rocket weapons

rocket weapons (for the German V-2 rocket, see V-weapons). The rocket as a weapon saw little use in the early part of the century, but in the 1930s it began a revival, largely on the grounds of economy. The principal advantage of the rocket is the simple launching device, much cheaper and easier to make than a complex gun; the problem lay in the development of a suitable propellant. In the UK, the development of solventless cordite made possible the manufacture of large sticks of smokeless powder which could be extruded in shapes which gave the desired burning characteristics, and this, coupled with the sudden demand for enormous increases in anti-aircraft weapon strength, led to work on 2 in. (5 cm.) and 3 in. (7.6 cm.) rockets for air defence in the mid-1930s.

In Germany experimenters had been drawn to the study of liquid propellants and their work was carefully watched by the army, who saw the long-range rocket as a possible substitute for heavy artillery which would evade the provisions of the Versailles settlement. The Soviets also saw rockets as a cheap substitute for artillery and began work on a simple bombardment weapon.

The British rockets were fully developed and given extensive testing in the West Indies in 1938–9, but the army demanded a closed-breech launcher which proved inaccurate and the programme was shelved in favour of guns. The Royal Navy adopted the 2 in. design and used it with some success as a barrage weapon to protect ships; this system used a simple open-rail launcher which proved satisfactory, with the result that a similar simple launcher to fire the 3 in. rocket was developed for the army in late 1940. It was intended for use against dive-bombers and the rocket was fitted with the first proximity fuze, an electro-optical sensor which detected the shadow of the aircraft. As this device was useless in darkness, and as the Germans had turned to night attacks (see Blitz), conventional time-fuzed warheads were adopted. The launchers were re-grouped into batteries of 64 two-rocket launchers and employed for high-altitude barrage fire, principally around seaports so that the expended rocket motors could fall harmlessly into the sea. These ‘Z Batteries’ remained in service until the end of the war.

When the Dieppe raid of August 1942 revealed how crucial it was to saturate landing beaches with fire, the RN scaled-up the 3 in. design to 5 in. (12.6 cm.) diameter to produce a weapon for close onshore bombardment. These rockets were fired from fixed frames fitted in special landing craft and were extensively used during the Normandy landings in June 1944 (see OVERLORD) and elsewhere.

In 1944, in search of a field bombardment weapon, the Canadian Army adopted the 3 in. rocket motor and allied it to the naval 5 in. warhead to produce the LAND MATTRESS (a meaningless codename) which was used with considerable success on Walcheren Island during the Scheldt Estuary battle and to break through the West Wall at the start of the battle for Germany. The launcher was a simple open-frame device holding sixteen rockets and capable of being towed behind a light truck. The same rocket/warhead combination was also used by the RAF as an air-to-ground attack weapon, particularly against tanks and transport during the Normandy campaign in 1944. With a different warhead, it was also used by RAF Coastal Command against submarines.

German rocket development split into two: the evolution of long-range liquid-fuelled missiles (see V-weapons) and of short-range solid-fuel bombardment rockets for field use. The latter became the Nebelwerfer (smoke thrower), a simple wheeled launcher which fired a volley of six 15 cm. (5.9 in.) rockets; this design was then improved into models firing 21 cm. (8.2 in.) and 32 cm. (12.6 in.) rockets. The name was a hangover from the First World War, when the larger mortars were employed to lay down smoke or gas. Various solid-fuel air defence rockets were also developed in Germany. None was ready for service before the war ended, but a rocket-propelled fighter did become operational (see fighters, 1).

Soviet development was almost entirely confined to heavy bombardment rockets, familiarly known as Katyusha or ‘Stalin's Organ’. They were 21 cm. solid-fuel rockets discharged in volleys from launchers carried on trucks, and became a prime component of Soviet field artillery.

American work began with spin-stabilized field bombardment rockets in 4.5 in. (11.4 cm.) and 7.2 in. (18.2 cm.) calibres, and then extended to air-to-ground rockets for tactical support fighters. However, perhaps the most significant American development was of the 2.36 in. (6 cm.) Bazooka anti-tank rocket, a design based on semi-official pre-war experiments. This small shoulder-carried launcher had been perfected but there appeared to be no tactical use for it until the arrival of the shaped charge (see explosives) as a potential armour-defeating weapon. With a shaped-charge head attached to the rocket, the Bazooka became the progenitor of a host of similar devices extending to the present day. It was first used in the North African campaign in 1942. Quantities of the earliest ones were supplied to the USSR and a number fell into German hands. The Germans then copied the design and produced the Panzerschreck launcher. This fired a 88 mm. (3.4 in.) rocket grenade whose rocket motor was ignited by an electrical pulse. It was operated by two men, had a range of 150 m., and could penetrate 210 mm. (8.25 in.) of armour (see Figure 1).

The Panzerschreck should not be confused with the Pan zerfaust, also a recoilless rocket launcher of German design (see Figure 2). This fired a hollow-charge bomb from a disposable tube launcher, and could be carried and fired by one man. It first appeared in late 1942 and later models had a range of up to 100 m. at which range it could penetrate 200 mm. (7.8 in.) of armour. See also guided weapons.

Ian Hogg

Bibliography

Baker, D. , The Rocket (London, 1978).
Gusnton, W. , Rockets and Missiles (London, 1979).