Exactly 71 years ago, at the Comintern plant in Voronezh, the first 2 BM-13 combat mounts, better known as "Katyusha", were assembled. Such a love nickname was given to them by Soviet soldiers. Most likely, the installation received such a name in the wake of the song of the same name, popular at that time. Also, the name of the installation may have been associated with the factory brand "K" of the plant, where the first BM-13 rocket launchers were assembled. In turn, the German soldiers called these installations "Stalin's organs".
At the beginning of July 1941, the first separate experimental battery of field rocket artillery was created in the Red Army, headed by Captain Ivan Flerov. The battery was armed with 7 combat installations. For the first time, rocket launchers were used on July 14, 1941, when the battery fired a volley at the railway junction in the city of Orsha captured by Nazi troops. After that, the battery was successfully used in the battles near Rudnya, Yelnya, Smolensk, Roslavl and Spas-Demensk.
In early October 1941, while advancing to the front line, Captain Flerov's battery was ambushed by German troops near the village of Bogatyr (Smolensk region). Having shot all the ammunition and blowing up the installations, most of the fighters and commanders of the artillery battery, including Ivan Flerov, died. For his heroism, Flerov was later presented to the Order of the Patriotic War of the 1st degree, and in honor of this feat of the battery, a monument was erected in the city of Orsha, and an obelisk appeared near the city of Rudnya. Since the fall of 1941, all units of rocket artillery were assigned the rank of guards during formation.
The great efficiency from the actions of the experimental battery of Captain I. A. Flerov and the 7 more similar batteries formed after it contributed to the fact that the pace of production of multiple launch rocket systems in the USSR was decided to increase as quickly as possible. Already in the fall of 1941, 45 divisions of a three-battery composition (4 launchers in each battery) took part in the battles. Until the end of 1941, 593 BM-13 installations were produced for their armament.
As more and more military equipment arrived in the unit, the formation of separate regiments of rocket artillery began. Each such regiment consisted of 3 divisions, armed with BM-13 launchers, as well as an anti-aircraft battalion. The regiment had a trouser strength of 1,414 personnel, 36 BM-13 launchers, and 12 37-mm anti-aircraft guns. A single salvo of the regiment was 576 rockets of 132 mm caliber. At the same time, the manpower and equipment of the enemy could be destroyed on an area exceeding 100 hectares. Officially, all the regiments were called the Guards Mortar Artillery Regiments of the Supreme High Command Reserve.
Installation Description
The main structure of the complex included:
- combat vehicles BM-13, acting as launchers, the base for them was originally a ZIS-6 truck;
- main rockets: M-13, M-13UK and M-13 UK-1 132 mm caliber;
- vehicles for transporting ammunition (transport vehicle).
The Katyusha was a relatively simple weapon that consisted of rail guides and a guidance device. For aiming, lifting and turning mechanisms were used, as well as an artillery sight. In the rear of the vehicle there were 2 jacks, which provided the launcher with greater stability when firing. One machine could accommodate from 14 to 48 guides. There were 16 of them on BM-13.
The guides were originally installed on the base of the ZIS-6 three-axle chassis. This truck model was maximally unified with the ZIS-5 and even had the same external dimensions. The machine was equipped with a 73 hp engine. Behind the standard four-speed gearbox was a two-stage range-change gearbox with downshift and direct gears. Further, the torque was transmitted by 2 cardan shafts to the drive-through driving rear axles with a worm gear, which was manufactured according to the "Timken" type. In the design of the ZIS-6 truck, there were 3 cardan shafts with open joints of the Cleveland type, requiring regular lubrication.
Production vehicles ZIS-6 had a mechanical brake drive with vacuum boosters on all wheels. The hand brake was central to the transmission. Compared with the base ZIS-5, the generator, the radiator of the cooling system was strengthened on the ZIS-6, 2 batteries and 2 gas tanks were installed (for a total of 105 liters of fuel).
The truck's own weight was 4,230 kg. On good roads, the ZIS-6 could carry up to 4 tons of cargo, on bad roads - 2.5 tons. The maximum speed was 50-55 km / h, the average off-road speed was 10 km / h. The truck could overcome an elevation of 20 degrees and a ford depth of up to 0.65 m. In general, the ZIS-6 was a fairly reliable truck, but due to the low power of the overloaded engine, it had mediocre dynamics, high fuel consumption (on the highway - 40 liters per 100 km., on a country road - up to 70 liters), as well as unimportant cross-country ability.
The main shell for the installation of the BM-13 was the RS-132, later the M-13. It had a diameter of 132 mm, a length of 0.8 m and weighed 42.5 kg. The mass of its warhead reached 22 kg. Explosive mass - 4.9 kg (like 3 anti-tank grenades). The firing range is up to 8,500 m. The RS-132 projectile consisted of 2 main parts: a warhead and a jet part (a powder jet engine). The warhead of the projectile consisted of a case with a window for the fuse, the bottom of the warhead and an explosive charge with an additional detonator. The jet propellant engine, in turn, consisted of a nozzle cover, which was closed to seal the propellant charge with 2 cardboard plates, a chamber, a propellant charge, a grate, an igniter and a stabilizer.
From the outer part of both ends of the chamber, 2 centering nubs were made with guide pins screwed into them. These pins held the projectile on the guide of the installation before firing the shot, and then led the projectile along the guide. The chamber contained a powder charge of nitroglycerin powder, which consisted of 7 identical cylindrical blocks. In the nozzle part of the chamber, these checkers rested on the grate. In order for the powder charge to ignite, an igniter was inserted into the upper part of the chamber, which served as a smoky gunpowder. The gunpowder was in a special case. The stabilization of the RS-132 projectile in flight was due to the use of the tail unit.
The maximum range of the projectiles was 8,470 meters, but at the same time there was a fairly large dispersion of them. In 1943, to improve the accuracy of fire, a modernized version of the rocket was created, which was named M-13UK (improved accuracy). In order to increase the accuracy of fire, 12 tangentially located holes were made in the front centering thickening of the missile part. Through these holes, during the operation of the rocket engine, part of the powder gases escaped, which brought the projectile into rotation. At the same time, the maximum range was somewhat reduced (to 7,900 meters). However, the improvement led to a decrease in the dispersion area, and the density of fire in comparison with the M-13 projectiles increased 3 times. In addition, the M-13UK projectile had a slightly smaller nozzle diameter than the M-13. This projectile was adopted by the Red Army in April 1944. The M-13UK-1 projectile also differed from the previous projectiles by the presence of flat stabilizers, which were made from steel sheet.
The peculiarity of the Katyusha rockets was that everything that could burn within the radius of their explosion burned. This effect was achieved through the use of elongated TNT sticks, which were used to fill rockets. As a result of the detonation, these checkers scattered thousands of small red-hot fragments, which set fire to all combustible objects around the epicenter of the explosion. The more massive the use of these shells was, the greater was the high-explosive and pyrotechnic effect they produced.
