electric lead. Several tubes (each 6ft long and 4ins in diameter) can be joined together, according to requirements. Bangalore, in Mysore, was the headquarters and depôt of Queen Victoria's Own Madras Sappers and Miners. It was introduced on the Western Front in 1915.