Katyusha rocket launcher

The BM-13 Katyusha (little Katie) rocket launcher was fielded by the Soviet Union in World War II. It was better known as "Stalin's Organ", so named by German troops due to its resemblance to a pipe organ. Stalin's Organ was seen in many forms during World War II mounted on various trucks, tanks, and occasionally even on tractors. It was a relatively simple design consisting of a rack of parallel rails on which rockets were mounted, with a folding frame to raise the rails to launch position. Each truck had 48 launchers. The rocket was 1.8 m long and had a 22 kg explosive warhead with a range of about 5 km. It was often used in huge masses to create a shock effect.

The idea for the Katyusha rocket launcher was sparked by Nazi Germany's development of the six-barreled Nebelwerfer rocket mortar in 1936. The Red Army began work on the design of rocket artillery in 1938, and deployment was approved on June 21 1941. On July 14 1941 the experimental artillery battery (7 launchers) was used in battle against the German army under the command of the captain I. Flerov at station Orsha. On August 8 1941 first eight regiments of missile artillery (36 launchers in each unit) were created. The improved BM-13N ("normalized") design was developed in 1943, and more than 1800 were made by the end of WWII. Although it was able to heavily bombard enemy forces quite well firing in salvos, Stalin's Organ lacked accuracy.

The term is now often used to describe small artillery rockets in general, whether they are Soviet-derived or originally built. Such rockets are often used in guerilla warfare, as by the South Vietnamese guerillas, Hezbollah, the Iraqi resistance,and Taliban. In this role they are more useful for their psychological effects than for the actual damage they can cause.

See also: Karine A, Mobile rocket launch system, Chelyabinsk, Qassam rocket, Hezbollah