, adopted in 1941, was in service until 1980, during the years of the Second World War, 30,000 pieces were manufactured. Legends about this weapon began to take shape immediately after it appeared. However, the history of the creation and use of the BM-13 guards mortar is indeed unusual, let's dilute the article a little with a photo, albeit not always on time in the text, but on the topic, that's it.

BM-13 Katyusha rocket launcher salvo fire photo, was demonstrated to Soviet leaders on June 21, 1941. And on the same day, literally a few hours before the start of the war, it was decided to urgently deploy series production missiles M-13 and launcher for them, who received official name BM-13 ( fighting machine-13).

Scheme of the rocket launcher BM-13 Katyusha

First field battery BM-13 Katyusha rocket launcher photo , sent to the front on the night of July 1-2, 1941 under the command of Captain Flerov, had seven automotive installations based on a three-axle truck ZiS-6. On July 14, the combat premiere took place in the form of shelling of the market square of the town of Rudnya. But " finest hour» missile weapons came on July 16, 1941. A volley fired by a battery in broad daylight literally wiped out the occupied Orsha railway junction, along with the echelons of the Red Army stationed there, who did not have time to evacuate (!).

BM-13 Katyusha multiple launch rocket launcher based on the ZIS-6 photo, this is a three-axle version of the ZIS-5 truck and is largely unified with it.

As a result, the enemy did not get a huge amount of weapons, fuel and ammunition. The effect of the artillery raid was such that many Germans who fell into the affected area went crazy. This was, in addition to everything else, psychological impact new weapons, as many soldiers and officers of the Wehrmacht admitted in their memoirs. I must say that the first use of rockets occurred a little earlier, in dogfights with the Japanese over the distant river Khalkhin Gol. At that time, 82-mm air-to-air missiles RS-82 developed in 1937 and 132-mm air-to-ground missiles PC-132, created a year later, were successfully tested. It was after this that the Main Artillery Directorate set before the developer of these shells, the Reactive Research Institute, the task of creating a reactive field multiple launch rocket system based on PC-132 shells. An updated tactical and technical task was issued to the institute in June 1938.

In the photo of "Katyusha" upon closer examination, you can see a lot of interesting things.

The RNII itself was created at the end of 1933 on the basis of two design groups. In Moscow, under the Central Council of Osoaviakhim, since August 1931 there was a "Group for the Study of Jet Propulsion" (GIRD), in October of the same year a similar group called the "Gas Dynamic Laboratory" (GDL) was formed in Leningrad. The initiator of the merger of two initially independent teams into a single organization was the then head of armaments of the Red Army M.N. Tukhachevsky. In his opinion, the RNII was supposed to solve the issues of rocket technology in relation to military affairs, primarily aviation and artillery. I.T. Kleymenov, and his deputy - G.E. Langemak, both are military engineers. Aviation designer S.P. Korolev was appointed head of the 5th department of the institute, which was entrusted with the development of rocket planes and cruise missiles. In accordance with the assignment received, by the summer of 1939, a 132-mm rocket projectile was developed, which later received the name M-13. Compared to its aviation counterpart, the PC-132 had a longer flight range, a greater mass and a much more powerful warhead. This was achieved by increasing the amount of rocket fuel and explosives, for which the rocket and head parts of the projectile were lengthened by 48 cm. The M-13 projectile also had better aerodynamic characteristics than the PC-132, which made it possible to obtain a higher accuracy of fire.
During their work at the institute, Kleymenov and Langemak practically completed the refinement of RS-82 and RS-132 rockets. In total, in 1933, in the Gas Dynamics Laboratory, official ground tests were carried out from the ground, ships and aircraft of nine types of rocket projectiles of various calibers designed by B.S. Petropavlovsky, G.E. Langemak and V.A. Artemyeva, II.I. Tikhomirov and Yu.A. Pobedonostsev on smokeless powder.

Missile shells M-13 combat vehicle rocket artillery BM-13 "Katyusha"

And everything would be fine if... Over time, two opposing factions formed in the RNII. It was believed that the disagreement came out over how to fuel the rocket. In fact, the roots of the conflict and subsequent tragedy should be looked for deeper. Some employees headed by A.G. The Kostikovs believed that they were being unfairly "rubbed over" by Kleimenov, Langemak, Korolev and Glushko, who had taken command posts. The method of fighting for a place under the sun was known and tested. Kostikov began to write denunciations against his colleagues in the NKVD. “The discovery of the counter-revolutionary Trotskyist sabotage and wrecking gang, their methods and tactics, insistently requires us to take a deeper look at our work, at the people who lead and work at this or that section of the Institute,” he wrote in one of his letters. - I affirm that in production a system was clearly adopted that was absolutely unsuitable, hindering development. This is also not a random fact. Give me all the materials, and I will clearly prove with the facts that someone's hand, perhaps due to inexperience, slowed down the work and introduced the state into colossal losses. Kleymenov, Langemak and Padezhip are to blame for this, first of all ... "

132-mm multiple launch rocket system BM-13 Katyusha photo of various chassis

Feeling that he would not be allowed to work at the RNII, Kleimenov, at the end of the summer of 1937, agreed with the head of TsAGI, Kharlamov, about his transfer there. However, he did not have time ... On the night of November 2, 1937, Ivan Terentyevich Kleimenov was arrested as a German spy and saboteur. At the same time, the same fate befell his deputy G.E. Langemak (German by nationality, which was an aggravating circumstance).

BM-13 Katyusha multiple launch rocket launcher on the ZiS-6 chassis, almost all monuments to the rocket launcher are based on this chassis, pay attention to the square wings, in fact the ZiS-6 had rounded wings. Separate BM-13 installations on the ZIS-6 chassis served throughout the war and reached Berlin and Prague.

Both were soon shot. Perhaps an additional (or main) role in this villainy was played by the close contacts of the arrested with Tukhachevsky. Much later, November 19, 1955, Military College Supreme Court The USSR determined: “... the verdict ... dated January 11, 1938 against Georgy Erichovich Langemak, due to newly discovered circumstances, is canceled, and the case against him on the basis of paragraph 5 of Art. 4 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of the RSFSR to be criminally terminated due to the absence of corpus delicti in his actions ... ”Almost four decades later, by the Decree of the President of the USSR of June 21, 1991, Langemaku G.E. awarded the title of Hero of Socialist Labor (posthumously). The same Decree was awarded to his colleagues - I.T. Kleymenov, V.P. Luzhin, B.S. Petropavlovsky, B.M. Slonimer and II.I. Tikhomirov. All the heroes turned out to be innocent, but you can't bring back the dead from the next world... As for Kostikov, he achieved his goal by becoming the head of the RPII. True, through his own efforts, the institute did not last long. On February 18, 1944, the State Defense Committee, in connection with the "unbearable situation that has developed with the development of jet technology in the USSR," decided: "... State Institute jet technology under the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR to liquidate and entrust the solution of this task to the People's Commissariat of the Aviation Industry.

Katyusha multiple launch rocket launcher on a Studebaker chassis photo

So, we can say that the legendary "Katyusha" was born despite many circumstances. By was born! Her rockets were launched from guides located in the back of a self-propelled multi-shot launcher. The first option was based on the chassis of the ZiS-5 truck and was designated MU-1 (mechanized installation, first sample). Conducted in the period from December 1938 to February 1939, field tests of the installation showed that it did not fully meet the requirements.

Installation of MU-1 photo, late version, the rails are located transversely, but the chassis is already in use by the ZiS-6

In particular, when firing, the vehicle began to sway on the suspension springs, which reduced the accuracy of the fire, which was already not too high. Taking into account the test results, the RPII developed a new launcher MU-2 (ZiS-6), which in September 1939 was accepted by the Main Artillery Directorate for field tests. According to their results, five such installations were ordered to the institute for conducting military tests. Another stationary installation was ordered by the Artillery Directorate of the Navy for use in the coastal defense system.

BM-13 "Katyusha" on the chassis of the tractor STZ-5-NATI

The exceptional effectiveness of the combat operations of the battery of Captain Flerov and the seven more such batteries formed after it contributed to the rapid increase in the pace of production of jet weapons. Already in the autumn of 1941, 45 divisions operated on the fronts, each of which consisted of three batteries with four launchers each. For their armament in 1941, 593 BM-13 installations were manufactured. As military equipment arrived from the factories, the formation of full-fledged rocket artillery regiments began, consisting of three divisions armed with BM-13 launchers, and an anti-aircraft division.

  • Each regiment had 1414 personnel,
  • 36 BM-13 launchers
  • twelve 37 mm anti-aircraft guns.
  • The volley of the artillery regiment was 576 shells of 132 mm caliber.
  • At the same time, the manpower and equipment of the enemy were destroyed on an area of ​​over 100 hectares. Officially, such units began to be called "guards mortar regiments of artillery of the reserve of the Supreme High Command."

The crew, having driven to the rear, reloads the BM-13 combat unit based on the Chevrolet G-7117 truck, summer 1943.

What was the basis for the exceptional combat power of the guards mortars? Each projectile was approximately equal in power to a howitzer of the same caliber, and at the same time, the installation itself could almost simultaneously fire, depending on the model, from 8 to 32 missiles. At the same time, in each division, equipped, for example, with BM-13 installations, there were five vehicles, each of which had 16 guides for launching 132-mm M-13 projectiles, each weighing 42 kg, with a flight range of 8470 m. Accordingly, only one division could fire 80 shells at the enemy.

Rocket mortar BM-8-36 based on the ZIS-6 vehicle

If the division was equipped with BM-8 installations with 32 82-mm shells, then one salvo already consisted of 160 smaller-caliber rockets. Literally an avalanche of fire and metal fell on the enemy in a few seconds. It was the highest fire density that distinguished rocket artillery from barrel artillery. During offensives, the Soviet command traditionally tried to concentrate as much artillery as possible on the spearhead of the main attack.

rocket projectile device BM-13 Katyusha rocket launcher photo : 1 - fuse retaining ring, 2 - GVMZ fuse, 3 - detonator checker, 4 - bursting charge, 5 - head part, 6 - igniter, 7 - bottom of the chamber, 8 - guide pin, 9 - rocket charge, 10 - rocket part, 11 - grate, 12 - critical section of the nozzle, 13 - nozzle, 14 - stabilizer, 15 - check remote fuse, 16 - AGDT remote fuse, 17 - igniter.
Super-massive artillery preparation, which preceded the breakthrough of the enemy front, became one of the main trump cards of the Red Army. Pi one army in that war could not provide such a density of fire. So, in 1945, during the offensive, the Soviet command pulled together up to 230-260 cannon artillery guns per kilometer of the front. In addition to them, there were, on average, 15-20 rocket artillery combat vehicles per kilometer, not counting the larger M-30 stationary rocket launchers. Traditionally, the Katyushas completed the artillery attack: rocket launchers fired a salvo when the infantry was already on the attack. The front-line soldiers said: “Well, now the“ Katyusha ”sang ...”

multiple launch rocket launcher on GMC CCKW chassis photo

By the way, no one could really answer why the gun mount received such an unofficial name, neither then, nor can it today. Some say that it was simply in honor of a song popular at that time: at the beginning of the arrow, breaking off the guides, the shells flew off on their last eight-kilometer path with a drawn-out “singing”. Others believe that the name came from home-made soldier lighters, also called "Katyushas" for some reason. The Tupolev SB bombers, sometimes armed with RSs, were called by the same name back in the Spanish War. One way or another, but after the Katyusha-mortars finished their song, the infantry entered the shelled locality or into enemy positions without encountering any resistance. There was no one to resist. The few enemy soldiers that remained alive were completely demoralized. True, over time, the enemy rebuilt. Yes, this is understandable. Otherwise, the entire Wehrmacht would have become completely demoralized after a while, would have gone crazy from the Katyushas, ​​and there would have been no one to fight the Red Army. German soldiers they learned to hide in well-fortified dugouts at the very first sounds of "Stalin's organs", as the enemy called our rockets for their unbearable howl. Then our rocketmen also reorganized. Now the Katyushas began their artillery preparation, and the guns finished it.

BM-13 Katyusha multiple launch rocket launcher on Ford WOT chassis photo

“If you involve a cannon regiment for artillery preparation, then the regiment commander will definitely say:“ I don’t have exact data, I have to zero in the guns ... ”If they started to zero in, but they usually shoot with one gun, taking the target into the“ fork ”, - this a signal to the enemy to hide. What the soldiers did in 15-20 seconds. During this time, the artillery barrel fired only one or two shells. And I’ll fire 120 missiles in 15-20 seconds in a division, which fly all at once, ”said A.F., commander of the regiment of rocket mortars. Panuev. But, as you know, there are no pluses without minuses. Mobile rocket launchers usually advanced to positions immediately before the volley and just as quickly after the volley tried to leave the area. At the same time, for obvious reasons, the Germans tried to destroy the Katyushas in the first place. Therefore, immediately after a volley of mortars, volleys, as a rule, fell on the positions of those who remained. German artillery and bombs of instantly arriving Yu-87 dive bombers. So now the rocket men had to hide. Here is what artilleryman Ivan Trofimovich Salnitsky recalled about this:

“Choosing firing positions. We are told: in such and such a place there is a firing position, you will be waiting for soldiers or set beacons. We take a firing position at night. At this time, the Katyusha division approaches. If I had time, I would immediately remove my guns from there. Because the Katyushas fired a salvo and left. And the Germans raised nine "Euickers" and fell on our battery. There was a commotion! An open place, they hid under gun carriages ... "

Destroyed rocket launcher, photo date unknown

However, the missilemen themselves also got it. As the veteran mortar Semyon Savelyevich Krista said, there was a strict secret instruction. On some forums there is a dispute that it was precisely because of the secret of fuel that the Germans tried to capture the installation. As you can see in the photo, the installation was captured and not alone.

Rocket mortar BM-13-16, on the chassis of the ZIS-6 vehicle, captured intact by German troops, photo Eastern Front, autumn 1941

Rocket mortar BM-13-16 abandoned during the retreat. Summer 1942, Eastern Front photo, as you can see from both photos, the ammunition was fired, in fact, the composition of the shells was no secret, at least for our allies, they made the bulk of the shells

Rocket mortar B-13-16 Katyusha on the ZIS-6 chassis (captured by the Germans), as seen in the photo with full ammunition

In the event of a threat of a possible capture of the rocket launcher by the enemy, the crew " BM-13 Katyusha rocket launcher photo ”was supposed to undermine the installation using a self-destruct system. What will happen to the crew itself - the compilers of the instructions did not specify ... This is how the wounded captain Ivan Andreevich Flerov committed suicide in the encirclement on October 7, 1941. On the other hand, Comrade Kristya was captured twice, caught by special teams of the Wehrmacht, who were sent to capture the Katyushas and their crews. Semyon Savelyevich, I must say, was lucky. He was able to escape from captivity twice, stunning the guards. But when he returned to his native regiment, he was silent about these exploits. And then, like many, he would have fallen out of the fire and into the frying pan ... Such adventures happened more often in the first year of the war. Then our troops stopped retreating so quickly that it was impossible to catch even a car behind the front, and the missilemen themselves, having gained the necessary combat experience, began to act more prudently.

BM-13 Katyusha rocket launcher on the chassis of the T-40 tank, by the way, the Americans also put their multiple launch rocket systems on Sherman

First, officers entered the positions, who made the corresponding calculations, which, by the way, were rather complicated, since it was necessary to take into account not only the distance to the target, the speed and direction of the wind, but even the air temperature, which also influenced the trajectory of the missiles. After all the calculations were made, the vehicles moved into position, fired several volleys (usually no more than five) and quickly rushed to the rear. The delay in this case was indeed like death - the Germans immediately covered the place from which the rocket launchers were fired with return artillery fire.
During the offensive, the tactics of using Katyushas, ​​finally worked out by 1943 and used everywhere until the end of the war, was as follows: at the very beginning of the offensive, when it was necessary to break into the enemy’s defense in depth, the artillery formed the so-called “barrage” . At the beginning of the shelling, all howitzers (often heavy self-propelled guns) and rocket launchers processed the first line of defense. Then the fire passed to the fortifications of the second line, and the attacking infantry occupied the trenches and dugouts of the first. After that, the fire was transferred to the third line, while the infantrymen, meanwhile, occupied the second.

Katyusha multiple launch rocket launcher based on Ford-Marmon photo

Most likely the same part, the photo was taken from a different angle

At the same time, the farther forward the infantry went, the less cannon artillery could support it - towed guns could not accompany it throughout the entire offensive. This task was assigned to much more mobile self-propelled guns and Katyushas. It was they, along with slippers, who followed the infantry, supporting it with fire.
Now the soldiers of the Wehrmacht were no longer up to hunting for Katyushas. And the installations themselves, which increasingly began to be based on the all-wheel drive American Studebaker US6, did not represent much of a secret. Steel rails served as missile guides during launch, their angle of inclination was manually adjusted by a simple screw gear. Some secret was only the missiles themselves, or rather, their filling. And after the volley, there weren’t any left on the installations. Attempts were made to mount launchers on the basis of tracked vehicles, but the speed of movement for rocket artillery turned out to be more important than cross-country ability. "Katyushas" were also put on armored trains and ships

BM-13 Katyusha firing photo

BM-13 Katyusha rocket launcher on the streets of Berlin photo

By the way, Kostikov was not really able to establish the production of gunpowder for equipping rockets at the RNII. Things got to the point that at one time the Americans produced rocket solid fuel for us according to our recipes (!). This was another reason for the dissolution of the institute ... And how things were with our opponents, they had their own rocket launcher - a six-barreled mortar, the Nebelwerfer.

Nebelwerfer. German rocket launcher 15 cm photo

It was used from the very beginning of the war, but the Germans did not have such mass formations of units as ours, see the article "German six-barreled mortar".
The design and combat experience gained on the Katyushas served as the basis for the creation and further improvement of the "grads", "hurricanes", "typhoons" and other multiple rocket launchers. Only one thing remained almost at the same level - the accuracy of the volley, which even today leaves much to be desired. You can’t call the jewelry work of jet systems. That is why they beat them mainly in the squares, including in the current Ukrainian war. And civilians often suffer more from this fire, like Soviet citizens who had the imprudence to be in their huts in the 41st near the Orsha station ...

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 roared from their bottoms. 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 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 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 battles for Brest fortress, noted their use 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, released 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.


Multiple Launch Rocket System BM-13 "Katyusha" -Soviet combat vehicle of rocket artillery during the Great Patriotic War, the most massive and famous Soviet vehicle of this class.
Has a modification BM-13N

Modification of the guards jet mortars of the "Katyusha" type. Index "H" - normalized. Produced since 1943. It differed in that the American Studebaker US6 trucks supplied to the USSR under Lend-Lease were used as the chassis.

Characteristics of the combat vehicle BM-13


Chassis ZiS-6
Number of guides 16
Weight in the stowed position without shells, kg 7200
Transfer time from traveling to combat position, min 2-3
[Loading time, min 5-8
Full salvo time, s 8-10

History of creation



Back in 1921, N. I. Tikhomirov and V. A. Artemyev, employees of the Gas Dynamics Laboratory, began to develop rockets for aircraft.

In 1937-1938, rockets developed by the RNII (GDL together with GIRD in October 1933 constituted the newly organized RNII) under the leadership of G. E. Langemak were adopted by the RKKVF. Rockets RS-82 (rocket caliber 82 mm) were installed on I-15, I-16, I-153 fighters, during the war - on Il-2 attack aircraft, with the development of RS-132 - on SB bombers and Il- 2.
In the summer of 1939, the RS-82 on the I-16 and I-153 were successfully used in battles with Japanese troops on the Khalkhin Gol River.
In 1939-1941, employees of the RNII I. I. Gvai, V. N. Galkovsky, A. P. Pavlenko, A. S. Popov and others created a multiply charged launcher mounted on a truck.
In March 1941, field tests of the BM-13 installations (combat vehicle with 132 mm caliber shells) were successfully carried out.

The famous "Katyusha" has left its unforgettable mark on the history of the Great Patriotic War ever since July 14, 1941 it secret weapon under the command of Captain I. A. Flerov, the station in the city of Orsha was literally wiped off the face of the earth along with the German echelons with troops and equipment on it. The first samples of rockets launched from a mobile carrier (vehicles based on truck"ZIS-5"), was tested at the Soviet ranges from the end of 1938.
On June 21, 1941, they were demonstrated to the leaders of the Soviet government, and just a few hours before the start of World War II, a decision was made to urgently deploy the mass production of rockets and a launcher, which received the official name "BM-13".

It was truly a weapon of unprecedented power - the range of the projectile reached eight and a half kilometers, and the temperature at the epicenter of the explosion was one and a half thousand degrees. The Germans repeatedly tried to capture a sample of Russian miracle technology, but the Katyusha crews strictly observed the rule - they could not fall into the hands of the enemy. In a critical case, the machines were equipped with a self-destruct mechanism. From those legendary installations comes, in fact, the entire history of Russian rocket technology. And rockets for "Katyushas" were developed by Vladimir Andreevich Artemyev.

The fate of the developers


On November 2, 1937, as a result of a “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 Kommunarka NKVD training ground.
Rehabilitated in 1955.
By decree of the President of the USSR M. S. Gorbachev dated June 21, 1991, I. T. Kleymenov, 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.

Device




The weapon is relatively simple, consisting of rail guides and their guidance device. For aiming, swivel and lifting mechanisms and an artillery sight were provided. At the rear of the car were two jacks, providing greater stability when firing. One machine could accommodate from 14 to 48 guides.
Because of the secrecy, 30 kg of explosives were installed on each car.
The crew (calculation) consisted of 5 - 7 people,
Gun commander - 1.
Gunner - 1.
Driver - 1.
Loader - 2 - 4.
The crew swore an oath to destroy the car, even at the cost of life, but not to give the car to the enemy.

The composition of the BM-13 "Katyusha" includes the following weapons:
Combat vehicle (BM) MU-2 (MU-1) ;
rocket projectiles .

Katyusha missiles




Unguided ground-to-ground rocket - the simplest rocket equipped with an engine, a warhead with a fuse and an aerodynamic stabilizer (tail). Aiming is accomplished by setting the initial launch angle, usually by means of a guide beam or tube, and sometimes by setting the engine running time.

Let's analyze the most common projectile M-13


Characteristics of the M-13 rocket

Caliber, mm 132
Span of stabilizer blades, mm 300
Length, mm 1465
Weight, kg:
fully equipped projectile 42,36
curb head 21,3
bursting charge 4,9
equipped jet engine 20,8
Projectile speed, m/s:
muzzle (when leaving the guide) 70
maximum 355
The length of the active section of the trajectory, m 125
Maximum firing range, m 8470

origin of name


It is known why the BM-13 installations began to be called " guards mortars". The BM-13 installations were not actually mortars, but the command sought to keep their design secret for as long as possible:

When the fighters and commanders asked the representative of the GAU to name the “genuine” name of the combat installation at the firing range, he advised: “Call the installation as usual artillery piece. It's important to maintain secrecy."

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There is no single version of why BM-13s began to be called "Katyushas". There are several assumptions:


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 fired for the first time on July 14, 1941 (on the 23rd day of the war) on July 14 at 15.15 on the direct order of the deputy chief of artillery Western Front General G.S. Cariofilli, Flerov’s battery fired a salvo at the Orsha railway junction. It was the first combat use"Katyusha". She shot from a high steep mountain - the association with a high steep bank in the song immediately arose among the fighters. Finally, the former sergeant of the headquarters company of the 217th separate communications battalion of the 144th rifle division of the 20th army, Andrei Sapronov, is now alive, now 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 answered (from the memoirs of A. Sapronov in the newspaper Rossiya No. 23 of June 21-27, 2001 and in Parliamentary Newspaper No. 80 of 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, 2011, the veteran and “godfather” of Katyusha turned 90 years old.

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, the Comintern plant). 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).

The third version suggests that this is how the girls from the Moscow Kompressor plant, who worked at the assembly, dubbed these cars.

Germans about Katyusha
In the German troops, these machines were called "Stalin's organs" because of resemblance rocket launcher with a pipe system of this musical instrument and a powerful stunning roar that was produced when rockets were launched.

During the battles for Poznan and Berlin, the M-30 and M-31 single launchers received the nickname "Russian faustpatron" from the Germans, although these shells were not used as an anti-tank weapon. With "dagger" (from a distance of 100-200 meters) launches of these shells, the guardsmen broke through any walls.

Foreign "analogues"


Germany

The Nebelwerfer is a German towed rocket launcher from World War II. For the characteristic sound emitted by shells, received from Soviet soldiers nickname "donkey"
Maximum range, m: 6 km

"Katyusha"- the popular name for rocket artillery combat vehicles BM-8 (with 82 mm shells), BM-13 (132 mm) and BM-31 (310 mm) during the Great Patriotic War. There are several versions of the origin of this name, the most likely of them is associated with the factory mark "K" of the manufacturer of the first combat vehicles BM-13 (Voronezh Plant named after the Comintern), 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. 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 the baptism of fire near Orsha, the battery successfully operated in battles near Rudnya, Smolensk, Yelnya, Roslavl and Spas-Demensk. During the three months of hostilities, the Flerov battery not only inflicted considerable material damage on the Germans, it also contributed to the rise fighting spirit from 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 volley, it immediately changed its position. A tactical technique - a volley - a change of position - was widely used by Katyusha units during the war.

In early October 1941, as part of the grouping of troops on the Western Front, the battery ended up in the rear of the Nazi troops. When moving to the front line from the rear on the night of October 7, she was ambushed by the enemy near the village of Bogatyr, Smolensk region. Most of the battery personnel and Ivan Flerov died, having shot all the ammunition and blowing up the combat vehicles. Only 46 soldiers managed to get out of the encirclement. The legendary battalion commander and the rest of the fighters, who fulfilled their duty with honor to the end, were considered "missing." And only when it was possible to find documents from one of the army headquarters of the Wehrmacht, 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 list 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 of the Russian Federation posthumously.

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

The unique weapon of the Great Patriotic War, popularly nicknamed "Katyusha", has long become a legend, and unusual name, which was dubbed the rocket launcher during the war years, and stuck with it. Front-line soldiers say that when shooting from formidable weapons began, Soviet citizens often started a record with the song "Katyusha" ...

The deafening howl that accompanied the flight of the rocket literally drove me crazy. Those who did not die during the shelling often could no longer resist, as they were shell-shocked, stunned, and psychologically depressed.

origin of name

Why did the terrible front-line weapon receive such an affectionate nickname "Katyusha"? And why exactly Katyusha?

There are several versions about this.

The first belongs to the veterans. Like, just before the war, the song of Matusovsky and Blanter about the girl Katyusha was very popular, and the beautiful Russian name somehow by itself stuck to the new jet installation.

The second version was put forward by military experts. Reading an article in Pravda, they speculated what kind of weapon was used near Orsha? A whole salvo! This means that the gun is automatic and multi-barrelled. The report indicated that everything was on fire in the affected area. It is clear: shells are incendiary - thermal. Fire tails?! Those are rockets. And who was then considered their "father", the experts perfectly knew: Andrey Kostikov. The polygoners called "BM-13" in their own way: "Kostikovsky automatic thermal", abbreviated - "KAT". And among the front-line soldiers who came to the training grounds, the word "kat" took root quickly. The fighters took this word to the front line, and even there it remained close to the Katyusha beloved by everyone.

Another version of the version, generated by specialists, suggests that the nickname is associated with the “K” index on the mortar body - the installations were produced by the Comintern plant ...

The third version is even more exotic and requires special explanation. On the chassis of the car, the BM-13 installations had guides, which in technical language were called slopes. A projectile was installed above and below each slope. Unlike cannon artillery, where the calculation of the gun is divided into a loader and a gunner, in rocket artillery the calculation did not have official names, but over time, the division of the soldiers serving the installation according to the functions performed was also determined. A 42-kilogram projectile for the M-13 installation was usually unloaded by several people, and then two, harnessed to straps, dragged the projectiles to the installation itself, raised them to the height of the slopes, and a third person usually helped them, pushing the projectile so that it would definitely enter into guides. Two soldiers were holding a heavy projectile, and for them at that moment the “pusher-roll-katyusha” signal that the projectile stood-rolled-rolled into the guide slopes meant the successful completion of a very important part of the work on equipping the installation for a volley. Of course, all the soldiers carried shells and each carried out hard work on their rise to the slopes. There was no specially designated person responsible for installing the projectile into the ramps. But the work itself led to the fact that at the last moment someone had to take on the role of "Katyusha" to push the projectile onto the guides, taking responsibility for the successful completion of the operation. It is clear that there were cases of shells falling to the ground, and then it had to be lifted from the ground and started all over again if the Katyusha was wrong about something.

One more thing. The installations were so classified that it was forbidden even to give the commands "plee", "fire", "volley" and the like. Instead, the commands were: "sing" and "play." Well, for the infantry, volleys of rocket launchers were the most pleasant music, which meant that today the Germans would get the first number, and there would be almost no losses among their own.

Creation of "Katyusha"

The history of the appearance of the first rockets in Rus' goes back to the fifteenth century. Pyrotechnic rockets became widespread in the late 17th and early 18th centuries, this period is associated with the activities of Peter the Great, during which the first fireworks laboratories were created. In 1680, a special "rocket plant" was organized in Moscow for the production of fireworks, lighting and signal rockets.

In 1717, a one-pound lighting rocket grenade was adopted by the Russian army, rising to a height of more than 1 kilometer. In 1810, the Russian military department instructed the Military Scientific Committee under the Main Artillery Directorate to deal with the creation of combat missiles for use in combat operations.

In 1813, the talented Russian scientist General A. D. Zasyadko created several types of combat missiles with a caliber from 2 to 4 inches. Created by another prominent representative of the Russian artillery school, General K. I. Konstantinov, 2-, 2.5- and 4-inch rockets were adopted by the Russian army, and had higher firing accuracy, better reliability and withstood longer storage periods. However, at that time combat missiles could not compete with rapidly improving artillery due to restrictions on the range of projectiles and their significant dispersion during shelling.

As a result, in January 1886, the Artillery Committee decided to stop the production of combat missiles in Russia.

Nevertheless, it was impossible to stop the development of progress in rocket science, and in the years before the First World War, attempts were made in Russia to create rockets to destroy enemy airplanes and balloons. Former vice director Putilov factory I.V. Volovsky in April 1912 submitted to the Russian War Ministry a promising project of a new type of rotating missiles and a project of two "Throwing Apparatuses" for launching missiles from an aircraft and a car. Despite a number of positive results obtained in the field of jet weapons at the beginning of the twentieth century, this project did not find application. The reason was that the level scientific knowledge in the field of rocket science during this period still remained low. Most of the inventors of solid rockets were not familiar with the theoretical works of K.E. Tsiolkovsky and other scientists in the field of rocket science. But, the main drawback of all rocket projects of the early twentieth century was the use of low-calorie and heterogeneous fuel - black smoke powder - as an energy source.

A new word in the improvement of rocket weapons was said in 1915, when the teacher of the Mikhailovsky Artillery Academy, Colonel I.P. Grave, first proposed a new solid fuel - smokeless pyroxylin powder, which provides the rocket with a large carrying capacity and flight range.

A new life-giving breath in the development of domestic rocket science has come to Soviet time. Understanding the importance and significance of rocket technology for the country's defense capability, the state created a special rocket laboratory in Moscow in 1921 to develop rockets using smokeless powder. It was headed by engineer N.I. Tikhomirov and his associate and associate V.A. Artemiev. On March 3, 1928, after many studies and experiments, tests, the first successful launch was made, designed by N.I. Tikhomirov and V.A. Artemyev, rockets with an engine charge of coarse smokeless powder. With the creation of this first rocket on smokeless powder, the foundation was laid for the development of rockets for guards mortars - for the famous Katyushas. The range of shells even then reached 5-6 kilometers, but they had large deviations from the target, and the problem of ensuring satisfactory accuracy of fire turned out to be the most difficult. Many have been tried various options, however for a long time tests did not give positive results.

In the fall of 1937, the RNII began to put into practice the idea of ​​mechanized rocket launchers. A department was created at the institute under the leadership of I. I. Gvai. The design team included A.P. Pavlenko, A.S. Popov, V.N. Galkovsky. Now it is these scientists who are considered the "fathers" of the legendary Katyusha rocket launcher. It is difficult to find out exactly who exactly came up with the idea to install a jet system on a truck. At the same time, they decided to use the Flute-type structure, which had previously been developed for aviation, as guides for rockets.

In a week, a team of authors prepared a technical design of the installation, which included twenty-four Flute-type guides. They were supposed to be arranged in two rows on a metal frame installed across the longitudinal axis of a typical ZIS-5 truck. It was intended to aim the reactive system horizontally with the help of the truck itself, and vertically - with a special manual mechanism. In the summer of 1938, in strict secrecy, the first two prototypes of a multiple launch rocket system mounted on ZIS-5 vehicles were manufactured. In December 1938, new types of installations passed military tests already at another training ground, where they were tested by the State Military Commission. The tests took place in thirty-five degrees of frost. All systems worked perfectly, and the missiles hit the calculated targets. The Commission appreciated the new kind weapons, and December 1938 can be considered the month and year of the birth of the legendary Katyushas.

On June 21, 1941, the installation was demonstrated to the leaders of the Soviet government and on the same day, just a few hours before the start of World War II, it was decided to urgently deploy mass production of M-13 rockets and a launcher, which received the official name BM-13 (combat machine 13).

Thus, a highly maneuverable, high-speed combat vehicle was created, capable of conducting single, group and salvo fire.