Combat rocket launchers "Katyusha". Reference

The fate of the developers:

Origin of the name Katyusha

There is no single version of why BM-13s began to be called "Katyushas". There are several assumptions:
1. By the name of Blanter's song, which became popular before the war, to the words of Isakovsky "Katyusha". The version is convincing, since for the first time the battery fired on July 14, 1941 (on the 23rd day of the war) at the concentration of Nazis on the Market Square of the city of Rudnya, Smolensk Region. She shot from a high steep mountain - the association with a high steep bank in the song immediately arose among the fighters. Finally, the former sergeant of the headquarters company of the 217th separate communications battalion of the 144th is alive rifle division 20th Army Andrei Sapronov, now a military historian, who gave her this name. The Red Army soldier Kashirin, having arrived with him after the shelling of Rudny on the battery, exclaimed in surprise: “This is a song!” “Katyusha,” Andrey Sapronov answered (from the memoirs of A. Sapronov in the newspaper Rossiya No. 23 of June 21-27, 2001 and in Parliamentary Newspaper No. 80 of May 5, 2005). Through the communication center of the headquarters company, the news about the miracle weapon named "Katyusha" within a day became the property of the entire 20th Army, and through its command - of the whole country. On July 13, 2011, the veteran and “godfather” of Katyusha turned 90 years old.

2. There is also a version that the name is associated with the “K” index on the mortar body - the installations were produced by the Kalinin plant (according to another source, the Comintern plant). And the front-line soldiers liked to give nicknames to weapons. For example, the M-30 howitzer was nicknamed "Mother", the ML-20 howitzer gun - "Emelka". Yes, and BM-13 at first was sometimes called "Raisa Sergeevna", thus deciphering the abbreviation RS (missile).

3. The third version suggests that this is how the girls from the Moscow Kompressor plant, who worked at the assembly, dubbed these cars.
Another exotic version. The guides on which the shells were mounted were called ramps. The forty-two-kilogram projectile was lifted by two fighters harnessed to the straps, and the third usually helped them, pushing the projectile so that it exactly lay on the guides, he also informed the holders that the projectile had risen, rolled, rolled onto the guides. It was supposedly that they called him “Katyusha” (the role of those who held the projectile and rolled up was constantly changing, since the calculation of the BM-13, unlike barrel artillery, was not explicitly divided into loader, pointer, etc.)

4. It should also be noted that the installations were so classified that it was even forbidden to use the commands “plee”, “fire”, “volley”, instead of them they sounded “sing” or “play” (to start it was necessary to turn the handle of the electric coil very quickly) , which, perhaps, was also associated with the song "Katyusha". And for our infantry, the volley of Katyushas was the most pleasant music.

5. There is an assumption that the original nickname "Katyusha" had frontline bomber, equipped with rockets - an analogue of the M-13. And the nickname jumped from an airplane to a rocket launcher through shells.

AT German troops these machines were called "Stalin's organs" because of the external similarity of the rocket launcher with the pipe system of this musical instrument and the powerful staggering roar that was produced when the rockets were launched.

During the battles for Poznan and Berlin, the M-30 and M-31 single launchers received the nickname "Russian faustpatron" from the Germans, although these shells were not used as an anti-tank weapon. With "dagger" (from a distance of 100-200 meters) launches of these shells, the guardsmen broke through any walls.

If Hitler's oracles had looked more closely at the signs of fate, then July 14, 1941 would certainly have become a landmark day for them. It was then that in the area of ​​the Orsha railway junction and the crossing over the Orshitsa River Soviet troops were first applied combat vehicles BM-13, received in army environment affectionate name "Katyusha". The result of two volleys on the accumulation of enemy forces was stunning for the enemy. The losses of the Germans fell under the column "unacceptable".

Here are excerpts from the directive to the troops of the Nazi high military command: "The Russians have an automatic multi-barreled flamethrower cannon ... The shot is fired by electricity ... During the shot, smoke is generated ..." The obvious helplessness of the wording testified to the complete ignorance of the German generals regarding the device and specifications new Soviet weapons- jet mortar.

A vivid example of the effectiveness of the Guards mortar units, and their basis was the "Katyusha", can serve as a line from the memoirs of Marshal Zhukov: "Rockets by their actions produced complete devastation. I looked at the areas that were being shelled, and saw the complete destruction of defensive structures ... "

The Germans developed a special plan to capture new Soviet weapons and ammunition. In the late autumn of 1941, they managed to do this. The "captured" mortar was really "multi-barreled" and fired 16 rocket mines. His firepower several times superior in effectiveness to the mortar that was in service fascist army. Hitler's command decided to create an equivalent weapon.

The Germans did not immediately realize that the Soviet mortar they had captured was a truly unique phenomenon, opening new page in the development of artillery, the era of jet systems salvo fire(MLRS).

We must pay tribute to its creators - scientists, engineers, technicians and workers of the Moscow Reactive Research Institute (RNII) and related enterprises: V. Aborenkov, V. Artemiev, V. Bessonov, V. Galkovsky, I. Gvai, I. Kleimenov, A. Kostikov, G. Langemak, V. Luzhin, A. Tikhomirov, L. Schwartz, D. Shitov.

The main difference between BM-13 and similar German weapons was an unusually bold and unexpected concept: mortars could reliably hit all targets of a given square with relatively inaccurate rocket-propelled mines. This was achieved precisely due to the salvo nature of the fire, since each point of the shelled area necessarily fell into the affected area of ​​one of the shells. German designers, realizing the brilliant "know-how" of Soviet engineers, decided to reproduce, if not in the form of a copy, then using the main technical ideas.

Copy "Katyusha" as a combat vehicle was, in principle, possible. Insurmountable difficulties began when trying to design, develop and establish mass production of similar rockets. It turned out that German gunpowder cannot burn in the chamber of a rocket engine as stably and steadily as Soviet ones. The analogues of Soviet ammunition designed by the Germans behaved unpredictably: they either sluggishly descended from the rails to immediately fall to the ground, or they started flying at breakneck speed and exploded in the air from an excessive increase in pressure inside the chamber. Only a few units made it to the target.

The point turned out to be that for effective nitroglycerin powders, which were used in Katyusha shells, our chemists achieved a spread in the values ​​of the so-called heat of explosive transformation no higher than 40 conventional units, and the smaller the spread, the more stable the powder burns. Similar German gunpowder had a spread of this parameter even in one batch above 100 units. This led to precarious work rocket engines.

The Germans did not know that ammunition for the Katyusha was the fruit of more than a decade of activity of the RNII and several large Soviet research teams, which included the best Soviet powder factories, outstanding Soviet chemists A. Bakaev, D. Galperin, V. Karkina, G. Konovalova, B Pashkov, A. Sporius, B. Fomin, F. Khritinin and many others. They not only developed the most complex recipes for rocket powders, but also found simple and effective ways their mass, continuous and cheap production.

At a time when the production of Guards rocket launchers and projectiles for them was unfolding at an unprecedented pace at Soviet factories according to ready-made drawings and literally daily increased, the Germans only had to conduct research and design work according to MLRS. But history didn't give them time for that.

July 14, 1941 at one of the defense sectors 20 th army, in the forest to the east Orsha, flames shot up to the sky, accompanied by an unusual rumble, not at all like artillery shots. Clouds of black smoke rose from the trees, and barely noticeable arrows hissed in the sky towards the German positions.

Soon the entire area of ​​the local station, captured by the Nazis, was engulfed in furious fire. The Germans, stunned, fled in panic. It took the enemy a long time to gather their demoralized units. So for the first time in history they declared themselves "Katyusha".

The first combat use of powder rockets of a new type by the Red Army refers to the battles at Khalkhin Gol. On May 28, 1939, the Japanese troops that occupied Manchuria, in the region of the Khalkhin Gol River, went on the offensive against Mongolia, with which the USSR was bound by a mutual assistance treaty. A local, but no less bloody war began. And here in August 1939, a group of fighters I-16 under the command of a test pilot Nikolay Zvonarev first used RS-82 missiles.

The Japanese at first thought that their planes were attacked by a well-camouflaged anti-aircraft installation. Only a few days later, one of the officers who took part in the air battle reported: “Under the wings of Russian aircraft, I saw bright flashes of flame!”

"Katyusha" in combat position

Experts flew in from Tokyo, examined the wrecked planes, and agreed that only a projectile with a diameter of at least 76 mm could cause such destruction. But after all, calculations showed that an aircraft capable of withstanding the recoil of a gun of such a caliber simply could not exist! Only on experimental fighters 20 mm caliber guns were tested. To find out the secret, a real hunt was announced for the planes of Captain Zvonarev and his comrade-in-arms pilots Pimenov, Fedorov, Mikhailenko and Tkachenko. But the Japanese failed to shoot down or land at least one car.

The results of the first use of missiles launched from aircraft exceeded all expectations. In less than a month of fighting (on September 15, a truce was signed), the pilots of the Zvonarev group made 85 sorties and shot down 13 enemy planes in 14 air battles!

rockets, which proved to be so successful on the battlefield, were developed from the beginning of the 1930s at the Reactive Research Institute (RNII), which, after the repressions of 1937-1938, was led by a chemist Boris Slonimer. Directly worked on rockets Yuri Pobedonostsev, to whom now belongs the honor of being called their author.

The success of the new weapon spurred work on the first version of the multiply charged installation, which later turned into the Katyusha. In NII-3 of the People's Commissariat of Ammunition, as RNII was called before the war, this work was led by Andrey Kostikov, Modern historians speak rather disrespectfully of Kostikov. And this is true, because his denunciations about colleagues (for the same Pobedonostsev) were found in the archives.

The first version of the future "Katyusha" was charging 132 -mm shells similar to those fired at Khalkhin Gol by Captain Zvonarev. The entire installation with 24 rails was mounted on a ZIS-5 truck. Here the authorship belongs to Ivan Gvai, who had previously made the "Flute" - an installation for rockets on I-15 and I-16 fighters. The first ground tests near Moscow, carried out in early 1939, revealed many shortcomings.

Military experts who approached the assessment rocket artillery from the positions of cannon artillery, they saw a technical curiosity in these strange machines. But, despite the ridicule of the gunners, the staff of the institute continued hard work on the second version of the launcher. It was installed on a more powerful ZIS-6 truck. However, 24 rails, mounted, as in the first version, across the machine, did not ensure the stability of the machine when firing.

Field tests of the second option were carried out in the presence of the marshal Klima Voroshilova. Thanks to his favorable assessment, the development team received the support of the commanding staff. At the same time, the designer Galkovsky proposed completely new version: leave 16 rails and mount them longitudinally on the machine. In August 1939, the pilot plant was manufactured.

By that time, a group led by Leonid Schwartz designed and tested samples of new 132-mm rockets. In the autumn of 1939, another series of tests was carried out at the Leningrad artillery range. This time launchers and shells for them were approved. From that moment on, the rocket launcher became officially known as BM-13, which meant "fighting vehicle", and 13 is short for the caliber of a 132-mm rocket projectile.

The BM-13 combat vehicle was a chassis of a three-axle ZIS-6 vehicle, on which a rotary truss was installed with a package of guides and a guidance mechanism. For aiming, a swivel and lifting mechanism and an artillery sight were provided. At the rear of the combat vehicle were two jacks, which ensured its greater stability when firing. The launch of rockets was carried out by a handle electric coil connected to the battery and contacts on the rails. When the handle was turned, the contacts closed in turn, and in the next of the shells the starting squib was fired.

At the end of 1939, the main artillery control The Red Army was given an order by NII-3 for the manufacture of six BM-13s. By November 1940, this order was completed. On June 17, 1941, the vehicles were demonstrated at a review of the Red Army weapons, which took place near Moscow. BM-13 was examined by the marshal Tymoshenko, People's Commissar of Arms Ustinov, People's Commissar of Ammunition Vannikov and Chief of the General Staff Zhukov. On June 21, following the results of the review, the command decided to expand the production of missiles M-13 and installations BM-13.

On the morning of June 22, 1941, the employees of NII-3 gathered within the walls of their institute. It was clear that the new weapons would no longer undergo any military tests - now it is important to collect all the installations and send them into battle. Seven BM-13 vehicles formed the backbone of the first rocket artillery battery, the decision to form which was made on June 28, 1941. And already on the night of July 2, she left for the Western Front under her own power.

The first battery consisted of a control platoon, a sighting platoon, three fire platoons, a combat power platoon, an economic department, a fuel and lubricants department, and a sanitary unit. In addition to seven BM-13 launchers and a 122-mm howitzer of the 1930 model, which served for sighting, the battery had 44 trucks for transporting 600 M-13 rocket projectiles, 100 shells for howitzers, entrenching tools, three refueling fuels and lubricants, seven daily norms of food and other property.

Captain Ivan Andreevich Flerov - the first commander of the experimental battery "Katyusha"

The command staff of the battery was staffed mainly by students of the Dzerzhinsky Artillery Academy, who had just completed the first course of the command department. Capt. was appointed battery commander Ivan Flerov- an artillery officer who had experience behind him Soviet-Finnish war. Neither the officers nor the numbers of the combat crews of the first battery had any special training; only three classes were held during the formation period.

Developers run them missile weapons design engineer Popov and military engineer 2nd rank Shitov. Just before the end of classes, Popov pointed to a large wooden box, mounted on the footboard of a combat vehicle. “When you are sent to the front,” he said, “we will fill this box with heavy bombs and put a squib so that at the slightest threat of the enemy seizing a rocket weapon, both the installation and the shells can be blown up.” Two days after the march from Moscow, the battery became part of the 20th Army of the Western Front, which fought for Smolensk.

On the night of July 12-13, she was alerted and sent to Orsha. A lot of German echelons with troops, equipment, ammunition and fuel accumulated at the Orsha station. Flerov ordered to deploy the battery five kilometers from the station, behind the hill. The engines of the vehicles were not turned off in order to immediately leave the position after the salvo. At 15:15 on July 14, 1941, Captain Flerov gave the command to open fire.

Here is the text of the report to the German General Staff: “The Russians used a battery with an unprecedented number of guns. High-explosive incendiary shells, but of unusual action. The troops fired upon by the Russians testify: the fire raid is like a hurricane. The projectiles explode at the same time. The loss of life is significant." The morale effect of the use of rocket-propelled mortars was overwhelming. The enemy lost more than an infantry battalion at the Orsha station and great amount military equipment and weapons.

On the same day, Flerov's battery fired at the crossing over the Orshitsa River, where a lot of manpower and equipment of the Nazis had also accumulated. In the following days, the battery was used in various directions of operations of the 20th Army as a fire reserve for the chief of artillery of the army. Several successful volleys were fired at the enemy in the areas of Rudnya, Smolensk, Yartsevo, Dukhovshina. The effect exceeded all expectations.

The German command tried to get samples of the Russian miracle weapon. For the battery of Captain Flerov, as once for Zvonarev's fighters, the hunt began. On October 7, 1941, near the village of Bogatyr in the Vyazemsky district of the Smolensk region, the Germans managed to surround the battery. The enemy attacked her suddenly, on the march, firing from different sides. The forces were unequal, but the calculations fought desperately, Flerov used up the last of his ammunition and then blew up the launchers.

Leading people to a breakthrough, he died heroically. 40 people out of 180 survived, and everyone who survived after the death of the battery in October 41 was declared missing, although they fought until the very victory. Only 50 years after the first salvo of the BM-13, the field near the village of Bogatyr revealed its secret. The remains of Captain Flerov and 17 other rocket men who died with him were finally found there. In 1995, by decree of the President of the Russian Federation, Ivan Flerov was posthumously awarded the title Hero of Russia.

Flerov's battery died, but the weapon existed and continued to inflict damage on the advancing enemy. In the first days of the war, the manufacture of new installations began at the Moscow Kompressor plant. Designers also did not have to be customized. In a matter of days, they completed the development of a new combat vehicle for 82-millimeter shells - BM-8. It began to be produced in two versions: one - on the chassis of the ZIS-6 car with 6 guides, the other - on the chassis of the STZ tractor or T-40 and T-60 tanks with 24 guides.

Obvious successes at the front and in production allowed Stavka Supreme High Command already in August 1941, to decide on the formation of eight regiments of rocket artillery, which, even before participation in the battles, were given the name "Guards mortar regiments of artillery of the reserve of the Supreme High Command." This emphasized the special importance attached to the new type of weapons. The regiment consisted of three divisions, the division - of three batteries, four BM-8 or BM-13 each.

Guides were developed and manufactured for the 82 mm caliber rocket, which were later installed on the chassis of the ZIS-6 car (36 guides) and on the chassis of the T-40 and T-60 light tanks (24 guides). Special launchers for 82 mm and 132 mm caliber rockets were made for their subsequent installation on warships - torpedo boats and armored boats.

The production of BM-8 and BM-13 was continuously growing, and the designers were developing a new 300-millimeter rocket M-30 weighing 72 kg and with a firing range of 2.8 km. Among the people they received the nickname "Andryusha". They were launched from a launching machine (“frame”) made of wood. The launch was carried out with the help of a sapper blasting machine. For the first time, "andryushas" were used in Stalingrad. The new weapons were easy to make, but they took a long time to set up and aim at. In addition, the short range of M-30 rockets made them dangerous for their own calculations. Subsequently, combat experience showed that the M-30 - powerful weapon offensive, capable destroy bunkers, trenches with canopies, stone buildings and other fortifications. There was even an idea to create a mobile phone based on Katyushas. anti-aircraft missile system to destroy enemy aircraft, however, the prototype was never brought to a production standard.

About efficiency combat use"katyush" in the course of an attack on the enemy’s fortified center, an example can serve as an example of the defeat of the Tolkachev defensive center during our counteroffensive near Kursk in July 1943. Village Tolkachevo was turned by the Germans into a heavily fortified center of resistance with a large number of dugouts and bunkers in 5-12 runs, with a developed network of trenches and communications. The approaches to the village were heavily mined and covered with barbed wire. A significant part of the bunkers was destroyed by volleys of rocket artillery, the trenches, together with the enemy infantry in them, were filled up, fire system completely suppressed. Of the entire garrison of the knot, which numbered 450-500 people, only 28 survived. The Tolkachev knot was taken by our units without any resistance.

By the beginning of 1945, 38 separate divisions, 114 regiments, 11 brigades and 7 divisions armed with rocket artillery were operating on the battlefields. But there were also problems. Mass production of launchers was established quickly, however wide application"Katyusha" was held back due to lack of ammunition. There was no industrial base for the manufacture of high-quality gunpowder for projectile engines. Ordinary gunpowder in this case could not be used - special grades were required with the desired surface and configuration, time, character and combustion temperature. The deficit was limited only by the beginning of 1942, when the factories transferred from west to east began to gain the required production rates. During the entire period of the Great Patriotic War, Soviet industry produced more than ten thousand rocket artillery combat vehicles.

Origin of the name Katyusha

It is known why the BM-13 installations began to be called "guards mortars" at one time. The BM-13 installations were not actually mortars, but the command sought to keep their design secret for as long as possible. When soldiers and commanders asked the representative of the GAU to name the “genuine” name of the combat installation at the firing range, he advised: “Call the installation as an ordinary artillery piece. It's important to maintain secrecy."

There is no single version of why BM-13s began to be called "Katyushas". There are several assumptions:
1. By the name of Blanter's song, which became popular before the war, to the words of Isakovsky "Katyusha". The version is convincing, since for the first time the battery fired on July 14, 1941 (on the 23rd day of the war) at the concentration of Nazis on the Market Square of the city of Rudnya, Smolensk Region. She shot from a high steep mountain - the association with a high steep bank in the song immediately arose among the fighters. Finally, the former sergeant of the headquarters company of the 217th separate communications battalion of the 144th rifle division of the 20th army, Andrei Sapronov, is now alive, now a military historian who gave her this name. The Red Army soldier Kashirin, having arrived with him after the shelling of Rudny on the battery, exclaimed in surprise: “This is a song!” “Katyusha,” Andrey Sapronov answered (from the memoirs of A. Sapronov in the newspaper Rossiya No. 23 of June 21-27, 2001 and in Parliamentary Newspaper No. 80 of May 5, 2005). Through the communication center of the headquarters company, the news about the miracle weapon named "Katyusha" within a day became the property of the entire 20th Army, and through its command - of the whole country. On July 13, 2011, the veteran and “godfather” of Katyusha turned 90 years old.

2. There is also a version that the name is associated with the “K” index on the mortar body - the installations were produced by the Kalinin plant (according to another source, the Comintern plant). And the front-line soldiers liked to give nicknames to weapons. For example, the M-30 howitzer was nicknamed "Mother", the ML-20 howitzer gun - "Emelka". Yes, and BM-13 at first was sometimes called "Raisa Sergeevna", thus deciphering the abbreviation RS (missile).

3. The third version suggests that this is how the girls from the Moscow Kompressor plant, who worked at the assembly, dubbed these cars.
Another exotic version. The guides on which the shells were mounted were called ramps. The forty-two-kilogram projectile was lifted by two fighters harnessed to the straps, and the third usually helped them, pushing the projectile so that it exactly lay on the guides, he also informed the holders that the projectile had risen, rolled, rolled onto the guides. It was supposedly that they called him “Katyusha” (the role of those who held the projectile and rolled up was constantly changing, since the calculation of the BM-13, unlike barrel artillery, was not explicitly divided into loader, pointer, etc.)

4. It should also be noted that the installations were so secret that it was even forbidden to use the commands “plee”, “fire”, “volley”, instead of them they sounded “sing” or “play” (to start it was necessary to turn the handle of the electric coil very quickly) , which, perhaps, was also associated with the song "Katyusha". And for our infantry, the volley of Katyushas was the most pleasant music.

5. There is an assumption that initially the nickname "Katyusha" had a front-line bomber equipped with rockets - an analogue of the M-13. And the nickname jumped from an airplane to a rocket launcher through shells.

In the German troops, these machines were called "Stalin's organs" because of the external resemblance of the rocket launcher to the pipe system of this musical instrument and the powerful stunning roar that was produced when the rockets were launched.

During the battles for Poznan and Berlin, the M-30 and M-31 single launchers received the nickname "Russian faustpatron" from the Germans, although these shells were not used as an anti-tank weapon. With "dagger" (from a distance of 100-200 meters) launches of these shells, the guardsmen broke through any walls.

If Hitler's oracles had looked more closely at the signs of fate, then July 14, 1941 would certainly have become a landmark day for them. It was then that in the area of ​​​​the Orsha railway junction and the crossing of the Orshitsa River, Soviet troops for the first time used BM-13 combat vehicles, which received the affectionate name "Katyusha" in the army environment. The result of two volleys on the accumulation of enemy forces was stunning for the enemy. The losses of the Germans fell under the column "unacceptable".

Here are excerpts from the directive to the troops of the Nazi high military command: “The Russians have an automatic multi-barreled flamethrower cannon ... The shot is fired by electricity ... During the shot, smoke is generated ...” The obvious helplessness of the wording testified to the complete ignorance of the German generals regarding the device and technical characteristics of the new Soviet weapon - a rocket mortar.

A striking example of the effectiveness of the Guards mortar units, and their basis was the "Katyusha", can serve as a line from the memoirs of Marshal Zhukov: "Rockets by their actions produced complete devastation. I looked at the areas where the shelling was carried out, and saw the complete destruction of the defensive structures ... "

The Germans developed a special plan to capture new Soviet weapons and ammunition. In the late autumn of 1941, they managed to do this. The "captured" mortar was really "multi-barreled" and fired 16 rocket mines. Its firepower was several times more effective than the mortar, which was in service with the fascist army. Hitler's command decided to create an equivalent weapon.

The Germans did not immediately realize that the Soviet mortar they captured was a truly unique phenomenon, opening a new page in the development of artillery, the era of multiple launch rocket systems (MLRS).

We must pay tribute to its creators - scientists, engineers, technicians and workers of the Moscow Reactive Research Institute (RNII) and related enterprises: V. Aborenkov, V. Artemiev, V. Bessonov, V. Galkovsky, I. Gvai, I. Kleimenov, A. Kostikov, G. Langemak, V. Luzhin, A. Tikhomirov, L. Schwartz, D. Shitov.

The main difference between the BM-13 and similar German weapons was an unusually bold and unexpected concept: mortars could reliably hit all targets of a given square with relatively inaccurate rocket-propelled mines. This was achieved precisely due to the salvo nature of the fire, since each point of the shelled area necessarily fell into the affected area of ​​one of the shells. German designers, realizing the brilliant "know-how" of Soviet engineers, decided to reproduce, if not in the form of a copy, then using the main technical ideas.

It was, in principle, possible to copy the Katyusha as a combat vehicle. Insurmountable difficulties began when trying to design, develop and establish mass production of similar rockets. It turned out that German gunpowder cannot burn in the chamber of a rocket engine as stably and steadily as Soviet ones. The analogues of Soviet ammunition designed by the Germans behaved unpredictably: they either sluggishly descended from the rails to immediately fall to the ground, or they started flying at breakneck speed and exploded in the air from an excessive increase in pressure inside the chamber. Only a few units made it to the target.

The point turned out to be that for effective nitroglycerin powders, which were used in Katyusha shells, our chemists achieved a spread in the values ​​of the so-called heat of explosive transformation no higher than 40 conventional units, and the smaller the spread, the more stable the gunpowder burns. Similar German gunpowder had a spread of this parameter even in one batch above 100 units. This led to unstable operation of rocket engines.

The Germans did not know that ammunition for the Katyusha was the fruit of more than a decade of activity of the RNII and several large Soviet research teams, which included the best Soviet powder factories, outstanding Soviet chemists A. Bakaev, D. Galperin, V. Karkina, G. Konovalova, B Pashkov, A. Sporius, B. Fomin, F. Khritinin and many others. They not only developed the most complex recipes for rocket powders, but also found simple and effective ways to mass-produce them continuously and cheaply.

At a time when Soviet factories, according to ready-made drawings, were deploying at an unprecedented pace and literally increasing daily the production of guards rocket launchers and shells for them, the Germans had only yet to carry out research and design work on MLRS. But history didn't give them time for that.

The article is based on the materials of the book Nepomniachtchi N.N. "100 great secrets of World War II", M., "Veche", 2010, p. 152-157.

In the paper modeling magazine Paper Modeling at number 20, patterns of the BM-13 Katyusha multiple launch rocket system are presented.

Katyusha is the unofficial collective name for the BM-8 (82 mm) and BM-13 (132 mm) mobile rocket launchers. Such installations were actively used by the USSR during the Second World War.

Back in 1916. combat rocket on smokeless powder (a prototype of a late rocket) was invented by Ivan Platonovich Grave. In 1924 he received patent No. 122 for such a rocket charge. Further work on the creation of rockets on smokeless powder continued until the Great Patriotic War. The development team included Sergei Korolev. In March 1941, successful field tests of the BM-13 installations with the M-13 projectile were carried out, and on June 21 a decree was signed on their serial production. On the night of June 30, 1941, the first two BM-13 combat launchers were assembled at the Komintern plant in Voronezh. Initially, they were mounted on the ZIS-5 chassis, but the use of such a chassis was considered unsuccessful, and it was replaced by the ZIS-6. Subsequently, BM-13 (BM-13N) were installed only on Studebaker (Studebacker-US6). An experimental artillery battery of seven vehicles under the command of Captain I. Flerov was first used against the German army at the railway junction of the city of Orsha on July 14, 1941. The first eight regiments of 36 vehicles each were formed on August 8, 1941. An improved modification of the BM-13N was created in 1943, and by the end of World War II, about 1800 of these guns were manufactured. Range - about 5 km.

The weapon was inaccurate, but very effective in massive use. The emotional effect was also important: during the salvo, all missiles were fired almost simultaneously - in a few seconds, the territory in the target area was literally plowed up by heavy rockets. At the same time, the deafening howl that the rockets raised during the flight literally drove me crazy. Those who did not die during the shelling often could no longer resist, as they were shell-shocked, stunned, and completely psychologically depressed. The mobility of the installation made it possible to quickly change position and avoid an enemy retaliatory strike.

Each car had a box of explosives and fuses. In the event of a risk of equipment being captured by the enemy, the crew was obliged to blow it up and thereby destroy the rocket systems.

The name Katyusha comes from the marking CAT (Kostikov automatic thermite) on used rockets with incendiary filling. And since the appearance of weapons in combat units coincided with the popularity of the Katyusha song, this name stuck.

You can download the magazine Paper Modeling - 20 - BM-13 Katyusha Multiple Launch Rocket System for free, without registration and SMS.

On July 14, 1941, in the battles near Orsha, a fiery tornado of rockets fell upon the positions of the Nazis, terrifying. This was fought by an experimental battery under the command of Ivan Vasilyevich Flerov. Thus began the life of the world's first combat vehicles of field rocket artillery - "Katyushas", as our soldiers affectionately called them. The legendary "Katyushas" went through all the roads of the war, improving, gaining more and more power and accuracy. They participated in many military operations, including the capture of the Reichstag in Berlin.

Today, the Katyushas have been replaced by new combat vehicles - modern heavy rocket launchers. Powerful tractors on wheels with wide-profile tires are able to move at a speed of 75 km / h, overcome obstacles and fords.

Artillery part of modern "Katyushas" - 40 guide tubes assembled in a package and installed on a lifting and turning device. Rockets are capable of hitting the enemy at a distance of up to 20 km.

We invite you to build a model of a modern rocket artillery combat vehicle (Fig. 72). Basically, you will need thick cardboard 1 mm thick and drawing paper for work. For some details, other materials will be needed - we will talk about them separately.

First, transfer to cardboard the development of the parts shown in Figure 73. Draw those parts that will be glued to the left side of the model yourself. Recall how this is done. Copy onto the tracing paper those details near which the letter P (right) stands, then turn the tracing paper over and transfer the resulting image from it to cardboard.

Cut out all the details along the contour. Where the letter B stands, cut holes, and where the dot is, make punctures with an awl. Bend the workpieces along the fold lines, after drawing the tip of the awl along them with pressure. Then transfer to the drawing paper all the developments, except for parts 21, 50 ′ and 54 ′, the drawings of the developments of which are shown in Figures 74, 75. You need to cut and bend them in the same way as cardboard parts. Cut blanks of parts 21 from ordinary thin paper and, having smeared them with glue, screw them onto a rod with a diameter of 4 mm - you will get tubes 10 cm long.

Reamers 50' and 54' need to be cut out of the transparent film. It's better to label them like this. Put the film on the drawings of the scans, transfer the image of the parts to the film with an awl, and then cut them out.

Now prepare the parts shown in Figure 76 for assembly. Cut parts 74 and 65 from round sticks or pencils, parts 73 and 67 from spools of thread, part 46 and a cube measuring 1 X 1 X 1 cm from cork, part 72 - from tin or plexiglass, item 75 from thin rubber (for example, from an old bicycle inner tube), item 43 from a plastic or metal tube, and parts 17' and 51' from transparent film. Details 32, 48, 49, 53, 59 bend from the wire. If there is no thick wire at hand, then straighten ordinary paper clips.

So, the parts are prepared, you can start assembling. The assembly diagram of the cabin, launcher and frame is shown in Figure 72, wheels and axles - in Figure 76.

The cabin is a cardboard frame lined with paper. The frame is going like this. Glue the oil cooler 19 on the water radiator 18, and glue the frame 11 with the frame 12. Glue the radiators and frames on the base 14 in the places indicated by dashed lines.

Fasten frame 13 and radiator lining 20 on the same base, and glue part 2 on top.

Then glue parts 1, 4 and 3.

In the rear part of the cabin frame, install frame 9. Place part 6 on it and frame 12, and glue frame 7 to it.

Glue parts 8 and 10 on the back of the frame.

The final operation of the cab assembly is the skin sticker. First, prepare the parts for installation: glue the corners of the cover 61 of the hood and the roof 64, glue the parts 50 ′ and 54 ′ to the inside of the parts 50 and 54, make notches in the hood 56 and bend the valves inward. Insert the rods 59 of the radiator grill into the holes of the base 14 of the cab and part 2.

Then, in order, stick parts 50, 63, 54, 5, 64, 61, 56, 58, 60,

62. Attach parts 15, 16, 17, 55, 52, 57 to the fender liner, footboard and headlight, respectively.

Place the launcher on the platform to be glued

from parts 26 and 27. Install a barrel on the platform: it is assembled from a sheathing 30 glued into a ring and bottoms 28. The hoops are imitated with two pieces of twine glued in the places indicated in the figure. Glue the prepared tubes 21 into a bag consisting of four rows - ten tubes in each. In the places indicated on the drawing, wrap this package several times with threads and fasten with bracket 23.

Glue the cradle 22 and fix the package on it. Then, from parts 24, 24' and 25, glue the base, after attaching a 1X1X1 cm cube of cork to part 24' (with glue). Pin the base with a washer under it to the platform with a nail (the nail should be inserted from the underside of the platform), glue the cradle with a package of tubes to the base. The assembled unit must rotate around the axis. If you want the bassinet to tilt, connect it to the base with a wire rod.

Rods 74 with tightly fitted drums 73 and loose washers 72 form axes. Rings 76 are glued onto the drums of the middle and rear axles, between which a belt 75 is put on.

A large pulley is mounted on the middle axle, consisting of a drum 67 with a paper strip 38 screwed onto it and two discs 68. It can only be installed after the frame has been assembled.

The frame of the model is assembled from two spars and five transverse bars. Bend the spars 34 with the letter P and glue paper strips 38 to them from below (their length is determined locally). Insert bushings 43 into the holes of the spars and put the finished parts on the axles. Make a beam 33, four beams 35 and glue them between the side members 34. Reinforce the front part of the frame with a bumper 31 with two hooks 32, and the rear part with a part 36 with one hook. Glue parts 44 to the frame from above.

Assemble the wheels according to the scheme shown in Figure 76. It does not require special explanations. We only note that part 71 needs to be bent along the center line and give it a conical shape. It's done

so. Insert the needle of the measuring compass into the center of the cross on the scan, and push the fold line with the second needle. Now the workpiece is easy to give a conical shape. Fit the finished wheels firmly on the glue on the axle so that the ends of the latter protrude 2 mm beyond the wheel disks.

Glue the finished cabin and platform with the launcher to the frame. On the left side, attach a gas tank to the platform, glued from casing 40 and frames 39. Roll up part 41 with a tube - it imitates the neck of the tank - and glue it into the tank hole from above. Glue a cover consisting of two parts 42 onto the neck. On the right side, glue a spare parts box to the platform (item 47) and make a footboard, glue aprons 45 on the back, and on top - a base for the DP-10 electric motor (item 46). For a micromotor of another type, the base will have to be designed by yourself.

Fasten the microelectric motor to the base with adhesive tape or a cardboard clamp, put a small pulley on the shaft, connect it with a belt with a large pulley mounted on the middle axis (see Fig. 76 "Kinematic diagram"). Connect the engine to the control panel (RC), consisting of a battery and a three-position switch. Do a road test. The model must execute three commands: "Forward", "Back" and "Stop". If there are flaws, eliminate them and proceed to the final stage - finishing the model.

Finishing the model consists in the sticker of small details. Install handles 48 and 49, holders 53 of mirrors 51 in their places. Glue parts 51' and 17' of the film on the mirrors and headlights, having previously placed pieces of foil under them.

The model is assembled. Paint the undercarriage of the finished model with black ink, and the cockpit and launcher with green gouache or tempera. You can draw a Guards badge on the cabin doors. To make the model stronger and the paint not smear, cover it with colorless varnish or PVA glue.

But our toy army also needs equipment to transport foot soldiers and support the offensive with armored vehicles. We are now going to fill this gap. Today we have to learn how to make machines from matchboxes.

For work, we need several empty matchboxes, cardboard, an awl, a knife, PVA glue, scissors, a ruler, compasses and a simple pencil.

We also need to make our empty pen refills and insulated aluminum wire.

Well then, let's get to work. Take and remove the box from it. In the box itself, make side cuts according to the dimensions indicated in Figure 1a. and fold it up at a slight angle. The part that is shaded is to be cropped. Insert the box back into the box. We got the future cabin of the car.

Now take another box and cut its lid in half. Cut the removed one according to the dimensions indicated in the figure (Fig. 1b). Insert both parts of the cut box into the half of the box on both sides. Glue the resulting part to the cabin (Fig. 1c). Cut out two benches from the second half of the box (Fig. 1d) and fix them in the body with glue.

Next we will do undercarriage car. and with a compass draw on it twelve circles with a diameter of twenty millimeters (Fig. 1e). The circles should be cut out and glued together in four pieces (Fig. 1e). Paste the resulting wheels with prepared colored paper, as shown in the figure (Fig. 1g, Z.).

Now take the rods from fountain pens and make two axles of wheelsets out of them (Fig. 1k). Pierce all the wheels with an awl in the center and put them on the resulting axles. To prevent the wheels from flying off the axle, secure them with pieces of insulation from aluminum wire, pulling it gently with a knife.

Now we need to make bearings so that the wheelsets spin freely, and our homemade car can drive. We make bearings from cardboard (Fig. 1i). Bend the part along the dash-dotted lines in the form of a triangle (Fig. 1l), insert the wheels there and glue it to the bottom of the car. That's it, our matchbox car is ready to transport soldiers. You can make any number of such cars, as long as there are enough boxes.

To make an armored personnel carrier from matchboxes, you need to carefully consider Figure 2. Its device differs from a car only in that those boxes that are intended for making a hood (Fig. 2a, b) and making a tower (Fig. 2d, e) are cut obliquely and .

After you assemble the hood (Fig. 26), the body of the armored personnel carrier (Fig. 2c), as well as the turret (Fig. 2e), you need to cut out several round side and upper rectangular hatches for the turret (Fig. 2g). We will also make motor blinds (Fig. 2h).

The machine-gun barrel can be carefully rounded with a knife (Fig. 2f). Make a thickening by wrapping the base of the barrel with a thin copper wire, and glue it with a strip of colored paper. Now take the metal tip of the rod and pre-pierce a hole in the thickening of the machine gun with an awl, attach it to the tower by inserting it into the tower hole pierced with the same awl.

Figures 3 and 4 show how to make a Katyusha and a rocket launcher. The principle of their manufacture is the same as that of the machines described above. They are similar to trucks, but instead of a body they have special platforms (Fig. 3e and 4d), consisting of two parts. One part is made from the lid of the box (bottom part).

For "Katyusha" it is made rotary. It turns with the help of a round piece, which can be made from a piece or folded paper. One end of the tube is fixed at the bottom of the platform (Fig. 3f), its other end is inserted into the hole “o” of the second platform, which remains motionless (Fig. 3h).

To the inclined part of the platform (d), glue the next part (e), as shown in the figure (Fig. 3e).

We make Katyusha barrels in the amount of six pieces using a pencil, winding glued paper strips around it. Now you need to fix the trunks three pieces in a row on the part (d.) (Fig. 4)

The platform, or rather, its upper part (c) rocket launcher done a little differently. In the middle of the box, a longitudinal incision is made, which bends inward and is fixed with a clerical bracket. Then the upper honor is glued to the bottom of the site (Fig. 4d).

Glue the entire platform assembly in the back of the Katyusha. We do the same for the rocket launcher.

For a rocket launcher. Make its body as follows: wind a paper strip around a pencil (Fig. 4b) and glue its edge. Make the warhead and stabilizers as shown in the figure (Fig. 4e, f). It remains to glue them to the rocket body and fix them in the recess of the rocket platform.

All models made by us military equipment, can be painted with paints or pasted over with colored paper.

Our army has grown powerful armored vehicles, which we made with our own hands from ordinary matchboxes.