| Original caption: “Red Army soldiers load a Katyusha rocket launcher.” The Katyusha rocket was mounted on a variety of platforms, from Soviet ZiS trucks to Western Allied Studebakers. A solid-fuel rocket, it had less accuracy than conventional artillery but could be massed in batteries of 48 launchers. It was known as “Stailn’s Organ.” During Operation Bagration, fought between June 22, 1944, and August 19, 1944, Katyushas were part of seven thousand guns and rocket launchers that opened fire from the First Belorussian Front on the Nazi German Ninth Army. As the Western Allies landed in France, the Red Army collapsed the Army Group Center and drove through Poland and Ukraine in just three weeks. The success of Multiple Rocket Launchers (MRLS) has endured to this day. Updated systems continue to fight in the Russia-Ukraine War, direct descendants of Katyusha batteries of World War II. Only modern batteries have GPS and satellite positioning for far greater accuracy. | |
| Image Filename | wwii2110.jpg |
| Image Size | 2.25 MB |
| Image Dimensions | 1500 x 999 |
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| Caption Author | Written or Adapted by Jason McDonald |
| Date Photographed | June 29, 1944 |
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| Country | Soviet Union |
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| Status | Caption ©2026 MFA Productions LLC Please Do Not Duplicate or Distribute Without Permission; Image in the Public Domain |
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