On Jun 18, 7:00*pm, Ignoramus13320 ignoramus13...@NOSPAM.
13320.invalid wrote:
...
My grandpa commanded something like this (if I remember his
WWII photographs correctly).

http://tinyurl.com/2cu5o56

That's a REAL gun!

Russians don't think small:
http://mikeandbevdavis.net/BaMPix/Russia/russia058b.jpg

My father trained on 4.2" mortars until he was whisked off to Officer
Candidate School. When the rest of the unit reached Italy they set up
in an old German dugout, for which the Germans still had maps.
Artillery wiped them out immediately.

jsw