Rocket artillery?

The February 2009 issue of Magazin Istoric publishes fragments from captain Constantin Ionescu's journal.

The following can be read on page 51:

For the ones not speaking Romanian, it states that the enemy launched rockets from 1 km away. It happened sometime in November 1916.

The term is pretty explicit. Bear in mind that he was an artillery captain and somewhere else in his journal (in a non-related event) he talks about projectiles landing near his battery.

Using Google brought no result apart from air to air rockets used against balloons and zeppelins in WW1.

So what rockets could these be?

Flares maybe?
What were the circumstances?

Austrian and hungarian army used rocket batteries even in 1848/1849 revolution, so it is not imposible that german and/or AH army to have it, even improved, in ww1.

I found references about hungarian revolutionary army in summer 1849 which used rocket batteries in Abrud battle, Alba Iulia siege and other minor skirmishes in Apuseni Mountains. However, I didnt found yet a description of this rocket batteries. This rocket batteries were used for their destructive power, as artillery or together with field artillery, they were not for signaling. There are statements which say that in one skirmish in Apuseni Mountain in 1849 a romanian "tribun" (militia captain) was killed in battle by this sort of rocket, being cut in two by one of this projectile.

This post has been edited by 21 inf on February 20, 2009 07:05 pm

I think he means signaling/illumination flares.

Thank you. Did some googling and they did use rockets to deploy flares in WWI. I wasn't aware of that, thinking they only did that with handguns or artillery.

So because they had no other use, when he said rockets he meant flare rockets? Is that why he didn't specify flare rockets (because there was only 1 known use they had at that time - that of deploying flares)?

That seems to be as good a reason as the undocumented existence of rockets there and then! The mystery surrounds us all...

I think as Dragos thinks. I am assuming that most probable they were rockets for site illumination during night.

Anyway, rockets were used for military purpose in the XIXth century, in the European countries.
Somebody else mentioned in this topic the Austrians and the Hungarians.

I am adding:
-the British
-the Russians
-the Confederates / Secessionists, during the American Civil War

The British and the Russians did not pursue the rocket development because of the fast progress of the barreled artillery. And the Confederates... Well, they disappeared.

Writing about undocumented existence of rockets in those days, if have to double-check in my magazine "Realitatea Ilustrata" (The Illustrated Reality), year XIII, no. 646, 6th of June, 1939, where there are few words about a Romanian teacher who in 1909...1910 launched rocket airplanes in Bucharest, as a hobby.

What is interesting is that magazine is the only source of information about this matter, so if it really happened, it was totally forgotten.

This post has been edited by Florin on March 02, 2009 10:20 pm

That's exactly why I don't think there were rockets! There should have been many more witnesses to that unusual event - as there were in WW2, some 20 years later!

This post has been edited by MMM on March 06, 2009 02:56 pm

A bit of info that places the concept of rockets and their uses around that period:

http://www.airforce-magazine.com/MagazineA...0904rocket.aspx

I guess that only confirms my initial posting: illumination devices! The above-mentioned journal does NOT state they were attacked by rocket fire, but only that they saw (or have been seen by, as a matter of fact ) the enemy.
Thus, no offensive rockets implied.