Whizz bangs and Jack Johnsons ... nicknames

[IrishGunner]

British soldiers in the trenches nicknamed incoming German 7.7cm field gun rounds "whizz bangs" and the heavy 15cm rounds "Jack Johnsons"...

Does anyone know if German soldiers had nicknames for incoming allied artillery?

[dond]

I think they used "Oh !"

[Chris Boonzaier]

The French had names... only German one I am aware of is a Ratsch-Bumm... but that may usually refer to the gun itself?

[IrishGunner]

The French had names... only German one I am aware of is a Ratsch-Bumm... but that may usually refer to the gun itself?

I've seen that referring to the Soviet 76 mm divisional field gun in WW2, but not anything in WW1. Do you know to which allied gun it referred? Would make sense for the French 75mm.

Edited February 4, 2014 by IrishGunner

[Chris Boonzaier]

I cannot answer that :-(

I rememember reading it in an "interwar" book some time ago... if they were talking about the French 75 or German Field artillery, or one of those assault guns, i am not sure... and for the life of me i cannot remember where it was....

So the term must have originated 14-18, but only gained popularity in 39-45

[Tony]

I'd have thought the Germans were too practical to make up names and can imagine them doing a 4 week theoretical course on the correct names for incoming artillery according to the sound it made and colour of smoke during training

Tony

[dond]

The French had names... only German one I am aware of is a Ratsch-Bumm... but that may usually refer to the gun itself?

There is a reference to this in The German Army at Passchendaele by Jack Shelton.

[peter monahan]

I'm with Don! At the very least there had to have been the German equivalent of 'the little buggers' and 'the big bastards'. Front line soldiers of very period and nationality, right back to the Greeks and Trojans, had colloquial, usually unprintable, nicknames for everything important in their lives: food, booze, women, officers and weapons, their own and the enemies'.

The Brits also used 'dust bins', I think, for one of the bigger shells. Or was it 'coal scuttles'? And was 'Moaning Minnie' a WWI or a WWII term?

[Tony]

I found this online http://de.wiktionary.org/wiki/Verzeichnis:Soldatensprache

It’s mainly modern and WWII slang but there are two examples of artillery shell slang in the WWI section - Koffer and Kohlenkasten (Kohlenkasten - which I would translate as coal scuttle or coal box was also being used by the Brits).

The Brits also used 'dust bins', I think, for one of the bigger shells. Or was it 'coal scuttles'? And was 'Moaning Minnie' a WWI or a WWII term?

According to the book The Long Trail by Brophy and Partridge (1965 edition) a Minnie was a Great War slang term/colloquialism for a mine, a thrower and the bomb itself. Coal box and a Jack Johnson are apparently the same thing.

[IrishGunner]

Peter and Tony, thanks for the additions. I'll be looking at British artillery sometime in the future. I'll revisit these names then.

[peter monahan]

This song is part of the script of Oh, What A Lovely War! but I believe it is a genuine WWI song

Hush, here comes a Whizzbang.
Hush, here comes a Whizzbang.
Now you soldiermen get down those stairs,
Down in your dugouts and say your prayers.
Hush, here comes a Whizzbang,
And it's making right for you.
And you'll see all the wonders of No-Man's-Land,
If a Whizzbang, hits you.

Edited February 11, 2014 by peter monahan

[E Williams]

Was it Jack Johnson, the boxer, who's name was given to certain German artillery? He had quite a boxing career beating the Cornish Boxer Fitzimmons in 1907. Fitzsimmons was also a world champion with a great career.

[IrishGunner]

Was it Jack Johnson, the boxer, who's name was given to certain German artillery? He had quite a boxing career beating the Cornish Boxer Fitzimmons in 1907. Fitzsimmons was also a world champion with a great career.

Ed, yes, precisely; the Brits called the big heavy hitting German 15cm shells "Jack Johnsons" because of their familiarity with the boxer himself.

[Jerry B]

I have Jack Johnson on a crested ware shell, obviously the names were not only used in the frontline.

JC Dunn mentions a few in "the war the infantry knew", if I remember correctly.

[IrishGunner]

Nice porcelain piece

[peter monahan]

Just came across "Schlanke Emma" or 'Skinny Emma' for a 305mm howitzer, with shells weighing some 380kg, manufactures by Skoda. Also typical soldier humour!

[Harry the Mole]

There is also the well-known 'Big Bertha' or 'Fat Bertha as she was also known. If I remember correctly, this was also a Skoda of the type used at Liege to put the forts out of action.