Katyusha: Russian Multiple Rocket Launchers 1941–Present

Osprey New Vanguard #235

by Jamie Prenatt, Adam Hook (Illustrator)

Although military rockets have been used since the Middle Ages, it was not until the Soviet Union pioneered the concept of Multiple Rocket Launchers (MRLs), in the late 1930s, that they emerged as a decisive weapon. In the modern era, these Soviet/Russian Katyushas have served in combat in Afghanistan, Chechnya, and Georgia.

Developed to fill the operational need for massed artillery fire support, the MRL possesses enormous destructive power and a devastating psychological impact. This New Vanguard provides a survey of Soviet and Russian Federation MRLs from the beginning of their development in 1938 to the present. It focuses on the history, design, and specifications of self-propelled ground MRL systems, but also covers towed, static, railway, and naval mounts. It highlights the many variants of the principal systems, and includes MRL unit tables of organization and equipment, information on MRL munition types, and coverage of dedicated MRL resupply vehicles.

Genres: Military Fiction, History

48 pages, Paperback

First published June 16, 2016

Reviews

[Zare · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting book on rocket artillery, namely development of Soviet/Russian MLRS systems before, during and after WW2 (we are shown development up to the modern times).

While WW2 development and ways of using the MLRS's were very detailed, level of details go down as we approach the modern times. It becomes very unclear on further development and actual procurement of various high powered MLRS systems. By the looks of it, Grad and Uragan still make a backbone of missile artillery units with more modern (in terms of guidance, fire control and destructiveness of missile ordnance - range and power that is) Uragan-M and Smerch being present in [relatively] smaller numbers.

Again, this is Osprey book so level of details is limited, and I expected that to happen. But nevertheless I was expecting a little bit more technical details on modern systems.

Good overview of both weapons and concept that proved itself time and time again.

Recommended.

[Terry · Rating 4 out of 5]

A decent overview of the Soviet/Russian rocket launchers. Decent historical background, but the modern era seems a bit overdone, since it's not clear how many of the modern weapons are in active use. Otherwise, it gives a nice overview.

[James Crabtree · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book presents an excellent overview of the Katyusha rocket artillery system, one which has evolved since the early days of the Great Patriotic War. Mr. Prenatt's treatment of the topic is excellent and it is clear he has done quite a bit of research. The illustrations by Adam Hook are very good as well, and serve to really bring these machines and their gunners to life.

If there is a weakness with Katyusha then it is that the scope of the book is just too wide. The evolution of the Katyusha is so extreme on one end (air-to-ground rockets fired from truck-mounted rails) to the other (missiles contained in individual cannisters, correction for weather, remote fuzing) that it would have been better to do a book about Katyusha's in WWII and perhaps a second on postwar MRLs. Just trying to keep the variants straight was a bit difficult as I went through the book.

Very well illustrated and has great photos.