Sherman "Calliope"?

Gringe,

If you've seen old video with audio of what those rocket launchers sounded like in full salvo, you'd get the idea of why they had that name. The German Nebelwerfers had the nickname of "screaming mimi" for similar reasons. Plus it's a good idea to nickname some ferocious sounding piece of military hardware after a dictator famous for sending people to the Gulag for the slightest offense...

totally agree with monktrade & wbill, that's about what I was thinkin ( although not quite as in-depth as there went)

now I got a question. since we're on the topic of rocket launchers on the backs of vehicles, why are the russian launchers on the backs of Zis-5 trucks called "Stalin Organs"? they bear no resemblence to organs, as they have no pipes, but rather the rockets are slung onto racks. plz answer that one for me...

Calliope is a steam organ used primarily for circuses. (Think tall vertical pipes with smoke/steam coming out of them). Not sure which muse Calliope is in Greek mythology but my guess is she's related to music which is where the organ itself gets its name...

Just a guess,I may be off my nut, but I'm under the impression that certain organs (as in music ) are known as calliopes. The pipes in the organs and the pipes on the calliope Sherman (as well as the shrill noise), I would think, could be the basis for the comparison?