Of all the belligerents in World War Two, perhaps the Soviets were the only warring power that made extensive use of rocket artillery. From 1941 to 1945, three main rockets were used and these were the M-8 82mm rocket, the M-13 132mm rocket, and the M-31 300mm rocket. The smaller of the rockets was derived from the RS-82, a commonly used air-to-ground rocket. Launch rails carrying 24, 36, or 48 rockets were constructed and mounted on ZiS-6 6X6 trucks (BM-8–36), Lend-Lease Studebaker 6X6 trucks (BM-8–48), and obsolete T-60 light tanks (BM-8–24). Each M-8 rocket had a 1.1lb. explosive warhead and had a maximum range of 3.6 miles. The most widely used of the rocket launchers was the M-13 and it was fired from launch rails that supported 16 rockets. All manner of trucks were used, including Chevrolet, Ford, Studebaker, and International, and all carried the designation BM-13–16. In addition to high-explosive rockets, armor-piercing rockets were used when targeting armor formations and other types included illumination, incendiary, and signal rockets. The standard high-explosive rocket carried 10.8lbs. of explosive and had a maximum range of 5.3 miles. A special rocket, the M-13-DD, contained two rocket motors which gave the rocket a range of 7.3 miles. The limitation, however, was that the rocket could only be fired from the top set of rails which meant each launcher could only fire 8 total M-13-DD rockets. The biggest rocket (and last to be deployed), the M-31, was derived from an earlier ground launched rocket, the M-30. The launch rail could only fit 12 rockets and ZiS-6 and Studebaker trucks were fitted with the rails under the designation BM-31–12. Each rocket had 63.7lbs. of high-explosive in the warhead but the trade-off was a short range, only 2.7 miles.
Collectively, these rocket launchers were called “Katyusha” which was the name of a song about a girl who longed for her lover who had been called to the front to fight. The name itself is the Russian equivalent to the English name Katie, the diminutive form of the name Katherine. The Germans, however, had another name for these rocket launchers and that was “Stalinorgel“ or “Stalin’s Organ“ due to the howling wail of the rockets in flight. Interestingly, the heavy BM-31–12 had the nickname of “Andryusha“, which was the Russian version of the name Andrew. Typically, a battery consisted of four launcher trucks, two ammunition trucks, and two service trucks. A trained six man crew could reload within 3–4 minutes. A company consisted of three batteries (12 launchers) and three companies made up a rocket artillery regiment (36 launchers). A single battery of BM-13–24 launchers could deliver 4.35 tons of high-explosive across a 4,300,000 square foot impact zone. This blanket effect had both physical destructive power as well as psychological impact on those unfortunate enough to be underneath a “Katyusha“ barrage. To prevent counter-battery fire, the firing unit would relocate upon unleashing a salvo before firing again. All together, some 10,000 total “Katyusha“ launchers were constructed during the war.
The photograph depicts the KS-108 “Reaktivnyy Minomet“ or “Jet Mortar“ and this vehicle was a prototype rocket launcher that initially sought to extend the maximum range of the M-30 rocket. Since the M-30 was fired from ground launch rails, the range was 1.7 miles which was relatively short. The rails were essentially open frames within which the rockets sat and because of this arrangement, not only was the range low, the accuracy was also low. The KS-108 project commenced in August 1942 and the initial design utilized four tubes and the launch apparatus was designed in such a way that it could be mounted to any of the trucks then in use by the Soviet military. The KS-108 was fitted to a ZiS-6 truck for testing. For the prototype, the rails had no traverse ability outside of turning the entire truck. The tubes were able to be elevated from a minimum of 15 degrees to a maximum of 45 degrees. To stabilize the truck, a plate was fitted to the rear which was deployed once in action. The stowed position of the plate meant the bottom row of tubes was forward of the top set. To load, the screw breeches were opened, the rockets placed within the tubes, and the breeches closed. The launch control was within the cab of the truck. The intent was to utilize the gasses expelled by the rockets as they launched to create pressure in the tube which propelled the rocket at a higher velocity upon exiting the tube. The length of the tube, at 13 feet, gave the rocket a better trajectory path which improved accuracy. By September 1942, the prototype KS-108 was complete and testing began. Firing the standard M-30 rocket, the KS-108 was able to extend the range to 2.1 miles. While an improvement to the ground launched M-30, it was less than the M-13 already in service. To that end, a new rocket was designed, the M-108. The M-108 was a modified M-30 rocket and it was hoped the new ammunition would be able to reach a range of 3.1 miles but when the new rocket was ready for testing in October 1942, the results were below expectations. The last gasp for the KS-108 was in February 1943 when a new rocket, the 304mm MK-30, was designed and testing showed it could attain a range of 4 miles. Still, this was not enough to warrant continued development and the single prototype is believed to have been scrapped. Still, the work on the MK-30 led to the M-31 which was deployed in 1943 from ground frames until March 1944 when the launch rails were fitted to trucks as outlined above.
In total, the Soviets had 518 rocket artillery batteries in service during World War Two. The BM-13–24 was the only rocket artillery that continued in widespread use after the war and did so for many years. The Soviets continued to improve the “Katyusha“, replacing the BM-13 with the 140mm BM-14 in 1952 and the BM-31 was replaced with the 240mm BM-24 in 1947. The BM-14 was superseded in service in 1963 by the 122mm BM-21 which continues to see service to this day. Massed rocket artillery and regular artillery remains a key component in Soviet operational doctrine. Soviet offensive maneuvering units rely on the artillery to suppress enemy defenses in order to achieve a decisive victory.
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