Crossword Genius

German gun getting important man to laugh (3,6)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

big bertha

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'german gun' is the definition.
'Big Bertha' can be an answer for 'gun' (thesaurus). I'm unsure of the 'german' bit.

'important man to laugh' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'important' could be 'big' (synonyms) and 'big' is found in the answer.
'man' could be 'bert' and 'bert' is present in the answer.
'laugh' could be 'ha' and 'ha' is located in the answer.
No letters remain.
This explanation may well be incorrect...

'getting' is the link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for big bertha that I've seen before include "cannon" , "Great War German gun" , "WWI German siege gun" .)

I've seen this clue in The Daily Express.
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