page_title: Rocket launcher
section_title: World War II
hierarchical_section_title: Rocket launcher / History / World War II
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Katjuscha-Raketenwerfer, Frontansicht im Museum des Großen Vaterländischen Krieges, in KiewEnglish: Katyusha rockets and launch vehicle, front view. On display near the Museum of the Great Patriotic War, Kiev, Ukraine.)
context_page_description: A rocket launcher is a device that launches an unguided, rocket-propelled projectile, although the term is often used in reference to mechanisms that are portable and capable of being operated by an individual.
context_section_description: Pre-war research programmes into military rocket technology by many of the major powers led to the introduction of a number of rocket artillery systems with fixed or mobile launchers, often capable of firing a number of rockets in a single salvo. In the United Kingdom, solid fuel rockets were initially used in the anti-aircraft role; the 7-inch Unrotated Projectile was fired from single pedestal-mounted launchers on warships and a 3-inch version was used by shore based Z Batteries, for which multiple "projectors" were developed. Later developments of these weapons included the Land Mattress multiple launchers for surface-to-surface bombardment and the RP-3 air-to-ground rockets that were launched from rails fitted to fighter bomber aircraft. In Germany, the 15 cm Nebelwerfer 41 was an adaptation of a multiple barrelled smoke mortar for artillery rockets. The Soviet's Katyusha was a self-propelled system, being mounted on trucks, tanks and even trains. The United States Army deployed the tank mounted T34 Calliope system late in the war.
caption: A World War II Katyusha rocket launcher, mounted on a ZiS-6 truck.
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