The correct name for Katyusha. History of Katyusha
The first thing that comes to mind when you hear the word “Katyusha” is a deadly artillery vehicle used by the Soviet Union during the. These vehicles were widely used during the war and were known for the force of the jet strike.
The technical purpose of the Katyusha is a combat vehicle rocket artillery(BMRA), similar installations cost less than a full-fledged one artillery piece, but at the same time they could literally bring hell down on the enemy’s head in a few seconds. Soviet engineers achieved a balance between firepower, mobility, accuracy and cost-effectiveness in creating this system, which made it world famous.
Creation of a combat vehicle
Work on the creation of Katyusha began in early 1938, when the Jet Research Institute (RNII) in Leningrad received permission to develop its own BMRA. Initially, large-scale testing of weapons began at the end of 1938, but the huge number of shortcomings in the machine did not impress the Soviet army, however, after the system was refined, in 1940, Katyusha was released in a small batch.
You are probably wondering where the artillery vehicle got its special name - the history of the Katyusha is quite unique. The existence of this weapon was a secret until the very end of the war, during which the combat vehicle, in order to hide its true nature, was marked with the letters “KAT”, which stood for “Kostikova automatic termite”, which is why the soldiers dubbed it Katyusha, in honor of the patriotic songs by Mikhail Isakovsky.
Katyusha also made a loud howling sound when fired, and the arrangement of missiles on the gun resembled a church organ, which is why German soldiers called the car “Stalin’s Organ” for the sound and fear that it generated in the ranks of the enemy. The weapon itself was so secret that only NKVD operatives and the most trusted people were trained to operate it, and had permission to do so, but when Katyusha went into mass production, the restrictions were lifted, and the machine came into the possession of the Soviet troops.
Capabilities of BMRA "Katyusha"
Katyusha used an improved aircraft rocket, the RS-132, adapted for ground installation - the M-13.
- The shell contained five kilograms of explosive.
- The car that was used artillery installation– BM-13 – was created specifically for rocket field artillery.
- The missile's flight range reached 8.5 kilometers.
- The dispersion of the projectile after a shot with fragmentation action reached ten meters.
- The installation contained 16 rockets.
A new, improved and enlarged version of the M-13 projectile, the three-hundred-millimeter M-30/31, was developed in 1942. This projectile was also launched from a specialized vehicle called BM-31.
- The bulbous warhead contained more explosive material and was launched, unlike the M-13, not from a rail installation, but from a frame.
- The frame on the BM-31 lacked mobility compared to the BM-13, since the original versions of such a launcher were not designed for mobile platforms.
- The explosive content of the M-31 increased to 29 kilograms, but at the cost of reducing the range to 4.3 km.
- Each frame contained 12 warheads.
A smaller projectile, the M-8, 82 millimeter caliber, attached to a mount on the BM-8, was also used.
- The range of the M-8 reached almost six kilometers, and the projectile itself contained half a kilo of explosive.
- To launch this warhead, a rail installation was used, on which, due to the smaller size of the projectiles, many more missiles could be placed.
- A machine that could hold thirty-six missiles was called BM-8-36, a vehicle that could hold forty-eight was called BM-8-48, and so on.
Initially, the M-13 was equipped only with explosive warheads and was used against concentrations of enemy troops, but the Katyusha, which proved its functionality during the war, began to be equipped with armor-piercing missiles for confrontation tank troops. Smoke, flare, and other missiles were also developed to complement explosive and armor-piercing warheads. However, the M-31 was still equipped exclusively with explosive shells. With a salvo of more than a hundred missiles, they inflicted not only maximum physical destruction, but also psychological damage to the enemy.
But all such missiles had one drawback - they were not accurate and were effective only in large quantities and in attacks on large targets spread over a territory.
Initially, Katyusha launchers were mounted on a ZIS-5 truck, but later, as the war progressed, the launchers were mounted on a variety of vehicles, including trains and boats, as well as thousands of American trucks received under Lend-Lease.
The first battles of the BMRA "Katyusha"
Katyusha made its debut in combat in 1941, during the surprise invasion of German troops into the territory Soviet Union. This was not the best time to deploy the vehicle, as the single battery had only four days of training and the factories for mass production were barely established.
However, the first battery consisting of seven launchers BM-13 and six hundred M-13 missiles were sent into battle. At that time, Katyusha was a secret development, so a huge number of measures were taken to hide the installation before participating in battle.
On July 7, 1941, the first battery entered the battle, attacking the attackers German troops near the Berezina River. The German soldiers panicked as a shower of explosive shells rained down on their heads, shell fragments flying several meters wounded and shell-shocked the soldiers, and the howling sound of the shot demoralized not only recruits, but also seasoned soldiers.
The first battery continued to participate in the battle, time after time justifying the expectations placed on it, but in October the enemy soldiers were able to surround the battery - however, they failed to capture it, since the retreating troops Soviet army destroyed shells and launchers to secret weapon did not fall into enemy hands.
A salvo of M-13 missiles fired by a battery of four BM-13s within 7-10 seconds launched 4.35 tons of explosives over an area of more than 400 square meters, which was approximately equal to the destructive power of seventy-two single-caliber artillery batteries.
The excellent demonstration of the combat capabilities of the first BM-13 battery led to mass production of the weapon, and already in 1942 an impressive number of launchers and missiles were available to the Soviet army. They were widely used in the defense of USSR territories and the subsequent attack on Berlin. More than five hundred Katyusha batteries served in the war with great success, and by the end of the war, more than ten thousand launchers and more than twelve million missiles were produced using about two hundred different factories.
The rapid production of guns benefited from the fact that the creation of Katyusha required only light equipment, and the time and resources spent on production were much less than those necessary to create howitzers.
Heirs BMRA " Katyusha"
The Katyusha's success in combat, its simple design and cost-effective production ensured that the weapon is still manufactured and used to this day. “Katyusha” has become a common name for Russian BMRAs of various calibers, along with the prefix “BM”.
Most known variant, the post-war BM-21 Grad, which entered the army arsenal in 1962, is still in use today. Like the BM-13, the BM-21 is based on simplicity, combat power and efficiency, which ensured its popularity both among the state military and among the militarized opposition, revolutionaries and other illegal groups. The BM-21 has forty missiles, which it launches at a distance of up to 35 kilometers, depending on the type of projectile.
There is also another option that appeared before the BM-21, namely in 1952 - BM-14, with a caliber of 140 mm. Interestingly, this weapon is widely used by extremists because it has a cheap, compact and mobile version. The last confirmed use of the BM-14 was in 2013, in the Syrian Civil War, where it again demonstrated the ability to provide enormous firepower in massive attacks.
This was inherited by the BM-27 and BM-30 BMRAs, which use 220 and 300 mm calibers, respectively. Such Katyushas can be equipped with long-range, system-guided missiles, allowing them to attack the enemy with much greater accuracy at greater distances than during World War II. The range of the BM-27 reaches 20 km, and the range of the BM-30 is up to 90 km. These installations can launch a huge number of projectiles for very a short time, making the old BM-13 look like an innocent toy. A well-coordinated 300-caliber salvo from several batteries can easily level an entire enemy division.
The last heiress of Katyusha - MLRS Tornado- a universal missile launcher combining BM-21, BM-27 and BM-30 missiles on an eight-wheeled chassis. It uses automatic ammunition placement, guidance, satellite navigation and positioning systems that allow it to fire with much greater accuracy than its predecessors. MLRS Tornado - the future of the Russian rocket artillery, ensuring that Katyusha will always remain in demand in the future.
The unique weapon of the Great Patriotic War, popularly nicknamed "Katyusha", has long become a legend, and unusual name, which was the nickname for the rocket launcher during the war years, stuck with it. Front-line soldiers say that when shooting from formidable weapons began, Soviet citizens often started playing a record with the song “Katyusha”...
The deafening howl that accompanied the rocket's flight literally drove me crazy. Those who did not die during the shelling were often no longer able to resist, as they were shell-shocked, stunned, and psychologically depressed.
origin of name
Why did the terrible front-line weapon receive such an affectionate nickname “Katyusha”? And why Katyusha?
There are several versions about this.
The first belongs to the front-line soldiers. Like, just before the war, Matusovsky and Blanter’s song about the girl Katyusha was very popular, and the beautiful Russian name Somehow it naturally stuck to the new rocket launcher.
The second version was put forward by military experts. Reading the article in Pravda, they speculated what kind of weapons were used near Orsha? A whole volley! This means the gun is automatic and multi-barreled. The message indicated that everything in the affected area was on fire. It’s clear: incendiary shells are thermal. Fire tails?! These are rockets. And who was considered their “father” then, the experts knew very well: Andrei Kostikov. The rangers called “BM-13” in their own way: “Kostikovsky automatic thermal”, abbreviated as “KAT”. And among the front-line soldiers who came to the training grounds, the word “kat” quickly took root. The soldiers took this word to the front line, and there it was not far from everyone’s favorite “Katyusha”.
Another version of the version generated by specialists suggests that the nickname is associated with the “K” index on the mortar body - the installations were produced by the Comintern plant...
The third version is even more exotic and requires special explanation. On the car chassis, the BM-13 installations had guides, which in technical language were called ramps. A projectile was installed at the top and bottom of each slope. Unlike barrel artillery, where the gun crew is divided into a loader and a gunner, in rocket artillery the crew did not have official names, but over time, the division of the soldiers serving the installation according to the functions performed was also determined. A 42-kilogram projectile for the M-13 installation was usually unloaded by several people, and then two, harnessed into straps, dragged the projectiles to the installation itself, lifted them to the height of the slopes, and a third person usually helped them, pushing the projectile so that it entered accurately into the guides. Two soldiers were holding a heavy projectile, and for them at that moment the “pusher-roll-Katyusha” signal that the projectile stood up, rolled, and rolled into the guide slopes meant the successful completion of a very important part of the work of equipping the installation for the salvo. Of course, all the soldiers carried shells and each did the hard work of lifting them to the slopes. There was no specially designated person responsible for installing the projectile into the ramps. But the work itself led to the fact that at the last moment someone had to take on the role of the “Katyusha” in pushing the projectile onto the guides, taking responsibility for the successful completion of the operation upon themselves. It is clear that there were cases of shells falling to the ground, and then it had to be picked up from the ground and started all over again if the Katyusha was mistaken in something.
One more thing. The installations were so secret that it was forbidden to even give the commands “pli”, “fire”, “volley” and the like. Instead, the commands were “sing” and “play.” Well, for the infantry volleys rocket launchers were the most pleasant music, meaning that today the Germans would get the first day, and there would be almost no losses among their own.
Creation of "Katyusha"
The history of the appearance of the first rockets in Rus' goes back to the fifteenth century. Pyrotechnic rockets became widespread in the late 17th and early 18th centuries; this period is associated with the activities of Peter the Great, under whom the first fireworks laboratories were created. In 1680, a special “rocket establishment” was organized in Moscow for the production of fireworks, lighting and signal rockets.
In 1717, the Russian army adopted a one-pound illuminating rocket grenade, which rose to a height of more than 1 kilometer. In 1810, the Russian military department instructed the Military Scientific Committee under the Main Artillery Directorate to deal with the creation of combat missiles for use in combat operations.
In 1813, the talented Russian scientist General A.D. Zasyadko created several types of combat missiles with calibers from 2 to 4 inches. Created by another prominent representative of the Russian artillery school, General K.I. Konstantinov, 2-, 2.5- and 4-inch rockets were adopted by the Russian army, and had higher firing accuracy, better reliability and withstood more long terms storage However, at that time, combat missiles could not compete with the rapidly improving artillery due to restrictions on the range of projectiles and their significant dispersion during shelling.
As a result, in January 1886, the Artillery Committee decided to stop the production of military missiles in Russia.
It was still impossible to stop the development of progress in rocket science, and in the years before the First World War, attempts were made in Russia to create missiles to destroy enemy airplanes and balloons. Former vice director of the Putilov plant I.V. In April 1912, Volovsky presented to the Russian Ministry of War a promising project for rotating rockets of a new type and a project for two “Throwing devices” for launching rockets from an airplane and a car. Despite a number of positive results obtained in the field of jet weapons at the beginning of the twentieth century, this project did not find application. The reason was that the level of scientific knowledge in the field of rocket science during this period still remained low. Most of the inventors of solid fuel rockets were not familiar with the theoretical works of K.E. Tsiolkovsky and other scientists in the field of rocket science. But the main drawback of all rocket projects of the early twentieth century was the use of low-calorie and structurally heterogeneous fuel - black smoky powder - as an energy source.
A new word in improvement missile weapons was said in 1915, when the teacher of the Mikhailovsky Artillery Academy, Colonel I.P. Grave, first proposed a new solid fuel- smokeless pyroxylin powder, which provides the rocket with greater payload and flight range.
A new life-giving breath has come to the development of domestic rocket science in Soviet time. Realizing the importance and significance of rocket technology for the country's defense capability, the state created a special rocket laboratory in Moscow in 1921 for the development of smokeless powder rockets. It was headed by engineer N.I. Tikhomirov and his associate and like-minded person V.A. Artemyev. On March 3, 1928, after many studies and experiments, tests, the first successful launch, designed by N.I. Tikhomirov and V.A. Artemyev, rockets with an engine charge made of large-scale smokeless powder. With the creation of this first rocket using smokeless powder, the foundation was laid for the development of rockets for guards mortars - for the famous Katyushas. The range of the shells even then reached 5-6 kilometers, but they had large deviations from the target, and the problem of ensuring satisfactory accuracy of fire turned out to be the most difficult. Many different options have been tried, however for a long time tests did not give positive results.
In the fall of 1937, the RNII began to implement the idea of mechanized rocket launchers. A department was created at the institute under the leadership of I. I. Gvai. The design team included A.P. Pavlenko, A.S. Popov, V.N. Galkovsky. Now these scientists are considered the “fathers” of the legendary Katyusha rocket mortar. It is difficult to find out exactly who came up with the idea of installing a jet system on a truck. At the same time, they decided to use a “Flute” type design, which had previously been developed for aviation, as a guide for missiles.
Within a week, the team of authors prepared a technical design for the installation, which included twenty-four “Flute” type guides. They were supposed to be placed in two rows on a metal frame mounted across the longitudinal axis of a typical ZIS-5 truck. Tip jet system They intended to carry out horizontal work using the truck itself, and vertical work using a special manual mechanism. In the summer of 1938, the first two prototypes of the rocket system were produced in strict secrecy. volley fire, mounted on ZIS-5 vehicles. In December 1938, new types of installations passed military tests at another training ground, where they were checked by the State Military Commission. The tests took place in thirty-five degree frost. All systems worked perfectly, and the missiles hit the intended targets. The commission highly appreciated the new type of weapon, and December 1938 can be considered the month and year of birth of the legendary Katyushas.
On June 21, 1941, the installation was demonstrated to the leaders of the Soviet government and on the same day, literally a few hours before the start of the Great Patriotic War, a decision was made to urgently launch mass production of M-13 missiles and the launcher, which received official name BM-13 (combat vehicle 13).
Thus, a highly maneuverable, high-speed combat vehicle was created, capable of conducting single, group and salvo fire.
The history of BM-13 - the famous Katyushas - is a very bright and at the same time controversial page of the Great Patriotic War. We decided to talk about some of the mysteries of this legendary weapon.
The mystery of the first salvo
Officially, the 1st experimental Katyusha battery (5 out of 7 installations) under the command of Captain Flerov fired the first salvo at 15:15. July 14, 1941 at the railway junction in Orsha. The following description of what happened is often given: “A cloud of smoke and dust rose over the ravine overgrown with bushes where the battery was hidden. There was a rumbling grinding sound. Throwing tongues of bright flame, more than a hundred cigar-shaped projectiles quickly slid from the guide launchers. For a moment, black arrows were visible in the sky, gaining altitude with increasing speed. Elastic jets of ash-white gases burst out with a roar from their bottoms. And then everything disappeared together.” (...)
“And a few seconds later, in the very thick of the enemy troops, explosions thundered one after another, gradually shaking the ground. Where wagons with ammunition and tanks with fuel had just stood, huge geysers of fire and smoke shot up.”
But if you open any reference literature, you can see that the city of Orsha was abandoned Soviet troops a day later. And who was the salvo fired at? Imagine that the enemy was able to change the rut in a matter of hours railway and driving trains into the station is problematic.
It is even more unlikely that the first to enter the captured city from the Germans are trains with ammunition, for the delivery of which even captured Soviet locomotives and wagons are used.
Nowadays, the hypothesis has become widespread that Captain Flerov received an order to destroy Soviet trains at the station with property that could not be left to the enemy. Maybe so, but there is no direct confirmation of this version yet. Another assumption the author of the article heard from one of the officers of the Belarusian army was that several salvos were fired, and if on July 14 the target was the German troops approaching Orsha, then the attack on the station itself took place a day later.
But these are still hypotheses that make you think and compare facts, but are not yet established and confirmed by documents. At the moment, an unscientific debate even arises from time to time: where did Flerov’s battery first enter the battle - near Orsha or near Rudnya? The distance between these cities is quite decent - more than 50 km directly, and much further along the roads.
We read in the same Wikipedia, which does not pretend to be scientific - “On July 14, 1941 (the city of Rudnya) became the place of the first combat use“Katyusha”, when a battery of rocket mortars by I. A. Flerov, with direct fire, covered a concentration of Germans on the city’s Market Square. In honor of this event, there is a monument in the city - “Katyusha” on a pedestal.”
Firstly, direct fire for Katyushas is practically impossible, and secondly, weapons operating across squares will cover not only the market square with Germans and apparently city residents, but also several blocks around. What happened there is another question. One thing can be stated quite accurately - from the very beginning, the new weapon proved itself to be the best side and lived up to the expectations placed on it. A note from the chief of artillery of the Red Army N. Voronov addressed to Malenkov on August 4, 1941 noted:
“The means are strong. Production should be increased. Continuously form units, regiments and divisions. It is better to use it massively and maintain maximum surprise.”
The mystery of the death of Flerov's battery
The circumstances surrounding the death of Flerov’s battery on October 7, 1941 still remain mysterious. It is often stated that the battery, having fired a direct fire salvo, was destroyed by the crew.
Let us repeat: for Katyushas, direct fire is extremely dangerous and close to suicidal - there is a very high risk that a missile that has slipped from the guides will fall next to the installation. According to the Soviet version, the battery was blown up, and out of 170 soldiers and commanders, only 46 managed to escape from the ring.
Among those killed in this battle was Ivan Andreevich Flerov. On November 11, 1963, he was posthumously awarded the Order of the Patriotic War, 1st degree, and in 1995, the brave commander was awarded the title of Hero Russian Federation. Fragments of rocket launchers discovered at the site of the battery's destruction have also survived to this day.
The German version claims, in turn, that German troops managed to capture three of the seven installations. Although the first installations of the BM-13, if you believe again German photographs, apparently fell into the hands of the enemy much earlier, back in August 1941.
"Katyushas" and "donkeys"
Rocket artillery was not new to German troops. In the Red Army, German rocket launchers were often called “donkeys” for the characteristic sound they made when firing. Contrary to popular belief, both installations and missiles still fell into the hands of the enemy, but direct copying, as was the case with samples of Soviet small arms and artillery weapons, did not occur.
And the development of German rocket artillery took a slightly different path. For the first time during the Great Patriotic War, German troops used 150 mm rocket launchers in battles for Brest Fortress, their use was noted during the assault on Mogilev and in a number of other events. Soviet BM-13 rocket launchers were superior to German systems in terms of firing range, while at the same time being inferior in accuracy. Known number Soviet tanks, guns, aircraft, small arms, released during the war, but there are no figures yet regarding the number of Soviet rocket launchers, as well as the number of Katyushas lost during the war.
It is clear that this was a massive weapon and played a big role in all the key military events of the Great Patriotic War.
Barrelless field rocket artillery system, which received affectionate treatment in the Red Army female name“Katyusha”, without exaggeration, became probably one of the most popular types of military equipment of the Second World War. In any case, neither our enemies nor our allies had anything like this.
Initially barrelless jets artillery systems in the Red Army they were not intended for ground battles. They literally descended from heaven to earth.
The 82 mm caliber rocket was adopted by the Red Army Air Force back in 1933. They were installed on fighters designed by Polikarpov I-15, I-16 and I-153. In 1939, they underwent baptism of fire during the fighting at Khalkhin Gol, where they performed well when shooting at groups of enemy aircraft.
In the same year, employees of the Jet Research Institute began work on a mobile ground launcher that could fire rockets at ground targets. At the same time, the caliber of the rockets was increased to 132 mm.
In March 1941, field tests were successfully carried out new system weapons, and the decision to mass produce combat vehicles with RS-132 missiles, called BM-13, was made the day before the start of the war - June 21, 1941.
How was it structured?
The BM-13 combat vehicle was a chassis of a three-axle ZIS-6 vehicle, on which a rotary truss with a package of guides and a guidance mechanism was installed. For aiming, a rotating and lifting mechanism and an artillery sight were provided. At the rear of the combat vehicle there were two jacks, which ensured its greater stability when firing.
The missiles were launched using a hand-held electric coil connected to a battery and contacts on the guides. When the handle was turned, the contacts closed in turn, and the starting squib was fired in the next projectile.
The explosive material in the warhead of the projectile was detonated from both sides (the length of the detonator was only slightly less than the length of the explosive cavity). And when two waves of detonation met, the gas pressure of the explosion at the meeting point increased sharply. As a result, the hull fragments had significantly greater acceleration, heated up to 600-800 ° C and had a good ignition effect. In addition to the body, part of the rocket chamber, which was heated from the gunpowder burning inside, also burst, which increased fragmentation effect 1.5-2 times compared to artillery shells of a similar caliber. That is why the legend arose that Katyusha rockets were equipped with a “thermite charge.” The “thermite” charge was indeed tested in besieged Leningrad in 1942, but it turned out to be unnecessary - after the Katyusha salvo, everything around was burning. And the joint use of dozens of missiles at the same time also created interference of blast waves, which further enhanced the damaging effect.
Baptism of fire near Orsha
The first salvo of a Soviet battery rocket launchers(this is how the new type of military equipment began to be called for greater secrecy) as part of seven combat installations, the BM-13 was produced in mid-July 1941. This happened near Orsha. An experienced battery under the command of Captain Flerov launched a fire strike at the Orsha railway station, where a concentration of enemy military equipment and manpower was noticed.
At 15:15 on July 14, 1941, heavy fire was opened on enemy trains. The entire station instantly turned into a huge cloud of fire. On the same day, the Chief of the German General Staff, General Halder, wrote in his diary: “On July 14, near Orsha, the Russians used weapons unknown until that time. A fiery barrage of shells burned the Orsha railway station and all the trains with personnel and military equipment of the arriving military units. The metal was melting, the earth was burning.”
The morale effect of the use of rocket mortars was stunning. The enemy lost more than an infantry battalion and a huge amount of military equipment and weapons at the Orsha station. And Captain Flerov’s battery dealt another blow on the same day - this time at the enemy crossing over the Orshitsa River.
The Wehrmacht command, having studied the information received from eyewitnesses of the use of new Russian weapons, was forced to issue a special instruction to its troops, which stated: “ There are reports from the front about the Russians using a new type of weapon that fires rockets. A large number of shots can be fired from one installation within 3-5 seconds. Any appearance of these weapons must be reported on the same day to the general commander of the chemical forces at the high command." A real hunt began for Captain Flerov's battery. In October 1941, she found herself in the Spas-Demensky “cauldron” and was ambushed. Of the 160 people, only 46 managed to reach their own. The battery commander himself died, having first made sure that all the combat vehicles were blown up and would not fall into enemy hands intact.
On land and sea...
In addition to the BM-13, in the SKB of the Voronezh plant. The Comintern, which produced these combat installations, developed new options for placing missiles. For example, taking into account the extremely low cross-country ability of the ZIS-6 vehicle, an option was developed for installing guides for missiles on the chassis of the STZ-5 NATI tracked tractor. In addition, an 82 mm caliber rocket has also found use. Guides were developed and manufactured for it, which were later installed on the chassis of the ZIS-6 vehicle (36 guides) and on the chassis of the T-40 and T-60 light tanks (24 guides).
A 16-charging installation for RS-132 shells and a 48-charging installation for RS-82 shells for armored trains were developed. In the fall of 1942, during the fighting in the Caucasus, 8-round mining pack launchers for RS-82 shells were manufactured for use in mountain conditions.
Later they were installed on American Willys all-terrain vehicles, which came to the USSR under Lend-Lease.
Special launchers for 82 mm and 132 mm caliber rockets were manufactured for their subsequent installation on warships— torpedo boats and armored boats.
The launchers themselves received the popular nickname “Katyusha”, under which they entered the history of the Great Patriotic War. Why Katyusha? There are many versions on this matter. The most reliable - due to the fact that the first BM-13 had the letter “K” - as information that the product was produced at the plant named after. Comintern in Voronezh. By the way, the cruising boats of the Soviet Navy, which had the letter index “K,” received the same nickname. In total, 36 launcher designs were developed and produced during the war.
And the Wehrmacht soldiers nicknamed the BM-13 “Stalin's organs.” Apparently, the roar of the rockets reminded the Germans of the sounds of a church organ. This “music” clearly made them feel uncomfortable.
And from the spring of 1942, guides with missiles began to be installed on British and American all-wheel drive chassis imported into the USSR under Lend-Lease. Still, the ZIS-6 turned out to be a vehicle with low cross-country ability and payload capacity. The three-axle all-wheel drive American truck Studebakker US6 turned out to be most suitable for installing rocket launchers. Combat vehicles began to be produced on its chassis. At the same time, they received the name BM-13N (“normalized”).
During the entire Great Patriotic War, Soviet industry produced more than ten thousand rocket artillery combat vehicles.
Relatives of the Katyusha
For all their advantages, high-explosive fragmentation rockets RS-82 and RS-132 had one drawback - large dispersion and low efficiency when affecting enemy personnel located in field shelters and trenches. To correct this shortcoming, special 300 mm caliber rockets were manufactured.
They received the nickname “Andryusha” among the people. They were launched from a launching machine (“frame”) made of wood. The launch was carried out using a sapper blasting machine.
“Andryushas” were first used in Stalingrad. The new weapons were easy to manufacture, but installing them in position and aiming at the target required a lot of time. In addition, the short range of the M-30 rockets made them dangerous for their own crews.
Therefore, in 1943, the troops began to receive an improved missile, which, with the same power, had a greater firing range. An M-31 shell could hit manpower over an area of 2 thousand square meters or create a crater 2-2.5 m deep and 7-8 m in diameter. But the time to prepare a salvo with new shells was significant - one and a half to two hours.
Such shells were used in 1944-1945 during the assault on enemy fortifications and during street battles. One hit from an M-31 missile was enough to destroy an enemy bunker or a firing point located in a residential building.
Fire sword of the "god of war"
By May 1945, rocket artillery units had about three thousand combat vehicles of the most different types and many “frames” with M-31 shells. Not a single Soviet offensive since Battle of Stalingrad, did not begin without artillery preparation using Katyusha rockets. Salvos from combat installations became the “fiery sword” with which our infantry and tanks made their way through enemy fortified positions.
During the war, BM-13 installations were sometimes used for direct fire at enemy tanks and firing points. To do this, the combat vehicle drove its rear wheels onto some elevation so that its guides assumed a horizontal position. Of course, the accuracy of such shooting was quite low, but a direct hit from a 132-mm rocket would blow any enemy tank to pieces, a close explosion would knock over enemy military equipment, and heavy hot fragments would reliably put it out of action.
After the war, Soviet designers of combat vehicles continued to work on Katyushas and Andryushas. Only now they began to be called not guards mortars, but multiple launch rocket systems. In the USSR, such powerful SZOs as “Grad”, “Hurricane” and “Smerch” were designed and built. At the same time, the losses of an enemy caught in a salvo from a battery of Hurricanes or Smerchs are comparable to losses from the use of tactical nuclear weapons with a yield of up to 20 kilotons, that is, with an explosion atomic bomb, dropped on Hiroshima.
BM-13 combat vehicle on a three-axle vehicle chassis
The caliber of the projectile is 132 mm.
Projectile weight - 42.5 kg.
The mass of the warhead is 21.3 kg.
The maximum projectile flight speed is 355 m/s.
The number of guides is 16.
The maximum firing range is 8470 m.
Charging time of the installation is 3-5 minutes.
The duration of a full salvo is 7-10 seconds.
Guards mortar BM-13 Katyusha
1. Launcher
2. Missiles
3. The car on which the installation was mounted
Guide package
Cabin armor shields
Hiking support
Lifting frame
Launcher battery
Sight bracket
Swivel frame
Lifting handle
The launchers were mounted on the chassis of ZIS-6, Ford Marmont, International Jiemsi, Austin vehicles and on STZ-5 tracked tractors. The largest number of Katyushas were mounted on all-wheel drive three-axle Studebaker vehicles.
M-13 projectile
01. Fuse retaining ring
02. GVMZ fuze
03. Detonator checker
04. Bursting charge
05. Head part
06. Igniter
07. Bottom of the chamber
08. Guide pin
09. Powder rocket charge
10. Missile part
11. Grate
12. Critical section of the nozzle
13. Nozzle
14. Stabilizer
Few survived
The effectiveness of the combat use of Katyushas during an attack on an enemy fortified unit can be illustrated by the example of the defeat of the Tolkachev defensive unit during our counteroffensive near Kursk in July 1943.
The village of Tolkachevo was turned by the Germans into a heavily fortified center of resistance with big amount dugouts and bunkers of 5-12 rolls, with a developed network of trenches and communication passages. The approaches to the village were heavily mined and covered with wire fences.
Salvos of rocket artillery destroyed a significant part of the bunkers, the trenches, along with the enemy infantry in them, were filled up, and the fire system was completely suppressed. Of the entire garrison of the node, numbering 450-500 people, only 28 survived. The Tolkachevsky node was taken by our units without any resistance.
Supreme High Command Reserve
By decision of the Headquarters, in January 1945, the formation of twenty guards mortar regiments began - this is how the units armed with the BM-13 began to be called.
The Guards Mortar Regiment (Gv.MP) of the artillery of the Reserve of the Supreme High Command (RVGK) consisted of a command and three divisions of three batteries. Each battery had four combat vehicles. Thus, a salvo of only one division of 12 BM-13-16 PIP vehicles (Staff Directive No. 002490 prohibited the use of rocket artillery in quantities less than a division) could be compared in strength to a salvo of 12 heavy howitzer regiments of the RVGK (48 152 mm howitzers per regiment ) or 18 heavy howitzer brigades of the RVGK (32 152 mm howitzers per brigade).
Victor Sergeev
After the adoption of 82-mm air-to-air missiles RS-82 (1937) and 132-mm air-to-ground missiles RS-132 (1938) into aviation service, the Main Artillery Directorate set the projectile developer - The Jet Research Institute is tasked with creating a multiple launch rocket system based on RS-132 projectiles. The updated tactical and technical specifications were issued to the institute in June 1938.
In accordance with this task, by the summer of 1939 the institute developed a new 132-mm high-explosive fragmentation projectile, which later received the official name M-13. Compared to the aircraft RS-132, this projectile had a longer flight range and a significantly more powerful warhead. The increase in flight range was achieved by increasing the number rocket fuel, this required lengthening the rocket and warhead parts of the rocket by 48 cm. The M-13 projectile had slightly better aerodynamic characteristics than the RS-132, which made it possible to obtain higher accuracy.
A self-propelled multi-charge launcher was also developed for the projectile. Its first version was created on the basis of the ZIS-5 truck and was designated MU-1 (mechanized unit, first sample). Field tests of the installation carried out between December 1938 and February 1939 showed that it did not fully meet the requirements. Taking into account the test results, the Jet Research Institute developed a new MU-2 launcher, which was accepted by the Main Artillery Directorate for field testing in September 1939. Based on the results of field tests completed in November 1939, the institute was ordered five launchers to carry out military tests. Ordered another installation Artillery Directorate Navy for use in the coastal defense system.
On June 21, 1941, the installation was demonstrated to the leaders of the All-Union Communist Party (6) and the Soviet government, and on the same day, literally a few hours before the start of the Great Patriotic War, a decision was made to urgently launch mass production of M-13 missiles and a launcher, which received the official name BM-13 (combat vehicle 13).
The production of BM-13 units was organized at the Voronezh plant named after. Comintern and at the Moscow plant "Compressor". One of the main enterprises for the production of rockets was the Moscow plant named after. Vladimir Ilyich.
During the war, the production of launchers was urgently launched at several enterprises with different production capabilities, and in connection with this, more or less significant changes were made to the design of the installation. Thus, the troops used up to ten varieties of the BM-13 launcher, which made it difficult to train personnel and had a negative impact on the operation of military equipment. For these reasons, a unified (normalized) launcher BM-13N was developed and put into service in April 1943, during the creation of which the designers critically analyzed all parts and components in order to increase the manufacturability of their production and reduce cost, as a result of which all components received independent indexes and became universal. Compound
The BM-13 "Katyusha" includes the following combat weapons:
Combat vehicle (BM) MU-2 (MU-1);
Missiles.
M-13 rocket:
The M-13 projectile consists of a warhead and a powder jet engine. The design of the warhead resembles a high-explosive fragmentation artillery shell and is equipped with an explosive charge, which is detonated using a contact fuse and an additional detonator. Jet engine has a combustion chamber in which a propellant propellant charge is placed in the form of cylindrical blocks with an axial channel. To ignite powder charge igniters are used. The gases formed during the combustion of powder bombs flow through the nozzle, in front of which there is a diaphragm that prevents the bombs from being ejected through the nozzle. Stabilization of the projectile in flight is ensured by a tail stabilizer with four feathers welded from stamped steel halves. (This method of stabilization provides lower accuracy compared to stabilization by rotation around the longitudinal axis, but allows for a greater range of projectile flight. In addition, the use of a feathered stabilizer greatly simplifies the technology for producing rockets).
The flight range of the M-13 projectile reached 8470 m, but there was very significant dispersion. According to the shooting tables of 1942, with a firing range of 3000 m, the lateral deviation was 51 m, and at the range - 257 m.
In 1943, a modernized version of the rocket was developed, designated M-13-UK (improved accuracy). To increase the accuracy of fire, the M-13-UK projectile has 12 tangentially located holes in the front centering thickening of the rocket part, through which, during operation of the rocket engine, part of the powder gases escapes, causing the projectile to rotate. Although the projectile’s flight range decreased somewhat (to 7.9 km), the improvement in accuracy led to a decrease in the dispersion area and an increase in fire density by 3 times compared to M-13 projectiles. The adoption of the M-13-UK projectile into service in April 1944 contributed to a sharp increase in the fire capabilities of rocket artillery.
MLRS "Katyusha" launcher:
A self-propelled multi-charge launcher has been developed for the projectile. Its first version, MU-1, based on the ZIS-5 truck, had 24 guides mounted on a special frame in a transverse position relative to the longitudinal axis of the vehicle. Its design made it possible to launch rockets only perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the vehicle, and jets of hot gases damaged the elements of the installation and the body of the ZIS-5. Safety was also not ensured when controlling fire from the driver's cabin. The launcher swayed strongly, which worsened the accuracy of the rockets. Loading the launcher from the front of the rails was inconvenient and time-consuming. The ZIS-5 vehicle had limited cross-country ability.
The more advanced MU-2 launcher based on the ZIS-6 off-road truck had 16 guides located along the axis of the vehicle. Every two guides were connected, forming a single structure called a “spark”. A new unit was introduced into the design of the installation - a subframe. The subframe made it possible to assemble the entire artillery part of the launcher (as a single unit) on it, and not on the chassis, as was previously the case. Once assembled, the artillery unit was relatively easily mounted on the chassis of any make of car with minimal modification to the latter. The created design made it possible to reduce the labor intensity, manufacturing time and cost of launchers. The weight of the artillery unit was reduced by 250 kg, the cost by more than 20 percent. The combat and operational qualities of the installation were significantly increased. Due to the introduction of armor for the gas tank, gas pipeline, side and rear walls of the driver's cabin, the survivability of the launchers in combat was increased. The firing sector was increased, the stability of the launcher in the traveling position was increased, and improved lifting and turning mechanisms made it possible to increase the speed of pointing the installation at the target. Before launch, the MU-2 combat vehicle was jacked up similarly to the MU-1. The forces rocking the launcher, thanks to the location of the guides along the chassis of the vehicle, were applied along its axis to two jacks located near the center of gravity, so the rocking became minimal. Loading in the installation was carried out from the breech, that is, from the rear end of the guides. This was more convenient and made it possible to significantly speed up the operation. The MU-2 installation had a rotating and lifting mechanism of the simplest design, a bracket for mounting a sight with a conventional artillery panorama, and a large metal fuel tank mounted at the rear of the cabin. The cockpit windows were covered with armored folding shields. Opposite the seat of the commander of the combat vehicle, on the front panel there was mounted a small rectangular box with a turntable, reminiscent of a telephone dial, and a handle for turning the dial. This device was called the “fire control panel” (FCP). From it went a wiring harness to a special battery and to each guide.
With one turn of the launcher handle, the electrical circuit closed, the squib placed in the front part of the projectile’s rocket chamber was triggered, the reactive charge was ignited and a shot was fired. The rate of fire was determined by the rate of rotation of the PUO handle. All 16 shells could be fired in 7-10 seconds. The time it took to transfer the MU-2 launcher from traveling to combat position was 2-3 minutes, the vertical firing angle ranged from 4° to 45°, and the horizontal firing angle was 20°.
The design of the launcher allowed it to move in a charged state at a fairly high speed (up to 40 km/h) and quickly deploy to a firing position, which facilitated the delivery of surprise attacks on the enemy.
A significant factor increasing the tactical mobility of rocket artillery units armed with BM-13N installations was the fact that the powerful American Studebaker US 6x6 truck, supplied to the USSR under Lend-Lease, was used as a base for the launcher. This car had increased cross-country ability, provided by a powerful engine, three drive axles (6x6 wheel arrangement), a range multiplier, a winch for self-pulling, and a high location of all parts and mechanisms sensitive to water. The development of the BM-13 serial combat vehicle was finally completed with the creation of this launcher. In this form she fought until the end of the war.
Tactical and technical characteristics of the BM-13 "Katyusha" MLRS
M-13 rocket
Caliber, mm 132
Projectile weight, kg 42.3
Warhead mass, kg 21.3
Mass of explosive, kg 4.9
Maximum firing range, km 8.47
Salvo production time, sec 7-10
MU-2 combat vehicle
Base ZiS-6 (8x8)
BM weight, t 43.7
Maximum speed, km/h 40
Number of guides 16
Vertical firing angle, degrees from +4 to +45
Horizontal firing angle, deg 20
Calculation, pers. 10-12
Year of adoption 1941
Testing and operation
The first battery of field rocket artillery, sent to the front on the night of July 1–2, 1941, under the command of Captain I.A. Flerov, was armed with seven installations manufactured by the Jet Research Institute. With its first salvo at 15:15 on July 14, 1941, the battery wiped out the Orsha railway junction along with the German trains with troops and military equipment located on it.
The exceptional efficiency of the battery of Captain I. A. Flerov and the seven more such batteries formed after it contributed to the rapid increase in the rate of production of jet weapons. Already in the autumn of 1941, 45 three-battery divisions with four launchers per battery operated at the fronts. For their armament, 593 BM-13 installations were manufactured in 1941. As military equipment arrived from industry, the formation of rocket artillery regiments began, consisting of three divisions armed with BM-13 launchers and an anti-aircraft division. The regiment had 1,414 personnel, 36 BM-13 launchers and 12 37-mm anti-aircraft guns. The regiment's salvo amounted to 576 132mm shells. At the same time, enemy manpower and military equipment were destroyed over an area of over 100 hectares. Officially, the regiments were called Guards Mortar Regiments of the Reserve Artillery of the Supreme High Command.
| Categories: | |
"Katyusha"
The Guards rocket mortar became one of the most terrible types of weapons of the Great Patriotic War
Now no one can say for sure under what circumstances the multiple rocket launcher received a female name, and even in a diminutive form - “Katyusha”. One thing is known - not all types of weapons received nicknames at the front. And these names were often not at all flattering. For example, the Il-2 attack aircraft of early modifications, which saved the lives of more than one infantryman and was the most welcome “guest” in any battle, received the nickname “humpback” among the soldiers for its cockpit protruding above the fuselage. And the small I-16 fighter, which bore the brunt of the first air battles on its wings, was called the “donkey.” There were, however, also formidable nicknames - the heavy Su-152 self-propelled artillery mount, which was capable of knocking down the turret of a Tiger with one shot, was respectfully called the “St. one-story house - "sledgehammer". In any case, the names most often given were stern and strict. And here is such unexpected tenderness, if not love...
However, if you read the memories of veterans, especially those who, in their military profession, depended on the actions of mortars - infantrymen, tank crews, signalmen, then it becomes clear why the soldiers loved these combat vehicles so much. In terms of its combat power, "Katyusha" had no equal.
Suddenly there was a grinding noise behind us, a rumble, and fiery arrows flew through us to the heights... At the heights, everything was covered with fire, smoke and dust. In the midst of this chaos, fiery candles flared from individual explosions. A terrible roar reached us. When all this calmed down and the command “Forward” was heard, we took the height, meeting almost no resistance, we “played the Katyushas” so cleanly... At the height, when we got up there, we saw that everything had been plowed up. There are almost no traces left of the trenches in which the Germans were located. There were many corpses of enemy soldiers. The wounded fascists were bandaged by our nurses and, together with a small number of survivors, sent to the rear. There was fear on the faces of the Germans. They had not yet understood what had happened to them, and had not recovered from the Katyusha salvo.
From the memoirs of war veteran Vladimir Yakovlevich Ilyashenko (published on the website Iremember.ru)
Each projectile was approximately equal in power to a howitzer, but the installation itself could almost simultaneously fire, depending on the model and size of the ammunition, from eight to 32 missiles. "Katyushas" operated in divisions, regiments or brigades. Moreover, in each division, equipped, for example, with BM-13 installations, there were five such vehicles, each of which had 16 guides for launching 132-mm M-13 projectiles, each weighing 42 kilograms with a flight range of 8470 meters. Accordingly, only one division could fire 80 shells at the enemy. If the division was equipped with BM-8 launchers with 32 82-mm shells, then one salvo would already amount to 160 missiles. What are 160 rockets that fall on a small village or fortified height in a few seconds - imagine for yourself. But in many operations during the war, artillery preparation was carried out by regiments and even Katyusha brigades, and this is more than a hundred vehicles, or more than three thousand shells in one salvo. Probably no one can imagine what three thousand shells are that plow up trenches and fortifications in half a minute...
During the offensive, the Soviet command tried to concentrate as much artillery as possible at the forefront of the main attack. Super-massive artillery preparation, which preceded the breakthrough of the enemy front, was the trump card of the Red Army. Not a single army in that war was able to provide such fire. In 1945, during the offensive, the Soviet command concentrated up to 230-260 cannon artillery guns along one kilometer of the front. In addition to them, for every kilometer there were, on average, 15-20 rocket artillery combat vehicles, not counting the stationary launchers - M-30 frames. Traditionally, Katyushas completed an artillery attack: rocket launchers fired a salvo when the infantry was already attacking. Often, after several volleys of Katyusha rockets, the infantrymen entered an empty settlement or enemy positions without encountering any resistance.
Of course, such a raid could not destroy all enemy soldiers - Katyusha rockets could operate in fragmentation or high-explosive mode, depending on how the fuse was configured. When set to fragmentation action, the rocket exploded immediately after it reached the ground; in the case of a “high-explosive” installation, the fuse fired with a slight delay, allowing the projectile to go deeper into the ground or other obstacle. However, in both cases, if the enemy soldiers were in well-fortified trenches, then the losses from the shelling were small. Therefore, Katyushas were often used at the beginning of an artillery attack in order to prevent enemy soldiers from having time to hide in the trenches. It was thanks to the surprise and power of one salvo that the use of rocket mortars brought success.
Already on the slope of the height, just a short distance from reaching the battalion, we unexpectedly came under a salvo from our native Katyusha - a multi-barreled rocket mortar. It was terrible: large-caliber mines exploded around us within a minute, one after another. It took them a while to catch their breath and come to their senses. Now newspaper reports about cases in which German soldiers who were under fire from Katyusha rockets went crazy seemed quite plausible.
“If you attract an artillery regiment, the regiment commander will definitely say: “I don’t have this data, I have to shoot the guns.” If he starts shooting, and they shoot with one gun, taking the target into the fork - this is a signal to the enemy: what to do? Take cover "Usually 15-20 seconds are given for cover. During this time, an artillery barrel will fire one or two shells. And in 15-20 seconds, my division will fire 120 missiles, which come all at once," says the commander of the rocket mortar regiment, Alexander Filippovich Panuev.
It is difficult to imagine what it would be like to be hit by Katyusha missiles. According to those who survived such shelling (both Germans and Soviet soldiers), it was one of the most terrible experiences of the entire war. Everyone describes the sound that the rockets made during the flight differently - grinding, howling, roaring. Be that as it may, in combination with subsequent explosions, during which for several seconds over an area of several hectares the earth, mixed with pieces of buildings, equipment, and people, flew into the air, this gave a strong psychological effect. When the soldiers occupied enemy positions, they were not met with fire, not because everyone was killed - it was just that the rocket fire drove the survivors crazy.
The psychological component of any weapon should not be underestimated. The German Ju-87 bomber was equipped with a siren that howled during a dive, also suppressing the psyche of those who were on the ground at that moment. And during attacks by German Tiger tanks, anti-tank gun crews sometimes left their positions in fear of the steel monsters. "Katyushas" had the same psychological effect. For this terrible howl, by the way, they received the nickname “Stalin’s organs” from the Germans.
The only people in the Red Army who were not comfortable with the Katyusha were the artillerymen. The fact is that mobile installations of rocket mortars usually moved into positions immediately before the salvo and just as quickly tried to leave. At the same time, the Germans, for obvious reasons, tried to destroy the Katyushas first. Therefore, immediately after a salvo of rocket mortars, their positions, as a rule, began to be intensively attacked by German artillery and aviation. And given that the positions of cannon artillery and rocket mortars were often located not far from each other, the raid covered the artillerymen who remained where the rocket men were firing from.
SOVIET ROCKET MANAGERS LOAD KATYUSHA. Photo from the archives of the Russian Ministry of Defense
“We select firing positions. They tell us: “There is a firing position in such and such a place, you will wait for soldiers or placed beacons.” We take the firing position at night. At this time the Katyusha battalion is approaching. If I had time, I would immediately remove from there their position. The Katyushas fired a salvo at the vehicles and left. And the Germans raised nine Junkers to bomb the division, and the division ran away. They went to the battery. There was a commotion! It was an open place, they were hiding under the cannon carriages. They bombed anyone at random, those who didn’t get it and left,” says former artilleryman Ivan Trofimovich Salnitsky.
According to former Soviet missilemen who fought on Katyushas, most often the divisions operated within several tens of kilometers of front, appearing where their support was needed. First, officers entered the positions and made the appropriate calculations. These calculations, by the way, were quite complex - they took into account not only the distance to the target, the speed and direction of the wind, but even the air temperature, which influenced the trajectory of the missiles. After all the calculations were made, the vehicles moved into position, fired several salvos (most often, no more than five) and urgently went to the rear. Delay in this case was indeed like death - the Germans immediately covered the place from which the rocket mortars were fired with artillery fire.
During the offensive, the tactics of using Katyushas, which were finally perfected by 1943 and were used everywhere until the end of the war, were different. At the very beginning of the offensive, when it was necessary to break through the enemy’s deeply layered defenses, artillery (barrel and rocket) formed the so-called “barrage of fire.” At the beginning of the shelling, all howitzers (often even heavy self-propelled guns) and rocket-propelled mortars “processed” the first line of defense. Then the fire was transferred to the fortifications of the second line, and the infantry occupied the trenches and dugouts of the first. After this, the fire was transferred inland - to the third line, and meanwhile the infantrymen occupied the second. Moreover, the further the infantry went, the less cannon artillery could support it - towed guns could not accompany it throughout the entire offensive. This task was assigned to self-propelled guns and Katyushas. It was they who, together with the tanks, followed the infantry, supporting them with fire. According to those who participated in such offensives, after the “barrage” of Katyusha rockets, the infantry walked along a scorched strip of land several kilometers wide, on which there were no traces of carefully prepared defenses.
BM-13 "KATUSHA" ON THE BASE OF A "STUDEBAKER" TRUCK. Photo from Easyget.narod.ru
After the war, Katyushas began to be installed on pedestals - the combat vehicles turned into monuments. Surely many have seen such monuments throughout the country. They are all more or less similar to each other and almost do not correspond to those vehicles that fought in the Great Patriotic War. The fact is that these monuments almost always feature a rocket launcher based on the ZiS-6 vehicle. Indeed, at the very beginning of the war, rocket launchers were installed on ZiSs, but as soon as American Studebaker trucks began to arrive in the USSR under Lend-Lease, they were turned into the most common base for Katyushas. ZiS, as well as Lend-Lease Chevrolets, were too weak to carry a heavy installation with guides for missiles off-road. It's not just the relatively low-power engine - the frames of these trucks couldn't support the weight of the unit. Actually, the Studebakers also tried not to overload with missiles - if they had to travel to a position from afar, then the missiles were loaded immediately before the salvo.
In addition to ZiSovs, Chevrolets and the most common Studebakers among Katyushas, the Red Army used T-70 tanks as chassis for rocket launchers, but they were quickly abandoned - the tank’s engine and its transmission turned out to be too weak for this purpose. so that the installation can continuously cruise along the front line. At first, the rocketeers did without a chassis at all - the M-30 launch frames were transported in the backs of trucks, unloading them directly to their positions.
From the history of Russian (Soviet) rocket science
KATYUSH MISSILES:
M-8 - caliber 82 millimeters, weight eight kilograms, damage radius 10-12 meters, firing range 5500 meters
M-13 - caliber 132 millimeters, weight 42.5 kilograms, firing range 8470 meters, damage radius 25-30 meters
M-30 - caliber 300 millimeters, weight 95 kilograms, firing range 2800 meters (after modification - 4325 meters). These shells were launched from stationary M-30 machines. They were supplied in special frame-boxes, which were launchers. Sometimes the rocket did not come out of it and flew along with the frame
M-31-UK - shells similar to the M-30, but with improved accuracy. The nozzles, installed slightly at an angle, forced the rocket to rotate along its longitudinal axis in flight, stabilizing it.
Russian and Soviet rocket science has a long and glorious history. For the first time, Peter I took missiles seriously as weapons. At the beginning of the 18th century, as noted on the Pobeda.ru website, signal flares, which were used during the Northern War, were adopted by the Russian army with his light hand. At the same time, missile “departments” appeared in various artillery schools. At the beginning of the 19th century, the Military Scientific Committee began creating combat missiles. For a long time, various military departments carried out tests and developments in the field of rocket science. In this case, the Russian designers Kartmazov and Zasyadko showed themselves clearly, who independently developed their missile systems.
This weapon was highly appreciated by Russian military leaders. The Russian army adopted incendiary and high-explosive missiles of domestic production, as well as gantry, frame, tripod and carriage-type launchers.
In the 19th century, rockets were used in many military conflicts. In August 1827, soldiers of the Caucasian Corps fired several thousand rockets at the enemy in the Battle of Ushagan, near Alagez and during the assault on the Ardavil fortress. Subsequently, it was in the Caucasus that these weapons were used most of all. Thousands of missiles were transported to the Caucasus, and thousands were used during storming of fortresses and other operations. In addition, rocket men participated in the Russian-Turkish war as part of the artillery of the Guards Corps, actively supporting infantry and cavalry in the battles near Shumla and during the siege of the Turkish fortresses of Varna and Silistria.
In the second half of the 19th century, rockets began to be used en masse. By this time, the number of combat missiles produced by the St. Petersburg missile establishment already amounted to many thousands. They were equipped with artillery units, the navy, and even supplied to the cavalry - a rocket launcher was developed for Cossack and cavalry units weighing only a few pounds, which was used to arm individual cavalrymen instead of hand weapons or pikes. From 1851 to 1854 alone, 12,550 two-inch rockets were sent to the active army.
At the same time, their design, application tactics, chemical composition of the filler, and launching machines were improved. It was at that time that the shortcomings of missiles were identified - insufficient accuracy and power - and tactics were developed that made it possible to neutralize the shortcomings. “Successful operation of a missile from a machine depends largely on completely calm and attentive observation of its entire flight; but since it is currently impossible to fulfill such a condition, when using missiles against the enemy, one should primarily operate with several missiles suddenly, in rapid fire or in a salvo. Thus “In this way, if not by the accuracy of the strike of each individual rocket, then by the combined action of a larger number of them, it is possible to achieve the desired goal,” wrote the Artillery Journal in 1863. Note that the tactics described in the military publication became the basis for the creation of Katyushas. At first, their shells were also not particularly accurate, but this deficiency was compensated by the number of missiles fired.
The development of missile weapons received a new impetus in the 20th century. Russian scientists Tsiolkovsky, Kibalchich, Meshchersky, Zhukovsky, Nezhdanovsky, Tsander and others developed the theoretical foundations of rocketry and astronautics, created the scientific prerequisites for the theory of rocket engine design, predetermining the appearance of the Katyusha.
The development of rocket artillery began in the Soviet Union even before the war, in the thirties. A whole group of design scientists led by Vladimir Andreevich Artemyev worked on them. The first experimental rocket launchers began to be tested at the end of 1938, and immediately in a mobile version - on the ZiS-6 chassis (stationary launchers appeared during the war due to the lack of a sufficient number of cars). Before the war, in the summer of 1941, the first unit was formed - a division of rocket launchers.
KATYUSH VOLLOSE. Photo from the archives of the Russian Ministry of Defense
The first battle involving these installations took place on July 14, 1941. This is one of the most famous episodes of the Great Patriotic War. On that day, several German trains with fuel, soldiers and ammunition arrived at the Belarusian Orsha station - a more than tempting goal. Captain Flerov's battery approached the station and at 15:15 fired only one salvo. Within a few seconds the station was literally mixed with the ground. In the report, the captain later wrote: “The results are excellent. A continuous sea of fire.”
The fate of Captain Ivan Andreevich Flerov, like the fate of hundreds of thousands of Soviet military personnel in 1941, turned out to be tragic. For several months he managed to operate quite successfully, escaping enemy fire. Several times the battery found itself surrounded, but always returned to its own, preserving its military equipment. She fought her last battle on October 30 near Smolensk. Once surrounded, the fighters were forced to blow up the launchers (each vehicle had a box of explosives and a fire cord - under no circumstances were the launchers supposed to fall into the hands of the enemy). Then, breaking out of the “cauldron”, most of them, including Captain Flerov, died. Only 46 battery artillerymen reached the front line.
SEE ALSO
SPECIAL PROJECT DEDICATED
60TH ANNIVERSARY OF VICTORY
However, by that time new batteries of guards mortars were already operating at the front, throwing down on the heads of the enemy the same “sea of fire” that Flerov wrote about in the first report from near Orsha. Then this sea will accompany the Germans along their entire sad path - from Moscow through Stalingrad, Kursk, Orel, Belgorod and so on, all the way to Berlin. Already in 1941, those who survived that terrible shelling at the Belarusian junction station probably thought hard about whether it was worth starting a war with a country that could turn several trains into ashes in a few seconds. However, they had no choice - these were ordinary soldiers and officers, and those who ordered them to go to Orsha learned about how the Stalinist organs sing less than four years later - in May 1945, when this music sounded in sky
