Re: Insane modellers (and another GZG...)

From: "Brian Burger" <yh728@victoria.tc.ca>

> Karl, could you give a bit of German-English translation help? I ran
that
> Midgard Serpent page (http://www.geocities.com/madsin72/midgard.html)
thru
> Babelfish, and mostly understood what it gave back, but it also left
me
> with the following line: "580 large pressluftflaschen and a large
nebula
> thrower".
>
> What on earth is a nebula thrower? Or rather, what should Babelfish
have
> translated the original German as? This is in the third paragraph of
the
> page, right after the lines about the 3000hp engines & 960m3 fuel
> capacity. The orginal German seems to be "580 grosse Pressluftflaschen
> und einen grossen Nebelwerfer geben".

50 large compressed(?) air/gas flasks and a large Nebelwerfer.
Nebel = Fog
Werfer = Thrower or Projector (a Werfel is a die, something that is
thrown)

A Nebelwerfer is a Chemical/Smoke Projector.

Except... that in WW2 the large salvo rocket launchers, sometimes
described
as "multiple barrelled mortars" weren't usually used for making instant
smokescreens, they usually had HE warheads. As these were often 150mm
(just
shy of 6") and sometimes 300mm (just shy of 12") in diameter, and fired
off
in batches of 6 to 8 within about 10 seconds, they were justly feared:
often
called "moaning minnies" (UK) or "screaming meemies" (US) because of the
sound
they made.

See http://www.achtungpanzer.com/rockets.html
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/2WWnebelwerfer.htm has a picture of
the
most common variety.

As for the meaning in this context - probably "Heavy Mortar" with 50
rounds
of smoke or gas. Though "poison gas" is "giftgas" in German.