The first appearance in the Great Patriotic War of the BM-13 rocket launchers, later nicknamed "Katyushas", was a big surprise for the Germans. The troops of Hitlerite Germany that broke into the Soviet Union received many unexpected and unpleasant surprises. The first was the staunch resistance of Soviet soldiers. Nobody denies that in the first weeks of the war hundreds of thousands of our soldiers and officers were taken prisoner. But, and who will deny, for example, the stubborn resistance of the border outposts. Hitler gave only 30 minutes to destroy them - and they fought for several days, weeks, and the Brest Fortress resisted for a whole month, chaining one of the Nazi divisions to itself. A new surprise was the appearance of the T-34 and KV tanks in front of the Germans. None of the German command expected that in bast shoes Russia would be able to build such advanced scientific and technical models that the military equipment of that time was capable of. Another unpleasant surprise awaited the Nazis in mid-July 1941.
Having received a telegram from the Supreme Commander-in-Chief, ordering to test the Eres battery, General A. Eremenko was at a loss, which then grew into violent delight. The "work" of this battery was worth seeing. On July 14, 1941, at 1515 hours, she fired at the Orsha railway junction. 112 missiles, which had come off the guides a few seconds before, bore "hello" to the "friendly" enemy troops who had accumulated at the station. A fiery tornado raged on the railway tracks, which were jammed with German trains. German artillery and aviation immediately directed their fire to the area of the battery positions. However, the Katyushas were already far away.
The next day, a battery of RS (rockets) under the command of Captain Flerov made a quick rush to the city of Rudnya, where the bloodshed Soviet units were defending themselves. Knowing this, the German command decided that a small vanguard was enough to overcome their resistance. The main forces were built in marching columns with the aim of bringing them to the highway between Smolensk and Yartsevo. It was on these columns that Captain Flerov's artillerymen continued to "train". 336 heavy shells were fired at them. The Germans, after such a blow, took out their dead and wounded for two days.
Already at the end of July 1941, two more RS batteries were delivered to the Western Front, and during the month of August and the second half of September, five more batteries. And it was not only General Eremenko who felt delight, watching the "work" of the new weapon. The sudden appearance and deafening power of the barrage of fire demoralized the enemy troops. Katyusha strikes sometimes “softened” the German defenses to such an extent that the Soviet infantry did not meet any resistance during the subsequent attack. There are cases when the Nazis, distraught from what they had experienced, fled in the direction of the location of the Soviet troops. In their nightly prayer, the German soldiers prayed to God to save them from the Katyusha strikes. The action of rocket artillery was also highly appreciated by General of the Army G. K. Zhukov, the future great commander, Colonel-General of Artillery N. Voronov, and Major General of Artillery I. Kamera.
In addition to trucks, "Katyushas" were also equipped with water transport - armored boats and specialized ships to support the amphibious assault. Such installations, already designed for launching heavier, 82-mm shells, were installed on armored boats of the Volga Flotilla, which at one time played a major role during the Battle of Stalingrad.
The military industry of the Soviet Union continued to increase the production of Katyushas throughout the war. If in August 1941, according to the directive of the German command, it was required to immediately report on the appearance of rocket launchers, then in April 1945 it was already simply unthinkable to fulfill it. By the beginning of the battle for Berlin, the Red Army already possessed 40 separate divisions, 105 regiments, 40 brigades and 7 rocket artillery divisions. During the storming of the German capital, they fired from all directions. The Germans could not oppose anything to this weapon.
