From: DAWGFACE47@w...
Date: Wed, 21 Aug 2002 16:40:12 -0500 (CDT)
Subject: OT; FLIEGERFAUST (?)
thanks KARL! the girlfriend's daddy had died from acrrued illness and old wounds before i ever met him-he was only in his early 50s, i think. from what her brother told me, POP had been assigned to a unit in France prior to D-Day. he had been sent there after he recovered from serious a wound gotten fighting the Russians. he was in his mid 20s, i think, and had been in DAS HEERE before the war began. anyway, he had apparentlly seen the shitstorm up close and personal, he had (i am looing at a photo of his field gray tunic now) a number of badges on the left chest, one that looked kinda like a USN submarine badge (but he was not a seaman) worn above the rest, what i know was called a KNIGHT"S CROSS, an IRON CROSS 2/c ribbon, 3 cloth badges on his right arm that were rectangular boxes wiprofiled tank inside. on the left sleeve were 2 silver V-shaped chevrons and a diamond on a dark background. he was an infantryman, supposedly. (maybe a corporal of some type?) anyway, he also wore a smock over this, that i also saw, which was an ugly-tan w/green-brown jagged shapes on one side, and a grayish white color the other.. i think there was some odd looking leafy bars in cloth on the left sleeve of this smock. typical looking battered brown and black leather gear, including a holster for a P38, and machinepistol ammo pouches. some big canvas bags that i guessed were apparently used to carry ammo for the RL (did not look lie BUNDESWEHR breadbags, these were bigger). the launcher, as i recall it, must have been a "B" model of this thing; i am petty sure there were more than 6 barrels. the paint was flaking off from wear, but it was painted an ugly gray green. he supposed lugged thiis thing around from Normandy, in the Lorraine, and then all the way to HANAU. he supposedly shot down a JABO with it, sharing credit with another RL soldier. supposedly the last time he used it was a week or so before he got back to the farm, when he used it to shoot up some American half tracks and jeeps that blundered into a roadblock his unit was manning. i need to ask my UK buddy, but, think he saw a 9 barrel RL in Normandy, and in Berlin. i had never even heard of this weapon till i saw the one outside of HANAU, and i ws not sure it really was an AA weapon-i always thought it was some kind of light vehicle and anti-personnel weapon, till my UK buddy told me what these were. last time i saw this was way back in 1966.