Annually, on November 19, Russia celebrates a memorable day - the Day of the Missile Forces and Artillery. For the first time, the holiday, then still the Day of Artillery, was established by the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR on October 21, 1944. The date of the holiday was due to the fact that it was on November 19, 1942, after the most powerful artillery preparation, that the Red Army troops launched Operation Uranus, the code name for the Soviet counteroffensive during the Battle of Stalingrad. This operation ended with the encirclement of Paulus's army and marked a radical turning point in the course of the Great Patriotic War. Beginning in 1964, the holiday began to be celebrated as the Day of the Rocket Forces and Artillery.
The history of Russian artillery dates back to the end of the XIV century, when in 1382, during the siege of Moscow by the troops of Khan Tokhtamysh, the defenders of the city first used forged cannons. It is believed that it was then that the debut of firearms, presumably taken to Moscow from the Bulgar during the 1376 campaign, took place. Among other things, the defenders used "mattresses", special weapons that fired "shot" - pieces of iron, small stones, rubble. Since then, artillery (and in the 20th century also rocket troops) has become an integral part of the army of our country.
In an independent branch of the army, which was able to provide support for the actions of infantry and cavalry in battle, artillery stood out already in the 16th century and until the end of the 17th century was served by beepers and gunners. At the beginning of the 18th century, there was a division of artillery into field (including regimental), serf and siege artillery. Also, at the end of the century, horse artillery was finally formed, and at the beginning of the 19th century, artillery regiments and brigades began to form in Russia.
Russian missile and artillery flag
By the beginning of the 19th century, Russian artillery was at a fairly high technical level and was in no way inferior to the French, showing itself excellently in the Patriotic War of 1812. At the start of the war, the artillery of the Russian Empire was united into brigades. In total, there were 27 army and one guards artillery brigade. Each of the brigades consisted of 6 companies (at that time the main tactical unit): two battery, two light, one horse and one "pioneer" (engineering). Each company had 12 guns. Thus, one brigade had 60 guns in service. In total, in 1812, the Russian army was armed with 1,600 different guns. After the era of the Napoleonic Wars, around the 1840s, mountain artillery was also added to the artillery of the armed forces of the Russian Empire.
Artillery also said its weighty word in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905, when Russian artillerymen first fired at the enemy from closed positions, at the same time the first mortars appeared on the battlefield. By the beginning of the First World War (1914-1918), the artillery of the Russian imperial army was subdivided into field (light, horse and mountain), field heavy and heavy (siege). By the time the war began, the army had 6,848 light and 240 heavy guns. This time the situation with artillery was much worse than during the invasion of the country by Napoleon's troops. Artillery by 1914 was in the stage of formation, especially with regard to units armed with heavy guns. At the same time, throughout the war, the Russian artillery experienced shell hunger; it was not possible to fully resolve it, even taking into account the growth in production and the increase in allied supplies. At the same time, it was during the First World War that new types of artillery weapons appeared: anti-aircraft artillery, self-propelled, and somewhat later anti-tank guns.
By the beginning of World War II (1939-1945), the influence and role of artillery on the battlefield increased even more, while rocket artillery became widespread, for example, the famous guards Katyusha rocket mortars became one of the symbols of war and a real weapon of victory. Anti-tank and self-propelled artillery also became widespread. Figuratively named back in 1940 as "the god of war", the artillery fully justified its mission in the battles of the Great Patriotic War. Emphasizing the increasing importance of artillery, it can be noted that the Red Army entered the war on June 22, 1941, armed with more than 117 thousand artillery pieces and mortars, of which 59, 7 thousand barrels were deployed in the western military districts of the country. In almost all battles and operations of the Great Patriotic War, artillery made a decisive contribution to the achievement of a general victory over the enemy, being the main means of fire for destroying enemy personnel and equipment. In total, over the years of the Great Patriotic War, more than 1,800 Soviet artillerymen were awarded the honorary title of Hero of the Soviet Union for the heroism and courage shown in battles for the Motherland, more than 1.6 million artillerymen were awarded various government orders and medals.
The appearance of the holiday itself - the Day of Artillery - was largely due to the valor of the gunners during the war years and the recognition of their merits. On November 19, 1942, it was the artillery units with their massive and powerful fire strike that marked the beginning of a radical turning point in the Great Patriotic War. The barrage of fire went through the forward positions of the enemy's defense, disrupting the enemy's defense, supply and communications system. The subsequent offensive of the troops of the Southwest (Lieutenant General N. F. Vatutin), Donskoy (Lieutenant General K. K. Rokossovsky) and Stalingrad (Colonel General A. I. to the encirclement at Stalingrad of the 6th German field army of Paulus and other German units, as well as units of the allies of Nazi Germany. In total, there were about 330 thousand enemy soldiers and officers in the cauldron.
After the end of World War II, artillery continued to develop, new, more advanced and powerful weapons appeared, including atomic ammunition. The Rocket Forces were gaining more and more importance, and already in 1961, the Rocket Forces and Artillery were formed as a branch of the Armed Forces of the Soviet Union. In 1964, the holiday was officially renamed the Day of the Rocket Forces and Artillery. Since 1988, it began to be celebrated every third Sunday in November, but since 2006 they have returned to the original date - November 19.
Currently, the rocket troops and artillery of the RF Armed Forces include rocket troops and artillery of the Ground Forces, artillery of the coastal troops of the Navy and artillery of the Airborne Forces, organizationally consisting of artillery, rocket, rocket brigades, regiments and divisions of high power, separate reconnaissance artillery divisions, and also artillery of tank, motorized rifle, airborne formations and formations of the Marine Corps. Nowadays, tactical exercises with live firing and launching of combat missiles, individual firing with sergeants and officers are held on a regular basis with artillery and missile formations and military units. At the end of 2017 alone, as part of the combat training of troops in the Russian army, more than 36 thousand fire missions were carried out from closed and open firing positions, about 240 thousand artillery ammunition of various calibers was spent.
The process of equipping troops with new and modernized weapons continues. This is how the modernized 152-mm Msta-SM self-propelled guns, as well as the Tornado-G multiple launch rocket systems, which are fully integrated into the MFA ESU TZ subsystem and have the function of automatically guiding the combat vehicle to the target, are being adopted by the Russian army. The anti-tank units of the ground forces are receiving new all-weather missile systems "Chrysanthemum-S", which have excellent capabilities to defeat various types of armored vehicles. The process of rearming the missile formations of the Ground Forces from the Tochka-U missile system to the new Iskander-M operational-tactical missile system continues. Today, more than 80 percent of the missile formations of the Russian army are already armed with modern Iskander systems.
Iskander missile launch
Today, various methods and forms of training are used to improve the professional training of Russian missile and artillery officers. One of the most effective norms are competitions for commanders of artillery batteries, training in combat work on equipment as part of officer crews, competitions for the best solution of shooting and fire control problems, individual tasks and other types of training and training. The Mikhailovskaya Military Artillery Academy, located in St. Petersburg, is currently training officers for the missile forces and artillery of the Russian Ground Forces. The Mikhailovskaya Artillery Academy is a higher educational institution with a rich history and highly qualified teaching staff, which has a modern material and educational base.
According to the official website of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, since 2012, an increase in the number of contract servicemen in the positions of soldiers, sergeants and warrant officers has been observed in military units and formations of missile forces and artillery. As of 2016, the manning of military personnel under contract for military command and control bodies, formations and military units of missile forces and artillery was more than 70 percent, and the positions of sergeants and foremen were 100 percent.
November 19 Voennoye Obozreniye congratulates all active servicemen, as well as veterans related to the Rocket Forces and Artillery of the RF Armed Forces, on their professional holiday.
