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30 cm Raketenwerfer 56

Field	Value
name	30 cm Raketenwerfer 56
image	30cmRaketenwerfer56.jpg
image_size	300
caption	A battered Raketenwerfer 56 launcher at the U.S. Army Field Artillery Museum, Ft. Sill, OK
origin	Nazi Germany
type	Rocket artillery
is_explosive	yes
is_artillery	yes
service	1944–45
used_by	Nazi Germany
wars	World War II
design_date	1942–44
number	694
weight	1004 kg (empty)
cartridge_weight	127 kg
caliber	301 mm
barrels	6
velocity	230 m/s
max_range	4550 m
elevation	-3° to +45°
traverse	22° 30'
filling	HE
filling_weight	45 kg

The 30 cm Raketenwerfer 56 was a German multiple rocket launcher used in the Second World War. It served with units of the Nebeltruppen, the German equivalent of the U.S. Army's Chemical Corps. Just as the Chemical Corps had responsibility for poison gas and smoke weapons that were used instead to deliver high-explosives during the war so did the Nebeltruppen. The name "Nebelwerfer" is best translated as "Smoke Mortar". 694 saw service from 1944–45 in all theaters except Norway.

Description

The 30 cm Raketenwerfer 56 was a six-barreled rocket launcher mounted on the carriage of the 5 cm PaK 38 anti-tank gun. Its 30 cm Wurfkörper 42 Spreng (Explosive missile) rocket was spin-stabilized and electrically-fired. The rockets had a prominent exhaust trail that kicked up a lot of debris, so the crew had to seek shelter before firing. This meant that they were easily located and had to displace quickly to avoid counter-battery fire. The rockets were fired one at a time, in a timed ripple, but the launcher had no capability to fire single rockets. 15 cm Wurfgranate 41 rockets could be fired using liner rails. When not in use the rails were strapped to the top of the launcher.

The same rocket was used in the 30 cm Nebelwerfer 42 launcher.

Organization and use

The 30 cm Raketenwerfer 56 was organized into batteries of six launchers with three batteries per battalion. These battalions were concentrated in independent Werfer-Regiments and Brigades. It saw service on the Eastern Front, Italian Campaign and the defense of France and Germany from 1944–45.

Notes

References

Englemann, Joachim and Scheibert, Horst. Deutsche Artillerie 1934-1945: Eine Dokumentation in Text, Skizzen und Bildern: Ausrüstung, Gliderung, Ausbildung, Führung, Einsatz. Limburg/Lahn, Germany: C. A. Starke, 1974
Gander, Terry and Chamberlain, Peter. Weapons of the Third Reich: An Encyclopedic Survey of All Small Arms, Artillery and Special Weapons of the German Land Forces 1939-1945. New York: Doubleday, 1979
Kameradschaft der ABC-Abwehr, Nebel- und Werfertruppen e.V. Die Nebel- und Werfertruppe (Regimentsbögen). 2001

References

[http://dict.leo.org/ende?lp=ende&lang=de&searchLoc=0&cmpType=relaxed&sectHdr=on&spellToler=on&chinese=both&pinyin=diacritic&search=nebelwerfer&relink=on LEO online dictionary]
Gander and Chamberlain, pp. 321-2
Niehorster, Leo W. G. ''German World War II Organizational Series, Vol. 5/II: Mechanized GHQ units and Waffen-SS Formations (4 July 1943)'', 2005, pp. 52-3
Kameradschaft, vols. 1 and 2

Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

rocket-artillery world-war-ii-artillery-of-germany 300-mm-artillery weapons-and-ammunition-introduced-in-1944

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