The BM-13 Katyusha rocket launcher is the same hallmark of the Red Army during World War II as the T-34 tank, Shpagin submachine gun or Il-2 attack aircraft. It is well known in history how the opposing sides know how to adopt the most successful weapons from each other. This raises the question: if the BM-13s were really that good, then why did Nazi Germany not do anything like this for their army?
“The best weapon of the Russians is artillery. I fought in many countries, but I have not seen such artillery anywhere else. Our company lost 80% of its personnel, half of which was destroyed by rocket artillery fire, its use discourages our people from everything desire to attack ", - such words were contained in the protocol of interrogation of a German prisoner of war taken in one of the battles preceding the events on Kursk Bulge. However, of course, rocket artillery was not only in the Red Army.
The history of rocket artillery in the 20th century began long before World War II. The development of such systems was carried out in Germany, and in the USSR, and in other countries. The main problem of all developments was the extremely dubious accuracy of fire. However, comprehending the experience of the First World War, engineers at first considered multiple launch rocket systems exclusively as a means of delivering chemical munitions. That poisonous clouds of gas fend off the low accuracy of the flooring of the shells. However, all sides ultimately abandoned the massive use of chemical weapons in World War II due to their danger and unpredictability.
For the Soviet Union, the widespread use of rocket artillery was largely a forced measure. The dramatic year 1941 led to the fact that the USSR lost a lot of classic cannons and, more importantly, artillery tractors, with which things were not very good before the war. It was then that interest in multiple launch rocket systems began to grow. Despite a number of shortcomings, the MLRS also had a number of advantages: the missiles for them were quite simple to manufacture, except Moreover, the system made it possible to practically simultaneously cover a whole square with fire, which could not be done by a conventional cannon artillery.
The Red Army had to literally experimentally find the best way to use the Katyusha. At first, they even tried to mount them on the fortifications of the coastline and use them as anti-ship defense. By 1942, the army and the State Defense Committee finally found out exactly how to use a virtually new type of weapon. In addition, the army was in dire need of mobile artillery that could keep up with tank formations.
With a shortage of artillery tractors, conventional artillery was not the best choice. Another thing is MLRS mounted on tractors, tanks and trucks. In addition, "Katyusha" and "Andryusha" could be produced at factories that had never been engaged in the production of artillery weapons. This allowed the Red Army to make up for the artillery deficit even faster. And despite numerous problems with the level of quality (primarily ammunition, it was pulled up to end of 1943), "Katyushas" proved to be terribly effective, especially against the lines of German fortifications and infantry formations.
And what about the MLRS in the Reich? The Germans had their own rocket artillery. Suffice it to recall the six-barreled "Nebelwerfer". However, the German counterparts of the Katyusha were not really widespread. This happened primarily because the Wehrmacht, from the very beginning of the war, was doing very well with artillery. Including heavy. And things were just as good with the artillery tractors. The Wehrmacht never faced an urgent need to look for something to replace conventional guns, and therefore much less attention was paid to the MLRS. Just what was the cost of the fleet of "German" heavy guns, which went to the Reich army as trophies after the occupation of the Czech Republic.
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The main innovators in the field of MLRS in Germany during the Second World War were the SS Troops. The largest number of rocket artillery systems were used by the formations of Lieutenant General Paul Hausser, operating in the south. The SS troops had the most representative MLRS fleet. Ironically, although German systems generally had better accuracy than Soviet Katyushas, Germans were constantly displeased with the effectiveness of their own MLRS. They considered the accuracy to be insufficient, which also left its mark on the decisions of the command about the scale of the introduction of this type of weapon into the troops.
If you want to know even more interesting things, then you should read about how Red Army soldiers managed to survive overnight on the ground in 40-degree frost.
A source: https://novate.ru/blogs/140421/58577/
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