Katyusha rocket launcher
The Katyusha (Russian: Катю́ша, IPA: [kɐˈtʲuʂə] ) is a type of rocket artillery first built and fielded by the Soviet Union in World War II. Multiple rocket launchers such as these deliver explosives to a target area more intensively than conventional artillery, but with lower accuracy and requiring a longer time to reload. They are fragile compared to artillery guns, but are cheap, easy to produce, and usable on almost any chassis. The Katyushas of World War II, the first self-propelled artillery mass-produced by the Soviet Union,[1] were usually mounted on ordinary trucks. This mobility gave the Katyusha, and other self-propelled artillery, another advantage: being able to deliver a large blow all at once, and then move before being located and attacked with counter-battery fire.
For other uses, see Katyusha.Katyusha
1941–present
Soviet Union, and others
- World War II
- First Indochina War
- Korean War
- Vietnam War
- Cambodian–Vietnamese War
- Yom Kippur War
- South African Border War
- Ogaden War
- Iran–Iraq War
- Uganda–Tanzania War
- 2006 Lebanon War
- First Libyan Civil War
- Syrian civil war
- War in Iraq (2013–2017)
- Yemeni civil war (2014–present)
- Saudi Arabian–led intervention in Yemen
- Israel–Hezbollah conflict (2023–present)
Voronezh Plant Comintern
1941
~100,000
Katyusha weapons of World War II included the BM-13 launcher, light BM-8, and heavy BM-31. Today, the nickname Katyusha is also applied to newer truck-mounted post-Soviet – in addition to non-Soviet – multiple-rocket launchers, notably the common BM-21 Grad and its derivatives.
Nickname[edit]
Initially, concerns for secrecy kept the military designation of the Katyushas from being known by the soldiers who operated them. They were called by code names such as Kostikov guns, after A. Kostikov, the head of the RNII, the Reactive Scientific Research Institute, and finally classed as Guards Mortars.[2] The name BM-13 was only allowed into secret documents in 1942, and remained classified until after the war.[3]
Because they were marked with the letter K (for Voronezh Komintern Factory),[3][4] Red Army troops adopted a nickname from Mikhail Isakovsky's popular wartime song, "Katyusha", about a girl longing for her absent beloved, who has gone away on military service.[5] Katyusha is the Russian equivalent of Katie, an endearing diminutive form of the name Katherine. Yekaterina is given the diminutive Katya, which itself is then given the affectionate diminutive Katyusha.[6]
German troops coined the nickname "Stalin's organ" (Stalinorgel), after Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, comparing the visual resemblance of the launch array to a pipe organ, and the sound of the weapon's rocket motors, a distinctive howling sound which terrified the German troops,[7] adding a psychological warfare aspect to their use. Weapons of this type are known by the same name in Denmark (Danish: Stalinorgel), Finland (Finnish: Stalinin urut), France (French: orgue de Staline), Norway (Norwegian: Stalinorgel), the Netherlands and Belgium (Dutch: Stalinorgel), Hungary (Hungarian: Sztálinorgona), Spain and other Spanish-speaking countries (Spanish: Órganos de Stalin) as well as in Sweden (Swedish: Stalinorgel).[5]
The heavy BM-31 launcher was also referred to as Andryusha (Андрюша, an affectionate diminutive of "Andrew").[8]
Recognition and honours[edit]
Participants in the creation of the Katyusha rocket launcher received official recognition only in 1991. By decree of the President of the Soviet Union Mikhail Gorbachev dated June 21, 1991, I. T. Kleymenov, G. E. Langemak, V. N. Luzhin, B. S. Petropavlovsky, B. M. Slonimer and N. I. Tikhomirov were posthumously awarded title of the Hero of Socialist Labour for their work on the creation of the Katyusha.[30][31]