Soviet M13 ''Katyusha'' MRL

By Crusader1307

The Soviet M-13 Mobile Rocket Launcher, nicknamed "The Katyusha" by The Russians and "Stalin's Organ" by The Germans, was a series of 13 or more steel rails that could go as far as 16 feet in length. Mounted on a support rack, the entire assembly was further emplaced on a vehicle (normally 2-tons or better). A series of 132 mm high explosive rockets wete installed, one for each rack. Racks were stacked on some cases as 3 racks high. All told, around 4.35 pounds of explosives were in each rocket. Electrically triggered, The Katyusha Rockets flew roughly 3.4 miles and could cover up to 400,000 square meters of land. This was the equivalent of an artillery battery of some 72 guns. Designed by Georgy Langmak in 1939, The Katyusha Rocket in theory, was a "land saturation" attack device. Grossly inaccurate for the most part, multiple Rocket batteries were still considered very effective enemy suppression weapons. The Rockets could fire a 7 to 10 second sustained salvo. The truck Carrier could then move the entire battery to safety. In addition to the accuracy issue, The M-13 was slow to reload, taking up to 50 minutes! 10,000 of The M-13s were produced until 1945. The weapon would eventually give "birth" to no less than 7 variations. The design would also serve to inspire The US and British Army's to experiment with their own designs (based on The Katyusha). America's versions were effective in The South Pacific - while Britain's Model were the same in North Africa.