This week in the War, 21–27 July 1941: Karl & Katyusha

The Soviet fortress of Brest-Litovsk surrendered, this week in the war, 23 July 1941.

The garrison had been continuously bombarded by the Luftwaffe and by Karl, a giant mortar that fired a two-ton-plus projectile. It was the first time that the Wehrmacht had used its 60 cm (24 inch) calibre siege mortar (Mörser, in German).

Karl and his slightly smaller siblings (7 in total, including Karl) were to see service at Sevastopol, and also during the Polish insurrection in Warsaw, and at the Battle of the Bulge. The mortar was named in honour of the weapons engineer and artillery general, Karl Becker.

This same week in the war, on 27 July 1941, the Soviet Katyusha rocket launchers made their first appearance at the hastily-organized defensive line east of Smolensk.

The Katyusha (whose name came from a woman in a popular Russian song) was cheap to build and, being mounted on the back of a truck, was highly mobile. Reloading was slow but, since each truck-mounted Katyusha could fire between one and four dozen rockets in a single 25-second salvo, the effect was devastating (and the whooshing sound unnerving for opposing troops). The Soviets employed their Katyushas, usually en masse, throughout the whole of World War II.