Nebelwerfer laying

[Von Schadewald]

How was a Nebelwerfer battery prepared? Was the aiming akin to mortar laying ie with a transit? DW footage shows some firing almost horizontally. Others at 60 degrees. What was the approx respective ranges? If they came under counter battery fire, what did they do: fight to the finish, or scoot?

http://users.swing.be/sw208720/char1/232514.jpg

[Xavier]

I have never seen a nebelwerfer sight, but if I recall correctly the Winkelmesser 35 (clinometer/inclinometer 35) was used to lay it. laying it was not very precise due to the nature of the rockets themselves. (not a very good predictable trajectory, more of an area mass bombardment than a calculated artillery barrage...)

ADDENDUM: on the book Hell on the eastern front there is a couple good first persons descriptions of nebelwerfer barrages, from the sending and receiving ends!!

regards

Xavier
Instandsetzungtruppfuhrer

[ignacio osacar]

there´s a great book on the subject "Field rocket equipment of the German army 1939-1945"
T.J. Gander, Altmark Publications, London, 1972. Most of the questions answered. Hope you find it.

best regards

Ignacio

[Radar]

The Nebelwerfer was not fired almost horizontally because it would have no range at all.
Here is some information about the 15cm Werfer.
Total weight : 37,0Kg
Rocket fuel (Treibladung):10,0Kg
Rocket Motor: 16,5Kg
Fuse an front dome:2,0Kg
War head: 6,1 Kg
Explosive: 2,4 Kg
Weight of launcher: 590Kg

Max pressure in Rocket motor: 150Kg/Sqcm
Burntime: 3 sec
Average thrust: 0,367 to
Ave. consumption: 9,1 Kg/sec

The gas from the rock exited through 26 small nozzles which were pointing slightly sideways (Dralldüsen) this gave the rocket a spin of 14000 rpm’s at the end of burn time to stabilise it because it got no fins.
The war head was placed at the end of the rocket to be more effective when impacting the ground because it explodet above the ground and not in the dirt.

The ballistic deviation in range and width got larger with increasing range.

Range ; dev in range ; dev in width
4000m ; 311m ; 75m
4500m ; 321m ; 91m
5000m ; 325m ; 104m
5500m ; 369m ; 127m
6000m ; 390m ; 142m

Radar

[Von Schadewald]

There is footage of a battery in Normandy firing at a very low elevation c10 degrees, to just miss the hedgerow. What would be the approximate range at 10 degrees?

[Radar]

I just spoke to my father and asked him about the direct shooting with the Nebelwerfer. He knows it because he was part of it. They actually did fire directly at e.g. tanks. They didn’t use all 6 launching tubes because they were aiming through an empty one. The different tubes had a different range because they were not all on the same level. With no elevation they fired at tanks at about 200 meters. The 15cm rocket didn’t really penetrate the tank but blew the tracks which disabled the tank. This was because at the 15 cm rocket the grenade was at the end of it and exploded not right at the armour. The 21cm was more successful because the grenade was at the tip of it. His best guess for a 10 degree elevation would give a range of 700-800 meters. The Werfer was not designed for it but during the war they found out that it can be quite useful doing it that way. They also fired into villages by direct aiming or a little increase of the elevation when the situation dictated it, otherwise they had to move away from the target and fire as designed but this would give the enemy time to escape.

Von Schadewald, do you have a link to the footageyou mentioned?

[Von Schadewald]

I saw it on the IHF video "Fortress Europe" http://ihffilm.com/279.html . For
the German Newsreel of "June 21 through 28" it actually says "rocket launchers fire on Allied tanks".

Meanwhile you can see nebelwerfers being fired at the usual 30 degrees at Kursk in the beginning of the seventh video clip down on this link http://www.jagdgeschwader4.de/Casino/Filme/Filme-5.htm
entitled "Auf ihren Einsatz wartende deutsche Truppen werden von einem sowjetischen Bomberverband angegriffen".

[Jon XLH]

Nebelwerfers where fired like any other ballistic missile and used the standard RA35 mortar sight. A range table (based on hundreds of test firings) give the range expected for the angle of the projectile, it just comes down to the relationship of angle equals range. Rocket rounds are more prone to outside influence like their artillery round cousin so external temperature, temperature of the round, moisture and wind all had a great influence on it performance which could vary as much as 20% due to these factors – which gives the rocket its wonderful impact zones.

Nebelwerfers could be used for anti-tank work as prescribed by German orders. When used in this roll only the top two tubes where used because of the ‘sag’ of the rocket when it fired (15cm). (I have read one British account of this in Italy).
Radar, very interested to hear your father’s memories confirming this (sighting down the empty tubes) and the use of 21cm in this roll – presumably only the top tube.
Another point of interest is when stacking the spare rounds on the ground they should be placed facing the enemy so if accidentally set-off (for example by counter battery fire) they at least go in the right direction, this is shown in photographs.

[Von Schadewald]

A clip of Nebelwerfers firing at minimal elevation can be seen at
http://www.ddaytoberlin.com/ titled "Die Deutsche Wochenschau 1944 Waffen SS in Normandie"

[FRANCY RITTER]

Hello to all!!

Nebelwefers in action pics

From...ebay exp.auction

[ignacioosacar]

Here is the Nebelwerfer Antitank post!

I just spoke to my father and asked him about the direct shooting with the Nebelwerfer. He knows it because he was part of it. They actually did fire directly at e.g. tanks. They didn’t use all 6 launching tubes because they were aiming through an empty one. The different tubes had a different range because they were not all on the same level. With no elevation they fired at tanks at about 200 meters. The 15cm rocket didn’t really penetrate the tank but blew the tracks which disabled the tank. This was because at the 15 cm rocket the grenade was at the end of it and exploded not right at the armour. The 21cm was more successful because the grenade was at the tip of it. His best guess for a 10 degree elevation would give a range of 700-800 meters. The Werfer was not designed for it but during the war they found out that it can be quite useful doing it that way. They also fired into villages by direct aiming or a little increase of the elevation when the situation dictated it, otherwise they had to move away from the target and fire as designed but this would give the enemy time to escape.

Von Schadewald, do you have a link to the footageyou mentioned?

[ignacioosacar]

Here it is alanmaccourey

I just spoke to my father and asked him about the direct shooting with the Nebelwerfer. He knows it because he was part of it. They actually did fire directly at e.g. tanks. They didn’t use all 6 launching tubes because they were aiming through an empty one. The different tubes had a different range because they were not all on the same level. With no elevation they fired at tanks at about 200 meters. The 15cm rocket didn’t really penetrate the tank but blew the tracks which disabled the tank. This was because at the 15 cm rocket the grenade was at the end of it and exploded not right at the armour. The 21cm was more successful because the grenade was at the tip of it. His best guess for a 10 degree elevation would give a range of 700-800 meters. The Werfer was not designed for it but during the war they found out that it can be quite useful doing it that way. They also fired into villages by direct aiming or a little increase of the elevation when the situation dictated it, otherwise they had to move away from the target and fire as designed but this would give the enemy time to escape.

Von Schadewald, do you have a link to the footageyou mentioned?