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Description: Here you can see probably the first rocket artillery ever used by Italy: the captured Soviet Katyusha. The Katyusha rockets were developed by scientists Georgij Ėrichovič Langemak and Sergej Pavlovič Korolëv in 1928. The rockets were developed for different launcher platforms and in different calibers such as 82 mm, 132 mm, and 300 mm (the rocket captured by the Italians was the 132 mm one, so the statistics and data refer to the 132 mm rocket). After 10 years in 1938, the Soviet Army was looking for every single option that could carry this system: Many trucks were selected (the Zis series and some American/British exported trucks), some light tanks (for example the T40), some tractors (for example the STZ 5), and armored trains. They were even tested on some coastal ships, but only some trials were made and only some test boats were equipped with them. The first approved and mass-produced Katyusha was the 82 mm BM -8, which entered World War II on June 21, 1941. The Katyushas were first used against the Germans on July 14, 1941, and were in service throughout the rest of the war. The Germans called them “Stalin’s organ” because of the great noise they made when opening fire. The Katyusha was produced in large numbers during the war (more than 10000 units) and used on all fronts in the war against the Germans. It was also used after World War II in the Korean War against the American troops, in 1963 it was decommissioned and replaced by the BM 21 Grad. This was captured by the Italian Army in Russia, the ARMIR, in 1942 and used against the Soviets. It was used against its predecessor several times, at Maltekhevskaya on October 16, 1942, and other times near the Don River. Its fate isn’t known. Let’s talk about the performance of the 132 mm rokets captured by the Italian troops: the roket launcher system was capable of loading a total of 48 rokets with elevation between 4 and 45 degrees, and two types of rokets were available: Fragmentation rokets and Armour Piercing rokets. The rokets had a maximum range of 8.5 km. The launching platform was the Austin K6 truck, a British truck sent to Russia as aid during the war.
Why it should be in the game: This is the only roket launcher veichle that Italy can get in the WW2 period since it was the only one. It will be a very good event veichles and will give to the Italian players a roket veichle that for now is not present in the Italian tec tree.
Specifications:
Total length: 7 meters
Weight: 5.5 tons
Crew: 2
Engine Performance: 38,5 km/h and 82 hp
Rocket Statistics
Heigth: 1.8 metres
Weight: 42 kg
Warhead: 22 kg of explosive
Caliber: 132 mm
Range: 8,500 metres
Sources:
Book: Autoveicoli dell’EI vol 2(2)
https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katjuša_(lanciarazzi)
Austin K6 : United Kingdom (GBR)
Pictures:
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