[wterrell]

The answer is simple: have Mr. Simpson post his references. No big deal.

But to wile the time, many repairs were performed in the field. War has a way of disconnecting the perfect order of things. At those times, the nicety of sending a weapon back to a chaotic civilization is ridiculous and would not be done. Down and dirty is the mode of war. Especially the two world wars. They conduct their repairs as they conducted their production: streamline.
I can accomplish the task out here in the yard. It is made possible by the provision of witness lines for to realign and then I know beyond a doubt that the torque has been re-acheived and accomplished. No fancy torque wrenches needed. Why spend 3 week at best and lose the use of a valuable weapon by sending it back to civilization, when the whole repair operation may be accomplished with 5 minutes of disassembly and whatever necessary time devoted to the repair operation? Sounds pretty logical to me.
The first DWM's were commercial and exported from Germany to all points on the globe. Return to factory was not considered, yet they were marked for the benefit of whoever worked on them.

p.s. no to worry, no offense taken.