Jasper Posted January 10, 2001 Share Posted January 10, 2001 From: NIGHT OPERATIONS THE SOVIET APPROACH The Katyusha proved to be one of the most effective psychological and casualty producing weapons in the entire Soviet campaign. The initial use of this weapon, which at night appeared to be the simultaneous launching of hundreds of flaming projectiles, routed both German defenders and the Soviet troops in proximity to the launchers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
109 Gustav Posted January 10, 2001 Share Posted January 10, 2001 Looks like they should have warned their own troops about their newest uber weapon. It's too bad that the nebelwerfers in CM don't also reduce morale even if soldiers aren't in the rocket's blast zone. This would certainly be cool, but I guess it's too late now, with 1.1 out. Maybe in CM2. ------------------ Well my skiff's a twenty dollar boat, And I hope to God she stays afloat. But if somehow my skiff goes down, I'll freeze to death before I drown. And pray my body will be found, Alaska salmon fishing, boys, Alaska salmon fishing. -Commercial fishing in Kodiak, Alaska Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tss Posted January 10, 2001 Share Posted January 10, 2001 The physical effect of rocket weapons is often exaggerated. They could certainly inflict horrible casualties on unprepared or moving infantry, but they were relatively inefficient (at least the smaller caliberes) against fortifications. The reason for this is that they had large explosive charges but produced very little shrapnells. I think that they also used almost exclusively quick fuzes so they exploded immediately on contact and didn't penetrate deep enough to cause serious damage to fortifications. An exploding rocket would make a really loud "boom", but it couldn't harm a man in a foxhole without an almost direct hit. I have read a story about a Finnish motorcycle messenger that had been continuously on duty for several days. He then got a chance to sleep in a road ditch for several hours. After waking up, he saw lots of rocket tail fins around him; the area had received one Katjusha barrage, but the man had been so tired that he hadn't even waken up. - Tommi Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest wwb_99 Posted January 10, 2001 Share Posted January 10, 2001 'Forgotten Soldier' really illustrates the psychological effects of a Rocket barrage well. WWB ------------------ Before battle, my digital soldiers turn to me and say, Ave, Caesar! Morituri te salutamus. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Olle Petersson Posted January 16, 2001 Share Posted January 16, 2001 <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by tss: ... he saw lots of rocket tail fins around him ...<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>So the rockets didn't explode, but buried themselves in the ground? Cheers Olle Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tss Posted January 16, 2001 Share Posted January 16, 2001 Olle Petersson wrote: So the rockets didn't explode, but buried themselves in the ground? The rocket payload is located at the front, and the fins at the end. Very often the explosion would leave the fins intact and only scatter them about. - Tommi Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikeadams Posted January 16, 2001 Share Posted January 16, 2001 Back in prehistory we used to add Katyushas to PanzerBlitz scenarios and one of the aspects we included was automatic demoralisation, regardless of the actual damage incurred. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BK6583 Posted January 16, 2001 Share Posted January 16, 2001 It's been a LONG time since I've read it but I recall in Enamy at the Gates that a lucky katyusha salvo all but decimated a German infantry battalion marching to Stalingrad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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