Katyusha during the Second World War. Unique combat vehicle "Katyusha"

Katyusha - Weapon of victory

The history of the creation of the Katyusha dates back to pre-Petrine times. In Rus', the first rockets appeared in the 15th century. By the end of the 16th century, the device, methods of manufacturing and combat use of missiles were well known in Russia. This is convincingly evidenced by the "Charter of military, cannon and other matters relating to military science", written in 1607-1621 by Onisim Mikhailov. Since 1680, there was already a special Rocket Institute in Russia. In the 19th century, missiles designed to destroy manpower and materiel of the enemy were created by Major General Alexander Dmitrievich Zasyadko. Work on the creation of rockets Zasyadko began in 1815 on his own initiative on own funds. By 1817, he managed to create a high-explosive and incendiary combat rocket on the basis of an illuminating rocket.
At the end of August 1828, a guards corps arrived from St. Petersburg under the besieged Turkish fortress of Varna. Together with the corps, the first Russian missile company arrived under the command of Lieutenant Colonel V. M. Vnukov. The company was formed on the initiative of Major General Zasyadko. The rocket company received its first baptism of fire near Varna on August 31, 1828 during the attack of the Turkish redoubt, located by the sea south of Varna. The cores and bombs of field and ship guns, as well as rocket explosions, forced the defenders of the redoubt to take refuge in holes made in the moat. Therefore, when the hunters (volunteers) of the Simbirsk regiment rushed to the redoubt, the Turks did not have time to take their places and provide effective resistance to the attackers.

On March 5, 1850, Colonel Konstantin Ivanovich Konstantinov, the illegitimate son of Grand Duke Konstantin Pavlovich from a relationship with actress Clara Anna Laurens, was appointed commander of the Rocket Institute. During his tenure in this position, 2-, 2.5- and 4-inch missiles of the Konstantinov system were adopted by the Russian army. The weight of combat missiles depended on the type of warhead and was characterized by the following data: a 2-inch rocket weighed from 2.9 to 5 kg; 2.5-inch - from 6 to 14 kg and 4-inch - from 18.4 to 32 kg.

The firing ranges of the missiles of the Konstantinov system, created by him in 1850-1853, were very significant for that time. So, a 4-inch rocket equipped with 10-pound (4,095 kg) grenades had a maximum firing range of 4150 m, and a 4-inch incendiary rocket - 4260 m, while a quarter-pound mountain unicorn mod. 1838 had a maximum firing range of only 1810 meters. Konstantinov's dream was to create an air rocket launcher that fires rockets from hot air balloon. The experiments carried out proved the great range of missiles fired from a tethered balloon. However, it was not possible to achieve acceptable accuracy.
After the death of K. I. Konstantinov in 1871, rocket business in the Russian army fell into decay. Combat rockets were used occasionally and in small quantities in the Russian-Turkish war of 1877-1878. More successfully rockets were used in the conquest Central Asia in the 70s and 80s of the XIX century. They played a decisive role in the capture of Tashkent. The last time Konstantinov's rockets were used in Turkestan was in the 90s of the 19th century. And in 1898 combat missiles were officially withdrawn from service with the Russian army.
New impetus for development missile weapons was given during the First World War: in 1916, Professor Ivan Platonovich Grave created gelatin powder, having improved the smokeless powder of the French inventor Paul Viel. In 1921, the developers N. I. Tikhomirov, V. A. Artemiev from the gas-dynamic laboratory began to develop rockets based on this gunpowder.

At first, the gas-dynamic laboratory, where rocket weapons were created, had more difficulties and failures than successes. However, enthusiasts - engineers N. I. Tikhomirov, V. A. Artemiev, and then G. E. Langemak and B. S. Petropavlovsky stubbornly improved their "brainchild", firmly believing in the success of the case. Extensive theoretical developments and countless experiments were required, which eventually led to the creation at the end of 1927 of the 82-mm fragmentation rocket with a powder engine, and after it the more powerful 132 mm caliber. Test firing conducted near Leningrad in March 1928 was encouraging - the range was already 5-6 km, although the dispersion was still large. For many years it was not possible to significantly reduce it: the original concept involved a projectile with plumage that did not go beyond its caliber. After all, a pipe served as a guide for him - simple, light, convenient for installation.

In 1933, engineer I. T. Kleimenov proposed to make a more developed plumage, more than twice the caliber of the projectile in its scope. The accuracy of fire increased, and the flight range also increased, but new open - in particular, rail - guides for shells had to be designed. And again years of experiments, searches...
By 1938, the main difficulties in creating mobile rocket artillery had been overcome. Employees of the Moscow RNII Yu. A. Pobedonostsev, F. N. Poida, L. E. Schwartz and others developed 82-mm fragmentation, high-explosive fragmentation and thermite shells (PC) with a solid propellant (powder) engine, which was launched by a remote electric fuse.

The baptism of fire RS-82, mounted on I-16 and I-153 fighter aircraft, took place on August 20, 1939 on the Khalkhin Gol River. Details about this event are described here.

At the same time, for firing at ground targets, the designers proposed several options for mobile multiply charged launchers. salvo fire(by area). Engineers V. N. Galkovsky, I. I. Gvai, A. P. Pavlenko, A. S. Popov took part in their creation under the guidance of A. G. Kostikov.
The installation consisted of eight open guide rails interconnected into a single whole by tubular welded spars. 16 132-mm rocket projectiles weighing 42.5 kg each were fixed using T-shaped pins on top and bottom of the guides in pairs. The design provided for the ability to change the angle of elevation and turn in azimuth. Aiming at the target was carried out through the sight by rotating the handles of the lifting and turning mechanisms. The unit was mounted on a chassis truck ZiS-5, and in the first version, relatively short guides were located across the machine, which received the general name MU-1 (mechanized installation). This decision was unsuccessful - when firing, the car swayed, which significantly reduced the accuracy of the battle.

M-13 shells, containing 4.9 kg of explosive each, provided a radius of continuous destruction by fragments of 8-10 meters (when the fuse was set to "O" - fragmentation) and an actual destruction of 25-30 meters. In the soil of medium hardness, when the fuse was set to "3" (deceleration), a funnel was created with a diameter of 2-2.5 meters and a depth of 0.8-1 meter.
In September 1939, the MU-2 reactive system was created on a three-axle ZIS-6 truck more suitable for this purpose. The car was a cross-country truck with dual-tire rear axles. Its length with a 4980 mm wheelbase was 6600 mm, and the width was 2235 mm. The same in-line six-cylinder water-cooled carburetor engine was installed on the car, which was also installed on the ZiS-5. Its cylinder diameter was 101.6 mm, and the piston stroke was 114.3 mm. Thus, its working volume was equal to 5560 cubic centimeters, so that the volume indicated in most sources is 5555 cubic meters. cm is the result of someone's mistake, subsequently replicated by many serious publications. At 2300 rpm, the engine, which had a 4.6-fold compression ratio, developed a good 73-horsepower for those times, but due to the heavy load maximum speed limited to 55 kilometers per hour.

In this version, elongated rails were installed along the car, the rear of which was additionally hung on jacks before firing. The mass of the vehicle with a crew (5-7 people) and full ammunition was 8.33 tons, the firing range reached 8470 m. Only in one volley lasting 8-10 seconds fighting machine fired 16 shells containing 78.4 kg of high-performance explosive at enemy positions. The three-axle ZIS-6 provided the MU-2 with quite satisfactory mobility on the ground, allowing it to quickly make a march maneuver and change positions. And to transfer the car from the traveling position to the combat position, 2-3 minutes were enough. However, at the same time, the installation acquired another drawback - the impossibility of direct fire and, as a result, a large dead space. Nevertheless, our gunners subsequently learned how to overcome it and even began to use Katyushas against tanks.
On December 25, 1939, the Red Army Artillery Directorate approved the 132-mm M-13 rocket projectile and the launcher, which was named BM-13. NII-Z received an order for the manufacture of five such installations and a batch of rockets for military testing. In addition, the artillery department of the Navy also ordered one BM-13 launcher for the day it was tested in the coastal defense system. During the summer and autumn of 1940, NII-3 manufactured six BM-13 launchers. In the autumn of the same year, the BM-13 launchers and a batch of M-13 shells were ready for testing.

On June 17, 1941, at a training ground near Moscow, during the inspection of samples of new weapons of the Red Army, salvo launches were made from BM-13 combat vehicles. People's Commissar of Defense Marshal Soviet Union Timoshenko, People's Commissar for Armaments Ustinov and Chief of the General Staff, General of the Army Zhukov, who were present at the tests, praised the new weapon. Two prototypes of the BM-13 combat vehicle were prepared for the show. One of them was loaded with high-explosive fragmentation rockets, and the second - with illumination rockets. Volley launches of high-fragmentation rockets were made. All targets in the area where the shells fell were hit, everything that could burn on this section of the artillery route burned. The participants in the shootings highly appreciated the new missile weapons. Immediately at the firing position, an opinion was expressed about the need for the earliest adoption of the first domestic installation of the MLRS.
On June 21, 1941, literally a few hours before the start of the war, after examining samples of rocket weapons, Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin decided to launch mass production of M-13 rockets and the BM-13 launcher and to begin the formation of rocket launchers. military units. Due to the threat of an impending war, this decision was made, despite the fact that the BM-13 launcher had not yet passed military tests and had not been worked out to a stage that would allow mass industrial production.

On July 2, 1941, the first experimental rocket artillery battery in the Red Army under the command of Captain Flerov set out from Moscow for the Western Front. On July 4, the battery became part of the 20th Army, whose troops occupied the defense along the Dnieper near the city of Orsha.

In most books about the war - both scientific and artistic - Wednesday, July 16, 1941, is named the day of the first use of the Katyusha. On that day, a battery under the command of Captain Flerov struck a hit at the Orsha railway station, which had just been occupied by the enemy, and destroyed the trains that had accumulated on it.
However, in fact, the Flerov battery was first used at the front two days earlier: on July 14, 1941, three volleys were fired at the city of Rudnya, Smolensk region. This town with a population of only 9 thousand people is located on the Vitebsk Upland on the Malaya Berezina River, 68 km from Smolensk, at the very border of Russia and Belarus. On that day, the Germans captured Rudnya, and a large number of military equipment. At that moment, on the high steep western bank of the Malaya Berezina, the battery of Captain Ivan Andreevich Flerov appeared. From a western direction unexpected for the enemy, she hit the market square. As soon as the sound of the last volley ceased, one of the gunners named Kashirin loudly sang the song “Katyusha”, popular in those years, written in 1938 by Matvey Blanter to the words of Mikhail Isakovsky. Two days later, on July 16, at 15:15, Flerov's battery struck at the Orsha station, and an hour and a half later, at the German crossing over Orshitsa. On that day, signal sergeant Andrey Sapronov was seconded to Flerov's battery, who provided communication between the battery and the command. As soon as the sergeant heard about how Katyusha went to the high, steep bank, he immediately remembered how rocket launchers had just entered the same high and steep bank, and, reporting to the headquarters of the 217th separate communications battalion The 144th Infantry Division of the 20th Army about the fulfillment of a combat mission by Flerov, the signalman Sapronov said: "Katyusha sang perfectly well."

On August 2, 1941, the chief of artillery of the Western Front, Major General I.P. Kramar, reported: “According to the statements of the commanders of the rifle units and the observations of artillerymen, the suddenness of such a massive fire inflicts heavy losses on the enemy and has such a strong effect on morale that enemy units flee in panic. It was also noted there that the enemy was fleeing not only from areas fired upon by new weapons, but also from neighboring ones located at a distance of 1-1.5 km from the shelling zone.
And here is how the enemies told about Katyusha: “After a volley of Stalin’s organ from our company of 120 people,” the German chief corporal Hart said during interrogation, “12 remained alive. and out of five heavy mortars - not a single one.
The debut of jet weapons, stunning for the enemy, prompted our industry to speed up the serial production of a new mortar. However, for the "Katyushas" at first there were not enough self-propelled chassis - carriers of rocket launchers. They tried to restore the production of ZIS-6 at the Ulyanovsk Automobile Plant, where the Moscow ZIS was evacuated in October 1941, but the lack of specialized equipment for the production of worm axles did not allow this to be done. In October 1941, the T-60 tank was put into service with the BM-8-24 installation mounted in place of the turret. She was armed with RS-82 rockets.
In September 1941 - February 1942, NII-3 developed a new modification of the 82-mm M-8 projectile, which had the same range (about 5000 m), but almost twice as much explosive (581 g) compared to aviation projectile (375 g).
By the end of the war, the 82-mm M-8 projectile with a TS-34 ballistic index and a firing range of 5.5 km was adopted.
In the first modifications of the M-8 rocket projectile, a rocket charge was used, made from ballistic-type nitroglycerin gunpowder brand N. The charge consisted of seven cylindrical pieces with an outer diameter of 24 mm and a channel diameter of 6 mm. The length of the charge was 230 mm, and the weight was 1040 g.
To increase the range of the projectile, the rocket chamber of the engine was increased to 290 mm, and after testing a number of charge design options, the specialists of the OTB of plant No. 98 worked out a charge of NM-2 gunpowder, which consisted of five checkers with an outer diameter of 26.6 mm, a channel diameter of 6 mm and 287 mm long. The weight of the charge was 1180 g. With the use of this charge, the range of the projectile increased to 5.5 km. The radius of continuous destruction by fragments of the M-8 (TC-34) projectile was 3-4 m, and the radius of the actual destruction by fragments was 12-15 meters.

Rocket launchers were also equipped with STZ-5 tracked tractors, Ford-Marmont, International Jimsi and Austin off-road vehicles received under Lend-Lease. But the largest number of Katyushas were mounted on all-wheel drive three-axle Studebaker cars. In 1943, M-13 shells with a welded body, with a ballistic index TS-39, were put into production. The shells had a GVMZ fuse. NM-4 gunpowder was used as fuel.
The main reason for the low accuracy of missiles of the M-13 (TS-13) type was the eccentricity of the thrust of the jet engine, that is, the displacement of the thrust vector from the axis of the rocket due to the uneven burning of gunpowder in checkers. This phenomenon is easily eliminated by rotating the rocket. In this case, the momentum of the thrust force will always coincide with the axis of the rocket. The rotation imparted to a feathered rocket in order to improve accuracy is called cranking. Crank rockets should not be confused with turbojet rockets. The cranking speed of the feathered missiles was several tens, in the extreme case, hundreds, revolutions per minute, which is not enough to stabilize the projectile by rotation (moreover, the rotation occurs in the active part of the flight while the engine is running, and then stops). The angular velocity of turbojet projectiles without feathering is several thousand revolutions per minute, which creates a gyroscopic effect and, accordingly, a higher hit accuracy than that of feathered projectiles, both non-rotating and cranking. In both types of projectiles, rotation occurs due to the outflow of powder gases from the main engine through small (several millimeters in diameter) nozzles directed at an angle to the axis of the projectile.

We called rockets with rotation due to the energy of powder gases UK - improved accuracy, for example, M-13UK and M-31UK.
The M-13UK projectile, however, differed in its design from the M-13 projectile in that there were 12 tangential holes on the front centering thickening through which part of the powder gases flowed out. The holes are drilled so that the powder gases, flowing out of them, create a torque. The M-13UK-1 shells differed from the M-13UK shells in the device of stabilizers. In particular, M-13UK-1 stabilizers were made of steel sheet.
Since 1944, new, more powerful BM-31-12 installations with 12 M-30 and M-31 mines of 301 mm caliber, weighing 91.5 kg each (firing range - up to 4325 m) began to be produced on the basis of the Studebakers. To increase the accuracy of fire, the M-13UK and M-31UK projectiles with improved accuracy were created and mastered in flight.
The projectiles were launched from tubular guides of a honeycomb type. The transfer time to combat position was 10 minutes. When a 301-mm projectile containing 28.5 kg of explosives burst, a funnel 2.5 m deep and 7-8 m in diameter was formed. In total, 1184 BM-31-12 vehicles were produced during the war years.

The share of rocket artillery on the fronts of the Great Patriotic War was constantly increasing. If in November 1941 45 Katyusha divisions were formed, then on January 1, 1942 there were already 87 of them, in October 1942 - 350, and at the beginning of 1945 - 519. By the end of the war, there were 7 divisions in the Red Army, 40 separate brigades, 105 regiments and 40 separate divisions of guards mortars. Not a single major artillery preparation took place without Katyushas.

BM-8, BM-13 and BM-31 rocket artillery combat vehicles, better known as the 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 Artemiev and Nikolai Tikhomirov, employees of the laboratory of gas dynamics. Work on the project, which included the use of smokeless gelatin powder, began in 1921.
From 1929 to 1939, the first prototypes of various calibers were tested, which were launched from single-shot ground and multiply-charged air installations. Pioneers of the Soviet rocket technology - B. Petropavlovsky, E. Petrov, G. Langemak, I. Kleymenov supervised the tests.

The last stages of the design and development of shells were carried out at the Reactive Research Institute. The group of specialists, which included T.Kleimenov, V.Artemiev, 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. SB bombers and later modifications of the Il-2 were equipped with RS-132 shells of 132 mm caliber. For the first time, a new weapon installed on the I-153 and I-16 was used during the Khalkhin-Gol conflict of 1939.

In 1938-1941, the Jet Research Institute was developing a multiply charged launcher on a truck chassis. The 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 high-explosive fragmentation M-13 132-mm caliber projectiles. On June 21, 1941, the gun was officially put into service with the 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 left the assembly line on June 26, 1941. The build quality was immediately evaluated by the staff of the Main Artillery Directorate; having received the approval of customers, the cars went to Moscow. Field tests were carried out there, after which the first rocket artillery battery was created from two Voronezh samples and five BM-13s assembled at the Reactive Research Institute, commanded by Captain Ivan Flerov.

The battery received its baptism of fire on July 14 in the Smolensk region, the city of Rudnya, occupied by the enemy, was chosen as the target of the missile attack. 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 factory Comintern in Voronezh, the production of BM-13 was launched at the capital's enterprise "Compressor". Rockets were produced at several factories, but the Ilyich plant in Moscow became their main manufacturer.

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

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

It was installed on the chassis of trucks.

In the period from July 1941 to December 1944, the total number of Katyushas produced was more than 30 thousand units, and about 12 million rockets of various calibers. In the first samples, a domestic-made chassis was used, about six hundred of these machines were made, and all of them, except for a few, were destroyed during the hostilities. After the conclusion of the lend-lease agreement, the BM-13 was mounted on American Studebakers.

BM-13 on the American "Studebaker"
Rocket launchers BM-8 and BM-13 were mainly in service with the guards mortar units, which were part of the artillery reserve of the armed forces. Therefore, the name "Guards mortars" was unofficially assigned to the Katyushas.

The glory of the legendary machines could not be shared by their talented developers. The struggle for leadership in 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 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 the 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 the Katyushas in July 1941, firing was carried out at the German garrison located in the city of Rudnya near Smolensk. The fire was fired directly from the top of a steep hill, so the version seems to be very convincing - the soldiers could certainly have an association with the song, because there is a line “to the high, to the steep bank”. Yes, and Andrei Sapronov, who served as a signalman in the 20th Army, is still alive, who, according to him, gave the nickname to the rocket mortar. On July 14, 1941, right after the shelling of the occupied Rudnya, Sergeant Sapronov, together with the Red Army soldier Kashirin, arrived at the location of the battery. Amazed by the power of the BM-13, Kashirin enthusiastically exclaimed: “No song for yourself!” 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" - since then, such a formidable weapon has had a tender girl's name.

Another version considers the origin of the name from the abbreviation "KAT" - allegedly, the testers called the system "Kostikovskaya automatic thermal" (A. Kostikov was the project manager). However, the plausibility of such an assumption is highly doubtful, 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 came from the “K” index, which marked the systems assembled at the Comintern plant. It was customary for soldiers to give original names to weapons. So, the M-30 howitzer was affectionately called "Mother", the ML-20 gun was nicknamed "Emelka". By the way, at first the BM-13 was called very respectfully, by name and patronymic: "Raisa Sergeevna." RS - rockets used in installations.

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

The next version, although it may seem exotic, also has the right to exist. The shells were mounted on special rails called ramps. The weight of the projectile was 42 kilograms, and three people were required to install it on the slope: two, harnessed to the 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 of the members of the calculation could roll or hold shells.

At the initial stages of the installation, they were tested and operated in strict secrecy. So, the crew commander, when launching shells, did not have the right to give the generally accepted commands “fire” and “fire”, they were replaced by “play” or “sing” (the launch was carried out by quickly rotating the handle of the electric coil). What can I say, for any front-line soldier, Katyusha volleys were the most desired song.
There is a version according to which at first the bomber was called "Katyusha", equipped with rockets similar to the BM-13 missiles. It was these ammunition that transferred the nickname from the aircraft to the rocket launcher.
The Nazis called the installations nothing more than "Stalin's organ." Indeed, the guides had a certain resemblance to the pipes of a musical instrument, and the roar emitted by the shells upon launch was somewhat reminiscent of the formidable 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, up to bunker fortifications.

Device
BM-13 was distinguished by comparative simplicity. The design of the installation included rail guides and a guidance system consisting of an artillery sight and a swivel-lift 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 was different 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 inner part of the rocket under the plumage was reinforced with solid nitrocellulose. The warhead weighed 22 kg, of which 4.9 kg were explosives (for comparison, an anti-tank grenade weighed about 1.5 kg).

The range of 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 volley was fired 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.

Ammunition loading took place in 5-10 minutes for BM-13 and BM-8, BM-31, due to the greater mass of shells, was loaded a little longer - 10-15 minutes. To start, it was necessary to rotate the handle of the electric coil, which was connected to the batteries and contacts on the slopes - by turning the handle, the operator closed the contacts and activated the missile launch systems in turn.

The tactics of using Katyushas fundamentally distinguished them from the Nebelwerfer jet systems that were in service with the enemy. If the German development was used for delivering high-precision strikes, then the Soviet machines had low accuracy, but covered a large area. The explosive mass of the Katyusha rockets was half that of the Nebelwerfer shells, however, the damage inflicted on manpower and lightly armored vehicles was significantly superior to the German counterpart. The explosives were detonated by triggering 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 became hot under the influence of the combustion of gunpowder - as a result, the effectiveness of fragmentation damage was twice as high as artillery shells of the same caliber. At one time, there were even rumors that a “thermite charge” was used in rocket mortars, the tests of which took place in 1942 in Leningrad. However, its use turned out to be impractical, since the incendiary effect was already sufficient.

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

Application
Rocket artillery from the very beginning of its existence was subordinate to the Supreme High Command.

The RA units were completed rifle divisions at the forefront. 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 the strikes of the Katyushas should be sudden and massive.

During the war years, Katyushas fell into the hands of the enemy more than once. So, 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 rocket launchers carried out subdivisionally. 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 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 Artillery Regiment of the Reserve of the Supreme High Command included three divisions of three batteries each. The battery, in turn, consisted of four machines. The fire efficiency of such units was enormous - one division, consisting of 12 BM-13-16s, could deliver a strike comparable in power to a volley 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, in a matter of seconds, the ground in the target area literally reared up. A retaliatory strike by rocket artillery units was easily avoided, as mobile Katyushas quickly changed their location.

In July 1942, not far from the village of Nalyuchi, the Katyusha brother, the Andryusha rocket launcher of 300 mm caliber, equipped with 144 guides, was first tested 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 regiments of rocket artillery.

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 novelty "Mountain Katyusha". The first to use this weapon was the 20th Mountain Rifle Division, the installation proved to be excellent in the battles for the Goit Pass. At the end of the winter of 1943, the Mountain Katyusha unit, consisting of two divisions, participated in the defense of the famous bridgehead on Malaya Zemlya near Novorossiysk. In the Sochi railway depot, rocket systems were mounted on railcars - these installations were used for defense coastline cities. 8 rocket launchers were installed on the minesweeper "Mackerel", which covered the landing operation on Malaya Zemlya.

In the autumn of 1943, during the battles near Bryansk, thanks to the quick transfer of combat vehicles from one flank of the front to the other, a sudden blow was carried out that broke the enemy defenses in a 250 km long section. On that day, the enemy fortifications hit more than 6,000 Soviet missiles fired by the legendary Katyushas.

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The famous installation "Katyusha" was put into production a few hours before the attack of Nazi Germany on the USSR. The rocket artillery salvo fire system was used for massive strikes on areas, had an average effective range shooting.

Chronology of the creation of rocket artillery combat vehicles

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

five years later, already in the USSR, the development of a rocket projectile by V. A. Artemyev and N. I. Tikhomirov began;
in the period 1929 - 1933 a group led by B. S. Petropavlovsky created a prototype projectile for the MLRS, but ground-based launchers were used;
rockets were put into service with the Air Force in 1938, marked RS-82, installed on I-15, I-16 fighters;
in 1939, they were used at Khalkhin Gol, then they began to equip warheads from the 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 high mobility installation on a wheeled chassis;
the last successful test before the launch of the BM-13 in mass production ended on June 21, 1941, that is, a few hours before the attack of Nazi Germany on 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 participating in the tests.

The first combat volley of Katyusha officially took place on July 14th. The city of Rudnya, occupied by the Germans, was shelled with incendiary shells filled with thermite, and two days later, a crossing over the Orshitsa River near the Orsha railway station.

The history of the nickname Katyusha

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

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

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

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

Analogues nicknames MLRS

During the war years, the BM rocket launcher with a 132 mm projectile was not the only weapon with own name. According to the abbreviation MARS, mortar artillery rockets (mortar installations) were nicknamed Marusya.

Mortar MARS - Marusya

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

Mortar Nebelwerfer - Vanyusha

In area firing, the Katyusha volley outperformed the damage from Vanyusha and 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 take root, therefore, at least until 1945, any domestic systems MLRS.

Characteristics of the BM-13 installation

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

mobility - the MLRS had to quickly turn around, fire several volleys and instantly change position until the enemy was destroyed;
firepower - batteries from several installations were formed from the MP-13;
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 the cost of production decreased by at least 20%. The side and rear walls of the cabin were armored, protective plates were installed on the windshield. The armor protected the gas pipeline and the fuel tank, which dramatically increased the "survivability" of equipment and the survivability of combat crews.

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

combat crew

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

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

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

In one volley of the regiment, the equipment and manpower of the enemy were destroyed on the territory of 70 - 100 hectares by an explosion of 576 shells fired within 10 seconds. According to directive 002490, the use of Katyushas less than a division was prohibited at the headquarters.

Armament

A salvo of Katyusha was carried out for 10 seconds with 16 shells, each of which had the following characteristics:

caliber - 132 mm;
weight - charge of glycerin powder 7.1 kg, bursting charge 4.9 kg, jet engine 21 kg warhead 22 kg, projectile 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 real;
deviation - 105 m in range, 200 m lateral.

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

Launcher

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

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

Application history

In the summer of 1942, BM 13 volley fire fighting vehicles in the amount of three regiments and a reinforcement division became a mobile strike force on the Southern Front, helping to restrain the advance of the 1st enemy tank army near Rostov.

Around the same time, a portable version was made in Sochi - the "mountain Katyusha" for the 20th mountain rifle division. In the 62nd army, by mounting launchers on the T-70 tank, a MLRS division was created. The city of Sochi was defended from the shore by 4 trolleys on rails with M-13 installations.

During the Bryansk operation (1943), multiple launch rocket launchers were stretched along the entire front, allowing the Germans to be distracted for a flank attack. In July 1944, a simultaneous salvo of 144 BM-31 installations sharply reduced the number of accumulated forces of the Nazi units.

Local conflicts

Chinese troops used 22 MLRS during artillery preparation before the battle for Triangular Hill during 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 until recently remained in service in Cambodia.

Katyusha vs Vanyusha

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

a gun carriage from a 37 mm anti-tank gun was used as a frame;
guides for shells are six 1.3 m barrels, combined by clips into blocks;
the rotary mechanism provided a 45 degree elevation angle and a horizontal firing sector of 24 degrees;
the combat installation relied on a folding stop and sliding carriage beds, the wheels were hung out.

The mortar was fired with turbojet rockets, the accuracy of which was ensured by the rotation of the hull within 1000 rpm. The German troops were armed with several mobile mortar installations on the half-track base of the Maultier armored personnel carrier with 10 barrels for 150 mm rockets. However, the entire German rocket artillery was created to solve a different problem - chemical warfare using chemical warfare agents.

For the period of 1941, the Germans had already created powerful poisonous substances Soman, Tabun, Zarin. However, in the Second World War, none of them was used, the fire was carried out exclusively with smoke, high-explosive and incendiary mines. The main part of the rocket artillery was mounted on the basis of towed carriages, which sharply reduced the mobility of units.

The accuracy of hitting the target with the German MLRS was higher than that of the Katyusha. However, Soviet weapons were suitable for massive strikes over large areas, and had a powerful psychological effect. When towing, Vanyusha's speed was limited to 30 km / h, after two volleys a change of position was made.

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

Katyusha modifications

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

BM-13N - Studebaker US6 was used as a chassis since 1943;
BM-13NN - assembly on a ZiS-151 car;
BM-13NM - chassis from ZIL-157, in service since 1954;
BM-13NMM - since 1967 assembly 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 pieces;
BM-13 CH - spiral type guides;
BM-8-48 - shells 82 mm, 48 guides;
BM-8-6 - based on machine guns;
BM-8-12 - on the chassis of motorcycles and arosan;
BM30-4 t BM31-4 - ground-supported frames with 4 guides;
BM-8-72, BM-8-24 and BM-8-48 - mounted on railway platforms.

Tanks T-40, later T-60, were equipped with mortar installations. They were placed on a tracked chassis after the turret was dismantled. The allies of the USSR supplied Austin, International GMC and Ford Mamon all-terrain vehicles under Lend-Lease, which were ideally suited for the chassis of installations used in mountainous conditions.

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

It is believed that the armament of the Red Army was 3374 Katyusha BM-13, of which 1157 on 17 types of non-standard chassis, 1845 pieces of equipment on Studebakers and 372 on ZiS-6 vehicles. Exactly half of the BM-8 and B-13 were lost irretrievably during the fighting (1400 and 3400 vehicles, respectively). Of the 1800 BM-31s produced, 100 pieces of equipment out of 1800 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 High Command of the Red Army.

Monuments BM-13

Currently, all military installations of the MLRS based on the ZiS-6 have been preserved exclusively in the form of memorials and monuments. They are placed 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);
Museum of the Great Patriotic War (Kyiv);
Monument of Glory (Novosibirsk);
entrance to Armyansk (Crimea);
Sevastopol diorama (Crimea);
11 pavilion VKS Patriot (Kubinka);
Novomoskovsky Museum (Tula region);
memorial in Mtsensk;
memorial complex in Izyum;
Museum of the Battle of Korsun-Shevchensk (Cherkasy region);
military museum in Seoul;
museum in Belgorod;
Museum of the Great Patriotic War in the village of Padikovo (Moscow region);
OAO Kirov Machine Works May 1;
memorial in Tula.

Used by Katyusha in several computer games, two combat vehicles remain in service with the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

Thus, setting MLRS Katyusha was a powerful psychological and rocket-artillery weapon during the Second World War. The armament was used for massive strikes against a large concentration of troops, at the time of the war it was superior to the counterparts of the enemy.

The history of the 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.

Mystery of the first salvo

Officially, the first salvo of the 1st experimental battery "Katyusha" (5 out of 7 installations) under the command of Captain Flerov fired at 15 hours and 15 minutes. July 14, 1941 at the railway junction in Orsha. The following description of what happened is often given: “Over the hollow, overgrown with bushes, where the battery hid, a cloud of smoke and dust shot up. There was a rumbling screech. Throwing out tongues of bright flame, more than a hundred cigar-shaped projectiles rapidly slid off 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 from their bottoms with a roar. And then everything just disappeared.” (…)

“A few seconds later, in the thick of the enemy troops, one after another, fractionally shaking the ground, explosions thundered. Huge geysers of fire and smoke shot up where the ammunition wagons and fuel tanks had just stood.

But if you open any reference literature, you can see that the city of Orsha was abandoned by the Soviet troops a day later. And who was fired upon? Imagine that the enemy was able to change the track in a matter of hours railway and it is problematic to drive trains to the station.

It is even more unlikely that the Germans were the first to enter the captured city with ammunition trains, for the delivery of which even captured Soviet steam locomotives and wagons are used.

Nowadays, the hypothesis has become widespread that Captain Flerov received an order to destroy Soviet echelons 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 army of Belarus that several volleys were fired, and if on July 14 the German troops approaching Orsha became the target, then the strike on the station itself was a day later.

But these are still hypotheses that make you think, compare facts, but are not yet established and confirmed 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 very decent - more than 50 km straight, and much further along the roads.

We read in the same Wikipedia that does not pretend to be scientific - “July 14, 1941 (the city of Rudnya) became the site of the first combat use of the Katyushas, when I. A. Flerov’s battery of rocket mortars covered a concentration of Germans on the market square of the city with direct fire. In honor of this event, a monument stands in the city - "Katyusha" on a pedestal.

Firstly, direct fire for Katyushas is practically impossible, and secondly, weapons operating on the squares will cover not only the market square with the Germans and apparently the inhabitants of the city, 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 showed itself with better side and justified the hopes placed on it. In a note from the chief of artillery of the Red Army N. Voronov addressed to Malenkov on August 4, 1941, it was noted:

“The means are strong. Production should be increased. Form continuously units, regiments and divisions. It is better to use it massively and observe maximum surprise.

The mystery of the death of the Flerov battery

Until now, the circumstances of the death of Flerov's battery on October 7, 1941 remain mysterious. It is often stated that the battery, having fired a salvo at direct fire, was destroyed by the crew.
We repeat: for Katyushas, direct fire is extremely dangerous and close to suicidal - there is a very high risk that a rocket that has slipped off the rails will fall next to the installation. According to the Soviet version, the battery was blown up, and out of 170 fighters 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 of the 1st degree, and in 1995 the brave commander was awarded the title of Hero Russian Federation. Fragments of rocket launchers found at the site of the death of the battery have also survived to our time.

The German version claims, in turn, that the German troops managed to capture three of the seven installations. Although the first BM-13 installations, according to German photographs again, fell into the hands of the enemy, apparently much earlier, back in August 1941.

Katyushas and donkeys

Rocket artillery was not a novelty for the German troops. In the Red Army, German rocket launchers were often called "donkeys" for their characteristic sound during firing. Contrary to popular belief, installations and rockets 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 happen.

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 the battles for the Brest Fortress, their use was noted during the assault on Mogilev and in a number of other events. The Soviet rocket launchers BM-13 surpassed the German systems in terms of firing range, while at the same time inferior in accuracy. Known number 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 so far that it was a massive weapon and played a big role in all the key military events of the Great Patriotic War.

And BM-21 "Grad". Subsequently, by analogy with the "Katyusha", a number of similar nicknames ("Andryusha", "Vanyusha") were given by Soviet soldiers to other installations (BM-31 and others) of rocket artillery, but these nicknames did not receive such wide distribution and popularity and generally known much less.

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The history of the creation of weapons

In 1939-1941, employees of the RNII I. I. Gvai, V. N. Galkovsky, A. P. Pavlenko, A. S. Popov and others under the direction of Lev Mikhailovich Gaidukov [ ] created a multiply charged launcher mounted on a truck.

In March 1941, ground tests of installations were successfully carried out, which received the designation BM-13 (combat vehicle with 132 mm caliber shells). The RS-132 rocket projectile of 132 mm caliber and the launcher based on the ZIS-6 BM-13 truck were put into service on June 21, 1941; it was this type of combat vehicles that first received the nickname "Katyusha". For the first time, the BM-13 installations were tested in combat conditions at 10 am on July 14, 1941. Captain Flerov's battery fired at enemy troops and equipment at the railway junction of the city of Orsha. Since the spring of 1942, the rocket mortar was installed mainly on English and American all-wheel drive chassis imported under Lend-Lease. The most famous among them was Studebaker US6. During the Great Patriotic War, a significant number of variants of RS shells and launchers for them were created; in total, Soviet industry during the war years produced more than 10,000 rocket artillery combat vehicles.

Nickname origin

There is no single version of why BM-13s began to be called "Katyushas". There are several assumptions. The most common and justified are two versions of the origin of the nickname, which are not mutually exclusive:

By the name of Blanter's song, which became popular before the war, to the words of Isakovsky "Katyusha". The version is convincing, since the battery of Captain Flerov fired at the enemy, firing a volley at the Market Square of the city of Rudnya. This was one of the first combat uses of the Katyushas, which is also confirmed in the historical literature. They fired installations from a high steep mountain - the association with a high steep coast in the song immediately arose among the fighters. Finally, until recently, the former sergeant of the headquarters company of the 217th separate communications battalion of the 144th rifle division of the 20th army, Andrey Sapronov, was alive, later a military historian who gave her this name. The Red Army soldier Kashirin, having arrived with him after the shelling of Rudny on the battery, exclaimed in surprise: “This is a song!” "Katyusha," Andrey Sapronov replied (from the memoirs of A. Sapronov in the Rossiya newspaper No. 23 dated June 21-27, 2001 and in the Parliamentary Gazette No. 80 dated May 5, 2005). Through the communication center of the headquarters company, the news about the miracle weapon named "Katyusha" within a day became the property of the entire 20th Army, and through its command - of the whole country. On July 13, 2012, the veteran and “godfather” of Katyusha turned 91 years old, and on February 26, 2013 he died. On the desk he left his latest work- a chapter on the first volley of Katyushas for the multi-volume history of the Great Patriotic War, which is being prepared for publication.
The name may be associated with the "K" index on the mortar body - the installations were produced by the plant named after the Comintern. And the front-line soldiers liked to give nicknames to weapons. For example, the M-30 howitzer was nicknamed "Mother", the ML-20 howitzer gun - "Emelka". Yes, and BM-13 at first was sometimes called "Raisa Sergeevna", thus deciphering the abbreviation RS (missile).

In addition to the two main ones, there are also many other, less known versions origin of the nickname - from very realistic to having a purely legendary character:

Similar nicknames

There is an opinion expressed in English-language sources that the BM-31-12 combat vehicle, by analogy with the Katyusha, received the nickname Andryusha from the Soviet soldiers, although, perhaps, Andryusha was called M-30. Also very popular, it, however, did not receive such significant distribution and fame as the Katyusha, and did not spread to other models of launchers; even the BM-31-12s themselves were more often called "Katyushas" than their own nickname. Following the Katyusha, the Soviet fighters also christened German weapons of a similar type with a Russian name - a 15 cm Nb.W 41 (Nebelwerfer) towed jet mortar, nicknamed Vanyusha. In addition, the M-30 high-explosive rocket projectile, used from the simplest portable frame-type multiple rocket launchers, subsequently also received several playful nicknames of a similar kind: "Ivan Dolbay", associated with the high destructive power of the projectile, and "Luka" - on behalf of the character Luka Mudishchev from a pornographic poem of the 19th century, in connection with the characteristic shape of the head of the projectile; due to the obvious obscene subtext of the joke, the nickname "Luka", which had a certain popularity among the soldiers, was practically not reflected in the Soviet press and literature and remained little known in general.

Mortar installations were called "Marusya" (a derivative of MARS - mortar artillery of rockets), and on the Volkhov front they were called "guitar".

While in the Soviet troops the BM-13 combat vehicles and analogues received the stable nickname "Katyusha", in the German troops these vehicles were nicknamed " Stalin's organs"(German Stalinorgel) - because of the association appearance rocket launcher guide package with the pipe system of this musical instrument and because of the characteristic sound made when rockets were launched. Soviet installations of this type became known under this nickname, in addition to Germany, also in a number of other countries - Denmark (Danish Stalinorgel), Finland (Finnish Stalinin urut), France (French Orgues de Staline), Norway (Norwegian Stalinorgel), Netherlands (Dutch Stalinorgel), Hungary (Hungarian Sztálinorgona) and Sweden (Swedish Stalins orgel). It should be noted that the Soviet nickname "Katyusha" also spread among the German soldiers - Katjuscha .

Notes

Luknitsky P. N. Through the entire blockade. - L.: Lenizdat, 1988. - S. 193
Gordon L. Rottman.// FUBAR (F***ed Up Beyond All Recognition): Soldier Slang of World War II. - Osprey, 2007. - P. 278-279. - $296 - ISBN 1-84603-175-3.
Katyusha- article from the Great Soviet Encyclopedia.
Steven J. Zaloga, James Grandsen. Soviet Tanks and Combat Vehicles of World War Two. - London: Arms and Armor Press, 1984. - P. 153. - 240 p. - ISBN 0-85368-606-8.
Pervushin A. I."Red space. Starships of the Soviet Empire. 2007. Moscow. "Yauza", "Eksmo". ISBN 5-699-19622-6
MILITARY LITERATURE -[ Military history ]- Fugate B., Operation Barbarossa
Andronikov N. G., Galitsan A. S., Kiryan M. M. and others. Great Patriotic War, 1941-1945: Dictionary-reference / Pod. ed. M. M. Kiryan. - M.: Politizdat, 1985. - S. 204. - 527 p. - 200,000 copies.
"K-22" - Battlecruiser / [under the general. ed. N. V. Ogarkova]. - M.: Military Publishing House of M-va Defense of the USSR, 1979. - S. 124. - (Soviet Military Encyclopedia: [in 8 volumes]; 1976-1980, v. 4).
"Luka" and "Katyusha" against "Vanyusha". Volley fire systems in the Great Patriotic War (indefinite) . Independent military review (March 5, 2010). Retrieved November 29, 2011. Archived from the original on February 8, 2012.
Warbot J. J."Etymology // Russian language. Encyclopedia. - 2nd ed., revised and additional - M .: Great Russian Encyclopedia; Bustard, 1997. - S. 643-647.
Lazarev L. L. The legend of the first "Katyusha"// Touching the sky . - M. : Profizdat, 1984.
http://www.moscow-faq.ru/articles/other/2010/January/5070 http://operation-barbarossa.narod.ru/katuscha/m-31.htm
Ivan Dolbay // Big Dictionary Russian proverbs / V. M. Mokienko, T. G. Nikitina. - M. : Olma Media Group.
Luknitsky P. N. Through the entire blockade. - L .: Lenizdat, 1988. S. 193
Gordon L. Rottman. Stalinorgel // FUBAR (F***ed Up Beyond All Recognition): Soldier Slang of World War II. - Osprey, 2007. - P. 290. - 296 p. - ISBN 1-84603-175-3.

Literature

"Katyusha" // "K-22" - Battlecruiser / [under the general. ed.

Katyusha during the Second World War. Unique combat vehicle "Katyusha"

Chronology of the creation of rocket artillery combat vehicles