· Day 23 of 1418
Katyusha’s first salvo
Orsha
- rockets in a single launcher's salvo
- 16
- rockets in a single launcher's salvo
- for a full salvo
- 8–10 s
- for a full salvo
On 14 July 1941, Captain Ivan Flyorov’s battery first used a new weapon: rocket launchers. The salvo lasted seconds, and enemy trains at Orsha station were engulfed in fire. Soldiers affectionately nicknamed the launcher “Katyusha”, after the heroine of a popular song.
The launchers were mounted on lorries, and each fired 16 rockets in a few seconds. The weapon was so secret that crews were ordered to blow it up if it was about to be captured. For a long time the enemy could not work out what kind of “organ” was playing on the battlefield, and called it “Stalin's organ”.
Captain Flyorov was killed in October 1941 near Vyazma. His battery was fighting its way out of encirclement, and the men blew up their last launchers so the enemy would not get them.
The apple and pear trees were blossoming, Mist was drifting over the river…