Day of rocket troops and artillery
Every year in Russia 19 November is a memorable day - the Day of the Rocket Forces and Artillery. For the first time, the holiday, then Artillery Day, was established by the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR from October 21 of 1944 of the year. The date of the holiday was due to the fact that it was 19 in November 1942 of the year after the most powerful artillery preparation of the Red Army launched Operation Uranus, the code name for the Soviet counteroffensive during the Battle of Stalingrad. This operation ended with the entourage of the army of Paulus and marked a radical change during the Great Patriotic War. Beginning with 1964, the holiday began to be celebrated as the Day of Rocket Forces and Artillery.
History Russian artillery began in the late 14th century, when in 1382, during the siege of Moscow by the troops of Khan Tokhtamysh, the defenders of the city first used forged cannons. It is believed that it was then that the fire weaponsallegedly exported to Moscow from Bulgar during the campaign 1376 of the year. Among other things, the defenders used "mattresses", special tools that shot with a "shot" - pieces of iron, small stones, rubble. Since then, artillery (and in the XX century, also rocket troops) has become an integral part of our country's army.
In an independent branch of the army, which was able to provide support for the actions of infantry and cavalry in battle, artillery emerged in the XVI century and until the end of the XVII century it was served by food workers and gunners. At the beginning of the XVIII century there was a division of artillery into field (including regimental), serf and siege. Also at the end of the century, horse artillery finally formed, and at the beginning of the 19th century, artillery regiments and brigades began to form in Russia.
By the beginning of the XIX century, the Russian artillery was at a fairly high technical level and in no way inferior to the French, perfectly showing itself in the Patriotic War of 1812 of the year. At the time of the outbreak of war, the artillery of the Russian Empire was united in brigades. There were a total of 27 army and one guards artillery brigade. Each brigade consisted of an 6 company (at that time, the main tactical unit): two battery, two light, one cavalry, and one "pioneer" (engineering). Each company had 12 guns. Thus, in service with one brigade there were 60 guns. All in all, 1812 was armed with the Russian army 1600 of various guns. After the Napoleonic Wars, in about 1840, the mountain artillery also added artillery to the armed forces of the Russian Empire.
The artillery said its weighty word in the Russian-Japanese war 1904-1905, when Russian artillerymen first fired at the enemy from closed positions, then the first mortars appeared on the battlefield. By the beginning of the First World War (1914-1918), the artillery of the Russian Imperial Army was divided into field (light, horse and mountain), field heavy and heavy (siege). By the time the war began, the army had 6848 light and 240 heavy guns. This time the situation with the artillery was much worse than during the invasion of Napoleon’s troops. Artillery to the 1914 year was in the formative stage, especially for units armed with heavy guns. At the same time, throughout the war, the Russian artillery experienced a shell hunger, and it was not possible to fully resolve it even taking into account the growth of production and increasing allied supplies. At the same time, it was during the years of the First World War that new types of artillery weapons appeared: anti-aircraft artillery, self-propelled, and somewhat later anti-tank guns.
By the beginning of World War II (1939-1945), the influence and role of artillery on the battlefield increased even more, while rocket artillery became widespread, for example, the famous Katyusha guards missiles became one of the symbols of war and a real victory weapon. Also widespread anti-tank and self-propelled artillery. The artillery, figuratively called “god of war” in 1940, fully justified its mission in the battles of the Great Patriotic War. Emphasizing the increasing importance of artillery, it can be noted that the Red Army entered the 22 war on June 1941, having more than 117 thousands of artillery pieces and mortars, of which 59,7 thousand guns were deployed in the western military districts. In almost all the battles and operations of the Great Patriotic War, artillery made a decisive contribution to achieving a common victory over the enemy, being the main fire weapon of defeating enemy personnel and equipment. Over the years of the Great Patriotic War, more than 1800 Soviet artillerymen for heroism and courage displayed in the battles for the Motherland were awarded the honorary title of Hero of the Soviet Union, more than 1,6 million artillerymen were awarded various government orders and medals.
The appearance of the holiday itself - the Day of Artillery - was largely due precisely to the prowess of the gunners during the war years and the recognition of their merits. 19 November 1942, it was the artillery units with their massive and powerful fire strike marked the beginning of a radical change in the Great Patriotic War. The firing rumbled through the advanced positions of the enemy’s defense, violating the enemy’s defense, supply and communications systems. The ensuing offensive of the troops of the South-West (Lieutenant-General NF Vatutin), the Don (Lieutenant-General K. K. Rokossovsky) and Stalingrad (Colonel-General A. I. Eremenko) fronts by November 23 1942 had already to the encirclement near Stalingrad of the 6 of the German field army of Paulus and other German units, as well as units of the allies of Nazi Germany. In total, the boiler turned out to be about 330 of thousands of enemy soldiers and officers.
After the end of the Second World War, the artillery continued its development, new, more sophisticated and powerful weapons, including atomic weapons, appeared. Rocket troops received increasing importance, and already in 1961, as a branch of service of the Armed Forces of the Soviet Union, the Rocket Forces and artillery were formed. In 1964, the holiday was officially renamed on the Day of Rocket Forces and Artillery. Since 1988, it began to be celebrated every third Sunday of November, but from 2006, they returned to the original date - November 19.
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