Installation of BM 13 Katyusha. Katyusha - a unique combat vehicle of the USSR (interesting)

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 truck chassis. 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. First two launchers, mounted on a ZIS-6 chassis, rolled off the assembly line on June 26, 1941. The quality of the assembly was immediately assessed by the staff of the Main artillery control; 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, with the aim of missile strike The enemy-occupied city of Rudnya was chosen. 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.

In the period from July 1941 to December 1944, the total number of Katyushas produced was more than 30 thousand units, and rockets of various calibers - 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 of the 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"Katyusha" in July 1941 fired 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 staff 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 airplane to the jet mortar.
The fascists called the installations nothing less than “Stalin’s organ.” Indeed, the guides bore a certain resemblance to the pipes of a musical instrument, and the roar emitted by the shells when launched 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 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 jet systems Nebelwerfer, which were in service with the enemy. If the German development was used to deliver high-precision strikes, then soviet cars 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 explosives were detonated by triggering fuses on opposite sides 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 as high as artillery shells 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.

RA units were staffed rifle divisions who are 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 Raketen-Vielfachwerfer rocket system was developed.

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. IN railway depot Sochi 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 hit more than 6 thousand Soviet missiles, produced 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 famous Katyusha launcher was put into production a few hours before the attack Hitler's Germany to the USSR. A multiple launch rocket artillery system was used for massive attacks on areas, it had an average sighting range shooting.

Chronology of the creation of rocket artillery combat vehicles

Gelatin gunpowder was created in 1916 by Russian professor I.P. Grave. The further chronology of the development of rocket artillery of the USSR is as follows:

• five years later, already in the USSR, the development of a rocket began by V. A. Artemyev and N. I. Tikhomirov;
• in the period 1929 – 1933 a group led by B. S. Petropavlovsky created a prototype of a projectile for MLRS, but the launch units were used on the ground;
• rockets entered service with the Air Force in 1938, were labeled RS-82, and were installed on I-15 and I-16 fighters;
• in 1939 they were used at Khalkhin Gol, then they began to assemble warheads from RS-82 for SB bombers and L-2 attack aircraft;
• starting in 1938, another group of developers - R. I. Popov, A. P. Pavlenko, V. N. Galkovsky and I. I. Gvai - worked on a multi-charge installation of high mobility on a wheeled chassis;
• the last successful test before the launch of the BM-13 into mass production was completed on June 21, 1941, that is, a few hours before the attack fascist Germany to the USSR.

On the fifth day of the war, the Katyusha apparatus in the amount of 2 combat units entered service with the main artillery department. Two days later, on June 28, the first battery was formed from them and 5 prototypes that participated in the tests.

The first combat salvo of Katyusha officially took place on July 14. The city of Rudnya, occupied by the Germans, was shelled with incendiary shells filled with thermite, and two days later the crossing of the Orshitsa River in the area of ​​the Orsha railway station was fired upon.

History of the nickname Katyusha

Since the history of Katyusha, as the nickname of the MLRS, does not have accurate objective information, there are several plausible versions:

• some of the shells had an incendiary filling with the KAT marking, indicating the “Kostikov automatic thermite” charge;
• the bombers of the SB squadron, armed with RS-132 shells, taking part in the fighting at Khalkhin Gol, were nicknamed Katyushas;
• in the combat units there was a legend about a partisan girl with that name, who became famous for the destruction of a large number of fascists, with whom the Katyusha salvo was compared;
• the rocket mortar was marked K (Comintern plant) on its body, and the soldiers liked to give the equipment affectionate nicknames.

The latter is supported by the fact that previously rockets with the designation RS were called Raisa Sergeevna, the ML-20 howitzer Emelei, and the M-30 Matushka, respectively.

However, the most poetic version of the nickname is considered to be the song Katyusha, which became popular just before the war. Correspondent A. Sapronov published a note in the Rossiya newspaper in 2001 about a conversation between two Red Army soldiers immediately after an MLRS salvo, in which one of them called it a song, and the second clarified the name of this song.

Analogues of MLRS nicknames

During the war, the BM rocket launcher with a 132 mm projectile was not the only weapon with own name. The abbreviation MARS is mortar artillery rockets ( mortar launchers) received the nickname Marusya.

Mortar MARS - Marusya

Even the German towed Nebelwerfer mortar was jokingly called Vanyusha by Soviet soldiers.

Nebelwerfer mortar - Vanyusha

When fired in an area, Katyusha's salvo exceeded the damage from Vanyusha and the more modern analogues of the Germans that appeared at the end of the war. Modifications of the BM-31-12 tried to give the nickname Andryusha, but it did not catch on, so at least until 1945 any domestic MLRS system was called Katyusha.

Characteristics of the BM-13 installation

The BM 13 Katyusha multiple rocket launcher was created to destroy large enemy concentrations, therefore the main technical and tactical characteristics were:

• mobility - the MLRS had to quickly deploy, fire several salvos and instantly change position before destroying the enemy;
• firepower - from the MP-13 batteries of several installations were formed;
• low cost - a subframe was added to the design, which made it possible to assemble the artillery part of the MLRS at the factory and mount it on the chassis of any vehicle.

Thus, the weapon of victory was installed on railway, air and ground transport, and production costs decreased by at least 20%. The side and rear walls of the cabin were armored, and protective plates were installed on the windshield. The armor protected the gas pipeline and fuel tank, which dramatically increased the “survivability” of the equipment and the survivability of combat crews.

The guidance speed has increased due to the modernization of the rotating and lifting mechanisms, stability in combat and stowed position. Even when deployed, Katyusha could move over rough terrain within a range of several kilometers at low speed.

Combat crew

To operate the BM-13, a crew of at least 5 people and a maximum of 7 people was used:

• driver - moving the MLRS, deploying to a firing position;
• loaders - 2 - 4 fighters, placing shells on the guides for a maximum of 10 minutes;
• gunner - providing aiming with lifting and turning mechanisms;
• gun commander - general management, interaction with other crews of the unit.

Since the BM guards rocket mortar began to be produced from the assembly line already during the war, there was no ready-made structure of combat units. First, batteries were formed - 4 MP-13 installations and 1 anti-aircraft gun, then a division of 3 batteries.

In one salvo of the regiment, enemy equipment and manpower were destroyed over an area of ​​70–100 hectares by the explosion of 576 shells fired within 10 seconds. According to Directive 002490, the headquarters prohibited the use of Katyushas of less than a division.

Armament

A Katyusha salvo was fired within 10 seconds with 16 shells, each of which had the following characteristics:

• caliber – 132 mm;
• weight – glycerin powder charge 7.1 kg, bursting charge 4.9 kg, jet engine 21 kg, combat unit 22 kg, shell with fuse 42.5 kg;
• stabilizer blade span – 30 cm;
• projectile length - 1.4 m;
• acceleration – 500 m/s 2 ;
• speed - muzzle 70 m/s, combat 355 m/s;
• range – 8.5 km;
• funnel – 2.5 m in diameter maximum, 1 m deep maximum;
• damage radius - 10 m design, 30 m actual;
• deviation - 105 m in range, 200 m lateral.

M-13 projectiles were assigned the ballistic index TS-13.

Launcher

When the war began, the Katyusha salvo was fired from rail guides. Later they were replaced by honeycomb type guides to increase the combat power of the MLRS, then spiral type to increase the accuracy of fire.

To increase accuracy, we first used special device stabilizer. This was then replaced with spirally arranged nozzles that twisted the rocket during flight, reducing terrain spread.

History of application

In the summer of 1942, BM 13 multiple rocket launch vehicles in the amount of three regiments and a reinforcement division became mobile impact force on the Southern Front, they helped hold back the advance of the enemy’s 1st Tank Army near Rostov.

Around the same time, a portable version, the “Mountain Katyusha”, was manufactured in Sochi for the 20th Mountain Rifle Division. In the 62nd Army, an MLRS division was created by installing launchers on the T-70 tank. The city of Sochi was defended from the shore by 4 railcars with M-13 mounts.

During the Bryansk operation (1943), multiple rocket launchers were spread along the entire front, making it possible to distract the Germans to carry out a flank attack. In July 1944, a simultaneous salvo of 144 BM-31 installations sharply reduced the number of accumulated forces of Nazi units.

Local conflicts

Chinese troops used 22 MLRS during artillery preparation before the Battle of Triangle Hill during the Korean War in October 1952. Later, the BM-13 multiple rocket launchers, supplied until 1963 from the USSR, were used in Afghanistan by the government. Katyusha remained in service in Cambodia until recently.

"Katyusha" vs. "Vanyusha"

Unlike the Soviet BM-13 installation, the German Nebelwerfer MLRS was actually a six-barreled mortar:

• a carriage from anti-tank gun 37 mm;
• the guides for the projectiles are six 1.3 m barrels, united by clips into blocks;
• the rotating mechanism provided a 45-degree elevation angle and a horizontal firing sector of 24 degrees;
• the combat installation rested on a folding stop and sliding frames of the carriage, the wheels were hung out.

The mortar fired turbojet missiles, the accuracy of which was ensured by rotating the body within 1000 rps. The German troops had several mobile mortar launchers on the half-track base of the Maultier armored personnel carrier with 10 barrels for 150 mm rockets. However, all German rocket artillery was created to solve another problem - chemical warfare using chemical warfare agents.

By 1941, the Germans had already created powerful toxic substances Soman, Tabun, and Sarin. However, none of them were used in WWII; the fire was carried out exclusively with smoke, high-explosive and incendiary mines. The main part of the rocket artillery was mounted on towed carriages, which sharply reduced the mobility of units.

The accuracy of hitting the target of the German MLRS was higher than that of the Katyusha. However Soviet weapons it was suitable for massive attacks over large areas and had a powerful psychological effect. When towing, Vanyusha’s speed was limited to 30 km/h, and after two salvos the position was changed.

The Germans managed to capture a sample of the M-13 only in 1942, but this did not bring any practical benefit. The secret was in powder bombs based on smokeless powder based on nitroglycerin. Germany failed to reproduce its production technology; until the end of the war, it used its own rocket fuel recipe.

Modifications of Katyusha

Initially, the BM-13 installation was based on the ZiS-6 chassis and fired M-13 rockets from rail guides. Later modifications of the MLRS appeared:

• BM-13N - since 1943, the Studebaker US6 was used as a chassis;
• BM-13NN – assembly on a ZiS-151 vehicle;
• BM-13NM - chassis from ZIL-157, in service since 1954;
• BM-13NMM - since 1967, assembled on ZIL-131;
• BM-31 – projectile 310 mm in diameter, honeycomb type guides;
• BM-31-12 – the number of guides has been increased to 12;
• BM-13 SN – spiral type guides;
• BM-8-48 – 82 mm shells, 48 ​​guides;
• BM-8-6 - based on heavy machine guns;
• BM-8-12 - on the chassis of motorcycles and snowmobiles;
• BM30-4 t BM31-4 – frames supported on the ground with 4 guides;
• BM-8-72, BM-8-24 and BM-8-48 - mounted on railway platforms.

T-40 and later T-60 tanks were equipped with mortar mounts. They were placed on a tracked chassis after the turret was dismantled. The USSR's allies supplied Austin, International GMC and Ford Mamon all-terrain vehicles under Lend-Lease, which were ideal for the chassis of installations used in mountain conditions.

Several M-13s were mounted on KV-1 light tanks, but they were taken out of production too quickly. In the Carpathians, Crimea, Malaya Zemlya, and then in China, Mongolia, and North Korea, torpedo boats with MLRS on board were used.

It is believed that the Red Army's armament consisted of 3,374 Katyusha BM-13s, of which 1,157 on 17 types of non-standard chassis, 1,845 units on Studebakers and 372 on ZiS-6 vehicles. Exactly half of the BM-8 and B-13 were lost irretrievably during the battles (1,400 and 3,400 units of equipment, respectively). Of the 1,800 BM-31s produced, 100 units of equipment out of 1,800 sets were lost.

From November 1941 to May 1945, the number of divisions increased from 45 to 519 units. These units belonged to the artillery reserve of the Supreme Command of the Red Army.

Monuments BM-13

Currently, all military MLRS installations based on the ZiS-6 have been preserved exclusively in the form of memorials and monuments. They are located in the CIS as follows:

• former NIITP (Moscow);
• "Military Hill" (Temryuk);
• Nizhny Novgorod Kremlin;
• Lebedin-Mikhailovka (Sumy region);
• monument in Kropyvnytskyi;
• memorial in Zaporozhye;
• Artillery Museum (St. Petersburg);
• WWII Museum (Kyiv);
• Monument of Glory (Novosibirsk);
• entry to Armyansk (Crimea);
• Sevastopol diorama (Crimea);
• Pavilion 11 VKS Patriot (Cubinka);
• Novomoskovsk Museum (Tula region);
• memorial in Mtsensk;
• memorial complex in Izium;
• Museum of the Korsun-Shevchenskaya Battle (Cherkasy region);
• military museum in Seoul;
• museum in Belgorod;
• WWII Museum in the village of Padikovo (Moscow region);
• OJSC Kirov Machinery Plant May 1;
• memorial in Tula.

Katyusha is used in several computer games, two combat vehicles remain in service with the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

So the installation MLRS Katyusha was a powerful psychological and rocket-artillery weapon during the Second World War. The weapons were used for massive attacks on large concentrations of troops, and at the time of the war they were superior to enemy counterparts.

What “Katyusha” is to a Russian, is “hellfire” to a German. The nickname that Wehrmacht soldiers gave to the Soviet rocket artillery combat vehicle was fully justified. In just 8 seconds, a regiment of 36 mobile BM-13 units fired 576 shells at the enemy. The peculiarity of salvo fire was that one blast wave was superimposed on another, the law of addition of impulses came into force, which greatly increased the destructive effect. Fragments of hundreds of mines, heated to 800 degrees, destroyed everything around. As a result, an area of ​​100 hectares turned into a scorched field, riddled with craters from shells. Only those Nazis who were lucky enough to be in a securely fortified dugout at the moment of the salvo managed to escape. The Nazis called this pastime a “concert.” The fact is that the Katyusha salvoes were accompanied by a terrible roar; for this sound, the Wehrmacht soldiers awarded the rocket mortars with another nickname - “Stalin's organs”.

See in the AiF.ru infographics what the BM-13 rocket artillery system looked like.

The birth of Katyusha

In the USSR it was customary to say that the Katyusha was created not by some individual designer, but by the Soviet people. The country's best minds really worked on the development of combat vehicles. The creation of rockets using smokeless powder began in 1921 employees of the Leningrad Gas Dynamic Laboratory N. Tikhomirov And V. Artemyev. In 1922, Artemyev was accused of espionage and the following year he was sent to serve his sentence on Solovki; in 1925 he returned back to the laboratory.

In 1937, the RS-82 missiles, which were developed by Artemyev, Tikhomirov and who joined them G. Langemak, were adopted by the Workers 'and Peasants' Red air fleet. In the same year, in connection with the Tukhachevsky case, everyone who worked on new types of weapons was subjected to “cleansing” by the NKVD. Langemak was arrested as a German spy and executed in 1938. In the summer of 1939, aircraft rockets developed with his participation were successfully used in battles with Japanese troops on the Khalkhin Gol River.

From 1939 to 1941 employees of the Moscow Jet Research Institute I. Gwai,N. Galkovsky,A. Pavlenko,A. Popov worked on the creation of a self-propelled multiple-charge rocket launcher. On June 17, 1941, she took part in a demonstration of the latest models of artillery weapons. Attended the tests People's Commissar of Defense Semyon Timoshenko, his Deputy Grigory Kulik And Chief of the General Staff Georgy Zhukov.

Self-propelled rocket launchers were the last to be shown, and at first the trucks with iron guides attached to the top did not make any impression on the tired commission representatives. But the volley itself was remembered for a long time: according to eyewitnesses, the military leaders, seeing the rising column of flame, fell into a stupor for some time. Tymoshenko was the first to come to his senses; he sharply addressed his deputy: “Why were they silent and not reported about the presence of such weapons?” Kulik tried to justify himself by saying that this artillery system was simply not fully developed until recently. On June 21, 1941, literally a few hours before the start of the war, after inspecting rocket launchers, he decided to launch their mass production.

The feat of Captain Flerov

The first commander of the first Katyusha battery was Captain Ivan Andreevich Flerov. The country's leadership chose Flerov to test top-secret weapons, among other things, because he had proven himself excellent during Soviet-Finnish war. At that time he commanded a battery of the 94th Howitzer artillery regiment, the fire of which managed to break through. For his heroism in the battles near Lake Saunayarvi, Flerov was awarded the Order of the Red Star.

The full baptism of fire of the Katyushas took place on July 14, 1941. Rocket artillery vehicles under the leadership of Flerov fired volleys at the Orsha railway station, where the concentration was concentrated. a large number of enemy manpower, equipment and supplies. This is what I wrote about these salvos in my diary: boss General Staff Wehrmacht Franz Halder: “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.”

Adolf Gitler I met the news about the emergence of a new Russian miracle weapon very painfully. Chief Wilhelm Franz Canaris received a beating from the Fuhrer because his department had not yet stolen the drawings of the rocket launchers. As a result, a real hunt was announced for the Katyushas, ​​in which they attracted chief saboteur of the Third Reich Otto Skorzeny.

Flerov’s battery, meanwhile, continued to smash the enemy. After Orsha followed successful operations near Yelnya and Roslavl. On October 7, Flerov and his Katyushas found themselves surrounded in the Vyazma cauldron. The commander did everything to save the battery and break through to his own, but in the end he was ambushed near the village of Bogatyr. Finding themselves in a hopeless situation, his fighters also accepted an unequal battle. The Katyushas fired all their shells at the enemy, after which Flerov self-detonated the rocket launcher, and the rest of the batteries followed the commander’s example. The Nazis failed to take prisoners, as well as receive the “Iron Cross” for capturing top-secret equipment in that battle.

Flerov was posthumously awarded the Order of the Patriotic War, 1st degree. On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Victory, the commander of the first Katyusha battery was awarded the title of Hero of Russia.

"Katyusha" versus "donkey"

Along the front lines of the Great Patriotic War, the Katyusha often had to exchange volleys with the Nebelwerfer (German Nebelwerfer - “fog gun”) - a German rocket launcher. For the characteristic sound that this six-barreled 150-mm mortar made when firing, Soviet soldiers nicknamed it “donkey.” However, when the soldiers of the Red Army repulsed enemy equipment, the contemptuous nickname was forgotten - in the service of our artillery, the trophy immediately turned into “vanyusha”. True, Soviet soldiers did not have any tender feelings for these weapons. The fact is that the installation was not self-propelled; the 540-kilogram rocket mortar had to be towed. When fired, its shells left a thick trail of smoke in the sky, which unmasked the positions of the artillerymen, who could immediately be covered by enemy howitzer fire.

Nebelwerfer. German rocket launcher. Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org

The best designers of the Third Reich failed to construct their own analogue of the Katyusha until the end of the war. German developments either exploded during testing at the test site or were not particularly accurate.

Why was the multiple launch rocket system nicknamed “Katyusha”?

Soldiers at the front loved to name their weapons. For example, the M-30 howitzer was called “Mother”, the ML-20 howitzer gun was called “Emelka”. BM-13, at first, was sometimes called “Raisa Sergeevna,” as the front-line soldiers deciphered the abbreviation RS (missile). It is not known for certain who was the first to call the rocket launcher “Katyusha” and why. The most common versions link the appearance of the nickname:

• with a song popular during the war years M. Blanter to words M. Isakovsky"Katyusha";
• with the letter “K” stamped on the installation frame. This is how the Comintern plant labeled its products;
• with the name of the beloved of one of the fighters, which he wrote on his BM-13.

*Mannerheim Line- a complex of defensive structures 135 km long on the Karelian Isthmus.

**Abwehr- (German Abwehr - “defense”, “reflection”) - organ military intelligence and German counterintelligence in 1919-1944. He was a member of the Wehrmacht High Command.

***The last combat report of Captain Flerov: “Oct 7. 1941 21 hours. We were surrounded near the village of Bogatyr - 50 km from Vyazma. We will hold out until the end. No exit. We are preparing for self-explosion. Farewell, comrades."

Among legendary weapons, which became 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, in which appears prototype rocket launcher on a BT-5 tank with ten missiles.

A volley of guards mortars. Photo: Anatoly Egorov / RIA Novosti

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, surprising the enemy with a new weapon. And a little later, already during the Soviet-Finnish war, six twin-engine SB bombers, already armed with RS-132, attacked Finnish ground positions.

Naturally, the impressive - and they really were impressive, although to a large extent due to the surprise of the use of the new weapon system, and not its 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 catch the Winter War: basic 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 what a year and a half later would go down in soldiers’ folklore on both sides of the front as “Katyusha” 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 her.

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 new technology, published 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 world’s first combat unit of rocket artillery to participate in hostilities. 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 on the Orsha railway station: it was necessary to destroy the trains from the Soviet military equipment and ammunition that did not have time to reach the front and got stuck, falling into the hands of the 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 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 what great value did the country's leadership use 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 caliber 37 mm, 9 anti-aircraft machine guns DShK and 18 light machine guns, not counting 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 a significant impact 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 three-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 a 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 the 115 guards mortar regiments: 96 of them were armed with Katyushas in the BM-13 version, and the remaining 19 were armed with 82-mm BM-8. The 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 infamous German Nebelwerfer rocket mortar, carried by Soviet soldiers nicknamed “Ishak” and “Vanyusha”, had comparable efficiency to the “Katyusha”, it was significantly less mobile and had one and a half times less 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 the Second World War also used an improved M16 rocket with a T66 launcher and a T40 launcher on the chassis of medium tanks of the M4 type 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.