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66-614: 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,

132-410: A "cylindro-conoidal" warhead and was launched in pairs from half troughs on simple metal A-frames . The original rocket design had the guide pole side-mounted on the warhead, this was improved in 1815 with a base plate with a threaded hole. They could be fired up to two miles, the range being set by the degree of elevation of the launching frame, although at any range they were fairly inaccurate and had

198-405: A blast crater approximately the size of an American 1,000 lb bomb. In effect, this made the 447mm projectile a type of surface-to-surface barrel bomb . While these latter weapons were captured at Luzon and proved effective in subsequent testing, it is not clear that they were ever used against American troops, in contrast to the more common 20 and 40 cm types, which clearly contributed to

264-409: A church musical organ and alluding to the sound of the weapon's rockets, were mounted on trucks or light tanks, while the early German Nebelwerfer ordnance pieces were mounted on a small wheeled carriage which was light enough to be moved by several men and could easily be deployed nearly anywhere, while also being towed by most vehicles. The Germans also had self-propelled rocket artillery in the form of

330-438: A crew of six. Reloading was executed in 3–4 minutes, although the standard procedure was to switch to a new position some 10 km away due to the ease with which the battery could be identified by the enemy. Three batteries were combined into a division (company), and three divisions into a separate mine-firing regiment of rocket artillery. Soviet World War II rocket systems were named according to set patterns: For example,

396-556: A pronounced psychological effect on opposing troops, who called them "Screaming Mimis", a nickname originally applied to the German Nebelwerfer tube-launched rocket mortar series in the European Theater of Operations . They were often used at night to conceal their launching sites and increase their disruptiveness and psychological effectiveness. The Japanese 20 cm rockets were launched from tubes or launching troughs, while

462-688: A special facility near the Waltham Abbey Royal Gunpowder Mills beside the River Lea in Essex . These rockets were used during the Napoleonic Wars against the city of Boulogne , and during the naval bombardment of Copenhagen , where over 25,000 rockets were launched, causing severe incendiary damage to the city. The rockets were also adapted for the purpose of flares for signalling and battlefield illumination. Henry Trengrouse utilized

528-476: A tendency for premature explosion. They were as much a psychological weapon as a physical one, and they were rarely or never used except alongside other types of artillery. Congreve designed several different warhead sizes from 3 to 24 pounds (1.4 to 10.9 kg). The 24 pounds (11 kg) type with a 15 foot (4.6 m) guide pole was the most widely used variant. Different warheads were used, including explosive, shrapnel and incendiary. They were manufactured at

594-498: A total of 554 launchers. In June 1942 heavy Guards mortar battalions were formed around the new M-30 static rocket launch frames, consisting of 96 launchers in three batteries. In July, a battalion of BM-13s was added to the establishment of a tank corps. In 1944, the BM-31 was used in motorized heavy Guards mortar battalions of 48 launchers. In 1943, Guards mortar brigades, and later divisions, were formed equipped with static launchers. By

660-475: Is also common to find auxiliary power units built into the gun carriage to provide power while the propulsion engine is offline. Traditional towed artillery can still be found in units where complexity and weight are liabilities: e.g. airmobile, amphibious and other light units. In such units, where organic transport is usually limited, any available transport can double as artillery tractors in order to reposition guns when needed. For example, engineer vehicles of

726-503: Is associated with the Kingdom of Mysore , South India . Tipu Sultan successfully established the powerful Sultanate of Mysore and introduced the first iron -cased metal - cylinder rocket. The Mysorean rockets of this period were innovative, chiefly because of the use of iron tubes that tightly packed the gunpowder propellant; this enabled higher thrust and longer range for the missile (up to 2 km range). Tipu Sultan used them against

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792-422: Is extremely effective in saturation bombardment . A battery of four BM-13 launchers could fire a salvo in 7–10 seconds that delivered 4.35 tons of high explosives over a 400,000-square-metre (4,300,000 sq ft) impact zone, making its power roughly equivalent to that of 72 conventional artillery guns. With an efficient crew, the launchers could redeploy to a new location immediately after firing , denying

858-454: 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 . 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

924-651: The Battle of Waterloo , various countries were quick to adopt the weapon and establish special rocket brigades. The British created the British Army Rocket Brigade in 1818, followed by the Austrian Army and the Russian Army . One persistent problem with the rockets was their lack of aerodynamic stability. The British engineer William Hale designed a rocket with a combination of tail fins and directed nozzles for

990-744: The Korean War by the Chinese People's Volunteer Army and Korean People's Army against the South Korean and United Nations forces . Soviet BM-13s were known to have been imported to China before the Sino-Soviet split and were operational in the People's Liberation Army . The Viet Minh deployed them against the French Far East Expeditionary Corps during the Battle of Dien Bien Phu at

1056-627: The Land Mattress , a towed rocket launcher. The United States Army built and deployed a small number of turret-mounted T34 Calliope and T40 Whizbang rocket artillery tanks (converted from M4 Sherman medium tanks) in France and Italy. In 1945, the British Army also fitted some M4 Shermans with two 60 lb RP3 rockets , the same as used on ground attack aircraft and known as " Tulip ". In the Pacific, however,

1122-481: The Morris "Quad" , Canadian Military Pattern (CMP) "Quad" and AEC Matador throughout World War II, rather than adopt a general purpose vehicle. Artillery tractors were different from "General Service" (GS) vehicles by having a compartment for the gun detachment immediately behind the cab and separated from the cargo space containing ammunition and gun stores. German forces used half-tracks as artillery tractors, such as

1188-581: The Panzerwerfer and Wurfrahmen 40 which equipped half-track armoured fighting vehicles . An oddity in the subject of rocket artillery during this time was the German " Sturmtiger ", a vehicle based on the Tiger I heavy tank chassis that was armed with a 380 mm rocket mortar . The Western Allies of World War II employed little rocket artillery. During later periods of the war, British and Canadian troops used

1254-609: The RNII , the Reactive Scientific Research Institute, and finally classed as Guards Mortars . The name BM-13 was only allowed into secret documents in 1942, and remained classified until after the war. Because they were marked with the letter K (for Voronezh Komintern Factory), 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. Katyusha

1320-457: The Sd.Kfz. 7 . Half-tracked tractors were not commonly used in this role in other nations. Compared to wheeled vehicles they had better off-road capabilities, but were slower on roads and were more prone to breakdowns. However, for Germany horses remained the most common way of towing artillery throughout the war. In modern warfare , towed artillery has given way in part to self-propelled artillery . It

1386-766: The Stalin Prize for the development of the BM-8-48. Based on the M-13, the M-30 rocket was developed in 1942. Its bulbous warhead required it to be fired from a grounded frame, called the M-30 (single frame, four round; later double frame, 8 round), instead of a launch rail mounted on a truck. In 1944 it became the basis for the BM-31-12 truck-mounted launcher. A battery of BM-13-16 launchers included four firing vehicles, two reload trucks and two technical support trucks, with each firing vehicle having

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1452-727: The US Navy made heavy use of rocket artillery on their LSM(R) transports , adding to the already intense bombardment by the guns of heavy warships to soften up Japanese-held islands before the US Marines would land. On Iwo Jima , the Marines made use of rocket artillery trucks in a similar fashion as the Soviet Katyusha, but on a smaller scale. The Japanese Imperial Army deployed the naval Type 4 20 cm (8 in) Rocket Launcher and army Type 4 40 cm (16 in) Rocket Launcher against

1518-538: The United States Marines and Army troops at Iwo Jima and Okinawa , and United States Army troops during the Battle of Luzon , as well Soviet Red Army troops during Manchuria Campaign , South Sakhalin and Kuril Island Campaign . Their deployment was limited relative to other mortar types and the projectiles on the 40 cm launcher were so large and heavy that they had to be loaded using small hand-operated cranes , but they were extremely accurate and had

1584-610: The interwar period and in World War II , especially by the Wehrmacht . This type of tractor was mostly discontinued postwar. The first artillery tractors were designed prior to the outbreak of World War I , often based on agricultural machines such as the Holt tractor . Such vehicles allowed the tactical use of heavier guns to supplement the light horse drawn field guns . "Horseless artillery" available prior to World War I weighed 8 tons, had 70 horsepower and could go 8 mph. For example, in

1650-571: The larger forces of the East India Company during the Anglo-Mysore Wars , especially during the Battle of Pollilur . Another battle where these missiles were deployed was the Battle of Sultanpet Tope , where Colonel Arthur Wellesley , later famous as the First Duke of Wellington , was almost defeated by Tipu's Diwan Purnaiah . The rockets had a demoralizing effect on the enemy due to

1716-455: The 16th century, Mughal artillery rockets began to use metal casing, which made them more weatherproof and allowed a larger amount of gunpowder, increasing their destructive power. Mughal ban iron rockets were described by European visitors, including François Bernier who witnessed the 1658 Battle of Samugarh fought between brothers Aurangzeb and Dara Shikoh . The earliest successful utilization of metal-cylinder rocket artillery

1782-519: The 37,870 American casualties sustained at Luzon. Israel fitted some of their Sherman tanks with different rocket artillery. An unconventional Sherman conversion was the turretless Kilshon ("Trident") that launched an AGM-45 Shrike anti-radiation missile . The Soviet Union continued its development of the Katyusha during the Cold War , and also exported them widely. Modern rocket artillery such as

1848-668: The BM-13 was replaced by the 140 mm BM-14 and the BM-31 was replaced by the 240 mm BM-24 . During the Cold War , the Soviet Union fielded several models of Katyusha-like MRL, notably the BM-21 Grad launchers somewhat inspired by the earlier weapon, and the larger BM-27 Uragan . Advances in artillery munitions have been applied to some Katyusha-type multiple launch rocket systems, including bomblet submunitions , remotely deployed land mines , and chemical warheads . BM-13s were used in

1914-676: The BM-8-16 was a vehicle with 16 rails for M-8 rockets while the BM-31-12 fired the M-31 rockets from 12 launch tubes. Short names such as BM-8 or BM-13 were used as well. The chassis carrying the launcher was not defined in the name e.g. BM-8-24 referred to a truck mounted launcher (ZIS-5) as well as on the T-40 tank and on the STZ-3 artillery tractor . Chassis for the launchers included: The M-8 and M-13 rocket could also be fitted with smoke warheads, although this

1980-544: The British Army it allowed the heavy guns of the Royal Garrison Artillery to be used flexibly on the battlefield. In World War II the draft horse was still the most common source of motive power in many armies. Most nations were economically and industrially unable to fully motorise their forces. One compromise was to produce general purpose vehicles which could be used in the troop transport, logistics and prime mover roles, with heavy artillery tractors to move

2046-537: The Indian Army showed interest in inducting the system into service. Artillery tractor An artillery tractor , also referred to as a gun tractor , is a specialized heavy-duty form of tractor unit used to tow artillery pieces of varying weights and calibres. It may be wheeled , tracked , or half-tracked . There are two main types of artillery tractors, depending on the type of traction: wheeled and tracked. In addition, half-track tractors were used in

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2112-611: The KV-1K, but this was a needless waste of heavy armour. Starting in 1942, they were also mounted on various British, Canadian and U.S. Lend-Lease trucks, in which case they were sometimes referred to as BM-13S. The cross-country performance of the Studebaker US6 2½-ton 6×6 truck was so good that it became the GAU's standard mounting in 1943, designated BM-13N ( normalizovanniy , 'standardized'), and more than 1,800 of this model were manufactured by

2178-575: The Soviet Gas Dynamics Laboratory (GDL), with the first test-firing of a solid fuel rocket carried out in March 1928, which flew for about 1,300 meters The rockets were used to assist take-off of aircraft and were later developed into the RS-82 and RS-132 (RS for Reaktivnyy Snaryad , 'rocket-powered shell') in the early 1930s led by Georgy Langemak , including firing rockets from aircraft and

2244-670: The US M270 Multiple Launch Rocket System is highly mobile and are used in similar fashion to other self-propelled artillery . Global Positioning and Inertial Navigation terminal guidance systems have been introduced. During the Kargil war of 1999, the Indian army pressed into service the Pinaka MBRL against Pakistani forces. Despite the system still being under development, it was still able to perform successfully, after which

2310-486: The creation of the Katyusha. Rocket artillery The use of rockets as some form of artillery dates back to medieval China where devices such as fire arrows were used (albeit mostly as a psychological weapon). Fire arrows were also used in multiple launch systems and transported via carts. Devices such as the Korean hwacha were able to fire hundreds of fire arrows simultaneously. The use of medieval rocket artillery

2376-411: The end of 1942, 57 regiments were in service—together with the smaller independent battalions, this was the equivalent of 216 batteries: 21% BM-8 light launchers, 56% BM-13, and 23% M-30 heavy launchers. By the end of the war, the equivalent of 518 batteries were in service. The success and economy of multiple rocket launchers (MRL) have led them to continue to be developed. In the years following WWII,

2442-610: The end of World War II. After World War II, BM-13s were based on Soviet-built ZIS-151 trucks. The 82 mm BM-8 was approved in August 1941, and deployed as the BM-8-36 on truck beds and BM-8-24 on T-40 and T-60 light tank chassis. Later these were also installed on GAZ-67 jeeps as the BM-8-8, and on the larger Studebaker trucks as the BM-8-48. In 1942, the team of scientists Leonid Shvarts, Moisei Komissarchik and engineer Yakov Shor received

2508-658: The end of the First Indochina War . 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

2574-427: The enemy the opportunity for counterbattery fire . Katyusha batteries were often massed in very large numbers to create a shock effect on enemy forces. The weapon's disadvantage was the long time it took to reload a launcher, in contrast to conventional artillery guns which could sustain a continuous, albeit low, rate of fire. Initial development of solid propellant rockets was carried out by Nikolai Tikhomirov at

2640-559: The exhaust. This imparted a spin to the rocket during flight, which stabilized its trajectory and greatly improved its accuracy, although it did sacrifice somewhat of the maximum range. Hale rockets were enthusiastically adopted by the United States , and during the Mexican War in 1846 a volunteer brigade of rocketeers was pivotal in the surrender of Mexican forces at the Siege of Veracruz . By

2706-540: The fact that the British had been exposed to Indian rockets since 1780 at the latest, and that a vast quantity of unused rockets and their construction equipment fell into British hands at the end of the Anglo-Mysore Wars in 1799, at least 4 years before Emmet's rockets. Congreve introduced a standardised formula for the making of gunpowder at Woolwich and introduced mechanical grinding mills to produce powder of uniform size and consistency. Machines were also employed to ensure

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2772-482: The first self-propelled artillery mass-produced by the Soviet Union, 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 . Katyusha weapons of World War II included the BM-13 launcher, light BM-8 , and heavy BM-31 . Today,

2838-565: The formation of eight special Guards mortar regiments under the direct control of the Reserve of the Supreme High Command (RVGK). Each regiment comprised three battalions of three batteries, totalling 36 BM-13 or BM-8 launchers. Independent Guards mortar battalions were also formed of 12 launchers in three batteries of four. By the end of 1941, there were eight regiments, 35 independent battalions, and two independent batteries in service,

2904-481: The ground. In June 1938, GDL's successor Reactive Scientific Research Institute (RNII) began building several prototype launchers for the modified 132 mm M-132 rockets. Firing over the sides of ZIS-5 trucks proved unstable, and V.N. Galkovskiy proposed mounting the launch rails longitudinally. In August 1939, the result was the BM-13 (BM stands for боевая машина (translit. boyevaya mashina ), 'combat vehicle' for M-13 rockets). The first large-scale testing of

2970-517: The heaviest guns. The British Army had fully mechanized prior to war. During the 1920s and 30s it had used the Vickers Medium Dragon and Light Dragon fully-tracked artillery tractors, but they had been mostly replaced with wheeled vehicles, starting with the Morris CDSW . The Royal Artillery persisted with specialist artillery tractors – known as "Field Artillery Tractors" (FAT) – such as

3036-450: The heavy equipment to build conventional artillery gun barrels. By the end of 1942, 3,237 Katyusha launchers of all types had been built, and by the end of the war total production reached about 10,000. The truck-mounted Katyushas were installed on ZIS-6 6×4 trucks, as well as the two-axle ZIS-5 and ZIS-5V . In 1941, a small number of BM-13 launchers were mounted on STZ-5 artillery tractors. A few were also tried on KV tank chassis as

3102-409: The larger rockets were launched from steel ramps reinforced with wooden monopods . The Japanese also deployed a limited number of 447mm rocket launchers, termed 45 cm Rocket Mortars by United States personnel who test-fired them at the close of the war. Their projectiles consisted of a 1,500 lb cylinder filled with propellant and ballistite sticks detonated by black powder , which produced

3168-563: The late nineteenth century, due to improvements in the power and range of conventional artillery , the use of military rockets declined; they were finally used on a small scale by both sides during the American Civil War . Modern rocket artillery was first employed during World War II , in the form of the German Nebelwerfer family of rocket ordnance designs, and Soviet Katyusha -series. The Soviet Katyushas, nicknamed by German troops Stalin's Organ because of their visual resemblance to

3234-468: The marketplace, causing massive German Army casualties and panicked retreat from the town. Following the success, the Red Army organized new Guards mortar batteries for the support of infantry divisions. A battery's complement was standardized at four launchers. They remained under NKVD control until German Nebelwerfer rocket launchers became common later in the war. On August 8, 1941, Stalin ordered

3300-458: 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. 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

3366-713: The noise and bursting light. The rockets could be of various sizes but usually consisted of a tube of soft hammered iron about 8 inches (20 cm) long and 1.5 to 3 inches (3.8 to 7.6 cm) in diameter, closed at one end and strapped to a shaft of bamboo about 4 ft (1 m) long. The iron tube acted as a combustion chamber and contained well-packed black powder propellant. A rocket carrying about one pound (~500 gm) of powder could travel almost 1,000 yards (~900 m). According to Stephen Oliver Fought and John F. Guilmartin, Jr. in Encyclopædia Britannica (2008): Hyder Ali, prince of Mysore, developed war rockets with an important change:

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3432-476: The packing of the powder was perfectly uniform. His rockets were more elongated, had a much larger payload, and were mounted on sticks; this allowed them to be launched from the sea at a greater range. He also introduced shot into the payload, which added shrapnel damage to the incendiary capability of the rocket. By 1805 he was able to introduce a comprehensive weapons system to the British Army . The rocket had

3498-507: The rocket in his life-saving apparatus, in which the rocket was launched at a shipwreck with an attached line to help rescue the victims. The Congreve rockets are also famous for inspiring the lawyer Francis Scott Key to pen the words the "rockets' red glare" in what became the US National Anthem during the War of 1812 . After the rockets were successfully used during Napoleon's defeat at

3564-412: The rocket launchers took place at the end of 1938, when 233 rounds of various types were used. A salvo of rockets could completely straddle a target at a range of 5,500 metres (3.4 mi). But the artillery branch was not fond of the Katyusha, because it took up to 50 minutes to load and fire 24 rounds, while a conventional howitzer could fire 95 to 150 rounds in the same time. Testing with various rockets

3630-500: The rockets than from the shells or any other weapon used by the enemy". "In at least one instance", an eyewitness told Congreve, "a single rocket had killed three men and badly wounded others". It has been suggested that Congreve may have adapted iron -cased gunpowder rockets for use by the British military from prototypes created by the Irish nationalist Robert Emmet during Emmet's Rebellion in 1803. But this seems far less likely given

3696-402: The use of metal cylinders to contain the combustion powder. Although the hammered soft iron he used was crude, the bursting strength of the container of black powder was much higher than the earlier paper construction. Thus a greater internal pressure was possible, with a resultant greater thrust of the propulsive jet. The rocket body was lashed with leather thongs to a long bamboo stick. The range

3762-551: The use of rocket weapons, reportedly increasing the number of rocket troops from 1,200 to a corps of 5,000. In battles at Seringapatam in 1792 and 1799 these rockets were used with minimal effect against the British. The Indian Tipu Sultan 's rocket experiences, including Munro's book of 1789, eventually led to the Royal Arsenal beginning a military rocket R&D program in 1801. Several rocket cases were collected from Mysore and sent to Britain for analysis. The development

3828-776: The weapon's rocket motors, a distinctive howling sound which terrified the German troops, 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 ). The heavy BM-31 launcher

3894-516: Was also referred to as Andryusha ( Андрюша , an affectionate diminutive of "Andrew"). Katyusha rocket launchers, which were built in Voronezh , were mounted on many platforms during World War II, including on trucks, artillery tractors , tanks, and armoured trains , as well as on naval and riverine vessels as assault support weapons. Soviet engineers also mounted single Katyusha rockets on lengths of railway track to serve in urban combat. The design

3960-509: Was chiefly the work of Col. (later Sir) William Congreve , son of the Comptroller of the Royal Arsenal , Woolwich , London, who set on a vigorous research and development programme at the Arsenal's laboratory; after development work was complete, the rockets were manufactured in quantity further north, near Waltham Abbey, Essex . He was told that "the British at Seringapatam had suffered more from

4026-437: Was conducted through 1940, and the BM-13-16 with launch rails for sixteen rockets was authorized for production. Only forty launchers were built before Germany invaded the Soviet Union in June 1941. After their success in the first month of the war, mass production was ordered and the development of other models proceeded. The Katyusha was inexpensive and could be manufactured in light industrial installations which did not have

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4092-411: Was not common. The Axis powers had captured Katyushas during the war. Germany considered producing a local copy, but instead created the 8 cm Raketen-Vielfachwerfer , which was based on the Katyusha. Romania had started developing its Mareșal tank destroyer in late 1942. One of the first experimental models was equipped with a Katyusha rocket launcher and tested in the summer of 1943. The project

4158-422: Was not continued. The multiple rocket launchers were top secret at the beginning of World War II and a special unit of NKVD troops was raised to operate them. On July 14, 1941, an experimental artillery battery of seven launchers was first used in battle at Rudnya , Smolensk Oblast under the command of Captain Ivan Flyorov , destroying a concentration of German troops with tanks, armored vehicles and trucks in

4224-411: Was perhaps up to three-quarters of a mile (more than a kilometre). Although individually these rockets were not accurate, dispersion error became less important when large numbers were fired rapidly in mass attacks. They were particularly effective against cavalry and were hurled into the air, after lighting, or skimmed along the hard dry ground. Hyder Ali's son, Tipu Sultan, continued to develop and expand

4290-416: Was picked up by the invading Mongols and spread to the Ottoman Turks who in turn used them on the European battlefield. The use of war-rockets is well documented in Medieval Europe. In 1408 Duke John the Fearless of Burgundy used 300 incendiary rockets in the Battle of Othée . The city dwellers coped with this tactic by covering their roofs with dirt. In the Mughal Empire under Akbar 's reign during

4356-416: Was relatively simple, consisting of racks of parallel rails on which rockets were mounted, with a folding frame to raise the rails to launch position. Each truck had 14 to 48 launchers. The M-13 rocket of the BM-13 system was 80 cm (2 ft 7 in) long, 13.2 cm (5.2 in) in diameter and weighed 42 kg (93 lb). The weapon is less accurate than conventional artillery guns, but

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