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The Nebelwerfer (German for "fog launcher", a code name to obscure the real nature of the weapon,) was a German towed rocket artillery piece, developed in the 1930s and used in World War II against light infantry targets. It had six 150 mm barrels, from which it fired rockets; a full salvo spread over a period of ten seconds. The loud screeching noise of the rounds led U.S. soldiers in the Sicily campaign to nickname the gun the "Screaming Mimi", and "Moaning Minnie". It (as well as the Katyusha) is considered to be the beginning of modern multiple rocket launcher artillery. Rocket artillery is artillery equipped with rocket launchers instead of conventional guns or mortars. ...
Combatants Major Allied powers: United Kingdom Soviet Union United States Republic of China and others Major Axis powers: Nazi Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Harry Truman Chiang Kai-Shek Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tojo Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead...
The barrel of a firearm is the tube, usually metal, through which a controlled explosion is released in order to propel a projectile out of the end at great speed. ...
A Redstone rocket, part of the Mercury program The traditional definition of a rocket is a vehicle, missile or aircraft which obtains thrust by the reaction to the ejection of fast moving fluid from within a rocket engine. ...
Combatants United States United Kingdom Canada Germany Italy Commanders Harold Alexander Alfredo Guzzoni Strength ? 365,000 Italians 40,000Germans Casualties USA: 2,237 killed 6,544 wounded British: 2,721 killed 10,122 wounded Canada: 562 killed 1,848 wounded Total:23,934 Casualties Germany: ? killed ? wounded Italy: ? killed ? wounded...
Katyusha multiple rocket launchers are a type of rocket artillery built and fielded by the Soviet Union beginning in the Second World War. ...
BM-13 Katyusha RM-70 of the Polish Army A multiple rocket launcher is a type of unguided rocket artillery system, in use since the Second World War. ...
The Nebelwerfer 41 was a rocket-launching artillery piece which had six barrels. Each barrel fired a 75 pound 150 mm rocket out to a range of about 6800 metres (about 4.2 miles). A later version, the Nebelwerfer 42 had five 210 mm barrels and could fire its 250 pound projectiles out to a distance of nearly 8000 metres (about 5 miles). The 210 mm version was equipped with removable internal rails in the tubes to allow for the use of the 150 mm rocket. Both types were towed pieces which were mounted on the modified carriages of a light pre-war anti-tank gun.
The small size and light impact of its weaponry made the Nebelwerfer practically useless against armored targets such as tanks and personnel carriers, but the dense and sustained penetration of its multiple rockets made it extraordinarily lethal when used against unarmored enemy infantry. The Nebelwerfer was arguably the single most powerful anti-infantry weapon in the German arsenal in the last years of the war.
After the crew had loaded and aimed the launcher, they would take cover a few metres away and fire the Nebelwerfer by an electric wire. After firing, however, a long streak of smoke could be seen from far away, making the Nebelwerfer an excellent target for counter-artillery fire. It was therefore necessary to relocate the Nebelwerfer as soon as possible after firing. As an interesting side note, the 210 mm rockets were also mounted under the wings of several German fighter aircraft for use as an air-to-air rocket called the Wfr. Gr. 21. A US Navy VF-103 Jolly Rogers F-14 Tomcat fighter launchers an AIM-54 Phoenix long-range air-to-air missile. ...
One way to make up for the Nebelwerfer's shortcomings in mobility was to mount the rocket launching tubes on some sort of motorized tractor, as was the case with the Maultier 42 Panzerwerfer; a lightly armoured half-tracked mount for the weapon. Later in the war cruder (and larger calibred) light metal or even wooden launch racks were devised, in order to cope with the increased frontline requests for the weapon and the growing scarcity of raw materials. The racks could be transported via truck and set up by a small crew which would then swiftly leave the launch site after firing. Komsomolets tractor Artillery tractor is a kind of tractor, a vehicle used to tow artillery pieces of varying weights. ...
Panzerwerfer alias Maultier Panzerwerfer is the name for two different types of half-tracked multiple rocket launchers employed by Germany during the Second World War. ...
See also
The Wurfrahmen 40 was a German World War II artillery unit. ...
Katyusha multiple rocket launchers are a type of rocket artillery built and fielded by the Soviet Union beginning in the Second World War. ...
External Links - U.S. WWII Intelligence Report on Nebelwerfer
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