The impact of a Katyusha in the dark. "Katyusha": the weapon of the winners
Strike at Orsha
The Nazis felt right at home: the blitzkrieg developed strictly according to the plans of the great Fuhrer - the Russians still resisted, but not for long, because they had nothing to fight with - another couple of months, and the war would end with another valiant victory of German weapons.
True, the Nazis were embarrassed by these new tanks - the T-34, they created many problems. But brilliant German designers will definitely find a way to fight them! And the Russians have nothing else except old rifles...
By July 14, a lot of trains had accumulated at the Orsha railway junction: cars filled with cheerfully screaming German soldiers, platforms covered with hunched heavy tarpaulin, on each platform there is a gloomy sentry with a machine gun. One of the tracks was occupied by a long chain of black tanks - gasoline for Nazi tanks and planes.
At exactly 15:15, a terrible, soul-grabbing howl swept over the freight station. Then there were explosions and roars, and literally a split second later, almost all the trains burst into flames. It felt like someone had suddenly covered the entire station with a blanket of fire. The surviving Nazis rushed along the tracks in horror and panic. What was it? Shelling? Sabotage?
So, at the junction station of the city of Orsha, Hitler’s warriors for the first time experienced the blow of the famous BM-13, “Katyusha” or “Stalin’s organs”, as the fascists later called them.
The first BM-13 missile battery was formed on the second day of the war. It consisted of 7 launchers taken straight from the test benches, 44 trucks loaded with 600 missiles and 170 people personnel. The entire command staff of the battery consisted of students of the Military Artillery Academy. The security of the secret weapon was carried out by a special platoon of the NKVD, whose soldiers were given the order: without warning, shoot at every stranger who dares to come close to the combat vehicles. In addition, a special iron box was attached to the rotating frame of each rocket launcher - supposedly for rags. In fact, there was a powerful landmine inside. When real threat encirclement and capture of the vehicle by the enemy, the commander had to self-destruct along with the equipment. It was enough just to set fire to the fuse to secret weapon flew into the air.
Commander of the Secret Battery
Commander rocket battery Captain Ivan Flerov was appointed. This choice is not accidental. Ivan Andreevich Flerov was born and raised in working family, which was extremely important then.
After graduating from artillery school, he participated in Soviet-Finnish war, where he commanded the battery. To the beginning of the Great Patriotic War Captain Flerov already had military awards.
On the night of July 2, 1941, the experimental battery set off for Smolensk, and by July 14 it found itself near Orsha.
The attack of Captain Flerov's battery on the railway station lasted only eight seconds, but during these seconds the battery fired more than a hundred shells, and German losses were catastrophic. On the same day, the battery fired a second salvo, only at the crossing of the Orshitsa River, where a lot of enemy manpower had also accumulated. The result again exceeded all expectations. The following entry was preserved in the battery’s combat log: “1941 16 hours 45 minutes. Volley at the crossing fascist troops through Orshitsa. Big losses enemy in manpower and military equipment, panic. All the Nazis who survived east coast, taken prisoner by our units."
The battery under the command of Captain Flerov moved quickly, as far as the front roads allowed, along the front line, stopping only briefly to deliver merciless attacks on the enemy. Salvos of Katyushas not only caused material damage to the Nazis, but also raised the morale of our soldiers and officers. The Nazis understood all this perfectly well, and they organized a real hunt for the Russians’ new weapons. As soon as the battery made itself felt with another surprise attack, the Germans immediately sent tanks and aircraft there. But Flerov knew about this and did not stay in one place for long - having fired a salvo, the Katyushas immediately changed position.
But, in the end, the luck ran out. On the night of October 7, 1941, near the village of Znamenka in the Smolensk region, Captain Flerov’s battery was surrounded. The commander did everything possible to save the missile launchers and break through to his own. The battery covered more than 150 kilometers behind enemy lines. Heavy vehicles crawled through forests and swamps until the fuel ran out. In the end, Captain Flerov ordered the installations to be charged and the remaining missiles and most of the transport vehicles to be blown up. There were seven loaded Katyushas and three trucks with people left in the convoy.
Battery death
Having rounded Znamenka, the column stopped and reconnaissance went forward. Returning, the scouts reported that the way was clear. When night fell, the commander sent one car ahead, and behind it, at a distance of no more than one kilometer, the rest pulled out in a column with their headlights off.
Suddenly bullets clicked into the cabins of the rocket launchers. Apparently, the Germans had been lying in ambush for a long time and, deliberately missing head car, they were waiting for the Katyusha convoy. The Nazis were given a strict order: to seize the battery at any cost in order to unravel the secret of the new weapon. Captain Flerov and his guards entered into an unequal battle. While some were shooting back, others rushed to the rocket launchers and managed to blow up the cars. Many of them died, and those who were able to break away from the Nazis eventually crossed the front line and reached their own.
About the fate of the commander of the world's first missile battery for a long time nothing was unknown. The survivors claimed that Captain Flerov died heroically during the destruction of the launchers, but the soldiers who were surrounded had no faith, and Flerov was officially listed as missing. We even walked completely ridiculous rumors that the commander deliberately led his battery into a trap. All this nonsense was refuted with the help of German staff documents captured after the war, which described in detail the unequal battle near Znamenka. In 1963, by Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, Ivan Andreevich Flerov was posthumously awarded the Order of the Patriotic War, 1st degree. And this year marks the hundredth anniversary of the birth of the legendary commander.
Rockets to the front
The effect of the actions of only one battery of Captain Flerov was so devastating that before November 1, 1941, they were urgently formed and sent to combat positions tens missile divisions based on BM-13 and BM-8.
On October 1, 1941, a directive came from the Supreme Command headquarters to the front on the procedure for using rocket artillery. In particular, it said: “Sudden, massive and well-prepared fire from the M-8 and M-13 divisions is provided exclusively good defeat the enemy and at the same time exerts a strong moral shock on his manpower, leading to loss of combat effectiveness.”
The memoirs of the Nazis, published after the war, tell us that the appearance of Katyushas on the front actually caused panic among fascist soldiers, many of them, if they did not die under the blows of Stalin’s organs, then literally went crazy with horror. By the way, due to the strict secrecy of the new weapon, our troops were also not always prepared for the side effects of powerful Katyusha salvoes.
Army General P.I. Batov in his book “On Campaigns and Battles” describes the following situation: “There were up to two battalions of German infantry in sight. And now the Katyushas worked. Powerful volley. Fire jets. Explosions. The Germans ran. Ours too. A rare sight of an “attack” where both sides are running away from each other! Confidentiality was crossed. We had to inform people somehow leading edge so that they don’t get scared if something unexpected happens.” It is not known where our rocket launchers got the name “Katyusha”. Veterans believe that this name stuck thanks to the famous pre-war song by M. Matusovsky and M. Blanter about the girl Katyusha. And our soldiers affectionately called the rockets (RS) for the Katyusha “Raisa Semyonovna”. When the fiery arrows went howling towards the enemy, the soldiers joyfully said: “Raisa Semyonovna has gone.”
Soviet rocket system volley fire"Katyusha" is one of the most recognizable symbols of the Great Patriotic War. In terms of its popularity, the legendary Katyusha is not much inferior to the T-34 tank or PPSh machine gun. It is still not known for certain where this name came from (there are numerous versions), but the Germans called these installations “Stalinist organs” and were terribly afraid of them.
“Katyusha” is the collective name for several rocket launchers from the Great Patriotic War. Soviet propaganda presented them as exclusively domestic “know-how,” which was not true. Work in this direction was carried out in many countries, and the famous German six-barreled mortars are also MLRS, albeit of a slightly different design. The Americans and the British also used rocket artillery.
Nevertheless, "Katyusha" became the most effective and most popular vehicle similar class Second World War . BM-13 is a real weapon of Victory. She took part in all significant battles on Eastern Front, clearing the way for infantry formations. The first Katyusha salvo was fired in the summer of 1941, and four years later the BM-13 installations were already shelling besieged Berlin.
A little history of the BM-13 "Katyusha"
Several reasons contributed to the revival of interest in missile weapons: firstly, more perfect species gunpowder, which significantly increased the flight range rockets; secondly, the missiles were perfect as weapons for combat aircraft; and thirdly, rockets could be used to deliver toxic substances.
The last reason was the most important: based on the experience of the First World War, the military had little doubt that the next conflict would definitely not happen without military gases.
In the USSR the creation missile weapons began with the experiments of two enthusiasts - Artemyev and Tikhomirov. In 1927, smokeless pyroxylin-TNT gunpowder was created, and in 1928, the first rocket was developed that managed to fly 1,300 meters. At the same time, the targeted development of missile weapons for aviation began.
In 1933 they appeared experimental samples aviation missiles of two calibers: RS-82 and RS-132. The main drawback of the new weapons, which the military did not like at all, was their low accuracy. The shells had a small tail that did not exceed its caliber, and a pipe was used as a guide, which was very convenient. However, to improve the accuracy of the missiles, their empennage had to be increased and new guides had to be developed.
In addition, pyroxylin-TNT gunpowder was not very suitable for mass production of this type of weapon, so it was decided to use tubular nitroglycerin gunpowder.
In 1937, new missiles with enlarged tails and new open rail-type guides were tested. Innovations significantly improved the accuracy of fire and increased the missile's flight range. In 1938, the RS-82 and RS-132 missiles were put into service and began to be mass-produced.
In the same year, the designers were given the task new task: to create a rocket system for the ground forces, using a 132 mm caliber rocket as a basis.
In 1939, the 132 mm was ready high-explosive fragmentation projectile M-13, it had a more powerful warhead and an increased flight range. Such results were achieved by lengthening the ammunition.
In the same year, the first MU-1 rocket launcher was manufactured. Eight short guides were installed across the truck, and sixteen missiles were attached to them in pairs. This design turned out to be very unsuccessful; during the salvo, the vehicle swayed strongly, which led to a significant decrease in the accuracy of the battle.
In September 1939, testing began on a new rocket launcher, the MU-2. The basis for it was the three-axle ZiS-6 truck, this vehicle provided combat complex high cross-country ability, made it possible to quickly change positions after each salvo. Now the guides for the missiles were located along the car. In one salvo (about 10 seconds), the MU-2 fired sixteen shells, the weight of the installation with ammunition was 8.33 tons, the firing range exceeded eight kilometers.
With this design of the guides, the rocking of the car during a salvo became minimal, in addition, two jacks were installed in the rear of the car.
In 1940, state tests of the MU-2 were carried out, and it was put into service under the designation “BM-13 rocket mortar”.
The day before the start of the war (June 21, 1941), the USSR government decided to serial production BM-13 combat complexes, ammunition for them and formation special units for their use.
The first experience of using the BM-13 at the front showed their high efficiency and contributed to the active production of this type of weapon. During the war, "Katyusha" was produced by several factories, it was established mass release ammunition for them.
Artillery units armed with BM-13 installations were considered elite, and immediately after their formation they received the name Guards. The BM-8, BM-13 and other rocket systems were officially called “Guards mortars.”
Application of BM-13 "Katyusha"
First combat use rocket installations took place in mid-July 1941. The Germans occupied Orsha, a large junction station in Belarus. It has accumulated a large number of enemy military equipment and manpower. It was for this purpose that the battery of rocket launchers (seven units) of Captain Flerov fired two salvos.
As a result of the actions of the artillerymen, the railway junction was practically wiped off the face of the earth, and the Nazis suffered severe losses in people and equipment.
"Katyusha" was also used in other sectors of the front. The new Soviet weapons have become very an unpleasant surprise For German command. Particularly strong psychological impact Wehrmacht soldiers were affected by the pyrotechnic effect of using shells: after a Katyusha salvo, literally everything that could burn burned. This effect was achieved through the use of TNT blocks in the shells, which upon explosion formed thousands of burning fragments.
Rocket artillery was actively used in the battle of Moscow, Katyushas destroyed the enemy at Stalingrad, they were tried to be used as anti-tank weapons in Kursk Bulge. To do this, special recesses were made under the front wheels of the vehicle, so the Katyusha could fire directly. However, the use of the BM-13 against tanks was less effective, since the M-13 rocket was a high-explosive fragmentation projectile, and not armor-piercing. In addition, "Katyusha" has never been different high accuracy shooting. But if her shell hit the tank, everything was destroyed attachments vehicles, the turret often jammed, and the crew received severe concussion.
Jet installations with great success were used until the Victory, they took part in the storming of Berlin and other operations in the final stage of the war.
In addition to the famous BM-13 MLRS, there was also a BM-8 rocket launcher, which used 82 mm caliber rockets, and over time, heavy rocket systems appeared that launched 310 mm caliber rockets.
During the Berlin operation soviet soldiers actively used the experience of street fighting they gained during the capture of Poznan and Königsberg. It consisted of firing single heavy rockets M-31, M-13 and M-20 direct fire. Special assault groups were created, which included an electrical engineer. The rocket was launched from machine guns, wooden caps, or simply from any flat surface. A hit from such a shell could easily destroy a house or be guaranteed to suppress an enemy firing point.
During the war years, about 1,400 BM-8, 3,400 BM-13 and 100 BM-31 units were lost.
However, the story of the BM-13 did not end there: in the early 60s, the USSR supplied these installations to Afghanistan, where they were actively used by government troops.
Device BM-13 "Katyusha"
The main advantage of the BM-13 rocket launcher is its extreme simplicity both in production and in use. The artillery part of the installation consists of eight guides, the frame on which they are located, rotating and lifting mechanisms, sighting devices and electrical equipment.
The guides were a five-meter I-beam with special overlays. A locking device and an electric igniter were installed in the breech of each of the guides, with the help of which the shot was fired.
The guides were mounted on a rotating frame, which, using simple lifting and rotating mechanisms, provided vertical and horizontal guidance.
Each Katyusha was equipped with an artillery sight.
The crew of the vehicle (BM-13) consisted of 5-7 people.
The M-13 rocket consisted of two parts: a combat and a jet powder engine. Warhead, which contained an explosive and a contact fuse, is very reminiscent of the warhead of a conventional artillery high-explosive fragmentation projectile.
The powder engine of the M-13 projectile consisted of a chamber with a powder charge, a nozzle, a special grille, stabilizers and a fuse.
The main problem faced by the developers missile systems(and not only in the USSR), the accuracy of the rocket projectiles became low. To stabilize their flight, the designers took two paths. German six-barreled mortar rockets rotated in flight due to obliquely located nozzles, and flat stabilizers were installed on Soviet RSakhs. To give the projectile more accuracy, it was necessary to increase it initial speed, for this purpose, the guides on the BM-13 received a greater length.
The German stabilization method made it possible to reduce the size of both the projectile itself and the weapon from which it was fired. However, this significantly reduced the firing range. Although, it should be said that the German six-barreled mortars were more accurate than the Katyushas.
The Soviet system was simpler and allowed shooting over considerable distances. Later, installations began to use spiral guides, which further increased accuracy.
Modifications of "Katyusha"
During the war, numerous modifications of both rocket launchers and ammunition were created. Here are just a few of them:
BM-13-SN - this installation had spiral guides that imparted a rotational movement to the projectile, which significantly increased its accuracy.
BM-8-48 - this rocket launcher used 82 mm caliber projectiles and had 48 guides.
BM-31-12 – this one rocket launcher used 310 mm caliber shells for firing.
310 mm caliber rockets were initially used for firing from the ground, only then self-propelled guns appeared.
The first systems were created on the basis of the ZiS-6 car, then they were most often installed on vehicles received under Lend-Lease. It must be said that with the beginning of Lend-Lease, only foreign cars were used to create rocket launchers.
In addition, rocket launchers (from M-8 shells) were installed on motorcycles, snowmobiles, and armored boats. The guides were installed on railway platforms, T-40, T-60, KV-1 tanks.
To understand how much mass weapons were "Katyushas", it is enough to give two figures: from 1941 to the end of 1944, Soviet industry produced 30 thousand launchers various types and 12 million shells for them.
During the war years, several types of 132 mm caliber rockets were developed. The main directions of modernization were to increase the accuracy of fire, increase the range of the projectile and its power.
Advantages and disadvantages of the BM-13 Katyusha missile launcher
The main advantage of rocket launchers was the large number of projectiles they fired in one salvo. If several MLRS were operating in one area at once, the destructive effect was increased due to the interference of shock waves.
Easy to use. “Katyushas” were distinguished by their extremely simple design; they were also uncomplicated sights this installation.
Low cost and easy to manufacture. During the war, the production of rocket launchers was established in dozens of factories. The production of ammunition for these complexes did not present any particular difficulties. Particularly eloquent is the comparison between the cost of the BM-13 and a conventional artillery gun of a similar caliber.
Installation mobility. The time of one BM-13 salvo is approximately 10 seconds; after the salvo, the vehicle left the firing line without exposing itself to enemy return fire.
However, this weapon also had disadvantages, the main one being low shooting accuracy due to the large dispersion of projectiles. This problem was partially solved by the BM-13SN, but it has not been completely resolved for modern MLRS.
Insufficient high explosive action M-13 shells. "Katyusha" was not very effective against long-term defensive fortifications and armored vehicles.
Short firing range compared to cannon artillery.
Large consumption of gunpowder in the manufacture of rockets.
There was heavy smoke during the salvo, which served as an unmasking factor.
The high center of gravity of the BM-13 installations led to frequent rollovers of the vehicle during the march.
Technical characteristics of "Katyusha"
Characteristics of the combat vehicle
Characteristics of the M-13 missile
Video about MLRS "Katyusha"
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Katyusha is unique fighting machine USSR which had no analogues in the world. The unofficial name for barrelless field rocket artillery systems (BM-8, BM-13, BM-31 and others) was developed during the Great Patriotic War of 1941-45. Such installations were actively used Armed Forces USSR during World War II. The popularity of the nickname turned out to be so great that “Katyusha” colloquial speech Post-war MLRS on automobile chassis, in particular BM-14 and BM-21 “Grad”, also often began to be called."Katyusha" BM-13-16 on the ZIS-6 chassis
The fate of the developers:
On November 2, 1937, as a result of the “war of denunciations” within the institute, the director of RNII-3 I. T. Kleymenov and the chief engineer G. E. Langemak were arrested. On January 10 and 11, 1938, respectively, they were shot at the NKVD Kommunarka training ground.Rehabilitated in 1955.
By decree of the President of the USSR M. S. Gorbachev dated June 21, 1991, I. T. Kleimenov, G. E. Langemak, V. N. Luzhin, B. S. Petropavlovsky, B. M. Slonimer and N. I. Tikhomirov were posthumously awarded the title of Hero of Socialist Labor.
BM-31-12 on the ZIS-12 chassis in the Museum on Sapun Mountain, Sevastopol
BM-13N on a Studebaker US6 chassis (with lowered exhaust protection armor plates) in Central Museum Great Patriotic War in Moscow
Origin of the name Katyusha
It is known why BM-13 installations began to be called “guards mortars” at one time. The BM-13 installations were not actually mortars, but the command sought to keep their design secret for as long as possible. When, at range shooting, soldiers and commanders asked a GAU representative to name the “true” name of the combat installation, he advised: “Name the installation as usual artillery piece. This is important for maintaining secrecy."There is no single version of why the BM-13 began to be called “Katyusha”. There are several assumptions:
1. Based on the name of Blanter’s song, which became popular before the war, based on the words of Isakovsky “Katyusha”. The version is convincing, since the battery first fired on July 14, 1941 (on the 23rd day of the war) at a concentration of fascists on Market Square city of Rudnya, Smolensk region. Shot from high steep mountain- the association with the high steep bank in the song immediately arose among the fighters. The former sergeant of the 217th Headquarters Company is finally alive. separate battalion communications 144th rifle division 20th Army Andrei Sapronov, now a military historian, who gave it this name. Red Army soldier Kashirin, having arrived with him at the battery after the shelling of Rudnya, exclaimed in surprise: “What a song!” “Katyusha,” answered Andrei Sapronov (from the memoirs of A. Sapronov in the Rossiya newspaper No. 23 of June 21-27, 2001 and in the Parliamentary Gazette No. 80 of May 5, 2005). Through the communications center of the headquarters company, the news about a miracle weapon called “Katyusha” within 24 hours became the property of the entire 20th Army, and through its command - the entire country. On July 13, 2011, the veteran and “godfather” of Katyusha turned 90 years old.
2. There is also a version that the name is associated with the “K” index on the mortar body - the installations were produced by the Kalinin plant (according to another source - by the Comintern plant). And front-line soldiers loved to give nicknames to their weapons. For example, the M-30 howitzer was nicknamed “Mother”, the ML-20 howitzer gun was nicknamed “Emelka”. Yes, and the BM-13 was at first sometimes called “Raisa Sergeevna,” thus deciphering the abbreviation RS (missile).
3. The third version suggests that this is how the girls from the Moscow Kompressor plant who worked on the assembly dubbed these cars.
Another, exotic version. The guides on which the projectiles were mounted were called ramps. The forty-two-kilogram projectile was lifted by two fighters harnessed to the straps, and the third usually helped them, pushing the projectile so that it lay exactly on the guides, and he also informed those holding that the projectile stood up, rolled, and rolled onto the guides. It was supposedly that they called it “Katyusha” (the role of those holding the projectile and the roller was constantly changing, since the crew of the BM-13, unlike barrel artillery, was not explicitly divided into loader, aimer, etc.)
4. It should also be noted that the installations were so secret that it was even forbidden to use the commands “fire”, “fire”, “volley”, instead they sounded “sing” or “play” (to start it was necessary to turn the handle of the electric coil very quickly) , which may also have been related to the song “Katyusha”. And for our infantry, a salvo of Katyusha rockets was the most pleasant music.
5. There is an assumption that initially the nickname “Katyusha” was a front-line bomber equipped with rockets - an analogue of the M-13. And the nickname jumped from an airplane to a rocket launcher through shells.
IN German troops These machines were called "Stalin's organs" because external resemblance jet plant with a pipe system of this musical instrument and the powerful, stunning roar that was produced when the missiles were launched.
During the battles for Poznan and Berlin, the M-30 and M-31 single-launch installations received the nickname “Russian Faustpatron” from the Germans, although these shells were not used as anti-tank weapon. With “dagger” (from a distance of 100-200 meters) launches of these shells, the guards broke through any walls.
BM-13-16 on the chassis of the STZ-5-NATI tractor (Novomoskovsk)
Soldiers loading Katyusha
If Hitler's oracles had looked more closely at the signs of fate, then surely July 14, 1941 would have become a landmark day for them. It was then in the area of the Orsha railway junction and the crossing of the Orshitsa River Soviet troops for the first time, BM-13 combat vehicles were used, which received in the army environment affectionate name"Katyusha". The result of two salvos at the accumulation of enemy forces was stunning for the enemy. German losses fell under the “unacceptable” heading.
Here are excerpts from a directive to the troops of Hitler's high military command: "The Russians have an automatic multi-barrel flamethrower cannon... The shot is fired by electricity... During the shot, smoke is generated..." The obvious helplessness of the wording testified to the complete ignorance of the German generals regarding the device and technical characteristics new Soviet weapons- rocket mortar.
A striking example of the effectiveness of the Guards mortar units, and their basis was “Katyushas,” can be seen in the lines from the memoirs of Marshal Zhukov: “The rockets, by their actions, caused complete devastation. I looked at the areas where shelling was carried out, and I saw complete destruction defensive structures..."
The Germans developed a special plan to seize new Soviet weapons and ammunition. Late autumn In 1941 they managed to do this. The “captured” mortar was truly “multi-barreled” and fired 16 rocket mines. His firepower was several times more effective than the mortar used by the fascist army. Hitler's command decided to create equivalent weapons.
The Germans did not immediately realize that the Soviet mortar they had captured was truly unique phenomenon, opening new page in the development of artillery, era jet systems multiple rocket launchers (MLRS).
We must pay tribute to its creators - scientists, engineers, technicians and workers of the Moscow Jet Research Institute (RNII) and related enterprises: V. Aborenkov, V. Artemyev, V. Bessonov, V. Galkovsky, I. Gvai, I. Kleimenov, A. Kostikov, G. Langemak, V. Luzhin, A. Tikhomirov, L. Schwartz, D. Shitov.
The main difference between the BM-13 and a similar German weapons was an unusually bold and unexpected concept: mortars could be relatively inaccurate rocket mines reliably hit all targets in a given square. This was achieved precisely due to the salvo nature of the fire, since every point of the area under fire necessarily fell into the affected area of one of the shells. German designers, realizing the brilliant “know-how” of Soviet engineers, decided to reproduce, if not in the form of a copy, then using the main technical ideas.
It was in principle possible to copy the Katyusha as a combat vehicle. Insurmountable difficulties began when trying to design, test and set up mass production similar missiles. It turned out that German gunpowder cannot burn in the engine chamber rocket as stable and sustainable as the Soviet ones. German-designed analogues Soviet ammunition behaved unpredictably: either sluggishly left the guides only to immediately fall to the ground, or began flying at breakneck speed and exploded in the air from an excessive increase in pressure inside the chamber. Only a few successfully reached the target.
The point turned out to be that for effective nitroglycerin powders, which were used in Katyusha shells, our chemists achieved a spread in the values of the so-called heat of explosive transformation of no more than 40 conventional units, and the smaller the spread, the more stable the gunpowder burns. Similar German gunpowder had a spread of this parameter, even in one batch, above 100 units. This led to unstable operation of the rocket engines.
The Germans did not know that ammunition for the Katyusha was the fruit of more than ten years of activity by the RNII and several large Soviet research teams, which included the best Soviet gunpowder factories, outstanding Soviet chemists A. Bakaev, D. Galperin, V. Karkina, G. Konovalova, B . Pashkov, A. Sporius, B. Fomin, F. Khritinin and many others. They not only developed the most complex formulations of rocket powders, but also found simple and effective ways their mass, continuous and cheap production.
At a time when in Soviet factories, according to ready-made drawings, the production of guards weapons was being expanded at an unprecedented pace and literally daily increased rocket launchers and shells for them, the Germans had yet to conduct research and design work by MLRS. But history has not given them time for this.
"Katyusha" - popular name rocket artillery combat vehicles BM-8 (with 82 mm shells), BM-13 (132 mm) and BM-31 (310 mm) during the Great Patriotic War. There are several versions of the origin of this name, the most likely of which is associated with the factory mark “K” of the manufacturer of the first BM-13 combat vehicles (Voronezh Comintern Plant), as well as with the popular song of the same name at that time (music by Matvey Blanter, lyrics by Mikhail Isakovsky).
(Military encyclopedia. Chairman of the Main Editorial Commission S.B. Ivanov. Military Publishing House. Moscow. in 8 volumes -2004 ISBN 5 - 203 01875 - 8)
The fate of the first separate experimental battery was cut short at the beginning of October 1941. After a baptism of fire near Orsha, the battery successfully operated in battles near Rudnya, Smolensk, Yelnya, Roslavl and Spas-Demensk. Over the course of three months of hostilities, Flerov’s battery not only inflicted considerable material damage on the Germans, it also contributed to raising the morale of our soldiers and officers, exhausted by continuous retreats.
The Nazis staged a real hunt for new weapons. But the battery did not stay long in one place - having fired a salvo, it immediately changed position. The tactical technique - salvo - change of position - was widely used by Katyusha units during the war.
At the beginning of October 1941, as part of a group of troops Western Front the battery was in the rear Nazi troops. While moving to the front line from the rear on the night of October 7, she was ambushed by the enemy near the village of Bogatyr, Smolensk region. Most of battery personnel and Ivan Flerov died after shooting all the ammunition and blowing up their combat vehicles. Only 46 soldiers managed to escape from the encirclement. The legendary battalion commander and the rest of the soldiers, who had fulfilled their duty to the end with honor, were considered “missing in action.” And only when it was possible to discover documents from one of the Wehrmacht army headquarters, which reported what actually happened on the night of October 6-7, 1941 near the Smolensk village of Bogatyr, Captain Flerov was excluded from the lists of missing persons.
For heroism, Ivan Flerov was posthumously awarded the Order of the Patriotic War, 1st degree, in 1963, and in 1995 he was awarded the title of Hero Russian Federation posthumously.
In honor of the battery’s feat, a monument was built in the city of Orsha and an obelisk near the city of Rudnya.
onThe legendary Katyusha combat vehicle celebrates its 70th anniversary - on July 14, 1941, its first salvoes were fired in the battles near the city of Orsha in the Vitebsk region. Two crushing blow The batteries produced an incredible effect on the enemy using the new guns. According to historians, it was Katyushas that played a decisive role in many battles of the Great Patriotic War and predetermined the victory of the USSR over Nazi Germany.
Ten days after the start of the Great Patriotic War, a column of military trucks under the command of Captain Ivan Flerov left Moscow to the west. 44 vehicles with ammunition and seven three-axle ZIS-6 with strange tarpaulin-covered structures behind the cabin were on their way to Orsha, a large railway junction in Belarus.
Dozens of Soviet military trains with weapons, ammunition, and fuel were stuck there at that time. On the morning of July 14, Orsha was captured by the Germans. To prevent all of the above from falling to the enemy, Soviet miracle weapons were thrown into battle, the Krasnaya Zvezda newspaper describes the events of those days.
The newest multiple launch rocket system, which was not yet called Katyusha, could fire 16 shells within 15-20 seconds with a firing range of up to eight kilometers. The Germans did not even have time to understand what happened when railroad station turned into a fiery hell.
For several more months, until an intact rocket launcher with a supply of ammunition fell into their hands, German intelligence reported that the Russians were using either an “automatic multi-barrel flamethrower cannon” or “a gun that fires rocket-like projectiles,” the Trud newspaper writes.
At the beginning of October 1941, Flerov’s battery was surrounded, and the commander blew himself up along with the main unit. Of the 160 personnel, only 46 fighters came out to join their forces. But rumors about “guards mortars,” as they were officially called in the USSR, or “Stalinist organs” (in German terminology), have already begun to spread along the fronts of the Great Patriotic War, the publication notes.
According to the recollections of Yuri Novikov, a veteran of rocket artillery units, a salvo from one of his batteries “caused such a blast wave that the Germans, having come under attack without being killed, were helpless, stunned, shell-shocked, and when (our) infantry then stood up screaming and ran , the Germans could not resist."
The creator of Katyusha was betrayed by an informer to take his place and appropriate someone else's fame
For a long time it was believed that Katyusha was created by the team of authors of the secret jet NII-3 under the leadership of Andrei Kostikov. In the 70s, however, it turned out that this was the merit of the chief engineer of the research institute, Georgy Langemak, and Kostikov “snitched” on a colleague in the NKVD and after his arrest took his place. Langemak was shot in 1937, and Kostikov received an author's certificate for the Katyusha (1940) and the star of the Hero of Socialist Labor (1941).
There were many rumors around Katyushas. For example, that the USSR, in violation of international conventions, filled their shells with white phosphorus - extremely flammable and very toxic substance. In fact, the Katyusha warheads used conventional explosives. An exceptional effect was achieved through salvo firing - the law of impulse addition came into force.
In the Red Army, Katyushas were part of the guards mortar regiments of the Reserve of the High Command (RGK), each consisting of 3 divisions, in a division - 2 batteries. Such regiments were attached directly to the fronts, were not part of the armies and, as a rule, were used en masse in the directions of the main attack.
Serve in the regiments guards mortars was considered a prestigious and relatively safe business. The command took care of the Katyushas and did not send them to the front line in vain. In the combat zone, the “guards” also did not linger in vain - if the vehicles did not leave the firing position immediately after the salvo, then a minute later the battery could easily be covered by German artillery.
Russian “Katyusha” defeated the German “fool Vanyusha”
The Germans were the first to use multiple rocket launchers in World War II. June 22, 1941 against Brest Fortress 9 batteries of the 4th mortar regiment were used special purpose. These were six-barreled 150-mm Nebelwerfer mortars (in honor of the creator Rudolf Nebel), described many times in the memoirs of Soviet veterans.
We called them all the different names: “Vanyusha”, “fool”, “skripun”, “donkey”... The last two nicknames were given because of the characteristic sharp sound of mines launching. Another signature feature of the Nebelwerfer is a thick smoke trail that unmasks the positions of German rocket launchers. Besides, German mortar It was not self-propelled - it was towed behind a truck, and at the beginning of the war - behind a horse-drawn team.
Unlike finned Katyusha rocket shells, German rockets did not have “wings” - in flight they were stabilized by rotation, like a bullet or artillery shell. An interesting fact: when the German industry in 1943 received an order from the SS troops to copy the Katyusha projectile, everything was done according to Soviet models, except for one thing - the stabilizers were placed at an angle to the longitudinal axis of the rocket, which again gave it rotation in flight.
Why the first domestic MLRS was so affectionately called is not known for certain. None of the versions proposed by historians is absolute. The most common legend is this: the name was born from Blanter’s song to the words of Isakovsky “Katyusha,” which contains lines about how she “went ashore” and “started a song.”
The new MLRS also went into position and “sang” peculiar “musical pieces”, while the Katyusha could shoot from a high and steep mountain with direct fire, so the fighters immediately formed an association with a high steep bank from a popular Soviet song before the war, according to supporters of this versions.
Katyushas became the ancestors of modern powerful multiple launch rocket systems “Grad”, “Uragan”, “Smerch”, which are currently in service with formations Ground Forces Russia. And the name of the first Soviet MLRS is still in use in many countries around the world. In particular, this is what news reports call katusha missiles for Palestinian missiles that periodically explode on Israeli territory.
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