Friday, October 28, 2011

German Rocket Launchers of WWII


The wartime use of chemical war materials, incendiaries and rockets is ancient: The ancient Chinese used them, as did the Spartans in the Peloponnesian War, 431-404 B.C. In the 19th Century, England, Denmark, Switzerland, France (in Algeria) Greece (as of 1840), the USA (as of 1846), Prussia (until 1872), Austria (until 1867) and above all Russia, against the Poles, Turks, Chinese and in the Crimean War, used rockets as effective weapons. Their further development in Germany, on the other hand, was blocked by the improvement of artillery, until the course of World War I as of April 22,1915, in the course of trench warfare and the use of chemical weapons, indicated a need for large-caliber mobile mine and gas launchers with long ranges, and the Treaty of Versailles, banning as it did heavy artillery, tanks and warplanes, put more and more emphasis on the strengthening of non-banned weapons like smoke screens and rockets. Opportunities thwarted since the middle of the past century were taken up, and the military cooperation that existed for a time with the "Red Army" under the Treaty of Rapallo led to development in many areas.

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...