It's not that Nazi Germany tried to disarm landmines — they just tried to detonate them. As We Are the Mighty details, the first such landmine-detonating tank-tractor was the VsKfz 617 Schwere Minenräumer (NK-101), built in 1942 as a joint venture between a few German manufacturers. Like a tricycle, its front tread steered, while the back two stayed immobile. The treads' shoes were really thick to withstand detonations, and had easily replaceable parts. The whole vehicle was also elevated one meter off the ground, and had V-shaped armor to deflect the blast of a landmine.
The Minenräumer was designed to be operated by two people: a driver and a gunner. The gunner used a turret installed from the German Panzer I tank, a tank used throughout World War II aside its more advanced cousins, as the World War II database describes. The gunner in this case was also the commander, who sat on the Minenräumer's right side. The driver sat on the left. As Old Machine Press explains, these occupants sat atop a hull made of two layers of armor. The inner layer was a mere 0.79 in (20 mm) thick, while the outer layer, meant to absorb landmine blasts, was an extra-thick 1.58 in (40 mm).
All of this sounds feasible on paper. The first Minenräumer was produced, and testing started right away. But in the end, it was the only one made.
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