Martin Antonenko
A Fixture
- Joined
- Jul 11, 2008
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Katjusha…
On July 14, 1941, the soldiers of the 17th Panzer Division of the Hitler Wehrmacht, who were still victorious, had a shocking experience.
On this day, in the central section of the Eastern Front near the town of Rudnya (Smolensk Oblast), the new salvo rocket launcher “BM 13” was used against them for the first time.
The designation of the weapon, which has been feverishly worked on since 1939, goes back to the armament and vehicle:
The fragmentation missile ROSF-132 received the designation "M-13"...
... the launch facility M-132 was called BM-13-16 (“combat machine for RS-132 with 16 launch rails”)...:
The whole thing was mounted on a "ZIS-6" truck...:
The commander of this very first unit equipped with the new weapon is Captain Iwan Andrejewitsch Flerjrow:
Fljewow has seven BM-13s and a total of 3000 missiles and a 122mm howitzer for backup. The unit is called "First Experimental Rocket Artillery Battery"...:
The main task of the battery is to test the new rocket launchers under combat conditions and to develop tactical principles of use.
On July 4, 1941, the battery reaches the area east of Orsha, where the Soviet 20th Army has taken up defensive positions against the German troops advancing on Smolensk...:
On July 14, 1941, at exactly 10 a.m., the seven launchers fired a volley of 112 rockets at the town of Rudnya, where a concentration of German troops had just been observed...:
Today there is a memorial on the site of this first mission...:
The representative of the Development Institute, military engineer 2nd rank Dmitrij Shatow...
... who had been specially assigned to the unit before the deployment, notes:
"Results are outstanding...a sea of fire. (...)Enemy great losses of men and material, panic."
The Germans see it the same way:
"It was a nightmare... not only did our soldiers panic, but those far away fled - it seemed as if hundreds of guns were firing at once," reads one report.
The new weapon shoots a maximum of 8.5 kilometers and one launcher is operated by ten soldiers.
The Soviet soldiers soon affectionately called the new weapon "Katjusha" (= Käthchen / Kathy).
It has never been clarified exactly where the name came from – it is said to go back to the song of the same name, the musical prelude to which is reminiscent of the sound that the rocket launcher makes.
According to another version, the name is intended to commemorate a partisan of the same name who is said to have killed many Germans - rather unlikely, because in the summer of 1941 there were no partisan activities worth mentioning on the Soviet side.
However:
The Germans soon had a completely different name for the "BM 13". After the eerie howl produced by the launcher's launching and approaching rockets, they call the weapon "Stalinorgel"...:
The destructive potential of the rocket launcher, which is not very accurate against point targets, but covers large areas with death and destruction, is just as feared by the Germans as the short warning time.
The weapon was continuously further developed by the Soviets during the war - at the end of the war the "BM 13" became the "BM 31"...
There are also almost countless troop improvisations, such as this "BM 31" on a US "Studebaker" truck, recorded in Berlin in 1945...:
Captain Fljerov will die near Smolensk on October 7, 1941 after his unit has been surrounded and has used up all its ammunition. Before that, it is still possible to blow up all the launchers (the next two photos were found on fallen German soldiers):
Almost the entire unit is wiped out after the handguns also run out of ammo - the rest go into captivity.
Of course there are several monuments to Fljerov - like this one in the town of Balashikha...:
Captain Flerov was posthumously awarded the Order and title of Hero of Russia on June 21, 1995.
On July 14, 1941, the soldiers of the 17th Panzer Division of the Hitler Wehrmacht, who were still victorious, had a shocking experience.
On this day, in the central section of the Eastern Front near the town of Rudnya (Smolensk Oblast), the new salvo rocket launcher “BM 13” was used against them for the first time.
The designation of the weapon, which has been feverishly worked on since 1939, goes back to the armament and vehicle:
The fragmentation missile ROSF-132 received the designation "M-13"...
... the launch facility M-132 was called BM-13-16 (“combat machine for RS-132 with 16 launch rails”)...:
The whole thing was mounted on a "ZIS-6" truck...:
The commander of this very first unit equipped with the new weapon is Captain Iwan Andrejewitsch Flerjrow:
Fljewow has seven BM-13s and a total of 3000 missiles and a 122mm howitzer for backup. The unit is called "First Experimental Rocket Artillery Battery"...:
The main task of the battery is to test the new rocket launchers under combat conditions and to develop tactical principles of use.
On July 4, 1941, the battery reaches the area east of Orsha, where the Soviet 20th Army has taken up defensive positions against the German troops advancing on Smolensk...:
On July 14, 1941, at exactly 10 a.m., the seven launchers fired a volley of 112 rockets at the town of Rudnya, where a concentration of German troops had just been observed...:
Today there is a memorial on the site of this first mission...:
The representative of the Development Institute, military engineer 2nd rank Dmitrij Shatow...
... who had been specially assigned to the unit before the deployment, notes:
"Results are outstanding...a sea of fire. (...)Enemy great losses of men and material, panic."
The Germans see it the same way:
"It was a nightmare... not only did our soldiers panic, but those far away fled - it seemed as if hundreds of guns were firing at once," reads one report.
The new weapon shoots a maximum of 8.5 kilometers and one launcher is operated by ten soldiers.
The Soviet soldiers soon affectionately called the new weapon "Katjusha" (= Käthchen / Kathy).
It has never been clarified exactly where the name came from – it is said to go back to the song of the same name, the musical prelude to which is reminiscent of the sound that the rocket launcher makes.
According to another version, the name is intended to commemorate a partisan of the same name who is said to have killed many Germans - rather unlikely, because in the summer of 1941 there were no partisan activities worth mentioning on the Soviet side.
However:
The Germans soon had a completely different name for the "BM 13". After the eerie howl produced by the launcher's launching and approaching rockets, they call the weapon "Stalinorgel"...:
The destructive potential of the rocket launcher, which is not very accurate against point targets, but covers large areas with death and destruction, is just as feared by the Germans as the short warning time.
The weapon was continuously further developed by the Soviets during the war - at the end of the war the "BM 13" became the "BM 31"...
There are also almost countless troop improvisations, such as this "BM 31" on a US "Studebaker" truck, recorded in Berlin in 1945...:
Captain Fljerov will die near Smolensk on October 7, 1941 after his unit has been surrounded and has used up all its ammunition. Before that, it is still possible to blow up all the launchers (the next two photos were found on fallen German soldiers):
Almost the entire unit is wiped out after the handguns also run out of ammo - the rest go into captivity.
Of course there are several monuments to Fljerov - like this one in the town of Balashikha...:
Captain Flerov was posthumously awarded the Order and title of Hero of Russia on June 21, 1995.
