World War II Snipers

A sniper is an infantry soldier who specializes in shooting from concealment and/or longer ranges than regular infantry, often with a specially designed or adapted sniper rifle. It requires skill in marksmanship, camouflage and field craft.

The term sniper is attested from 1824 in the sense of “sharpshooter.” The verb to snipe originated in the 1770s among soldiers in British India-in the sense of: “to shoot from a hidden place,” in allusion to snipe hunting, a game bird known for being extremely difficult to locate, approach, or shoot. Those who were skilled at the hunting of this bird were thus dubbed “snipers.”

During the American Civil War, the common term used in the United States for much the same function was “skirmisher.” A Civil War army often protected itself when on the move by using such concealed marksmen, who were deployed individually on the extremes of the moving army. Generally, such skirmishers were selected on the basis of prior proven hunting and marksmanship skills. Often these were either young soldiers with promising maneuverability and fieldcraft, or older men with refined marksmanship and tactical skills. The term sniper hence did not reach widespread use in the United States until somewhat later than the American Civil War.

In the last few decades, the term “sniper” has been used rather loosely, especially by media in association with police precision riflemen, those responsible for assassination, any shooting from all but the shortest range in war, and any criminal equipped with a rifle in a civil context. In the Bosnian War, and for much of the Siege of Beirut, the term “sniper” was used to refer to what were generally ill-trained soldiers who terrorized civilians, mainly by firing at them from hi-rise windows and rooftops. During the Siege of Sarajevo, the main street of the city became known as “Sniper Alley”.

This has rather expanded the general understanding the term. It has also given “sniper” mixed connotations. Official sources often use other terms, especially for police snipers: “counter-sniper,” “precision marksman,” “tactical marksman,” “sharpshooter,” or “precision shooter.” Some of these alternatives have been in common use for a long time; others are closer to undisguised euphemisms.

Sniper rifles of World War II

World War II

Typical World War II-era sniper rifles were generally standard-issue rifles (hand-picked for accuracy) with a 2.5x telescopic sight and cheek-rest fitted, with the bolt turned down (if necessary) to allow operation with the scope affixed. By the end of the war, forces on all sides had specially-trained soldiers equipped with sniper rifles, and they have played an increasingly important role in military operations ever since.

^{excerpts from wikipedia.com}

Examples of sniper rifles used during World War II:

• Mosin-Nagant M91/30 used by the Soviet Union and Finland
• Mauser K98k used by Germany
• Lee-Enfield No 4 Mk I (T) used by the UK and Commonwealth
• SMLE Mk III* (HT) used by Australia
• Springfield M1903A4 used by the United States
• Arisaka Type 97 used by Japan

“Highly accurate professional German Army and Waffen SS sniper units were very effective during World War II.

Their deadly precision fire was legendary. In 1945, for example, the German Army fielded many units such as

Kampfgruppe, "...Wesler, a company of snipers whose specialist activities and high 'kill' rate had so dominated one

Russian bridgehead on the River Oder that enemy activity on that sector was held in check..."

German snipers were posted everywhere throughout the German combat forces. Up to 22 German snipers were typically

deployed with a German rifle battalion. Each sniper was paired with a marksman from that battalion in a two-man team.”

^{Excerpt from Death by Precision Fire}

Famous World War II Snipers

Name: Simo Hayha Location:Finland Kills: 542

Name:Ivan Sidorenko Location:U.S.S.R. Kills:500

Name:Nikolay Yakovlevich Ilyin Location:U.S.S.R. Kills:496

Name:Kulbertinov Location:U.S.S.R. Kills:487

Name: V. N. Pchelintsev Location:U.S.S.R. Kills:456

Name: Mikhail Budenkov Location:U.S.S.R. Kills:437

Name:Fyodor Matveevich Okhlopkov Location:U.S.S.R. Kills:429

Name:Fyodor Djachenko Location:U.S.S.R. Kills:425

Name:Vasilij Ivanovich Golosov Location:U.S.S.R. Kills:422

Name:Afanasy Gordienko Location:U.S.S.R. Kills:417

Name:Stepan Petrenko Location:U.S.S.R. KIlls:412

Name: Sulo Kolkka Location: Finland Kills:400+

Name:Erwin Konig Location:Germany Kills:400

Name:Vasili Zaitsev Location:U.S.S.R. Kills:400

visit the link below for next remaining snipers of world war II

^{http://www.snipercentral.com/snipers.htm#WWII}

Sniper Tactics of the Great Patriotic War

The Soviet Sniper has been glorified and romanticized in film and print but do we really have an accurate picture of Soviet sniper tactics during the Great Patriotic War or as we call it, World Ward Two. These soldiers - both men and women carried a great deal of responsibility when they entered the battle. The general perception of snipers are that they are cold hearted assassins, natural born shooters and larger than life heroes. In fact, they were former factory workers, school girls and clerks. They came from every walk of life and were humble and self-sacrificing.

Soviet snipers were a part of the military planning and tactics long before the outbreak of the war. The Soviet experience from the first world war highlighted the importance of incorporating sharpshooters or snipers into their battle plans. Marksmanship and sharp shooting skills were emphasized in both the military and in official state run youth and recreation programs. When the rifle 1891/30 was developed it was also decided to develope a sniper variant. Up until that time the official tactics for small units largely ignored the importance of utilizing snipers equipped with special purpose rifles. The Soviet Army did utilize sharpshooters but they were equipped with either standard infantry rifles or sometimes civilian hunting rifles. However, the shooting skills of the Finns during the Winter War drove home a bloody point that could not be ignored by the Soviet high command. Soviet field commanders feared the presence of Finn sharpshooters and snipers and recognized that these snipers were able to disrupt the communications and flow of battle and served to demoralize front line troops. It was the experience of these commanders that shaped sniper tactics in the Soviet Army.

The initial plan was to equip every platoon sized unit with a sniper rifle to be used their best shooter. However, with only about 50,000 rifles in the inventory, the Army was hard pressed to man every platoon with snipers as the Army expanded. An unfortunate decision by the command led to a further diluting of sniper effectiveness through the introduction of the SVT sniper rifle. This rifle suffered from a series of problems when used in the field as a result of its design as a semi-automatic rifle. For one thing, it did not respond well to extremely cold environments and suffered problems with the lubricant gumming up its working parts. Another problem was in cold shot accuracy where the first round fired would tend to wander significantly wide of the point of aim. Many snipers complained that the rifle was unwieldy and mechanically loud to operate.

By the time the Soviets were fully engaged with German forces a rush program was initiated to get the 91/30 Sniper fully into production. In 1942 production figures totaled in the 90,000 range. As more of these rifles reached units, existing tactics were put into practice and refined. To examine the tactics of the Soviet Sniper, it is necessary to review the philosophy for using snipers in the first place. Under the Soviet system, snipers were fielded in teams of two with a sniper and an observer. Both team members were qualified snipers and changed roles after each kill. The sniper was to provide both scouting duties as well as point and indirect fire to disrupt enemy activities and communications. The observer assisted in spotting potential targets, provided security and recorded and confirmed kills. Each sniper carried a "kill book" where they recorded time, date, location and details of each kill or engagement. This book was also used to record detailed information on German troop concentrations and movements. As mentioned before, the sniper was assigned at platoon level and reported directly to the platoon leader. Most sniper teams worked autonomously and ranged ahead of advancing formations or across an assigned frontal sector.

The Great Patriotic War produced some changes to the way sniper teams operated. The advancing German Army moved rapidly and unpredictably, using flanking maneuvers to surround retreating or static forces and cut them off. Soviet commanders reacted to this by concentrating their sniper teams on their flanks out away from the main body to impede Nazi advances on the flanks. This required platoon teams to gather in larger groups that worked together to provide advance warning to the majorcommand elements of German movement as well as to concentrate their firepower.

Tactics in urban areas were somewhat new to Soviet snipers as they fought in rural settings during previous conflicts. Much of the doctrine developed for urban sniper engagements was refined as sniper teams operated in those settings. Cover and concealment was fundamental operating in any environment but proved to be a challenge in the urban setting. Although the cities were in various states of ruin, the rubble that was fought in presented a unique challenge. In the countryside, cover and concealment was a matter of blending in with the natural foliage and scrub. In a city, rubble and buildings were quite angular and prone to making the rounded silhouette of the human body stand out. Snipers had to learn how to use the rubble to their advantage.

The sniper was given very specific responsibilities whether fighting in the country or the city and although those responsibilities were specific, the level of independent action afforded the sniper was unprecedented in the Soviet Army. The sniper was a scout, blocking force, psychological operations unit, and deadly marksman all rolled into one. To earn the coveted sniper badge he or she had to demonstrate skill with the standard infantry rifle, small unit tactics, engaging both land and air targets, use of grenades and sapper explosives and leadership. The men and women of the sniper corps were held to to a higher standard than mainstream troops and were expected to serve as role models.

Source: http://www.russian-mosin-nagant.com/soviet_sniper_article.htm

Vasily Zaytsev

(Russian: Васи́лий Григо́рьевич За́йцев (March 23, 1915–December 15, 1991) was a Soviet sniper during World War II who between November 10 and December 17, 1942 during the Battle of Stalingrad killed 225 soldiers and officers of the Wehrmacht and other Axis armies, including 11 enemy snipers. Prior to 10 November he had already killed 32 Axis soldiers with the standard-issue Mosin-Nagant rifle ("tryokhlineyka", three line rifle). Between October 1942 and January 1943, Zaytsev had made 242 verified kills, but the real number may be much higher, some argue it might have been as many as 400. His military rank at the time was Junior Lieutenant.

^{Source: wikipedia.com}