Katyusha BM 31-the first MRL ?

Diptangshu

Active member
This was the short distance rockets operated by MRL system during the final days.How much effective it was to the down fall of Reichstag?

Was this system(MRL) introduced first by the Russians?
 
The BM-31 was developed a few years later during WW2, the BM-13 is probably the MRL system you're thinking of. Both systems were made by the Soviet Union during the 1940s wartime period, I think the BM-13 was developed in 1940 while the BM-31 was developed in 1942. (NOTE: all dates/years are from the Western European calendar)

However, the Germans had been experimenting with multiple launch systems for gas and smoke mortars and rockets around the same time.

Historically, the first such multiple launch system has been attributed to Korea. The Koreans created a cart that fired up to 200 arrow style incendiary rockets. The system was known as hwacha and was developed in the late 1300s.
More information can be found here on wikipedia
 
Do you consider Katyusha played a significant role to the final break through of the Berlin offensive?

Because,as far as my knowledge goes,thiswas never used before against the Axis in Eastern Theater!
 
Katyushas

These simple rockets could be mounted on the back of just about any old truck and rained a hail of destruction on the Germans. They were an addition to the artillery, but were more mobile.
They were not that accurate but when enough of them were fired they could create a rain of destruction for the poor German who were on the receiving end of these rockets. The Red Army had countless thousands of these things which were cheap to make.
 
Katyushas

These simple rockets could be mounted on the back of just about any old truck and rained a hail of destruction on the Germans. They were an addition to the artillery, but were more mobile.
They were not that accurate but when enough of them were fired they could create a rain of destruction for the poor German who were on the receiving end of these rockets. The Red Army had countless thousands of these things which were cheap to make.

The Red Army was using these rockets early on, starting in 42
 
Do you consider Katyusha played a significant role to the final break through of the Berlin offensive?

Because,as far as my knowledge goes,thiswas never used before against the Axis in Eastern Theater!

Considering that by the end of 1942, the Red Army had 57 regiments of Katyusha MRLs of calibres from 82mm up to 300mm, yes, I consider they played a significant role up to and including, the Berlin offensive - there are photographs of BM-13 units in action during the battle for Berlin, have a look at the wiki page for one such photo: -
wiki page http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katyusha_rocket_launcher
photo page http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Russian_artillery_fire_in_Berlin.jpg
 
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