Английская Википедия:15 cm Nebelwerfer 41

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The 15 cm Nebelwerfer 41 (15 cm NbW 41) was a German multiple rocket launcher used in the Second World War. It served with units of the Nebeltruppen, German Chemical Corps units that had the responsibility for poison gas and smoke weapons that were also used to deliver high-explosives during the war. The name Nebelwerfer is best translated as "smoke thrower".

Allied troops nicknamed it Screaming Mimi and Moaning Minnie due to its distinctive sound.

Development

Rocket development had begun during the 1920s and reached fruition in the late-1930s. These offered the opportunity for the Nebeltruppen to deliver large quantities of poison gas or smoke simultaneously. The first weapon to be delivered to the troops was the 15 cm Nebelwerfer 41 in 1940, after the Battle of France, a purpose-designed rocket with gas, smoke, and high-explosive warheads. It was fired from a six-tube launcher mounted on a towed carriage adapted from that used by the 3.7 cm PaK 36 to a range of 6,900 metres (7,500 yds), later also mounted on a halftrack as Panzerwerfer 42. Almost five and a half million 15 cm rockets and six thousand launchers were manufactured over the course of the war.

Ammunition

Like virtually all German rocket designs, 15 cm Wurfgranate 41 projectiles were spin-stabilized to increase accuracy. However, one unusual feature was that the rocket motor was in the front, the exhaust venturis being about two-thirds down the body from the nose, with the intent to optimize the blast and fragmentation effect of the rocket as the warhead would still be above the ground when it detonated. This proved to greatly complicate manufacture without much improvement and it was not copied on later rocket designs. The motor consisted of seven sticks of solid-fuel propellant and the exhaust ring had twenty-six venturis that were drilled at a 14° angle to impart spin. There were high-explosive, smoke and chemical warfare rockets available. The chemical warfare rockets were stockpiled but are said to have not been used operationally. Field Rocket Equipment of the German Army 1939-45 lists Phosgene Gas and Mustard Gas as the two primary chemical agents but it does not describe how the rockets were identified with color coded rings. German and Japanese Solid-Fuel Rocket Weapons describes the color coding for the rockets but only gives cryptic codes like M/HA for the type of chemical agent it was filled with.

Type	Designation	Length	Weight	Payload	Filling
High Explosive	15 cm Wurfgranate 41 Spreng	Шаблон:Convert	Шаблон:Convert	Шаблон:Convert	TNT
Smoke	15 cm Wurfgranate 41 Nebel	Шаблон:Convert	Шаблон:Convert	Шаблон:Convert	30/70 Pumice/Sulfur Trioxide
Chemical	15 cm Wurfgranate 41 Gelbring	Шаблон:Convert	?	Шаблон:Convert	M/HA
	15 cm Wurfgranate 41 Grünring	Шаблон:Convert	?	Шаблон:Convert	HN-3
	15 cm Wurfgranate 41 Grünring/Gelbring	Шаблон:Convert	?	Шаблон:Convert	H

Photo gallery

• Nebelwerfer 41 rocket launcher on display at the Rock Island Arsenal museum, viewed from the front

  Nebelwerfer 41 rocket launcher on display at the Rock Island Arsenal museum, viewed from the front

• Nebelwerfer 41 rocket launcher, breech view

  Nebelwerfer 41 rocket launcher, breech view

• 15 cm Nebelwerfer 41 side

  15 cm Nebelwerfer 41 side

• Wgr. 41 projectile for the 15 cm Nbw 41 on display at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center

  Wgr. 41 projectile for the 15 cm Nbw 41 on display at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center

• 15 cm Wurfgranate 41 Spreng

  15 cm Wurfgranate 41 Spreng

• 15 cm Wurfgranate 41 Spreng Schematic

  15 cm Wurfgranate 41 Spreng Schematic

References

• Шаблон:Cite book
• Шаблон:Cite book
• Engelmann, Joachim. German Rocket Launchers in WWII. Schiffer Publishing, 1990 Шаблон:ISBN

External links

• 15 cm Nebelwerfer 41 Шаблон:Webarchive, Catalog of Enemy Ordnance, 1945.