The role of the sniper

[DarkLight 0]

Lately i've been wondering about the role of the sniper during WW2.

I've seen a lot of different war movies, documentaries, and after playing MOH:frontline on my ps2 today, i really started to wonder what exactly was the role of the sniper during those years...

After you beat the Normandy levels in MOH, you get a little movie (real war scenes, not fake ones), one of them is also a sniper that looks through his scope and fires his gun. This also made me wonder, i decided to ask the great OFP forum members for help

Now my question is: How did snipers operate during the great war, i've watched BoB and i haven't seen one single allied sniper in any of those episodes. When watching Saving Pr Ryan (not realistic but that's not the point now), i saw a sniper that fights together with assaulters.

When and how were the snipers used in the war? Were they used like in Saving Pr Ryan? By fighting together with other infantry and carefully taking down harder targets?

Or were they used to shoot important people only, a bit like these days, where snipers follow a certain person for ages just to make sure one bullets takes his victim down forever.

The SPR way looks rather good if you ask me, the sniper can assist an assaulting team by taking down people from long range or taking down leaders of a squad.

Were snipers used as normal soldiers, are were they used to operate alone (or with 1 or 2 other soldiers)?

I tried downloading a movie on Kazaa about this, but i can't seem to find any movies about WW2 snipers.

I'm not talking about a real movie, i'd like something like a documentary. Perhaps someone has got one of those movies, if it's a bit of a bloody movie, just send the adress by PM.

Well, that's pretty much what i wanted to say, i'd really appreciate it if someone could answer my questions or give me a good documentary!

Thanks...

[Balschoiw 0]

history:

MAJ. Hesketh Pritchard - Started the first British Sniper course called " The First Army School of Sniping, Observing, and Scouting."

Germany - The Germans were the first to coin the phrase "Sniper" for military use.

1930 - Soviet Russia carefully integrated two man Sniper team tactics.

1955-1956 - The USA Marksmanship Training Unit conducted a centralized Sniper school using the 1903 Springfield A5.

Jan. 1969-July 1969 - 1,250 reported KIA by US Snipers. The average Infantry soldier used 200,000 rounds per KIA compared to 1.3 for the Sniper.

operates today.

Stats:

Simo Hayha W.W. II Finland 542 kills

Ivan Sidorenko W.W. II U.S.S.R. 500 kills

Nikolay Yakovlevich Ilyin W.W. II U.S.S.R. 496 kills

Kulbertinov W.W. II U.S.S.R. 487 kills

Mikhail Budenkov W.W. II U.S.S.R. 437 kills

Fyodor Matveevich Okhlopkov W.W. II U.S.S.R. 429 kills

Fyodor Djachenko W.W. II U.S.S.R. 425 kills

Vasilij Ivanovich Golosov W.W. II U.S.S.R. 422 kills

Afanasy Gordienko W.W. II U.S.S.R. 417 kills

Stepan Petrenko W.W. II U.S.S.R. 412 kills

Erwin Konig W.W. II Germany 400 kills ( I dont believe he did really exist)

Vasili Zaitsev W.W. II U.S.S.R. 400 kills

Sulo Kolkka W.W. II Finland 400 kills

Semen D. Nomokonov W.W. II U.S.S.R. 367 kills

Abdukhani Idrisov W.W. II U.S.S.R. 349 kills

Philipp Yakovlevich Rubaho W.W. II U.S.S.R. 346 kills

Matthäus Hetzenauer W.W. II Germany 345 kills

Victor Ivanovich Medvedev W.W. II U.S.S.R. 331 kills

E. Nicolaev W.W. II U.S.S.R. 324 kills

Leonid Yakovlevich Butkevich W.W. II U.S.S.R. 315 kills

Nikolai Ilyin W.W. II U.S.S.R. 315 kills

Lyudmila M. Pavlichenko (F) W.W. II U.S.S.R. 309 kills

Alexander Pavlovich Lebedev W.W. II U.S.S.R. 307 kills

Ivan Pavlovich Gorelikov W.W. II U.S.S.R. 305 kills

Ivan Petrovich Antonov W.W. II U.S.S.R. 302 kills

Heinz Thorvald W.W. II Germany 300 kills

Gennadij Iosifovich Velichko W.W. II U.S.S.R. 300 kills

Moisej Timofeyevich Usik W.W. II U.S.S.R. 300 kills

Nataly V. Kovshova &

Maria Polivanova (Female team) W.W. II U.S.S.R. 300 kills

Ivan Filippovich Abdulov W.W. II U.S.S.R. 298 kills

Yakov Mikhajlovich Smetnev W.W. II U.S.S.R. 279 kills

Zhambyl Evscheyevich Tulaev W.W. II U.S.S.R. 262 kills

Sepp Allerberger W.W. II Germany 257 kills

Fyodor Kuzmich Chegodaev W.W. II U.S.S.R. 250 kills

Ivan Ivanovich Bocharov W.W. II U.S.S.R. 248 kills

Mikhail Ignatievich Belousov W.W. II U.S.S.R. 245 kills

David Teboevich Doev W.W. II U.S.S.R. 226 kills

Vasilij Shalvovich Kvachantiradze W.W. II U.S.S.R. 215 kills

Mikhail Stepanovich Sokhin W.W. II U.S.S.R. 202 kills

Noj Petrovich Adamia W.W. II U.S.S.R. 200 kills

Gefreiter Meyer W.W. II Germany 180 kills

Vladimir Ptchelinzev <  W.W. II U.S.S.R. 152 kills

Feodosy Smeljachkov W.W. II U.S.S.R. 125 kills

I. Merkulov W.W. II U.S.S.R. 125 kills

H. Andruhaev W.W. II U.S.S.R. 125 kills

Oleh Dir  W.W. II Germany 120 kills

Sgt. Passar W.W. II U.S.S.R. 103 kills

V. N. Pchelintsev W.W. II U.S.S.R. 102 kills

Aliya Moldagulova (F) W.W. II U.S.S.R. 91 kills

Lidiya Gudovanceva (F) W.W. II U.S.S.R. 76 kills

Helmut Wirnsberger W.W. II Germany 64 kills

P. Grjaznov W.W. II U.S.S.R. 57 kills

James Bedford MacArthur W.W. II Canada 9 kills

* denotes unconfirmed kills    (F) denotes Female sniper

Note the dominance of USSR snipers. They were the first to use 2 man sniper teams, that proved to be very effective.

Here is book about Simo Häyhä named "Valkoinen kuolema" (White Death). It´s only in Finnish (AFIK) but this review seems to include some good info about him and his short military career. Simo Häyhä did passed away this year.: http://www.snipercountry.com/ValkoinenKuolema.html

If you want to buy a book on German snipers check this one out:

"German Sniper 1914-1945" by Peter R. Senich.

The US forces didnt use explicit snipers in WW2. The one with best aim and shot within group got the snipe rifle.

[Albert Schweitzer 10]

Nice list. But I may assume that there is a lot of propaganda involved in this list. I too doubt that Erwin König ever existed. And I also believe that snipers were to a great extent tools of propaganda. So I would propose to take those stats not too seriously!   (especially not the russian ones)

[ran 0]

i hate snipers

[Balschoiw 0]

I already mentioned that I doubt the existance of Koenig and it is likely the numbers of russian or other snipers are to high, but the numbers in comparison give a good general figure.

Russian snipers did a very good job in WW2. There is no way to go round that

[Albert Schweitzer 10]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (Balschoiw @ Dec. 14 2002,15:21)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">I already mentioned that I doubt the existance of Koenig and it is likely the numbers of russian or other snipers are to high, but the numbers in comparison give a good general figure.

Russian snipers did a very good job in WW2. There is no way to go round that

<span id='postcolor'>

Not very tough to hit a german who is frozen at minus 25°C. His frozen head would burst like a light bulb.

But the thing I dont understand is when all this was supposed to happen. Snipers had no chance to be successful during the period when the germans were moving forward. The Blitzkrieg was simply to vivid for a sniper to be sucessful. All I cand think of is the time of the winterwar especially during the battle of Stalingrad. I suppose the bullets were so rare at that time that everyone was forced to turn into a sort of sniper!

[Balschoiw 0]

Check google on this Albert. It would burst the topic to pack this all in here. Snipers moved along with regular troops and in standalone teams, they worked basically alone. This way they were able to shoot a great amount of people. Something like hit and run in villages, woods, assault locations...and finally ranged defence positions or flank traps.

Snipers were the last to leave occupied territory and the first to go in, whenever possible. Ranged kills made them very effective against close combat weapons.

I agree with you ran. I dont like them either, since tacs switched and civillians became a popular target like in Israel or Jugoslavia. They can be a real pain in the ***, but they are part of modern warfare and to have one along with you is not to bad at all.

[ran 0]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (Balschoiw @ Dec. 14 2002,15:46)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">Check google on this Albert. It would burst the topic to pack this all in here. Snipers moved along with regular troops and in standalone teams, they worked basically alone. This way they were able to shoot a great amount of people. Something like hit and run in villages, woods, assault locations...and finally ranged defence positions or flank traps.

Snipers were the last to leave occupied territory and the first to go in, whenever possible. Ranged kills made them very effective against close combat weapons.

I agree with you ran. I dont like them either, since tacs switched and civillians became a popular target like in Israel or Jugoslavia. They can be a real pain in the ***, but they are part of modern warfare and to have one along with you is not to bad at all.<span id='postcolor'>

got a second degree burn on my right leg because of one of those during my first trip in bosnia

the impact of a bullet on the apc's armor made me jump while i was in it and i reversed a thermos of burning café on my leg

spent 2 weeks in the local military hospital

[nolips71 0]

i thought ww1 was the great war not ww2.....

[ran 0]

but counter sniper is a bitch of a work when you don't have any APC or heavy weapons with you

[ran 0]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (nolips71 @ Dec. 14 2002,15:54)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">i thought ww1 was the great war not ww2.....<span id='postcolor'>

ww2 was the great patriotic war for the russians

[Albert Schweitzer 10]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (ran @ Dec. 14 2002,15:50)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE"></span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (Balschoiw @ Dec. 14 2002,15:46)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">Check google on this Albert. It would burst the topic to pack this all in here. Snipers moved along with regular troops and in standalone teams, they worked basically alone. This way they were able to shoot a great amount of people. Something like hit and run in villages, woods, assault locations...and finally ranged defence positions or flank traps.

Snipers were the last to leave occupied territory and the first to go in, whenever possible. Ranged kills made them very effective against close combat weapons.

I agree with you ran. I dont like them either, since tacs switched and civillians became a popular target like in Israel or Jugoslavia. They can be a real pain in the ***, but they are part of modern warfare and to have one along with you is not to bad at all.<span id='postcolor'>

got a second degree burn on my right leg because of one of those during my first trip in bosnia

the impact of a bullet on the apc's armor made me jump while i was in it and i reversed a thermos of burning café on my leg

spent 2 weeks in the local military hospital<span id='postcolor'>

     the frenchies !

This is because you always dip your croissant into the coffee and then the cup nearly spills over.

I can fgure you sitting in this tank with the cup in your and and the croissant in your mouth. Then you hear this damn loud hit, get up from your chair, hit the roof with your head, lfit your arm to hold your hand against your head but you forget that there is still a cup of coffee in your hand. And I bet you shouted it so loud even the sniper could hear it.

Mais putain merde, j'ai me tout brullee. Quel salop ..? Je nle croix pas..J'avait meme pas pris mon dejeuner et on a deja essaye de nous assassine...

[Balschoiw 0]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote </td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">apc's armor made me jump while i was in it and i reversed a thermos of burning café on my leg

<span id='postcolor'>

Those are nowadays injuries of war  

When I ´ve been to Africa, we had a guy with us who was not very familiar with combat situations. We had a little firefight with G3´s and some technicals at that time and he maybe fired round 4 mags of covering fire (he didnt hit a thing    )

So after that he boarded APC and that was the point where he started to scream like a monkey on speed. We immedeatly checked the bay and found out that he was smart enough to pick his gun at the front end. After 4 mags it was a bit hot   . Needless to say that he was an officer.

Back to snipers. Yes the only thing you can do when sniped upon is to search for instant cover, get the general direction of fire and zig-zag to a save spot. Therefore if possible I always have the GraPi with me. It allows 40mm grenade fire on high angles and with good range (up to 350m high curve) and aim. It is my personal Anti sniper favourite in fields if no armor or air or ranged fire is available.

[ran 0]

the first day was .... funny

the helicopter wich had to take us from our transport ship to our landing zone had a severe engine probleme , we've had to land on a nearby beach and to call for another helo and for ground support to take the wrecked helo and to try to repair it

on our way to the base , i was in the second VAB of the small 4 vehicles column , i was in 3rd position in the column , we roll for about half an hour and suddenly we hear a big explosion , the driver immediately stops , throwing us in the forward part of the apc , the second vehicle of the column , another VAB triggered a landmine

we've had to wait for 3 hours , the time for the crew to repair the apc and for the mechanic echelon to come here and to help in the reparations

we continue our road

our escort composed of two wheeled AFV's Sagaies had been called to go in support in a nearby town to make a roadblock

this was leaving our VAB all alone

on our way to the base , we met to VBL , we asked kindly to the people in them to escort us , but they told us to fuck off and that they had to reinforce the roadblock in the other town

we continue our way , and we find a VAB with a 20mm gun that was stopped on the side of the road , we disembark to see what's going on , we open the back doors of the APC , we see nobody , and suddenly , we hear somebody yelling at us from behind , the crew of this VAB took position in a nearby farm because they've had an engine failure and their radio was broken , so we send the coordinates of the vehicle to the HQ for them to receive help , we ask them if they want to come with us , they accept

farther on our road , we find an english APC , the men inside ask us for the direction to the beach were the helo had landed , we give him the direction and we ask the brit apc's commander why they want to go there , and they tell us that the french HQ had asked the british to escort the french mechanic echelon to the beach , suddenly , both vehicles , the french VAB and the british warrior receive almost the same message , our VAB was requisitionned at the roadblock to take some journalist for a safe touristic trip around the area , and the message also asked us to get in the british IFV and that once we would be done with the helo's reparations , they would take us to our base , so we've had to go back to our starting point , but on our way , we finally found the roadblock all the french forces had been requested for , the french guys there didn't want to let us pass since they hadn't been informed of where we were going , we waited 2 hours there

what should have normally taken 2 hours and half took to the squad i was in about 6 hours andhalf

[ran 0]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (Balschoiw @ Dec. 14 2002,16:10)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE"></span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote </td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">apc's armor made me jump while i was in it and i reversed a thermos of burning café on my leg

<span id='postcolor'>

Those are nowadays injuries of war  

When I ´ve been to Africa, we had a guy with us who was not very familiar with combat situations. We had a little firefight with G3´s and some technicals at that time and he maybe fired round 4 mags of covering fire (he didnt hit a thing    )

So after that he boarded APC and that was the point where he started to scream like a monkey on speed. We immedeatly checked the bay and found out that he was smart enough to pick his gun at the front end. After 4 mags it was a bit hot   . Needless to say that he was an officer.

Back to snipers. Yes the only thing you can do when sniped upon is to search for instant cover, get the general direction of fire and zig-zag to a save spot.  Therefore if possible I always have the GraPi with me. It allows 40mm grenade fire on high angles and with good range (up to 350m high curve) and aim. It is my personal Anti sniper favourite in fields if no armor or air or ranged fire is available.

<span id='postcolor'>

hk 69 ?

i prefer good ol' french rifle grenades

[Balschoiw 0]

I dont have good experiences with rifle grenades. I never managed to have good aim with them and if it comes to window shootings, like in Yugoslavia, I prefer the short Grapi. It is easier to handle and provides good aim and distance. Also curved shots with it are pretty effective to get people behind fortifications. The reload process is done in a sec, it´s just like rearming a shotgun.

Anyway I am looking forward to have a go on this modified AG36 with attached launcher. Definately an improvement to merge two weapon systems of first class.

[bn880 5]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (Balschoiw @ Dec. 14 2002,08:48)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">history:

MAJ. Hesketh Pritchard - Started the first British Sniper course called " The First Army School of Sniping, Observing, and Scouting."

Germany - The Germans were the first to coin the phrase "Sniper" for military use.

1930 - Soviet Russia carefully integrated two man Sniper team tactics.

1955-1956 - The USA Marksmanship Training Unit conducted a centralized Sniper school using the 1903 Springfield A5.

Jan. 1969-July 1969 - 1,250 reported KIA by US Snipers. The average Infantry soldier used 200,000 rounds per KIA compared to 1.3 for the Sniper.

operates today.

Stats:

Simo Hayha W.W. II Finland 542 kills

Ivan Sidorenko W.W. II U.S.S.R. 500 kills

.

.

.

Helmut Wirnsberger W.W. II Germany 64 kills

P. Grjaznov W.W. II U.S.S.R. 57 kills

James Bedford MacArthur W.W. II Canada 9 kills

* denotes unconfirmed kills (F) denotes Female sniper

Note the dominance of USSR snipers. They were the first to use 2 man sniper teams, that proved to be very effective.<span id='postcolor'>

Good info, thanks.

I dare to ask, do you not find yourselves a little sickened reading the statistics? I do... especially if a number like 500 got translated into the individual names.

EDIT: Didn't mean to crash your weapons party here. Honestly.

[Sadico 1]

Dude, the guy with the AG-36 is a spanish soldier!

[ran 0]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (Balschoiw @ Dec. 14 2002,16:58)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">I dont have good experiences with rifle grenades. I never managed to have good aim with them and if it comes to window shootings, like in Yugoslavia, I prefer the short Grapi. It is easier to handle and provides good aim and distance. Also curved shots with it are pretty effective to get people behind fortifications. The reload process is done in a sec, it´s just like rearming a shotgun.

Anyway I am looking forward to have a go on this modified AG36 with attached launcher. Definately an improvement to merge two weapon systems of first class.

<span id='postcolor'>

i fell in love with rifle grenadfes since my conscript service

i'm more accuracte with theem than with 40mm shell grenades

and the rifle grenades can pack much more punch than the 40 mm shells

the french army is getting issued with FAMASw/M203 launchers , i find the grenade launcher mount too light and handling correctly the famas with the launcher is harder

and note the the famas has an advantage when it comes to rifle grenade : its compactness , the increase of lenght is compensed by that

but i also happen to use the Luchaire grenade launcher , but it has more of a knee mortar and this kind of use is not justified for a 40mm shell

[ran 0]

<a href="http://jamjmt.free.fr/Infanterie%20-%20France/parabellumwebscan-9eRCP-LGI-PhotoYvesDebay.jpg" target="_blank">

the luchaire GL</a>

edit: ralph pic size > 100kb

[Balschoiw 0]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote </td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">Dude, the guy with the AG-36 is a spanish soldier! <span id='postcolor'>

Yeah sure ! Spain was one of the first countries to do massive tests on the AG36 guns. They are rather fresh and are beta tested in german BW at the moment. I doubt they will be bought cause BW has serious money probs at the moment, but as it is a kit I will get it if authorized.

AG36 can also be mounted to the M16 and Diemaco C7 and C8 assault rifles. (Canadian M16A2 and CAR).

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote </td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">and note the the famas has an advantage when it comes to rifle grenade : its compactness , the increase of lenght is compensed by that

<span id='postcolor'> Yes I thought so too, when I looked at the picture. The Famas in general is a very versatile weapon that definately has it´s justification in modern warfare.

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote </td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">i fell in love with rifle grenadfes since my conscript service

i'm more accuracte with theem than with 40mm shell grenades<span id='postcolor'>

That is funny. With me it is the complete opposite situation. i love the 40mm Grapi. I prefer it to Hg´s or Rifle grenades alot. Maybe it´s the belt of ammo carrying 10 projectiles, that makes me feel more safe and dangerous I guess it´s personal taste. Even soldiers do have things like that.

Anyway back on topic as we strafed off (although I like it and it is very informative).

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote </td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE"> dare to ask, do you not find yourselves a little sickened reading the statistics? I do... especially if a number like 500 got translated into the individual names. <span id='postcolor'>

Yes sure. Even if you cut stat by half it is still an enormous high number of killed people. Not to forget the snipe rifles in WW 2 seldom had more than 5 bullets per load. So if you check that even women are among the listed soldiers you can imagine the pain they had to suffer before they decided to get into snipers. Each kill is a target - kill, so no machinegun blast where you mow the enemy but single kills only. I guess it´s hard for us to understand today what has to happen to make you a motivated sniper like the ones on the list. I guess at last you dont think very much at all. See target, engage target, wait for next target and move on. Also dont forget that ranged kills are in general not so hard for your brain than close combat kills. The more distnce between target and soldier the better for the mental situation of the soldier. This part of "dehumanising" war can be seen with long ranged guided weapon systems nowadays. It´s more easier to launch a TOW an a ranged target than to knife an enemy on 1 m.

Usual ranges for WW 2 snipers were about 300 m´s. Not to far but enough to not have to look into opponents eye at the moment of shot.

BTW the scope kill shown in Saving Private Ryan where the german snipe is killed through his scope is a fairy tale. The only confirmed scope kill has happened in Vietnam. Just a side note.

[bn880 5]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (Balschoiw @ Dec. 14 2002,11:41)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE"></span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote </td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE"> dare to ask, do you not find yourselves a little sickened reading the statistics? I do... especially if a number like 500 got translated into the individual names. <span id='postcolor'>

Yes sure. Even if you cut stat by half it is still an enormous high number of killed people. Not to forget the snipe rifles in WW 2 seldom had more than 5 bullets per load. So if you check that even women are among the listed soldiers you can imagine the pain they had to suffer before they decided to get into snipers. Each kill is a target - kill, so no machinegun blast where you mow the enemy but single kills only. I guess it´s hard for us to understand today what has to happen to make you a motivated sniper like the ones on the list. I guess at last you dont think very much at all. See target, engage target, wait for next target and move on. Also dont forget that ranged kills are in general not so hard for your brain than close combat kills. The more distnce between target and soldier the better for the mental situation of the soldier. This part of "dehumanising" war can be seen with long ranged guided weapon systems nowadays. It´s more easier to launch a TOW an a ranged target than to knife an enemy on 1 m.

Usual ranges for WW 2 snipers were about 300 m´s. Not to far but enough to not have to look into opponents eye at the moment of shot.<span id='postcolor'>

I share the same views. Ok, I will let you continue with the weapons discussion, pretty good.

[Balschoiw 0]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote </td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">the luchaire GL<span id='postcolor'>

ran is it fired in the pictured position ?

Like a small mortar without ground plate ?

How do you aim with it ?

And what ammo is shot ?

Never seen this thing but it really reminds me of plated portable mortars like this one that Japan used in WW2. It was called 50mm "Leg mortar" cause it was transported at leg. Allies got the translation wrong and translated it with "Knee mortar". Effect was that many Allies broke their legs when firing captured "Leg mortars".

Basically it looks pretty similar to the luchaire GL.

[ran 0]

it's represented in firing position and fires a 40mm shell

i'd say that you don't aim with it

[Balschoiw 0]

So it´s rather unguided metal rain