Land Mattress

In 1942, Col. Mike Wardell was fighting the DAK at El Alamein when his position was being overrun by enemy troops. In desperation he seized an anti-aircraft weapon ordinarily used for shooting rockets at German planes, and turned the fire on the attacking German infantry. The result was electric, the enemy was demoralized by the devestating impact of the rockets and subsequently withdrew. Wardell was wounded and lost an eye in the action, but never forgot the usefulness of this weapon.

Back in England he determined to design a rocket gun specifically for this purpose. The British authorities were convinced however that the war would be over before this weapon could be properly designed and tested.

At this point, Lt. Col. Eric Harris, a Canadian, stepped into the fray after having seen a demonstration.

Together they approached Canadian officials and much to their surprise (and rather uncharacteristically) Gen. Crerar and Brig. Brownfield, head of all Canadian artillery, supported making this undertaking a wholly Canadian venture. Wardell was formally attached to the Canadian Army.

On Sept 15th, 1944, the 1st Canadian Rocket Unit, informally known as Land Service Mattress, was formed.

Reference: The Battle of the Scheldt. Whitaker and Whitaker (Also known as Tug of War) pgs 128 & 129.

Not that common. IIRC only one battery was formed for use in NWE, manned by Canadians as already pointed out. However, despite being only one battery, it was fairly devastating when used due to the high volume of fire it generated. It was also fairly busy, being used in all the major attacks by 21st AG between Nov 44 and the end of the war.

Here’s something I wrote on the subject a few days ago, sourced from Pemberton A.L. (1951), The development of artillery tactics and equipment, The War Office (Note that the words are mine, but the info was sourced from Pemberton):

Quote
Witt the use of rockets, or “land mattress”, the U.K. Ministry of Supply was working on a development of the Royal Navys “sea mattress”. It was still in development when 1st Canadian Army asked for a battery to support the assault on Flushing. The was some doubt about the advisability of letting them use it (on a number of grounds), but approval was given anyway. A few days after Flushing it was used again in support of the Polish Armd Div at Breda, and again early in December in support of 15th (Scottish) Division at Venlo. As a result of the latter action R.A. 12 Corps thought there was a definite requirement for one rocket battery to each corps. Early shades of MLRS there.Incidentally, time to reload after a salvo was 10 minutes.

This device was constructed from an aircraft rocket motor (76.2 mm) attached to a naval 13 kg warhead. Length 1.77 m, weight 30.5 kg, Performance: max speed 335 m/s, max range 7225 m, min range 3565 m (with spoiler).

Early versions had 32 barrels, while later versions had 30 barrels.

Went into action on 1 November 1944 by the Canadians during the crossing of the Scheldt using a 12 unit battery. 1146 rounds were fired in a 6 hour period.

A single land mattress salvo would result in 50% of the rounds falling in an area 215 m long by 219 m wide. Rockets were fired in ripples at a 0.25 s interval.

Name	Type	AI	AT	Range	AI	AT
Land Mattress	76mm rocket	–	–	(>36″) 72″