EVOLUTION
First recorded use of rockets or fire arrows come from Chinese who used it to a tremendous effect in 11th century A.D. It is reported that that in 1232 A.D. five years After Genghis Khan's death, Chinese rocket barrages repeatedly repulsed Mongolian cavalry led by his successors in attacks on the city of Kaifeng on the Yellow River (set up as the new Capital of the Chin Kingdom after Genghis Khan had sacked Peking) and driven its rulers south; Kaifeng fell in 1233 after a heroic defense, Grousset 1965). The invention traveled rapidly (presumably through the Mongols) to Europe, where it was first mentioned in 1258 A.D., and was experimented with and used up to the 15th century: in England Roger Bacon (1214-1294) had worked on both advanced gunpowder and rockets. However, towards the beginning of the 16th century the cannon (invented around 1300 A.D., after the rocket) had improved so much that the military rocket fell into disuse.
As the rocket became sufficiently powerful to serve as a destructive warhead by itself, the arrow or spear to which it was attached was discarded. We need to distinguish between true 'rockets' which are entirely self-propelled, and "arrows' (even fire-tipped) which are shot with the energy of a bow-string: a rocket-assisted arrow is a hybrid. The Chinese text Wu Pei Chih, written in the 1620s, describes rockets with explosive warheads being fired from wooden boxes divided into cells and capable of holding 100 projectiles each.
ROCKETS IN INDIA
Rockets or rocket assisted arrows are used in India even from the olden times a hoysala sculpture from halebidu temple showing possibly a fire arrow. Even hindu Vedas mention about “agnayastra” which could possibly be a rocket or rocket assistedArrows.
Black powder rockets were used sporadically on the battlefields of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Where they were used, however, they tended to be used in large numbers—possibly as a way of magnifying their psychological effect and getting around their lack of accuracy.
Re-emergence of rocket under haidar ali and his son tippu sulthan during 18th century proved the battlefield effectiveness of rockets and its psychological impact on common soldiers who faced with barrage of rockets can cause much confusion and fear especially when used against massed troops or cavalry, but they were too inaccurate to tilt decisively the fortunes of battle in favors of Tipu. Marathas were also known to fired salvos of rockets up to 2000 rockets simultaneously at the battle of panipat (1761) and also reported to unleashed a rocket artillery barrage at British at the battle of assaye.
Evolution of rocket under Haidar ali and Tipu sulthan
It is interesting to note that Haidar Ali's father, the Naik or chief constable at Budikote, commanded 50 rocketmen for the Nawab of Arcot. military tactic developed by Tippu Sultan and his father, Haidar Ali was the use of mass attacks with Rocket artillery brigades on infantry formations. Tippu Sultan wrote a military manual called Fathul Mujahidin in which 200 rocket men were prescribed to each Mysorean "cushoon" (brigade). Mysore had 16 to 24 cushoons of infantry. The areas of town where rockets and fireworks were manufactured were known as Taramandal Pet ("Galaxy Market").
There was a regular Rocket Corps in the Mysore Army. Beginning with about 1200 men in Ryder's times, this eventually reached strength of about 5000 in Tipu's army. In the Third Anglo-Mysore War of 1792, there is mention of two rocket units fielded by Tipu, commanded respectively by Qamar-ud-din Khan (120 men) and Purniah (131 men). Forrest (1970) calls attention to an account that "mentions the skill of their [Mysorean] Operators in giving them 'an elevation proportioned to the varying dimensions of the cylinder and the distance of the object to be struck'". Furthermore, the rockets could be Launched rapidly using a wheeled cart with three or more rocket ramps. wheeled rocket launchers capable of launching five to ten rockets almost simultaneously were used in war. The rocket men were trained to launch their rockets at an angle calculated from the diameter of the cylinder and the distance of the target.
Description of mysorean rocket
The rockets used by the Mysoreans consisted of a metal cylinder ("casing") containing the combustion powder ("propellant"), tied to a long bamboo pole or sword which provided the required stability to the missile
(i) Casing 2.3 in. O.D. x 10 in. long (~ 58 mm O.D. x 254mmlong), tied with strips of hide to a straight 3 ft. 4in. (~1.02 m) long sword blade.
(ii) Casing 1.5 in. O.D. x 7.8 in. long (~ 37 mm O.D. x 198 mm long), tied with strips of hide to a bamboo pole 6 ft. 3 in. (~ 1.9 m) long.
The metal cylinder used was hammered soft iron; although it was crude, it represented a considerable advance over earlier technology, as European rockets of the time had combustion chambers made of some kind of paste board; e.g. Geissler in Germany used wood, covered with sail-cloth soaked in hot glue . The use of iron (which at that time was of much better quality in India than in Europe ) increased bursting pressures, which permitted the propellant (gunpowder) to be packed to greater densities; this gave the Mysore rockets a higher thrust and range, as confirmed by later experiments in England The range is often stated as about 1000 yards. There are however other accounts that speak of rockets that generally weighed 3.5 kg, tied to 10 ft (~ -3m) bamboo poles, and with a range of up to 1 1/2 miles (2.4 km): this has been called an "outstanding performance for the time" (Baker 1978).
Battlefield effect of mysorean rockets
The Mysore rockets of this period were much more advanced than what the British had seen or known, chiefly because of the use of iron tubes for holding the propellant; this enabled higher bursting pressures in the combustion chamber and hence higher thrust and
longer range for the missile. The rockets consisted of a tube (about 60 mm diameter and 200 mm long), fastened to a sword or 3 m bamboo pole, and had a range of 1-2 “km. In the famous battle of Pollilur (1780) in which the British were defeated - a scene celebrated on the walls of Darya Daulat Bagh in Srirangapatna - a strong contributory cause is thought to have been the explosion of Colo Baillie's ammunition tumbrils, touched off by Mysore rockets* Rockets were used in the 3rd and 4th Anglo-Mysore Wars as well; although they triggered mass panic and confusion among the enemy troops;Still the rockets were so inaccurate that it did little to turn tipus fortunes in battl
The first striking account we have is that of the Battle of Pollilur, which was fought on 10 September 1780 during the Second Anglo-Mysore War Pollilur is a small village between Kanchipuram and Arakonam(In July of that year, "Hyder, with 80,000 men and 100 guns, [had come] down upon the plains of the Carnatic, 'like an avalanche, carrying destruction with him'.") Hyder and Tipu achieved a famous victory at Pollilur, and it is widely held that a strong contributory cause was that one of the British ammunition tumbrils was sent on fire by Mysorean rockets. Some experts suggests that the tumbrils were set on fire by French cannon. Sir Alfred Lyall remarked in 1914 that "The fortunes of the English in India had fallen to their lowest water-mark"
Rockets were used almost in all of battles that were fought between mysore and british during anglo-mysore wars. In third anglo- mysore war there is a mention that Lt. Col. Knox was attacked by rockets near Srirangapatna on the night of 6 February 1792, while advancing towards river Kaveri from the north. During the Fourth (and final) War, Mysore rockets were also used for ceremonial purposes. When the Jacobin Club of Mysore sent a delegation to Tippu Sultan, 500 rockets were launched as part of the gun salute. Rockets were again used on several occasions. One of these involved Col. Wellesley, to become famous later as Lord Wellington and the hero of Waterloo.
"At this point (near the village of Sultanpet) there was a large tope, or grove, which gave shelter to Tipu's rocketmen and had obviously to be cleaned out before the siege could be pressed closer to Seringapatam island. The commander chosen for this operation was Col. Wellesley, but advancing towards the tope after dark on 5 April 1799, he was set upon with rockets and musket-fires, lost his way and, as Beatson politely puts it, had to "postpone the attack" until a more favourable opportunity should offer. Wellesley's failure was glossed over by Beatson and other chroniclers, but the next morning he failed to report when a force was being paraded to renew the attack”
" On 22 April [1799], twelve days before the main battle, rocketeers worked their way around to the rear of the British encampment, then 'threw a great number of rockets at the same instant' to signal the beginning of an assault by 6,000 Indian infantry and a corps of Frenchmen, all directed by Mir Golam Hussain and Mohomed Hulleen Mir Mirans. The rockets had a range of about 1,000 yards. Some burst in the air like shells. Others called ground rockets, on striking the ground, would rise again and bound along in a serpentine motion until their force was spent."
[i.e. British as opposed to Indian units attached to the British] troops, who are formed in lines of great extent and no great depth.
" The diary of a young English officer named Bayly gives a some what different picture of the rockets' effectiveness. So pestered were we with the rocket boys that there was no moving without danger from the destructive missiles. ..'. He continued:' The rockets and musketry from 20,000 of the enemy were incessant. No hail could be thicker. Every illumination of blue lights was accompanied by a shower of rockets, some of which entered the head of the column, passing through to the rear, causing death, wounds, and dreadful lacerations from the long bamboos of twenty or thirty feet, which are invariably attached to them'."
“ On the afternoon of 4 May when the final attack on the fort was led by Baird, he was again met by "furious musket and rocket fire", but this did not help much; in about an hour's time the Fort was taken; perhaps in another hour Tipu had been shot (the precise time of his death is not known), and the war was effectively over.”
By the above facts it is clearly understood that use of mysorean rocket artillery during the war has a psychological impact on the minds British soldiers so as to inspire William Congreve to develop his own design after reverse engineering captured mysore rockets. This rocket developed known as congerve rocket was used in almost every war british empire fought later.
