In World War II, the Soviet БМ13 rocket launcher was called "Katyusha" by the soldiers of the Red Army, which means beautiful and beautiful girl. At the same time, the German soldiers also gave this rocket the nickname "Stalin organ", because it would emit a characteristic, poignant whistling sound when fired, which made the German army feel "sound" frightened.
First, the initial budding
Early primitive rockets originated in China. In the late 14th century, military rockets were used in European warfare. By the 17th century, the British inventor Sir William Congreve had designed the first military rocket with a modern significance and standardized in the manufacture of parts. In 1844, the British inventor William Hale proposed that "when a projectile rotates in flight, its accuracy will be greatly improved". Hale applied this principle to rockets and patented rotating rockets.
Sir Llan Congreve designed the first military rocket
In September 1807, British troops fired about 300 Congreve rockets into Copenhagen, Denmark, destroying much of the city and killing 2,000 civilians.
Copenhagen fires
In 1827, the Russian army formed the world's first rocket company and participated in the Russo-Turkish War of 1828-1829. During World War I, the Russian army tried to install small recoil but powerful aerial rockets on aircraft for attacking enemy aircraft, but due to the lack of understanding of rocket technology by the Russian high-level, its application did not receive corresponding attention.
At that time, the poor flight stability of military rockets could not be effectively overcome, resulting in large rocket dispersion, poor accuracy and short range. With the improvement of the technical level of the barrel artillery, the position of rockets in the army was temporarily replaced.
After the "October Revolution", in order to resist the attack of the White Bandit Army, Soviet and Russian rocket experts designed rockets that could be carried and launched by trucks, which initially had the prototype of modern rocket artillery.
Second, the development process
In August 1920, the Red Army, lacking artillery and heavy weapons, suffered a crushing defeat on the outskirts of Warsaw. Trotsky, one of the founders of the Red Army, believed that "the scarcity and bulkiness of howitzers could not satisfy the thirst for mobility and firepower of the hastily established Red Army units", and he advocated the study and development of "artillery rockets without gun barrels".
In the Soviet-Polish War, the Red Army was defeated under the city of Warsaw
Lev Davy dović Trotsky
Due to the attention of the Soviet High-level, the Second Central Special Design Bureau was established in 1921, and the Third Research Institute of the People's Committee for Ammunition under it was able to produce solid rockets with a stable flight of 400 meters and aerial rockets with a range of more than 1300 meters after many tests and studies.
Marshal Tukhachevsky
After Trotsky's defeat, Tukhachevsky, the new chief of the General Staff of the Red Army, became interested in military rockets and placed the research and development of rocket weapons under his personal control. From 1931 to 1933, Tukhachevsky inspected the laboratory 32 times and watched the rocket launch test many times. But Tukhachevsky introduced the direction of rocket weapons to the "wrong way" of combining aircraft and rocket weapons, and the first rockets in the laboratory were airborne rockets for fighter jets. Later, the PC82 type 82 mm rocket launcher and the PC132 type 132 mm rocket launcher were officially finalized, becoming the most offensive weapons of Soviet fighters at that time.
After Tukhachevsky was executed for "espionage" in 1937, the research on airborne rockets began to return to the orbit of vehicle-mounted rockets, but in the tests, it was repeatedly exposed that the flight stability was not good enough to affect the accuracy, it was inconvenient to reload, the rocket exhaust caused damage to the equipment, and the Gies 5 carrier was not ideal. It was not until October 1938 that these problems were initially resolved, the vehicle was replaced by a Gies-6 truck, and the launch track was redesigned to solve the initial dispersion accuracy, and the track was divided into two rows of 12 launch rails, each carrying two rockets, one on the top and the other on the bottom, a total of 24 rockets.
After nearly a year of experimental improvement, the designers changed the launch track to a single row of 8 groups of I-shaped guide rails, replaced the double-layer staggered 24-piece launch rail, and installed an ignition device in the car cab, protected the cab window with armored shutters, and installed a jack for the car to further improve the stability of the launch. However, when the live ammunition is fired, the vehicle and the target must maintain a 90-degree angle, and the firing direction is adjusted by the vehicle steering.
3. The first actual battle
In 1939, the Red Army and the Japanese Kwantung Army broke out the Battle of Nomonkan, and the PC82 and PC132 rockets were put into actual combat for the first time.
The rocket launcher was originally designed by the Soviet Union to equip the I-16 fighter
However, when the Soviet fighters equipped with rockets fought against the Japanese army, due to the poor accuracy of the rockets, the results were not significant, only the Soviet ace pilot Polo Djykin used rockets to shoot down 10 Japanese aircraft, and the results of more Soviet pilots were reflected in the use of airborne rockets to destroy many Japanese fire points, vehicles and other ground targets, which provided new inspiration for the Soviet military.
Fourth, the finalization and production
Rockets came to prominence in the Battle of Nomonhan, and soviet top brass began to seriously consider converting aviation rockets into mobile rockets for use by the Army.
In March 1939, the Soviet Voronezh Comintern factory gave birth to the world's first vehicle-mounted rocket launcher, which the Soviet army named БМ13. This rocket is mounted on the chassis of the Gies 6 truck, the launch track is a single row of 8 groups of I-shaped, can load and fire 16 132 mm rockets at a time, the launcher has a left 90 degrees to the right 90 degrees direction of the firing boundary, the maximum range of 8.5 kilometers, both salvo and single shot. In order to meet the test demand, 6 rocket launchers of the БМ13 rockets were produced on a trial basis.
БМ13 rocket launcher mounted on a Gis-6 truck
In this kind of rocket artillery test, the Soviet Army spoke highly of it, believing that it had an unparalleled ability to destroy and damage the dense enemy's living forces, field fortifications and cluster tank artillery.
Stalin was also interested in such rockets, but Marshal Voroshilov objected for the simple reason that Tukhachevsky "had supported" the development of rocket weapons, and that anyone who supported Tukhachevsky was resolutely opposed to "politics". In addition, Marshal Kulik, minister of the Soviet Army's General Ordnance Department, also raised objections because this kind of rocket artillery will produce huge fire and smoke when fired, poor concealment, lack of protection, unstable performance, and even the phenomenon of "dropping bombs" during testing.
Marshal Voroshilov
Marshal Kulik
Due to the opposition of Voroshilov, Kulik and others, the rocket launcher could not be finalized and put into production, and 40 rockets could only be produced in small batches under the name of trial. In June of the same year, 17 more vehicles were ordered.
On June 17, 1941, a few days before the outbreak of the Great Patriotic War, Zhukov, Timoshenko, Ustinov, and others personally inspected the live firing of such rockets and suggested to Stalin that the troops be put into production as soon as possible.
With Stalin's personal intervention, on June 30, 1941, the 8th day after the outbreak of the Great Patriotic War, the БМ13 rocket launcher and the БМ8 rocket launcher system were finally officially finalized and put into mass production, of which the БМ13 was the later famous "Katyusha" rocket.
5. Entering World War II
At the outbreak of the Great Patriotic War, the Soviet Union had only 46 BM13 Katyusha rockets, including 6 in the early trial production and 40 in small batches later, but none of them were officially equipped with troops.
On June 28, 1941, the artillery command of the Moscow Military District of the Soviet Army urgently mobilized personnel to form the first rocket artillery company, appointing Ivan Andreevich, an officer of the People's Committee of internal affairs and a 36-year-old officer. Captain Ferrelov was the company commander. The company underwent only a week of hasty training, and after mastering the basic methods of operation, it quickly pulled up to the Smolensk front. At that time, the company had only 7 БМ 13 rockets and 3,000 132 mm rockets.
The first threat on the Smolensk front caused great panic among the Germans. At this time, the car was the Guise 6
At 2:30 p.m. on July 14, 1941, Captain Ferrelov's БМ13 rockets entered the firing position across the Orsha River and suddenly fired 112 132 mm rockets at the German 5th Infantry Division stationed at the railway station. A total of 8 tons of rockets suddenly turned 40,000 square meters of coverage into a sea of fire, and the German soldiers fell on their backs, suffering heavy casualties, and thought they had been attacked by a Soviet artillery division.
The success of the initial battle caused a decisive change in the attitude of the Soviet high-level towards rocket artillery in an instant, and rocket artillery began to equip troops with unprecedented speed and scale. According to statistics, in October 1941, the Soviet Army had only 13 newly formed "Katyusha" rocket artillery battalions, which increased to 36 in December of the same year. Subsequently, rocket artillery began to be incorporated into infantry divisions, infantry corps, tank corps, and synthetic army group artillery units, participated in almost all major battles of the Great Patriotic War, and played an increasingly important role in the war. In 1943, during the Battle of Stalingrad, 1,531 rockets were used to deal an unprecedented blow to the Germans. Since then, including the liberation of Budapest, Prague, Königsberg, Berlin and other battles, the "Katyusha" rocket launcher has played an irreplaceable role.
With the increasing use of the Katyusha rocket, this rocket has also received two different nicknames. First, out of a need for secrecy, the Katyusha rocket artillery vehicles had no markings except for a "K" letter printed on them, that is, the first letter in Russian at the Arsenal of the Communist International of Voronezh. The Soldiers of the Red Army also did not know its official name, so they called the "K" letter "Katyusha", a common nickname used by Soviet women, which quickly spread among the Red Army. To this day, Russian rockets have developed from generation to generation, and the official model must be embellished with "Katyusha". Second, nazi German soldiers certainly could not have called the rockets "Katyusha", but they called them "Stalin's organs" based on the terrifying and terrifying roar of the rockets when they were fired.
During World War II, the Red Army was equipped with many models for different purposes, including:
БМ8 rocket launcher
БМ8 rocket launcher. This kind of rocket artillery is improved from the РС82 type aviation rocket, usually using 16 combined and 24 combined equipment, which is less powerful than the БМ13 rocket gun and has a shorter range, but because of the use of T49 and T60 light tank chassis as vehicles, better mobility, higher fire intensity, suitable for attacking close-range enemy forces and light field fortifications.
БМ31 rocket launcher. It was a heavy rocket launched on the ground, firing М30 300 mm super-caliber rockets, with a warhead charge of 28.9 kg, more powerful than 203 mm grenades, used against the German army's strong fire point, with a range of 2800 meters. The М31 rocket launcher mainly uses 4-in-packs and 12 launchers.
During the most intense period of the Great Patriotic War, 1943-1945, the production of rockets was twice as high as in 1941-1942 combined. By the end of the war, the Soviets had 7 rocket artillery divisions, 11 rocket artillery brigades, and 38 independent rocket artillery battalions, most of which were equipped with БМ13 rocket launchers.
Here we would like to make a special mention to Ivan. Andreyevich. The fate of Captain Ferrelov as the company commander of the Soviet Army's first rocket artillery company. After the war began, the artillery company was on the front lines of resistance against German fascism. On the night of October 7, 1941, The Company of Ferrelov, which was marching, was unfortunately confronted by the vanguard of the German infiltration in the village of Bugatyi near Smolensk. In order to prevent the weapons from falling into the hands of the Germans, Felelov ordered all 7 rocket artillery vehicles to be blown up after the shells were fired. However, due to delays in firing rockets and destroying rockets, the artillery company was surrounded. In the process of breaking through, most of the Soviet officers and men, including Felelov, died heroically. Later, Felelov was posthumously awarded the Order of the Great Patriotic War of the First Class, and several avenues in his hometown of Ripest and Orsha were named Ferrelov Street. On June 21, 1995, then Russian President Boris Yeltsin signed Presidential Decree No. 619, and Felelov was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Russian Federation.
Post-war evaluation
When the author browsed the information about the "Katyusha" rocket on the Internet, many netizens asked: At that time, some countries such as Germany, the United States, and the United Kingdom also had rockets similar to the "Katyusha", why did the armies of these countries fail to achieve world-renowned results in using rocket artillery? For this point, in addition to the different degrees of attention paid to rocket artillery by the government and army of the host country, there are also the following reasons:
The gun car self-propelled. As mentioned earlier, when the "Katyusha" rocket launcher will inevitably produce huge smoke and fire, it is very easy to expose the target, and can only adopt the tactic of "hitting and running".
From the historical point of view, the original "Katyusha" rocket launcher vehicles were Soviet-made Gis 5 type, Gis 6 type truck, after the outbreak of war, most of the Soviet automobile manufacturing plants switched to the production of armored vehicles, resulting in a tight supply of trucks.
Rocket launcher mounted on the USS6 chassis of the American Stepunk
Rocket launcher mounted on the American CCKW353 chassis
Rocket launcher mounted on the chassis of a British Bedford truck
After 1942, a huge number of American and British aid vehicles became the main vehicles of the "Katyusha" rocket, and the American Stipunk US6, CCKW353 trucks and british Bedford brand trucks became the vehicles of the "Katyusha" rockets.
Rocket launcher mounted on the chassis of a tracked car
Considering the origin of the vehicle and the mobility of the battlefield, some Katyusha rockets were mounted on the chassis of tracked vehicles, such as the Soviet Т40 and Т60 light tanks, and even the Slow-moving stalin СТЗ5 tractors. In addition, in response to mountain combat, light БМ8 8-group rocket launchers were even mounted on sleds, motorcycles and heavy machine gun mounts, among others.
World War II German Type 41 150 mm towed rocket launcher
German half-tracked vehicle towed the Type 41 rocket launcher
German Type 42 self-propelled rocket launcher
However, in World War II, other countries did very little in this way, such as Many of Germany's rockets were towed, and it was not until the late stages of the war that the Type 42 rockets mounted on SdKfz4 semi-track armored vehicles appeared.
The U.S. military mounted rocket launchers on landing ships during World War II
Although the United States and Britain also installed rocket launchers on M4A1 tanks, they were more likely to mount rockets on the decks of landing ships and support the landing with powerful firepower.
After World War II, the Katyusha rocket vehicle was unified into the Guiss 151 type
After the end of World War II, in order to facilitate equipment management, the vehicles of the "Katyusha" rocket launcher were gradually unified into the Gies 151 military off-road truck.
Manufacturing is simplified. Actual combat proves that the БМ13 rocket gun is a kind of artillery equipment of the "charcoal in the snow", it is low cost, simple structure, the launcher is made of mild steel, a few fitters can connect it with the vehicle chassis, almost any factory can produce, rocket manufacturing is also very simple, is the Soviet military industry that suffered serious losses in the early stage of the war, the only artillery equipment that can be provided in large quantities. In addition, this kind of rocket artillery operation is also relatively easy, and a large number of recruits can basically master the operation technology after only half a month of training.
Shooting continuity. Since the rocket explosive loading coefficient is higher than that of ordinary artillery shells, the explosive power of a 132mm rocket is comparable to that of a 152mm grenade, coupled with the fast rate of fire, it can fire a large amount of ammunition in a very short time, giving the enemy a heavy blow.
Although the rockets of other countries in World War II can also achieve continuous firing of multiple rockets, the "Katyusha" rockets after official service can fire 16 rockets at a time, and also have several rocket salvos or even single launch functions, which is very flexible.
The "Katyusha" volley of fire was fierce
In addition to the simple structure of the Katyusha rocket, the charging method is also different from ordinary grenades. Due to the long projectile body, the charge is divided into two warheads, that is, the front end warhead and the warhead tail part near the front-end fuze position, the two warheads detonate at the same time, and their power is stronger than a single warhead with the same charge, and the shock wave generated is also larger, even if the target explodes at a certain distance, the powerful shock wave also has considerable destructive power on the target. (The pictures in this article are from the network)