Rocket artillery combat vehicles BM-8, BM-13 and BM-31, better known as “Katyushas”, are one of the most successful developments of Soviet engineers during the Great Patriotic War.
The first rockets in the USSR were developed by designers Vladimir Artemyev and Nikolai Tikhomirov, employees of the gas dynamics laboratory. Work on the project, which involved the use of smokeless gelatin powder, began in 1921.
From 1929 to 1939, tests were carried out on the first prototypes of various calibers, which were launched from single-charge ground and multi-charge air installations. The tests were supervised by the pioneers of Soviet rocket technology - B. Petropavlovsky, E. Petrov, G. Langemak, I. Kleimenov.

The final stages of projectile design and testing were carried out at the Jet Research Institute. The group of specialists, which included T. Kleimenov, V. Artemyev, L. Shvarts and Yu. Pobedonostsev, was headed by G. Langemak. In 1938, these shells were put into service by the Soviet Air Force.

I-15, I-153, I-16 fighters and Il-2 attack aircraft were equipped with unguided rockets of the RS-82 model of 82 mm caliber. The SB bombers and later modifications of the Il-2 were equipped with RS-132 shells of 132 mm caliber. For the first time, the new weapons installed on the I-153 and I-16 were used during the Khalkhin-Gol conflict of 1939.

In 1938-1941, the Jet Research Institute was developing a multi-charge launcher on a chassis truck. Tests were carried out in the spring of 1941. Their results were more than successful, and in June, on the eve of the war, an order was signed to launch a series of BM-13 combat vehicles equipped with launchers for M-13 132-mm high-explosive fragmentation shells. On June 21, 1941, the gun was officially put into service with artillery troops.

Serial assembly of the BM-13 was carried out by the Voronezh plant named after the Comintern. The first two launchers, mounted on the ZIS-6 chassis, rolled off the assembly line on June 26, 1941. The quality of the assembly was immediately assessed by employees of the Main Artillery Directorate; Having received customer approval, the cars went to Moscow. Field tests were carried out there, after which, from two Voronezh samples and five BM-13s assembled at the Jet Research Institute, the first battery of rocket artillery was created, the command of which was taken by Captain Ivan Flerov.

The battery received its baptism of fire on July 14 in the Smolensk region; the enemy-occupied city of Rudnya was chosen as the target of the missile strike. A day later, on July 16, BM-13s fired at the Orsha railway junction and the crossing on the Orshitsa River.

By August 8, 1941, 8 regiments were equipped with rocket launchers, each of which had 36 combat vehicles.

In addition to the plant named after. Comintern in Voronezh, the production of BM-13 was established at the capital's Kompressor enterprise. Missiles were produced at several factories, but their main manufacturer was the Ilyich plant in Moscow.

The original design of both projectiles and installations was repeatedly changed and modernized. The BM-13-SN version was produced, which was equipped with spiral guides, providing more accurate shooting, as well as modifications BM-31-12, BM-8-48 and many others. The most numerous was the BM-13N model of 1943; in total, about 1.8 thousand of these machines were assembled by the end of the Great Patriotic War.

In 1942, production of 310 mm M-31 shells was launched, for the launch of which ground-based systems were initially used. In the spring of 1944, the BM-31-12 self-propelled gun, which has 12 guides, was developed for these shells.

It was installed on truck chassis.

Between July 1941 and December 1944 total The number of Katyushas produced amounted to more than 30 thousand units, and rockets of various calibers amounted to about 12 million. The first samples used a domestically produced chassis; about six hundred of these vehicles were produced, and all but a few of them were destroyed during the fighting. After the conclusion of the Lend-Lease agreement, the BM-13 was mounted on American Studebakers.


BM-13 on an American Studebaker
The BM-8 and BM-13 rocket launchers were mainly in service with the Guards mortar units, which were part of the artillery reserve of the armed forces. Therefore, the unofficial name “Guards Mortars” was assigned to the Katyushas.

The glory of the legendary cars could not be shared by their talented developers. The struggle for leadership at the Jet Research Institute provoked a “war of denunciations”, as a result of which in the fall of 1937 the NKVD arrested the chief engineer of the research institute, G. Langemak, and the director, T. Kleimenov. Two months later, both were sentenced to death. The designers were rehabilitated only under Khrushchev. In the summer of 1991, President Soviet Union M. Gorbachev signed a decree conferring posthumous titles of Heroes of Socialist Labor on a number of scientists who participated in the development of Katyusha.

origin of name
Now it is difficult to say for sure who, when and why called the BM-13 rocket launcher “Katyusha”.

There are several main versions:
The first is the connection with the song of the same name, which was extremely popular in the pre-war period. During the first combat use of Katyushas in July 1941, firing was carried out at the German garrison located in the city of Rudnya near Smolensk. The fire was direct fire from the top of a steep hill, so the version seems very convincing - the soldiers probably could have associated it with the song, because there is a line “to the high, to the steep bank.” And Andrei Sapronov, who, according to him, gave the nickname to the rocket mortar, is still alive and served as a signalman in the 20th Army. On July 14, 1941, exactly after the shelling of occupied Rudnya, Sergeant Sapronov, together with Red Army soldier Kashirin, arrived at the location of the battery. Amazed by the power of the BM-13, Kashirin enthusiastically exclaimed: “What a song!”, to which A. Sapronov calmly replied: “Katyusha!” Then, broadcasting information about the successful completion of the operation, the headquarters radio operator called the miracle installation “Katyusha” - from then on, such a formidable weapon acquired a gentle girl’s name.

Another version considers the origin of the name from the abbreviation “KAT” - supposedly the test site workers called the system “Kostikovskaya automatic thermal” (A. Kostikov was the project manager). However, the plausibility of such an assumption raises serious doubts, since the project was classified, and it is unlikely that the rangers and front-line soldiers could exchange any information with each other.

According to another version, the nickname comes from the “K” index, which marked the systems assembled at the Comintern plant. Soldiers had a custom of giving original names to weapons. Thus, the M-30 howitzer was affectionately called “Mother”, the ML-20 cannon received the nickname “Emelka”. By the way, BM-13 was first called very respectfully, by his first name and patronymic: “Raisa Sergeevna.” RS – rockets used in installations.

According to the fourth version, the first to call rocket launchers “Katyushas” were the girls who assembled them at the Kompressor plant in Moscow.

The following version, although it may seem exotic, also has a right to exist. The shells were mounted on special guides called ramps. The weight of the projectile was 42 kilograms, and three people were required to install it on the ramp: two, harnessed into straps, dragged the ammunition onto the holder, and the third pushed it from behind, controlling the accuracy of fixing the projectile in the guides. So, some sources claim that it was this last fighter who was called “Katyusha”. The fact is that here, unlike armored units, there was no clear division of roles: any member of the crew could roll or hold shells.

At the initial stages, the installations were tested and operated in strict secrecy. Thus, when launching shells, the crew commander did not have the right to give the generally accepted commands “fire” and “fire”; they were replaced with “play” or “sing” (the launch was carried out by quickly rotating the handle of an electric coil). Needless to say, for any front-line soldier, the salvoes of Katyusha rockets were the most desirable song.
There is a version according to which at first “Katyusha” was the name given to a bomber equipped with rockets similar to BM-13 missiles. It was these ammunition that transferred the nickname from the aircraft to rocket launcher.
The fascists called the installations nothing less than “Stalin’s organ.” Indeed, the guides had a certain resemblance to pipes musical instrument, and the roar emitted by the shells during launch was somewhat reminiscent of the menacing sound of an organ.

During the victorious march of our army across Europe, systems that launched single M-30 and M-31 projectiles were widely used. The Germans called these installations “Russian Faustpatrons”, although they were used not only as a means of destroying armored vehicles. At a distance of up to 200 m, the projectile could penetrate a wall of almost any thickness, even bunker fortifications.

Device
BM-13 was distinguished by its comparative simplicity. The design of the installation included rail guides and a guidance system consisting of an artillery sight and a rotary-lifting device. Additional stability when launching missiles was provided by two jacks located at the rear of the chassis.

The rocket had the shape of a cylinder, divided into three compartments - the fuel and combat compartments and the nozzle. The number of guides varied depending on the modification of the installation - from 14 to 48. The length of the RS-132 projectile used in the BM-13 was 1.8 m, diameter - 13.2 cm, weight - 42.5 kg. The inside of the rocket under the fins was reinforced with solid nitrocellulose. The warhead weighed 22 kg, of which 4.9 kg was explosive (for comparison, an anti-tank grenade weighed about 1.5 kg).

The range of the missiles is 8.5 km. The BM-31 used M-31 shells of 310 mm caliber, having a mass of about 92.4 kg, almost a third of which (29 kg) was explosive. Range – 13 km. The salvo was carried out in a matter of seconds: the BM-13 fired all 16 missiles in less than 10 seconds, the same time was required to launch the BM-31-12 with 12 guides and the BM-8, equipped with 24-48 missiles.

Loading the ammunition took 5-10 minutes for the BM-13 and BM-8; the BM-31, due to the larger mass of the shells, took a little longer to load - 10-15 minutes. To launch, it was necessary to rotate the handle of the electric coil, which was connected to the batteries and contacts on the ramps - by turning the handle, the operator closed the contacts and activated the missile launch systems in turn.

The tactics of using Katyushas radically distinguished them from the Nebelwerfer rocket systems that were in service with the enemy. If the German development was used to deliver high-precision strikes, then Soviet vehicles had low accuracy, but covered a large area. The explosive mass of Katyusha missiles was half that of Nebelwerfer shells, however, the damage inflicted on manpower and lightly armored vehicles was significantly greater than the German counterpart. The explosive detonated by firing fuses on opposite sides of the compartment; after the meeting of two detonation waves, the gas pressure at the point of their contact increased sharply, which gave the fragments additional acceleration and increased their temperature to 800 degrees.

The power of the explosion also increased due to the rupture of the fuel compartment, which was heated by the combustion of gunpowder - as a result, the effectiveness of fragmentation damage was twice that of artillery shells of the same caliber. At one time there were even rumors that the rockets of rocket launchers used a “thermite charge”, which was tested in 1942 in Leningrad. However, its use turned out to be inappropriate, since the igniting effect was already sufficient.

The simultaneous explosion of several shells created an interference effect of blast waves, which also contributed to an increase in the damaging effect.
The Katyusha crew numbered from 5 to 7 people and consisted of a crew commander, driver, gunner and several loaders.

Application
From the very beginning of its existence, rocket artillery was subordinate to the Supreme High Command.

The RA units staffed the rifle divisions located on the front line. The Katyushas had exceptional firepower, so their support in both offensive and defensive operations can hardly be overestimated. A special directive was issued setting out the requirements for the use of the machine. It specifically stated that Katyusha strikes should be sudden and massive.

During the war years, Katyushas more than once found themselves in the hands of the enemy. Thus, on the basis of the captured BM-8-24, captured near Leningrad, the German jet system Raketen-Vielfachwerfer.

During the defense of Moscow, a very difficult situation developed at the front, and the use of missile launchers was carried out on a subdivisional basis. However, in December 1941, due to a significant increase in the number of Katyushas (in each of the armies that held back the main attack of the enemy, there were up to 10 divisions of rocket-propelled mortars, which made it difficult to supply them and the effectiveness of maneuvering and striking), it was decided to create twenty guards mortar regiments.

The Guards Mortar Regiment of the Reserve Artillery of the Supreme High Command consisted of three divisions of three batteries each. The battery, in turn, consisted of four vehicles. The fire efficiency of such units was enormous - one division, consisting of 12 BM-13-16, could deliver a strike comparable in power to a salvo of 12 artillery regiments equipped with 48,152 mm howitzers or 18 artillery brigades equipped with 32 howitzers of the same caliber.

It is also worth taking into account the emotional impact: thanks to the almost simultaneous launch of shells, the ground in the target area literally reared up in a matter of seconds. A retaliatory strike by the rocket artillery units was easily avoided, as the mobile Katyushas quickly changed their location.

In July 1942, near the village of Nalyuchi, the brother of the Katyusha, the 300 mm Andryusha rocket launcher, equipped with 144 guides, was tested for the first time in combat conditions.

In the summer of 1942, the Mobile Mechanized Group of the Southern Front held back the onslaught of the enemy's first armored army south of Rostov for several days. The basis of this unit was a separate division and 3 rocket artillery regiments.

In August of the same year, military engineer A. Alferov developed a portable model of the system for M-8 shells. Front-line soldiers began to call the new product “Mountain Katyusha.” The 20th Mountain Rifle Division was the first to use this weapon; the installation proved itself excellent in the battles for the Goytsky Pass. At the end of the winter of 1943, a unit of “Mountain Katyushas”, consisting of two divisions, participated in the defense of the famous bridgehead on Malaya Zemlya near Novorossiysk. At the Sochi railway depot, rocket systems were mounted on railcars - these installations were used to defend the city’s coastline. 8 rocket mortars were installed on the minesweeper "Skumbria", which covered landing operation on Malaya Zemlya.

In the fall of 1943, during the battles near Bryansk, thanks to the rapid transfer of combat vehicles from one flank of the front to the other, a sudden attack was carried out, breaking the enemy’s defenses over a 250 km long area. On that day, enemy fortifications were hit by more than 6 thousand Soviet missiles fired by the legendary Katyushas.

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ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katyusha_(weapon)
ww2total.com/WW2/Weapons/Artillery/Gun-Motor-Carriages/Russian/Katyusha/
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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. On this moment From time to time, an unscientific dispute even arises: 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 site of the first combat use of Katyushas, ​​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. The number of Soviet tanks, guns, aircraft, small arms, produced during the war years, 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.

“ Katyusha“

"Katyusha" Guards rocket mortar

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 Moscow, under the Central Council of Osoaviakhim in August 1931, a Study Group was created jet propulsion(GIRD), in October of the same year, the same group was formed in Leningrad. They made significant contributions to the development of rocket technology.

At the end of 1933, the Jet Research Institute (RNII) was created on the basis of GDL and GIRD. The initiator of the merger of the two teams was the chief of armaments of the Red Army, M.N. Tukhachevsky. In his opinion, the RNII was supposed to solve problems of rocket technology in relation to military affairs, primarily in aviation and artillery. I.T. was appointed director of the institute. Kleimenov, and his deputy - G.E. Langemak. S.P. Korolev As an aviation designer, he was appointed head of the 5th Aviation Department of the Institute, which was entrusted with the development of rocket planes and cruise missiles.

1 - fuse retaining ring, 2 - GVMZ fuse, 3 - detonator block, 4 - explosive charge, 5 - head part, 6 - igniter, 7 - chamber bottom, 8 - guide pin, 9 - powder rocket charge, 10 - rocket part , 11 — grate, 12 — critical section of the nozzle, 13 — nozzle, 14 — stabilizer, 15 — remote fuse pin, 16 — AGDT remote fuse, 17 — igniter.

In accordance with this task, by the summer of 1939 the institute had 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 amount of 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 for military testing. Another installation was ordered by the Ordnance Department of the Navy for use in the coastal defense system.

Mu-2 installation

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 ( fighting machine 13).

BM-13 on ZIS-6 chassis

Now no one can say for sure under what circumstances the multiple rocket launcher received 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 on its wings the entire weight of the first air battles, was called "donkey". There were, however, 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 memoirs 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.

From behind, suddenly there was a grinding noise, 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)

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.

BM-13N

Composition: 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. A jet engine has a combustion chamber in which a propellant propellant charge is placed in the form of cylindrical blocks with an axial channel. Pyro-igniters are used to ignite the powder charge. 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).

1 — fuse retaining ring, 2 — GVMZ fuse, 3 — detonator block, 4 — explosive charge, 5 — warhead, 6 — igniter, 7 — chamber bottom, 8 — guide pin, 9 — propellant rocket charge, 10 — rocket part, 11 - grate, 12 - critical section of the nozzle, 13 - nozzle, 14 - stabilizer, 15 - remote fuse pin, 16 - AGDT remote fuse, 17 - igniter.

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.

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 on 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.

"Studebaker US 6x6", supplied to the USSR under Lend-Lease. 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.

based on the STZ-NATI-5 tractor

on the boat

In addition to ZiSovs, Chevrolets and the most common Studebakers among Katyushas, ​​the Red Army used tractors and 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 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.

Installation M-30

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, living force and Combat vehicles the enemy was 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.

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. From the memoirs of war veterans (published on the website Iremember.ru) “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, but they shoot with one gun, taking target in 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, the artillery barrel will fire one or two shells. And with my division, in 15-20 seconds I will fire 120 missiles, all of which go at once." , says the commander of the rocket mortar regiment, Alexander Filippovich Panuev.

The only people in the Red Army who were not comfortable with the Katyusha were the artillerymen. The fact is that mobile installations rocket mortars usually moved into position immediately before the salvo and tried to escape just as quickly. 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 processed 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.

“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 done, the machines moved out

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, while the infantrymen occupied the second line. 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 units and "Katyusha". 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.

Performance characteristics

M-13 missile Caliber, mm 132 Projectile weight, kg 42.3 Warhead weight, 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 (6x4) Vehicle weight, t 4.3 Maximum speed, km/h 40
Number of guides 16
Vertical firing angle, degrees from +4 to +45 Horizontal firing angle, degrees 20
Calculation, pers. 10-12 Year of adoption 1941

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 the attacks German tanks"Tiger" calculations anti-tank guns sometimes they 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.

"Katyusha"- the popular name for rocket artillery combat vehicles BM-8 (with 82 mm shells), BM-13 (132 mm) and BM-31 (310 mm) during the Great Patriotic War. There are several versions of the origin of this name, the most likely of which is associated with the factory mark “K” of the manufacturer of the first BM-13 combat vehicles (Voronezh Comintern Plant), as well as with the popular song of the same name at that time (music by Matvey Blanter, lyrics by Mikhail Isakovsky).
(Military encyclopedia. Chairman of the Main Editorial Commission S.B. Ivanov. Military Publishing House. Moscow. in 8 volumes -2004 ISBN 5 - 203 01875 - 8)

The BM-13 received its baptism of fire on July 14, 1941, when the battery fired the first salvo of all installations at the Orsha railway station, where it was concentrated a large number of enemy manpower and military equipment. As a result of a powerful fire strike by 112 rockets simultaneously, a fire glow rose above the station: enemy trains were burning, ammunition was exploding. Another hour and a half later, Flerov’s battery fired a second salvo, this time at the crossing of the Orshitsa River, on the outskirts of which a lot of German equipment and manpower had accumulated. As a result, the enemy's crossing was disrupted and he was unable to develop his success in this direction.

The first experience of using the new missile weapon showed its high combat effectiveness, which was one of the reasons for its rapid commissioning and equipping the Ground Forces with it.

The restructuring of industry associated with the production of missile weapons was carried out in a short time; a large number of enterprises were involved in its production (already in July-August 1941 - 214 factories), which ensured the supply of this military equipment to the troops. In August-September 1941, serial production of BM‑8 combat installations with 82-mm rockets was launched.

Simultaneously with the deployment of production, work continued to create new and improve existing models of missiles and launchers.

On July 30, 1941, a special design bureau (SKB) began work at the Moscow Kompressor plant - the main design bureau for launchers, and the plant itself became the main enterprise for their production. This SKB, under the leadership of the head and chief designer Vladimir Barmin, during the war years developed 78 samples of launchers of various types, mounted on cars, tractors, tanks, railway platforms, river and sea ​​ships. Thirty-six of them were put into service, mastered by industry and used in combat.

Much attention was paid to the production of rockets, the creation of new ones and the improvement of existing models. The 82-mm M-8 rocket was modernized, and powerful high-explosive rockets were created: 132-mm M-20, 300-mm M-30 and M-31; increased range - M-13 DD and improved accuracy - M-13 UK and M-31 UK.

With the beginning of the war, special troops were created within the Armed Forces of the USSR for the combat use of missile weapons. These were rocket troops, but during the war they were called guards mortar units (GMC), and later - rocket artillery. The first organizational form of the MMC was separate batteries and divisions.

By the end of the war, rocket artillery had 40 separate divisions (38 M-13 and 2 M-8), 115 regiments (96 M-13 and 19 M-8), 40 separate brigades (27 M-31 and 13 M-31-12 ) and 7 divisions - a total of 519 divisions in which there were over 3,000 combat vehicles.

The legendary Katyushas took part in all major operations during the war.

The fate of the first separate experimental battery was cut short at the beginning of October 1941. After a baptism of fire near Orsha, the battery successfully operated in battles near Rudnya, Smolensk, Yelnya, Roslavl and Spas-Demensk. During three months of hostilities, Flerov’s battery not only inflicted considerable material damage on the Germans, it also contributed to the rise morale among our soldiers and officers, exhausted by continuous retreats.

The Nazis staged a real hunt for new weapons. But the battery did not stay long in one place - after firing a salvo, it immediately changed position. The tactical technique - salvo - change of position - was widely used by Katyusha units during the war.

At the beginning of October 1941, as part of a group of troops on the Western Front, the battery found itself in the rear of the Nazi troops. While moving to the front line from the rear on the night of October 7, she was ambushed by the enemy near the village of Bogatyr, Smolensk region. Most of the battery personnel and Ivan Flerov were killed, having shot all the ammunition and blown up the combat vehicles. Only 46 soldiers managed to escape from the encirclement. The legendary battalion commander and the rest of the soldiers, who had fulfilled their duty to the end with honor, were considered “missing in action.” And only when it was possible to discover documents from one of the Wehrmacht army headquarters, which reported what actually happened on the night of October 6-7, 1941 near the Smolensk village of Bogatyr, Captain Flerov was excluded from the lists of missing persons.

For heroism, Ivan Flerov was posthumously awarded the Order of the Patriotic War, 1st degree, in 1963, and in 1995 he was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Russian Federation.

In honor of the battery’s feat, a monument was built in the city of Orsha and an obelisk near the city of Rudnya.

Having become symbols of our country’s victory in the Great Patriotic War, a special place is occupied by guards rocket mortars, popularly nicknamed “Katyusha”. The characteristic silhouette of a truck from the 40s with an inclined structure instead of a body is the same symbol of perseverance, heroism and courage of Soviet soldiers as, say, the T-34 tank, Il-2 attack aircraft or ZiS-3 cannon.

And here’s what’s especially noteworthy: all these legendary, glorious weapons were designed very shortly or literally on the eve of the war! The T-34 was put into service at the end of December 1939, the first production IL-2s rolled off the production line in February 1941, and the ZiS-3 gun was first presented to the leadership of the USSR and the army a month after the start of hostilities, on July 22, 1941. But the most amazing coincidence happened in the fate of Katyusha. Its demonstration to the party and military authorities took place half a day before the German attack - June 21, 1941...

From heaven to earth

In fact, work on the creation of the world's first multiple launch rocket system on a self-propelled chassis began in the USSR in the mid-1930s. An employee of the Tula NPO Splav, which produces modern Russian MLRS, Sergei Gurov, managed to find in the archives agreement No. 251618с dated January 26, 1935 between the Leningrad Jet Research Institute and the Automotive and Armored Directorate of the Red Army, which included a prototype rocket launcher on the BT-5 tank with ten rockets.

There is nothing to be surprised here, because Soviet rocket scientists created the first combat rockets even earlier: official tests took place in the late 20s - early 30s. In 1937, the RS-82 missile of 82 mm caliber was adopted for service, and a year later the RS-132 missile of 132 mm caliber was adopted, both in a version for underwing installation on aircraft. A year later, at the end of the summer of 1939, the RS-82s were used for the first time in a combat situation. During the battles at Khalkhin Gol, five I-16s used their “eres” in battle with Japanese fighters, quite surprising the enemy with their new weapons. And a little later, already during Soviet-Finnish war, six twin-engine SB bombers, already armed with RS-132, attacked Finnish ground positions.

Naturally, impressive - and they really were impressive, although to a large extent due to the unexpectedness of the application new system weapons, and not their ultra-high efficiency - the results of the use of "eres" in aviation forced the Soviet party and military leadership to rush the defense industry to create a ground-based version. Actually, the future “Katyusha” had every chance to make it to the Winter War: the main design work and tests were carried out back in 1938–1939, but the military was not satisfied with the results - they needed a more reliable, mobile and easy-to-handle weapon.

IN general outline that after one and a half will be included in the year into soldiers' folklore on both sides of the front as "Katyusha", it was ready by the beginning of 1940. In any case, author’s certificate No. 3338 for a “rocket launcher for a sudden, powerful artillery and chemical attack on the enemy using rocket shells” was issued on February 19, 1940, and among the authors were employees of the RNII (since 1938, which bore the “numbered” name Research Institute-3) Andrey Kostikov, Ivan Gvai and Vasily Aborenkov.

This installation was already seriously different from the first samples that entered field testing at the end of 1938. The missile launcher was located along the longitudinal axis of the vehicle and had 16 guides, each of which carried two projectiles. And the shells themselves for this vehicle were different: aircraft RS-132s turned into longer and more powerful ground-based M-13s.

Actually, in this form, a combat vehicle with rockets came out to review new models of weapons of the Red Army, which took place on June 15–17, 1941 at a training ground in Sofrino, near Moscow. Rocket artillery was left as a “snack”: two combat vehicles demonstrated firing on the last day, June 17, using high-explosive fragmentation rockets. The shooting was observed by People's Commissar of Defense Marshal Semyon Timoshenko, Chief of the General Staff Army General Georgy Zhukov, Head of the Main Artillery Directorate Marshal Grigory Kulik and his deputy General Nikolai Voronov, as well as People's Commissar of Armaments Dmitry Ustinov, People's Commissar of Ammunition Pyotr Goremykin and many other military personnel. One can only guess what emotions overwhelmed them as they looked at the wall of fire and the fountains of earth rising on the target field. But it is clear that the demonstration made a strong impression. Four days later, on June 21, 1941, just a few hours before the start of the war, documents were signed on the adoption and urgent deployment of mass production of M-13 rockets and a launcher, officially named BM-13 - “combat vehicle - 13” "(according to the missile index), although sometimes they appeared in documents with the index M-13. This day should be considered the birthday of “Katyusha”, which, it turns out, was born only half a day earlier than the beginning of the Great Patriotic War that glorified it.

First hit

The production of new weapons took place at two enterprises at once: the Voronezh plant named after the Comintern and the Moscow plant "Compressor", and the capital plant named after Vladimir Ilyich became the main enterprise for the production of M-13 shells. The first combat-ready unit - a special reactive battery under the command of Captain Ivan Flerov - went to the front on the night of July 1-2, 1941.

Commander of the first Katyusha rocket artillery battery, captain Ivan Andreevich Flerov. Photo: RIA Novosti

But here's what's remarkable. The first documents on the formation of divisions and batteries armed with rocket mortars appeared even before the famous shootings near Moscow! For example, the General Staff directive on the formation of five divisions armed with new equipment was issued a week before the start of the war - June 15, 1941. But reality, as always, made its own adjustments: in fact, the formation of the first units of field rocket artillery began on June 28, 1941. It was from this moment that, as determined by the directive of the commander of the Moscow Military District, three days were allotted for the formation of the first special battery under the command of Captain Flerov.

According to the preliminary staffing schedule, which was determined even before the Sofrino shootings, the rocket artillery battery was supposed to have nine rocket launchers. But the manufacturing plants could not cope with the plan, and Flerov did not have time to receive two of the nine vehicles - he went to the front on the night of July 2 with a battery of seven rocket launchers. But don’t think that just seven ZIS-6s with guides for launching the M-13 went towards the front. According to the list - there was not and could not be an approved staffing table for a special, that is, essentially an experimental battery - the battery included 198 people, 1 passenger car, 44 trucks and 7 special vehicles, 7 BM-13 (for some reason they appeared in the column “210 mm guns”) and one 152 mm howitzer, which served as a sighting gun.

It was with this composition that the Flerov battery went down in history as the first in the Great Patriotic War and the first in the world combat unit rocket artillery that took part in the fighting. Flerov and his artillerymen fought their first battle, which later became legendary, on July 14, 1941. At 15:15, as follows from archival documents, seven BM-13s from the battery opened fire at the Orsha railway station: it was necessary to destroy the trains with Soviet military equipment and ammunition that had accumulated there, which did not have time to reach the front and got stuck, having fallen into the hands of enemy. In addition, reinforcements for the advancing Wehrmacht units also accumulated in Orsha, so that an extremely attractive opportunity for the command arose to solve several strategic problems at once with one blow.

And so it happened. By personal order of the deputy chief of artillery of the Western Front, General George Cariophylli, the battery launched the first blow. In just a few seconds, the full ammunition load of the battery was fired at the target - 112 rockets, each of which carried a combat charge weighing almost 5 kg - and all hell broke loose at the station. With the second blow, Flerov's battery destroyed the Nazis' pontoon crossing across the Orshitsa River - with the same success.

A few days later, two more batteries arrived at the front - Lieutenant Alexander Kun and Lieutenant Nikolai Denisenko. Both batteries launched their first attacks on the enemy in the last days of July in the difficult year of 1941. And from the beginning of August, the Red Army began to form not individual batteries, but entire regiments of rocket artillery.

Guard of the first months of the war

The first document on the formation of such a regiment was issued on August 4: a decree of the USSR State Committee for Defense ordered the formation of one guards mortar regiment armed with M-13 launchers. This regiment was named after the People's Commissar of General Mechanical Engineering Pyotr Parshin - the man who, in fact, approached the State Defense Committee with the idea of ​​​​forming such a regiment. And from the very beginning he offered to give him the rank of Guards - a month and a half before the first Guards Rifle Units appeared in the Red Army, and then all the others.

"Katyusha" on the march. 2nd Baltic Front, January 1945. Photo: Vasily Savransky / RIA Novosti

Four days later, on August 8, it was approved staffing table Guards regiment of rocket launchers: each regiment consisted of three or four divisions, and each division consisted of three batteries of four combat vehicles. The same directive provided for the formation of the first eight regiments of rocket artillery. The ninth was the regiment named after People's Commissar Parshin. It is noteworthy that already on November 26, the People's Commissariat of General Engineering was renamed into the People's Commissariat of Mortar Weapons: the only one in the USSR that dealt with one single type of weapon (existed until February 17, 1946)! Isn't this evidence of the great importance the country's leadership attached to rocket mortars?

Another evidence of this special attitude was the resolution of the State Defense Committee, issued a month later - on September 8, 1941. This document actually turned rocket mortar artillery into a special, privileged type of armed forces. Guards mortar units were withdrawn from the Main Artillery Directorate of the Red Army and turned into guards mortar units and formations with their own command. It was directly subordinate to the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command, and included the headquarters, the weapons department of the M-8 and M-13 mortar units and operational groups in the main directions.

The first commander of the guards mortar units and formations was military engineer 1st rank Vasily Aborenkov, a man whose name appeared in the author’s certificate for a “rocket launcher for a sudden, powerful artillery and chemical attack on the enemy using rocket shells.” It was Aborenkov, as first the head of the department and then the deputy head of the Main Artillery Directorate, who did everything to ensure that the Red Army received new, unprecedented weapons.

After this, the process of forming new artillery units went into full swing. The main tactical unit was the regiment of guards mortar units. It consisted of three divisions of M-8 or M-13 rocket launchers, an anti-aircraft division, and service units. In total, the regiment consisted of 1,414 people, 36 BM-13 or BM-8 combat vehicles, and 12 other weapons anti-aircraft guns 37 mm caliber, 9 DShK anti-aircraft machine guns and 18 light machine guns, not counting the light machine gun small arms personnel. A salvo of one regiment of M-13 rocket launchers consisted of 576 rockets - 16 “eres” in a salvo of each vehicle, and a regiment of M-8 rocket launchers consisted of 1296 rockets, since one vehicle fired 36 projectiles at once.

"Katyusha", "Andryusha" and other members of the jet family

By the end of the Great Patriotic War, the Guards mortar units and formations of the Red Army became a formidable striking force that had significant influence on the course of hostilities. In total, by May 1945, Soviet rocket artillery consisted of 40 separate divisions, 115 regiments, 40 separate brigades and 7 divisions - a total of 519 divisions.

These units were armed with three types of combat vehicles. First of all, these were, of course, the Katyushas themselves - BM-13 combat vehicles with 132-mm rockets. They became the most popular in Soviet rocket artillery during the Great Patriotic War: from July 1941 to December 1944, 6844 such vehicles were produced. Until Studebaker Lend-Lease trucks began to arrive in the USSR, the launchers were mounted on the ZIS-6 chassis, and then American six-axle heavy trucks became the main carriers. In addition, there were modifications to the launchers to accommodate the M-13 on other Lend-Lease trucks.

The 82mm Katyusha BM-8 had much more modifications. Firstly, only these installations, due to their small dimensions and weight, could be mounted on the chassis of light tanks T-40 and T-60. Such self-propelled jets artillery installations received the name BM-8-24. Secondly, installations of the same caliber were mounted on railway platforms, armored boats and torpedo boats, and even on railcars. And on the Caucasian front they were converted to fire from the ground, without a self-propelled chassis, which would not have been able to turn around in the mountains. But the main modification was the launcher for M-8 missiles on a vehicle chassis: by the end of 1944, 2,086 of them were produced. These were mainly BM-8-48, launched into production in 1942: these vehicles had 24 beams, on which 48 M-8 rockets were installed, and they were produced on the chassis of the Forme Marmont-Herrington truck. Until a foreign chassis appeared, BM-8-36 units were produced on the basis of the GAZ-AAA truck.

Harbin. Parade of Red Army troops in honor of the victory over Japan. Photo: TASS Photo Chronicle

The latest and most powerful modification of the Katyusha was the BM-31-12 guards mortars. Their story began in 1942, when it was possible to design a new M-30 missile, which was the already familiar M-13 with a new 300 mm caliber warhead. Since they did not change the rocket part of the projectile, the result was a kind of “tadpole” - its resemblance to a boy, apparently, served as the basis for the nickname “Andryusha”. Initially, the new type of projectiles were launched exclusively from a ground position, directly from a frame-like machine on which the projectiles stood in wooden packages. A year later, in 1943, the M-30 was replaced by the M-31 rocket with a heavier warhead. It was for this new ammunition that by April 1944 the BM-31-12 launcher was designed on the chassis of a three-axle Studebaker.

These combat vehicles were distributed among the units of guards mortar units and formations as follows. Of the 40 separate rocket artillery battalions, 38 were armed with BM-13 installations, and only two with BM-8. The same ratio was in 115 regiments guards mortars: 96 of them were armed with Katyushas in the BM-13 variant, and the remaining 19 were armed with 82-mm BM-8. Guards mortar brigades were generally not armed with rocket launchers of a caliber smaller than 310 mm. 27 brigades were armed with frame launchers M-30, and then M-31, and 13 with self-propelled M-31-12 on a vehicle chassis.

She who started rocket artillery

During the Great Patriotic War, Soviet rocket artillery had no equal on the other side of the front. Despite the fact that the notorious German Nebelwerfer rocket mortar, nicknamed “Donkey” and “Vanyusha” by Soviet soldiers, had comparable effectiveness to the Katyusha, it was significantly less mobile and had one and a half times shorter firing range. The achievements of the USSR's allies in the anti-Hitler coalition in the field of rocket artillery were even more modest.

It was only in 1943 that the American Army adopted 114-mm M8 rockets, for which three types of launchers were developed. Installations of the T27 type were most reminiscent of the Soviet Katyushas: they were mounted on off-road trucks and consisted of two packages of eight guides each, installed transversely to the longitudinal axis of the vehicle. It is noteworthy that the United States repeated the original design of the Katyusha, which Soviet engineers abandoned: the transverse arrangement of the launchers led to strong rocking of the vehicle at the time of the salvo, which catastrophically reduced the accuracy of fire. There was also a T23 option: the same package of eight guides was installed on the Willis chassis. And the most powerful in terms of salvo force was the T34 installation option: 60 (!) guides that were installed on the hull of the Sherman tank, directly above the turret, which is why guidance in the horizontal plane was carried out by turning the entire tank.

In addition to them, the US Army during World War II also used an improved M16 rocket with a T66 launcher and a T40 launcher on the chassis of medium M4 tanks for 182-mm rockets. And in Great Britain, since 1941, the five-inch 5”UP rocket was in service; for salvo firing of such projectiles, 20-tube ship launchers or 30-tube towed wheeled launchers were used. But all these systems were, in fact, only a semblance of Soviet rocket artillery: they failed to catch up or surpass the Katyusha either in terms of prevalence, or in combat effectiveness, or in scale of production, or in popularity. It is no coincidence that the word “Katyusha” to this day serves as a synonym for the word “rocket artillery”, and the BM-13 itself became the ancestor of all modern multiple launch rocket systems.

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