How D-Day Artillery Compares to HIMARS

President Joe Biden was among the dignitaries in Normandy, France, on Thursday to mark the 80th anniversary of the World War II D-Day invasion. On June 6, 1944, Allied forces launched Operation Overlord, the largest amphibious invasion in history.

An estimated 150,000 service members engaged in a coordinated land, sea, and air assault on the French shoreline, marking the beginning of the liberation of France and a pivotal moment in the fight against the Nazis.

The Allies used variety of equipment was on D-Day, including Sherman tanks, Higgins boats, C-47 Skytrain aircraft and M-1 rocket launchers, also known as bazookas.

At that point, rockets had been common on the war’s Eastern Front, where the legendary Soviet “Katyusha” was causing significant problems for Hitler’s troops.

Inspired by the Soviet equipment’s success, the U.S. developed its own versions of the rocket launcher, with the T34 Calliope being the most successful. This system consisted of a unique configuration that added two racks of rocket launchers to the turret of a Sherman tank.

Although considered primitive by today’s standards, the American Calliopes and the Soviet Katyushas were crucial in Germany’s defeat, even inspiring some of the artillery deployed in today’s conflicts, a military expert told Newsweek. The American High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) being used to great effect in Ukraine is effectively the modern-day version of those two weapons.

“The HIMARS is a descendant of these historic systems, continuing the legacy of providing overwhelming firepower to disrupt enemy formations,” Mark Cancian, a senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told Newsweek.

The uneasy alliance between the Soviets and the U.S. during World War II fostered the development of rocket launchers like the Calliopes and Katyushas. Both systems were designed for saturation bombardment, aiming to overwhelm enemy positions with sheer volume of fire.

The American Calliope, mounted on M4 Sherman tanks, could launch up to 60 M-8 rockets, delivering nearly 260 pounds of high explosives. Each rocket had a range of 4,500 yards. But due to the tank’s instability, the U.S. scrapped plans to deploy Calliopes on D-Day. Instead, they were used more effectively as Allied armies advanced into Germany.

Katyusha rocket launchers, by comparison, proved more effective due to their quick deployment and adaptability to trucks and other vehicles, providing devastating firepower swiftly and efficiently.

The HIMARS, introduced in the 2000s, represent a significant technological leap. HIMARS can carry six rockets or one MGM-140 ATACMS missile, reaching targets up to 180 miles away. Since Russia’s invasion, HIMARS has become a symbol of Ukrainian military strength and a regular target for Russian forces.

Mounted on a standard military truck chassis, HIMARS shares the mobility and adaptability of the Katyushas and Calliopes, allowing for rapid deployment and repositioning. Unlike its predecessors, HIMARS is designed for precise strikes on high-value targets, using GPS-guided munitions to minimize collateral damage.

The HIMARS proved pivotal when they first joined Kyiv’s arsenal in the summer of 2022. The system can fire a salvo of six rockets, hitting targets up to around 50 miles away. This capability puts Russian troop concentrations, command posts, and supply hubs within reach.

Though they’ve been a crucial part of Kyiv’s defenses, recent reports indicate that the American-made weapons are facing several challenges on the battlefield. Chief among them: Moscow has figured out to scramble the GPS navigation systems used by the guided rockets and missiles, reducing their effectiveness and precision.

That electronic warfare tactic disrupts the high-precision targeting that HIMARS is known for, rendering it somewhat closer to the artillery used by the Allies eight decades ago.