100 best snipers in history. The best sniper

Snipers in ambush. Far left - Senior Sergeant Ivan Petrovich Merkulov, sniper of the 1st rifle company of the 610th rifle regiment. Far right - Merkulov's student Sergeant Zolotov

Aces snipers who killed 50 or more enemy soldiers

Sniper Vasily Grigorievich Zaitsev. which destroyed 225 soldiers and officers of the German army and the armies of their allies from November 10 to December 17, 1942

Photo allegedly depicting Erwin Koenig

The best snipers of the Second World War were Russian snipers, and there is a very specific explanation for this fact: long before the start of the Great Patriotic War, the Soviet Union paid special attention to mass shooting training of the population, the development of skills in handling and marksmanship. In 1932, when Osoaviakhim established the title of Voroshilov shooter, a wide movement for mastering shooting skills unfolded. About 9 million people were awarded with the Voroshilovsky shooter badge. The result of this work was a reserve of well-trained shooters.

Even before the start of the Great Patriotic War, sniper squads were included in the staff of the NKPS Railroad Guard units.
The actual sniper accounts are actually larger than the confirmed ones. For example, Fyodor Okhlopkov, according to estimates, killed more than a thousand Germans in total, using a machine gun as well. In 1943, there were more than 1,000 women among Soviet snipers; during the war, more than 12,000 Germans were counted. The first ten Soviet snipers killed (confirmed) 4200 soldiers and officers, and the first twenty - 7400. Sniper of the 82nd rifle division Mikhail Lysov in October 1941 shot down a Ju-87 from an automatic rifle with a sniper scope. Unfortunately, there is no data on the number of infantrymen killed by him. A sniper of the 796th rifle division Sergeant Major Antonov Vasily Antonovich in July 1942 near Voronezh shot down a twin-engine Ju-88 with four rifle shots. No data on the number of infantrymen killed by him has survived either.

The weapon of our snipers was mainly the Mosin sniper rifle. However, the SVT sniper version was also used.

The training of snipers in the Wehrmacht began to be engaged only by the end of 1942, and not only Soviet captured sniper rifles were used, but also Soviet educational films and manuals. Therefore, the Germans managed to reach the required level only in 1944. It is believed that Erwin Koenig, who was killed by Vasily Zaitsev in Stalingrad, was engaged in the training of snipers in Germany. It is also alleged that the head of the school of snipers in Zossen was SS Standartenfuehrer Heinz Torvald, whose existence, like the school itself, is also in doubt - German snipers were trained not in schools, but directly in the troops. Many generally believe that Koenig was invented by the writer William Craig, who wrote the book "Enemy at the Gates" in 1973. However, the sight, removed by Zaitsev from the Koenig sniper rifle, was displayed at the Central Museum of the Armed Forces. in Moscow, which, however, was removed from the exposition some time ago.

Most likely, Koenig was just a good sniper and was among those 11 snipers who were killed by Vasily Zaitsev, and inflating the importance of his persona is only aimed at making the layman think that the Germans also had aces snipers.

Mosin sniper rifle

SVT with sniper scope

Lyudmila Pavlichenko is the most productive female sniper, who destroyed 309 enemies.

The most productive of our snipers was the sergeant major from the 1st battalion of the 39th rifle regiment of the 4th rifle division of the 12th army Mikhail Ilyich Surkov. Of the female snipers, the most effective was a sniper from the 54th rifle regiment of the 25th Chapaevskaya rifle division, Lyudmila Mikhailovna Pavlichenko. among the best snipers there were many hunters who had been hunting since childhood. The hunters were Vasily Zaitsev, sniper-yakut Fedor Matveyevich Okhlopkov and Mikhail Surkov. Evenk snipers Semyon Danilovich also became famous.

An interesting fact: from January 18 to January 28, 1943, a rally of NKVD snipers from all fronts was held in Moscow. It was attended by 309 people. After a four-day instructor-methodological seminar, a combat training took place. In the course of it, a combined battalion of snipers from the rally participants destroyed 2,375 Wehrmacht servicemen in ten days.

Among the German snipers, Matthias Hetzenauer distinguished himself - 345 confirmed killed, Josef Allerberger - 257 confirmed killed and the Lithuanian Bruno Sutkus who fought for the Germans - 209 killed. The Finn Simo Häyhä also became famous, who is credited with 504 killed Red Army soldiers, of whom 219 were documented.

List of the most productive Soviet snipers

Full Name	Number of enemies destroyed	Notes
Surkov Mikhail Ilyich		4th SD, 12th Army.
Salbiev Vladimir Gavrilovich		(71 GvSD and 95 GvSD) to 12/20/1944
Kvachantiradze Vasily Shalvovich		GSS dated 03.24.1945.
Sidorenko Ivan Mikhailovich		GSS dated 4.06.1944.
Ilyin Nikolay Yakovlevich		GSS dated 02/08/1943. Died on August 4, 1943.
Kulbertinov Ivan Nikolaevich		He died in 1993.
Pchelintsev Vladimir Nikolaevich	456 (including 14 snipers)	GSS dated 02/06/1942.
Goncharov, Pyotr Alekseevich		GSS dated 01/10/1944. He died on 01/30/1944.
Mikhail I. Budenkov		GSS dated 03.24.1945.
Renskov Ivan Mikhailovich		Data needs clarification
Okhlopkov Fedor Matveevich		GSS dated 05/06/1965.
Dyachenko Fyodor Trofimovich		GSS dated 02.21.1944.
Petrenko Stepan Vasilievich	422 (including 12 snipers)	GSS dated 03.24.1945.
	422 (including 70 snipers)	He died on 08/16/1943. GSS dated 10/26/1943.
Galushkin Nikolay Ivanovich	418 (including 17 snipers)	GRF dated 06.21.1995.
Gordienko Afanasy Emelyanovich		He died in 1943.
Abdybekov Tuleugali Nasyrkhanovich		He died of wounds on 02/23/1944.
Kharchenko Fyodor Alekseevich		Died 01/23/1944. GSS dated 06/05/1965.
Semyon Danilovich Nomokonov		Including one general and 8 Japanese.
Medvedev Viktor Ivanovich		GSS dated 02.22.1944.
Velichko Gennady Iosifovich		According to other sources - 330. GSS dated 10/26/1943.
Antonov Ivan Petrovich	352 (including 20 snipers)	GSS dated 02.22.1943.
Belousov Mikhail Ignatievich		GSS dated 10/26/1943.
Govorukhin Alexander		296th SP, 13th SD.
Idrisov Abdukhazhi		GSS dated 06/03/1944.
Rubakho Philip Yakovlevich		He died of wounds on 09/14/1943. GSS dated 01.22.1944.
Larkin Ivan Ivanovich		GSS dated 01/15/1944.
Markin Ivan I.		1183rd SP, 356th SD
Gorelikov Ivan Pavlovich	not less than 338	GSS dated 04/28/1943.
Grigoriev Ilya Leonovich	328 (including 18 snipers)	GSS dated 07/15/1944.
Butkevich Leonid Vladimirovich		According to some sources - 345. GSS dated 10/25/1943.
Nikolaev Evgeny Adrianovich		14th SP, 21st SD NKVD
Ivasik Mikhail Adamovich		Died on 08/18/1944. GSS dated 03.24.1945.
Tulaev Zhambyl Evshcheevich	313 (including 30 snipers)	GSS dated 02.14.1943.
Lebedev Alexander Pavlovich		He died on 08/14/1943. GSS dated 04.06.1944.
Titov Vasily Alexandrovich		301st OAD KBF.
Dobrik Ivan Timofeevich		14th SP, 21st SD of the NKVD.
Usik Moisey Timofeevich	not less than 300	GSS dated 10/17/1943. Died 01/08/1944.
Adamia Noy Petrovich		He died in July 1942. GSS dated 07.24.1942.
Vedernikov Nikolay Stepanovich	about 300 (including machine gun)	GSS dated 06/27/1945.
Bryksin Maxim Semyonovich		726th SP, 395th SD.
Abdulov Ivan Filippovich	298 (including 5 snipers)	Died 03/11/1943. GSS dated 10/26/1943.
Reznichenko Fedor		Leningrad front.
Ostafeichuk Ivan
Smetnev Yakov Mikhailovich		GSS dated 03.24.1945.
		Died 04/30/1945. GSS dated 05/15/1946.
Passar Maxim Alexandrovich		71st Guards SD. Died on 01/17/1943.
Dorzhiev Tsyrendashi		202nd SD, Northwestern Front. He died in January 1943.
Chekhov Anatoly Ivanovich		39th Guards Rifle Regiment, 13th Guards Division, 62nd Army.
Kashitsin? ?		296th SP, 13th SD. Leningrad front.
Sokhin Mikhail Stepanovich		GSS dated 09/13/1944.
Shorets Pavel		There is no exact data.
Akhmetyanov Akhat		Leningrad front.
Chegodaev Fyodor Kuzmich		By May 1942. GSS dated 07.21.1942.
Bocharov Ivan Ivanovich		GSS dated 06/03/1944.
Palmin Nikolay V.
Zaitsev Vasily Grigorievich	242 (including 11 snipers)	GSS dated 02.22.1943.
News Simanchuk Grigory Mikhailovich
Petrov Egor Konstantinovich		1100th SP, 327th SD, 2nd Shock Army. He died in 1944.
Suleimenov Ibragim	not less than 239	8th Guards Division, 3rd Shock Army. He died in October 1943.
Dmitry Strebkov
Zeynutdinov Kalimulla	not less than 226
Doev David Teboevich	226 (including 3 snipers)	Died 11/12/1943. GSS dated 05.16.1944.
Golichenkov Pyotr Ivanovich	225 (including 23 snipers)	According to other sources - 248. GSS dated 6.02.1942.
fighter named "Zhigan"		In the battles for Stalingrad.
Danilov V.I.		By August 1943. 32nd Army, Karelian Front.
Mironov Mikhail Yakovlevich		GSS dated 02.21.1944.
Sorikov Mikhail Elevich	not less than 220	39th SP, 4th SD.
Nikitin Nikolay V.		Leningrad front.
Semyonov Nikolay Fedorovich		169th SP, 86th SD, 2nd Shot Army. Senior Sergeant, for the period from 08/29/41 to 06/10/43. In addition, he trained and educated 94 more snipers, who killed more than 580 Germans.
Naymushin Ivan Grigorievich
Shabanov Pavel		Leningrad front.
Galimov Vakhit Gazizovich		Died 09/28/1943. GSS dated 02.22.1944.
	not less than 207
Pupkov Alexey		182nd SD, 27th and 34th armies.
Lebedev Ivan		61st Army, Bryansk Front.
Talalaev Vasily Ivanovich		Died 04/22/1945. GSS dated 05/31/1945.
Atnagulov Fakhretdin
Afanasiev Nikifor Samsonovich		GSS dated 06/03/1944.
Petrov Vasily		red Banner Baltic Fleet sailor, died.
Kochubey? ?		187th SP, 72nd SD, 55th Army.
Komaritsky Vasily Mikhailovich	not less than 200	1183rd joint venture, 356th SD.
News Rataev Vasily Semyonovich		By 09/20/1942. He died on 08/01/1944.
Krasnov Vladimir Nikiforovich		He died on 10/07/1943.
Tkachev Ivan Terentyevich		21st Guards Division, 3rd Shock Army.
Surin F.G.		KOS 2nd and 3rd degree.
Kurka Vasily Timofeevich		He died in January 1945.
Maryasov? ?		309th SD, Voronezh Front.
Kozlenkov Anatoly Vladimirovich		483rd Guards Regiment, 118th Guards Rifle Division.
Ukhinov Dorzhi		188th SD, 27th Army.
Amaev Mahmud Mutievich		87th Guards Rifle Regiment, 29th Guards Rifle Division. Died 02/22/1943.
Vilhelms Janis Voldemarovich		GSS dated 07.21.1942.
Sinyavin? ?
Abbasov Mamed-Ali		By the end of 1943. 63rd KBMP SF
Khandogin Gavriil Nikiforovich		622th joint venture, 250th SD and 674th joint venture, 150th SD.
Denisenko Stepan Petrovich		1128th joint venture, 336th SD. KOS of all 3 degrees.
Zhizhin Alexey Mikhailovich		961st SP, 274th SD, 36th SK. He died in May 1945.
Bogdanov Pyotr Afanasievich
		Autumn 1942, 83rd Guards Rifle Division.
F.Istichkin		By May 1943. 266th SD.
Rakhmatullin Zagid Kalievich		14th SP, 21st SD of the NKVD.
Kazakov Viktor Sergeevich		68th ICBM, 8th GvMK.
Zvyagintsev Matvey		Leningrad front. Died 01/19/1944.
Konovalov T.
Ivan Brezgin
Kilya Zakhar		182nd SD, 27th Army.
Borisov Guriy
Students? ?		By November 1942. In the battles for Stalingrad.
Gorbatenko Nikolay	not less than 168	Karelian front.
Slipko Peter		By July 1943. 1133th SP, 339th SD, 56th Army.
Akimov A.		By May 1943. 266th SD.
Gostyukhin Andrey		Leningrad front.
Khuzhmatov Khait		By December 1942.
Yakunin Stepan		By June 1943. 311th Infantry Regiment
Lepsky Nikolay Petrovich		106th border regiment of the NKVD.
Samsonov Nikolay	not less than 162	353rd SD, 18th Army.
Murai Grigory Efimovich		508th SP, 174th SD. KOS of all 3 degrees.
Vasily Alekseevich Proshagin		92nd SD, Leningrad Front.
Bondarenko Timofey
(or - Trofim) Gerasimovich	not less than 156	By June 1944. 3rd Shock Army.
Kalinin Alexander Andreevich	155 (or 115)	GSS dated 02/06/1942.
Dmitry Iosifovich Chechikov	not less than 154	By April 1943. 34th SD, 28th Army, Southern Front.
Kuritsyn? ?	Not less than 153	55th Army, Leningrad Front
Savchenko Grigory P.		1st Shock Army, Northwestern Front.
Kurbanov Alexey Abdurakhmanovich		282nd Guards Regiment, 92nd Guards Rifle Division. GSS dated 02.22.1944.
Sofronov Pyotr Nikolaevich
Biryukov? ?	not less than 150	91st border regiment.
Vazherkin Ivan Vasilievich		GSS dated 01/15/1944.
Belyakov, Pyotr Alekseevich
Tishchenko I.
Merkulov Ivan Petrovich		GSS dated 03/19/1944.
Izegov Ivan Romanovich		until June 1942 60th cn
Kopylov Mikhail		By the end of the summer of 1942. 158th SD.
Maximov? ?	not less 142	44th Guards Rifle Regiment, 15th Guards Rifle Division.
Alexey Trusov		108th border regiment of the NKVD.
Gannochka Mikhail G.
Ostudin Nikolay Nikolaevich		296th SP, 13th SD.
Romanov? ?		By the spring of 1943.
Vezhlivtsev Ivan Dmitrievich		GSS dated 02/06/1942.
Loginov? ?		81st Guards, 25th Guards,
Voronezh front.
Kalimbet Sergey Pavlovich		33rd MRP of the NKVD Troops.
Chkhediani Pavel Erastovich
Aliev Said Davydovich	not less than 130	10th GvSD. GSS dated 02.22.1943.
Klimovsky? ?		By October 1943. 32nd Army, Karelian Front.
Dmitrenko Vladimir Nesterovich	not less than 130	8th Guards Brigade.
Gaponov Grigory Semyonovich		GSS dated 03.24.1945.
Mironov Alexey Afanasevich		He died on 03/30/1945. GSS dated 05.05.1990.
Pereberin Boris
Osmanaliev Ashirali
Vengerov I.P.		309th SD, Voronezh Front.
Savelyev V.G.		Leningrad front.
Vyuzhin Georgy	not less than 127	143rd SP, Leningrad Front.
Osipov V.I.		Resident of the mountains. Rybinsk.
Voznov Nikolay M.		By October 1942. 1st Shock Army, Northwestern Front.
Minchenkov Mikhei Mitrofanovich
Timofeev? ?		7th BMP, Leningrad Front.
Ukhov Fedor		Volkhov front.
Smolyachkov Feodosiy Artemovich		Died 01/15/1942. GSS dated 02/06/1942.
Zhambora Sh.
Zalesskikh Nikolay		Leningrad front.
Koleinikov I.P.		13th joint venture of the NKVD troops.
Rakhmatulin Zagid Kalievich		14th KSP NKVD, 21st SD.
Paw Jacob	not less than 124
Denisenko Ivan Anastasevich	not less than 124	187th SP, 72nd SD, 55th Army.
Seliverstov Ivan Timofeevich
News Sedashkin Alexander Nikolaevich		By 06/10/1942.
Gulyaev Dmitry Alekseevich		110th SD, 33rd Army. Died 09/10/1943.
Shelomintsev S.?		32nd Army, Karelian Front.
Zhuchenko E.		By May 1943. 266th SD
Ivanov Leonid Vasilievich
News Tsuzhba Mikhail Sharipovich
Tarasenko? ?	not less than 118	By early 1942. Leningrad front.
Kazankin R. T.	not less than 118
Isakov Grigory Mikhailovich	not less than 118	Killed at Leningrad
Morozov? ?
Loskutov Stepan Petrovich		GSS dated 02/06/1942.
Grebenyuk? ?	not less than 116
Dorokhin Pyotr	not less than 116	687th SP, 141st SD. 40th Army. Voronezh front.
Fedorov Georgy Konstantinovich
Rose Janis Janovic		123rd Guards Rifle Regiment, 43rd Guards Rifle Division, 10th Army.
	not less than 114
Adilov Teshaboy		65th SP, 43rd SD, 55th Army.
Alexey Fyodorovich Kochegarov
Shevelev Alexander Evstafievich		By March 1942. 311th SD.
Karasev? ?	not less than 112
Proskurin Vasily
Klochkin Ilya Gershevich	not less than 111	101st SP, 4th SD.
Savitsky P.		By May 1943. 266th SD
Fedorov Ignat	not less than 110
Mironov Vasily
Seferbekov Abdulla		Died 03/05/1943.
	not less than 109
Kuchmenko Grigory Imkhonovich	not less than 109	In battles on Malaya Zemlya.
Voitenko? ?	not less than 108
Bugay Ivan Pavlovich
Kuksenok Vladimir
Abbasov Balaoglan		Died on 11/19/1942.
Nishchev Iosif Ilyich		KOS of all 3 degrees.
	not less than 105	961st SP, 274th SD, 36th SK.
Yakovlev Fyodor Vasilievich
Kiselev Ivan Alekseevich		Border troops of the NKVD.
Andersen? ?		By June 1943. 1st Shock Army, Northwestern Front.
Sanzheev Togon		He died in June 1942.
Meadov Nazir		35th Guards Rifle Regiment, 10th Guards Rifle Division, 14th Army.
Alexey Shubin		14th SP NKVD, 21st SD. Died 01/31/1942.
Neskuba Ivan Sidorovich		Border troops of the NKVD.
Alexey Prusov		By October 1942. Transcaucasian front.
Zhumagulov Akhmet	not less than 101	By the summer of 1943. 8th Guards Division, 3rd Shock Army.
Gromov Nikolay		He died in November 1942.
Sheltenov Zamit
Koishibaev Galim		1280th SP, 391st SD, 1st Shock Army.
Pilyushin Iosif Iosifovich		105th joint venture; 14th SP, 21st NKVD SD; 602nd SP 109th NKVD SD.
Vasilyev Vasily Ivanovich		Perhaps - Sergey Vasiliev. 7th BMP Black Sea Fleet.
Inashvili Dursun		He died in December 1942.
Boltyrev Alexey Alekseevich
Boltyrev G.B.
Melnikov? ?		Perhaps this is A. I. Melnikov.
Syzdykbekov Akmukan		55th Army, Leningrad Front.
Kostin Alexander,
Kravtsov Mikhail		220th Infantry Division.
Abdulaev, Kurashvili, Zhadov,
Vinogradov, Tsaritsyn, Lisin,
Zaitsev, Khasanov, Latokin.		182nd SD, 27th and 34th armies.
Esirkeev Juman		KOS 3rd degree.
Alexey Rusakov		KOS 3rd degree.
Sumchenko Grigory Tikhonovich	not less than 100	In battles on Malaya Zemlya.
	not less than 100	296th SP, 13th SD.
Smirnov? ?	not less than 100	296th SP, 13th SD.
F. I. Tonkikh	not less than 100	By October 1943. 32nd Army, Karelian Front.
Spirin Mikhail?	not less than 100	110th SD, 33rd Army.
Saltykov Ivan Ivanovich	not less than 100	296th SP, 13th SD.
Vdovichenko? ?	not less than 100	296th SP, 13th SD.
Kharlamov? ?	not less than 100	296th SP, 13th SD.
Rat Mikhail.		353rd SD, 18th Army
		18th Army
Rajapov Tajibay		127th border regiment of the NKVD.
Bondarenko Pyotr Emelyanovich		By March 1942. 502nd joint venture, 177th SD.
Eraliev Akhmet
Rumyantsev? ?	not less than 98	210th GvSP, 71st GvSD.
Dergilev Egor Ivanovich		GSS dated 10/17/1943.
Musaev Abdulla		515th SP, 134th SD. KOS of all 3 degrees.
Mitrofanov? ?		159th SD, 45th SK, 5th Army, 3rd Belorussian Front.
Gagin Alexey Ivanovich
Yudin K. N.	not less than 94	687th SP, 141st SD, 40th Army, Voronezh Front.
Morozov Mikhail
Karpachev Semyon Ermolaevich	not less 93	In battles on Malaya Zemlya.
Avramenko G. T.	not less than 92
Chebotarev I.		By May 1943. 266th SD.
Barbeev? ?	not less than 92
Vezberdev? ?		By October 1942. 83rd GvSD.
Esirkeev Juman	not less than 90 (including 12 snipers)	5th Army.
Sumarokov Boris	not less than 89	Leningrad front.
Ghazaryan Sergo Avedovich		14th SP, 21st SD of the NKVD.
Shvets Sidor Ivanovich		13th joint venture of the NKVD troops.
Petrashin Georgy Ivanovich		103rd border regiment of the NKVD.
Zhulaev Ivan Ivanovich		1st GvSP, 2nd GvSD. KOS of all 3 degrees.
Vdovchenko Grigory Gavrilovich		By February 1942
296-SP, 13th SD.
Krivokon Fyodor Ivanovich		Including 14 Japanese.
	not less than 85	sergeant of the 1298th joint venture.
Boltarev German Isaakovich	not less than 85	382nd joint venture, 84th SD.
Suchkov Nikolay D.		25th Chapaevskaya SD.
Mutchaev? ?
Cheremisov V.		By May 1943. 266th SD.
Akhmedyanov Akhat - Abdul Khakovich		By October 1942. 260th SP, 168th SD ..
Budylin Ivan Fedorovich		By December 1943. 610th SP, 203rd SD.
Polyakov? ?		25th Guards Division, Voronezh Front.
Egorov Mikhail Ivanovich		By 01/18/1942, 125th SD.
		3rd OBMA KBF.
Yablonsky Nikolay Stanislavovich		106th border regiment of the NKVD.
Ishmatov Gaumzin	not less than 81
Khalin Andrey Timofeevich	not less than 81	In battles on Malaya Zemlya.
Shaposhnikov Ivan
Slobodyanyuk Alexey Mikhailovich		104th border regiment of the NKVD.
Minchenkov Mikhei Mitrofanovich		KOS of all 3 degrees.
Dmitry Petrunin		83rd border regiment of the NKVD. KOS of all 3 degrees.
Popov Timofey Lavrent'evich	not less than 80	309th SD, Voronezh front. He died in 1944.
	not less than 79
Moldagulova Aliya Nurmukhambetovna		(54 separate brigade) died on January 14, 1944
		25th Guards Division, Voronezh Front.
Burmistrov Ivan Ivanovich		1247th joint venture, 135th SD, 59th army. Died 09/30/1943
Dvoyashkin? ?		1047th SP, 284th SD
Shikunov Pavel Egorovich		Died 01/14/1945.
GSS dated 03.24.1945.
Prokhorov Nikolay Vasilievich		1291st joint venture, 110th SD, 33rd army.
Evstyugin (Evsyukov)? ?		By the fall of 1942. 1st Shock Army. Northwestern Front.
Denisenko Pavel Ivanovich		by November 1942.
Yakushin Fyodor Mitrofanovich		103rd border regiment of the NKVD.
Khatimov? ?		By October 1943. 32nd Army, Karelian Front.
Khismatulin? ?	not less than 75
Khantadze Ermolai Nesterovich	not less than 75	In battles on Malaya Zemlya.
Bogatyr Ivan Ivanovich	not less than 75	GSS dated 06/20/1942.
Semakhin Pyotr Filatovich	not less than 75	998th SP (286th SD), 105th PP of the NKVD.
Zolkin Ivan Andreevich	not less than 75	1266th SP, 385th SD.
Nosov Nikolay
Budaev Dondok		188th SD, 27th Army.
Hastitulin? ?
Ivkov Alexander Vasilievich	not less than 73	GSS dated 03.24.1945.
Ivashenkov Alexey Petrovich
		By December 1942.
Tyulkin? ?		25th Guards Division, Voronezh Front.
P. I. Belousov		12th Red Banner BMP.
Kotlyarov I.		By May 1943. 266th SD.
Zhukov, Petr Yakovlevich		By November 1942.
Statuev Alexander Mikhailovich		By 06/10/1942. 374th SP, 128th SD, 8th Army, Leningrad Front.
Menagarishvili Grigory Esifovich		83rd Marine Brigade. He died in February 1943.
Vorontsov N.		328th SD (31st GvSD).
Sidorov? ?	not less than 70	In the battles for Stalingrad.
A. I. Dubrovin		3rd Shock Army.
Mamedov I.M.		1st Shock Army, Northwestern Front.
Sherstyuk Fyodor Semyonovich	not less than 68	44th Guards Rifle Regiment, 15th Guards Rifle Division. KOS of all 3 degrees.
		By May 1943. 266th SD.
Khalikov? ?		By the spring of 1943.
Khudobin Viktor Ivanovich		148th Guards Rifle Regiment, 50th Guards Rifle Division.
Alexey V. Adrov	not less than 66
		33rd MRP of the NKVD Troops.
Salbiev V.G.	not less than 65
Khromov Pavel	not less than 65	He died in June 1943.
Maltsev? ?	not less than 65	In 1943.
Zhakeev Malgazhdar	not less than 65	1138th joint venture, 338th SD. Died 03/08/1943.
Myreev Egor Ivanovich		He died in 1942. 213rd SP, 56th SD.
Afanasyev? ?		110th SD, 33rd Army.
Vasiliev Nikolay Pavlovich		104th border regiment of the NKVD.
Kokshibaev Galim		By October 1942,
including hand-to-hand combat.
Frolov Alexander Ivanovich	not less than 63
I. I. Radin	not less than 63
Lyakin I. I.	not less than 63
Blades? ?		By May 1943. 266th SD.
Bespalov I. M.	not less than 62	687th SP, 141st SD, 40th Army. Voronezh front.
Savchenko Mikhail Fedorovich		194th SP, 162nd SD. KOS of all 3 degrees.
Kashurny S.P.	not less than 61	687th SP, 141st SD. 40th Army, Voronezh Front.
Ivanov Alexander	not less than 61
Chebotarev Vasily Mikhailovich		He died on 06/27/1944. GSS dated 06/29/1945.
Pospelov Vasily Efimovich		16 joint venture NKVD; 1 tank from the anti-tank rifle.
Eremeev Timofey	not less than 60	In the summer of 1941 in the battles for Kiev.
Yerzhanov Anorbay	not less than 60	by the fall of 1942.
Novitsky? ?		By December 1942.
Zavyalov? ?		By October 1943. 32nd Army, Karelian Front.
Sobyanin Gavriil Epifanovich		201st joint venture, 48th SD. Died on 23.12.1944. GSS dated 06/29/1945.
Kopshibaev Galim		By October 1942. 1st Shock Army, Northwestern Front.
Sergienkov Dmitry Grigorievich		GSS dated 06/27/1945.
Kunakbaev I.A.		12th Red Banner BMP.
	not less than 58
Jababarov? ?	not less than 58
Miglabilashvili? ?	not less than 58	83rd Red Banner BMP.
		1047th SP, 284th SD.
I. Gordeev		By November 1942.
Poznov J.		By May 1943. 266th SD.
News Zibrov Alexey Ivanovich		By 02/02/1942. 13th SD, 42nd Army, Leningrad Front.
Musoev Abdullo		1077th SP, 316th SD, 38th Army. KOS of all 3 degrees.
Bayan N.K.	not less than 57
Levkin Andrey (Ivan?)		456th NKVD regiment, 109th SD. He died near Sevastopol.
Gryaznov P.
Larionov? ?		By August 1942. 187th SP, 72nd SD, 42nd Army.
Bulavsky Pyotr Petrovich		Died 21.12.1941
296th SP, 13th SD.
Zhuravlev Vasily Mikhailovich	not less 56	In battles on Malaya Zemlya.
Khodjaev Shaban
Nomokonov Vladimir Semyonovich		Son of S. D. Nomokonov.
Govzman Tselekh Iosifovich	not less than 55	93rd joint venture, 76th SD.
Vodopyanov Yankel Iosifovich	not less than 55	3rd OSB, 16th OSB.
P. Nechaev?		By October 1943. 32nd Army, Karelian Front.
Kalendarov A.		By May 1943. 266th SD.
Isakov Stepan Ivanovich	not less than 54	105th PP of the NKVD.
Gilman Leonid Fayvelevich	not less than 54	318th SP, 241st SD.
Pavlenko Iosif Dmitrievich	not less than 54	GSS dated 01/15/1944.
Kolesnikov Ivan Fedorovich	not less than 53	In battles on Malaya Zemlya.
Larionov Mikhail Kharitonovich	not less than 53	In battles on Malaya Zemlya.
Zakutkin Ivan Vasilievich		296-SP, 13th SD. Died on 12/21/1941.
Nikolaev? ?		By August 1942. 187th SP, 72nd SD, 42nd Army.
Maximov Grigory	not less than 52	In the battles on the Kursk Bulge.
Denisenko Pyotr Gerasimovich	not less than 52	Leningrad front
Moskovsky Boris Ivanovich		1095th joint venture, 324th SD.
News Karpov Ivan Dmitrievich		By February 1942. 14th SP NKVD, 21st SD.
Mashtakov Gavriil Egorovich		By 02/15/1942. 14th SP NKVD, 21st SD.
Strishchenko Viktor Mikhailovich	not less than 51	105th PP of the NKVD.
Korovkin? ?	not less than 51	961st SP, 274th SD, 36th SK.
Chudinov L.G.		12th Red Banner BMP
Kulikov? ?		1047th SP, 284th SD.
Volkov Vsevolod Alekseevich		By 01/27/1942. 3rd OSPMP.
Fomenko Yuri
Rud Stepan		961st SP, 274th SD, 36th SK. He died in July 1944.
Golovachev Grigory Vasilievich		961st SP, 274th SD, 36th SK.
Krasitsky Georgy		For 18 days of fighting at Stalingrad.
Pyotr Dyatlov		2nd DNO (85th SD).
Sharapov P.K.
Sanin Nikolay		21st Guards Division, 3rd Shock Army;
Kizirov Konstantin Panastovich		25th border regiment. KOS of all 3 degrees.
Fedchenkov Egor Egorovich		473rd SP, 154th SD. KOS of all 3 degrees.
Solovyov Ivan Alexandrovich		273rd SP (104th SD), 318-SP (102nd GvSD). KOS of all 3 degrees.
Pronkin Ivan Timofeevich		255th joint venture, 123rd SD, Karelian front.
Zaitsev Ivan Grigorievich		515-SP, 134th SD. KOS of all 3 degrees.
Gerasimov? ?	not less than 50	299th SD. He died in the fall of 1942 at Stalingrad.
Drowned Pavel Mitrofanovich	not less than 50	796th SP, 141st SD, 40th Army, Voronezh Front.
Nusupbaev Abil	not less than 50	By the fall of 1942.
Petrykin Ivan Semyonovich		105th NKVD border regiment For 1943
Zalavsky? ?

When it comes to sniping during World War II, they usually think of Soviet snipers. Indeed, such a scale of the sniper movement, which was in the Soviet Army in those years, was not in any other army, and the total number of enemy soldiers and officers destroyed by our riflemen is in the tens of thousands.
And what do we know about German snipers, "opponents" of our riflemen on the other side of the front? Previously, it was not officially accepted to objectively assess the merits and demerits of the enemy, with whom Russia had to wage a difficult war for four years. Times have changed today, but too much time has passed since those events, so much information is fragmentary and even questionable. Nevertheless, let's try to bring together the little information available to us.

As you know, during the First World War, it was the German army that was the first to actively use precise rifle fire from specially trained snipers in peacetime to destroy the most important targets - officers, messengers, machine gunners on duty, artillery servants. Note that already at the end of the war, the German infantry had at its disposal up to six sniper rifles per company - for comparison, it must be said that the Russian army of that time had neither rifles with optical sights at all, nor trained shooters from these weapons.
The German army instruction stated that “a weapon with a telescopic sight operates very accurately at a distance of up to 300 meters. It should only be issued to trained shooters who are able to eliminate the enemy in his trenches, mainly at dusk and at night. ... The sniper is not assigned to a specific location and position. He can and should move and position himself so as to fire a shot at an important target. He must use a telescopic sight to observe the enemy, write down his remarks and observation results, ammunition consumption and the results of his shots in a notebook. Snipers are exempt from additional duties.

They have the right to wear special insignia in the form of crossed oak leaves over the cockade of their headdress. "
German snipers played a special role precisely during the positional period of the war. Even without attacking the leading edge of the enemy, the Entente troops suffered losses in manpower. As soon as a soldier or officer inadvertently leaned out from behind the breastwork of the trench, a sniper shot instantly snapped from the side of the German trenches. The moral effect of such losses was enormous. The mood of the Anglo-French units, which lost several dozen people in killed and wounded during the day, was depressed. There was only one way out: to release their "super-sharp shooters" to the leading edge. In the period from 1915 to 1918, snipers were actively used by both belligerents, due to which the concept of military sniping was basically formed, combat missions for "super-sharp shooters" were defined, and basic tactics were worked out.

It was the German experience of the practical application of sniping in the conditions of established long-term positions that served as the impetus for the emergence and development of this type of military art in the Allied troops. By the way, when in 1923 the then German army - the Reichswehr began to be equipped with new Mauser carbines of version 98K, each company received 12 units of such weapons, equipped with optical sights.

Nevertheless, in the interwar period, snipers were somehow forgotten in the German army. However, there is nothing unusual in this fact: in almost all European armies (with the exception of the Red Army), sniper art was considered simply an interesting, but insignificant experiment of the positional period of the Great War. Military theorists saw the future war primarily as a war of engines, where motorized infantry would only follow shock tank wedges, which, with the support of front-line aviation, would be able to break through the enemy front and rapidly rush there in order to reach the flank and operational rear of the enemy. In such conditions, there was practically no real work left for snipers.

This concept of using motorized troops in the first experiments seemed to confirm its correctness: the German blitzkrieg swept across Europe with frightening speed, sweeping away armies and fortifications. However, with the beginning of the invasion of Nazi troops into the territory of the Soviet Union, the situation began to change rapidly. Although the Red Army retreated under the onslaught of the Wehrmacht, it offered such fierce resistance that the Germans repeatedly had to go over to the defensive in order to repulse counterattacks. And when already in the winter of 1941-1942. snipers appeared on the Russian positions and the sniper movement began to develop actively, supported by the political directorates of the fronts, the German command remembered the need to train its "super-sharp shooters". Sniper schools and front-line courses began to be organized in the Wehrmacht, and the "share" of sniper rifles in relation to other types of small arms gradually began to grow.

The sniper version of the 7.92-mm Mauser 98K carbine was tested back in 1939, but this version began to be mass-produced only after the attack on the USSR. Since 1942, 6% of all carbines produced have had a telescopic sight bracket, but throughout the war, there was a shortage of sniper weapons in the German troops. For example, in April 1944, the Wehrmacht received 164,525 carbines, but only 3276 of them had optical sights, i.e. about 2%. However, according to the post-war assessment of German military experts, “Type 98 carbines equipped with standard optics could in no way meet the requirements of the battle. Compared to Soviet sniper rifles ... they were significantly different for the worse. Therefore, every Soviet sniper rifle captured as a trophy was immediately used by the Wehrmacht soldiers. "

By the way, the ZF41 optical sight with a magnification of 1.5x was attached to a guide specially carved on the aiming block, so that the distance from the shooter's eye to the eyepiece was about 22 cm.German optics specialists believed that such an optical sight with a small magnification, installed at a considerable distance from the shooter's eye to the eyepiece, should be quite effective, since it allows you to direct the crosshair to the target, without stopping the observation of the terrain. At the same time, the small magnification of the sight does not give a significant discrepancy in scale between objects observed through the sight and over it. In addition, this option for the placement of optics allows you to load the rifle with clips without losing sight of the target and muzzle of the barrel. But naturally, a sniper rifle with such a low-power sight could not be used for long-range shooting. However, such a device was still not popular among Wehrmacht snipers - often such rifles were simply thrown onto the battlefield in the hope of finding something better for themselves.

Produced since 1943, the G43 (or K43) 7.92-mm self-loading rifle also had its own sniper version with a 4x telescopic sight. The German military leadership required that all G43 rifles have a telescopic sight, but this was no longer possible to accomplish. Nevertheless, out of 402703 issued before March 1945, almost 50 thousand had an already installed optical sight. In addition, all rifles had a bracket for mounting optics, so in theory any rifle could be used as a sniper weapon.

Considering all these shortcomings of the weapons of German shooters, as well as the numerous flaws in the organization of the sniper training system, it is hardly possible to dispute the fact that the German army lost the sniper war on the Eastern Front. This is confirmed by the words of the former Wehrmacht Lieutenant Colonel Eike Middeldorf, author of the famous book "Tactics in the Russian Campaign", that "the Russians were superior to the Germans in the art of night combat, combat in wooded and swampy areas and winter combat, in training snipers, and equipping the infantry with machine guns and mortars ”.
The famous duel of the Russian sniper Vasily Zaitsev with the head of the Berlin sniper school Connings, which took place during the Battle of Stalingrad, became a symbol of the complete moral superiority of our "super-sharp shooters", although it was still very far before the end of the war and many more Russian soldiers will be carried away to the grave by German bullets shooters.

At the same time, on the other side of Europe, in Normandy, German snipers were able to achieve much greater success, repelling the attacks of the Anglo-American troops landing on the French coast.
After the Allied landings in Normandy, almost a month of bloody battles passed before the Wehrmacht units were forced to start retreating under the influence of the ever-increasing enemy attacks. It was during this month that German snipers showed that they, too, are capable of something.

American war correspondent Ernie Pyle, describing the early days after the landing of the Allied forces, wrote: “Snipers are everywhere. Snipers in trees, in buildings, in heaps of ruins, in the grass. But mostly they hide in the tall, dense hedges that stretch along the Norman fields, and are on every roadside, in every side street. " First of all, such a high activity and combat effectiveness of German riflemen can be explained by the extremely small number of snipers in the Allied forces, who were unable to provide quick resistance to sniper terror from the enemy. In addition, a purely psychological moment cannot be disregarded: the British and especially the Americans, for the most part, subconsciously still perceive the war as a kind of risky sport, so it is not surprising that many Allied soldiers were severely amazed and morally depressed by the very fact of being on the front some invisible enemy, stubbornly unwilling to abide by the gentleman's "laws of war" and shooting from an ambush. The morale effect of sniper fire was indeed quite significant, since, according to some historians, in the early days of fighting, up to fifty percent of all losses in American units were attributed to enemy snipers. A natural consequence of this was the lightning-fast spread of legends about the combat capabilities of enemy shooters through the "soldier's telegraph", and soon the soldiers' panic about snipers became a serious problem for the officers of the allied forces.

The tasks that the Wehrmacht command set for their "super-sharp shooters" were standard for army sniping: the destruction of such categories of enemy servicemen as officers, sergeants, artillery observers, signalmen. In addition, snipers were used as scouts and observers.

American veteran John Hayton, who was 19 at the time of the landing, recalls his meeting with a German sniper. When his unit was able to move away from the landing point and reached the enemy fortifications, the gun crew tried to install their gun on the top of the hill. But every time, when another soldier tried to get up to the sight, a shot snapped in the distance - and the next gunner settled with a bullet in his head. Note that, according to Hayton, the distance to the German's position was very significant - about eight hundred meters.

The number of German "super-sharp shooters" on the shores of Normandy is evidenced by the following fact: when the 2nd battalion of the "Royal Ulster Riflemen" moved to capture the command heights near Perrier-sur-le-Dens, after a short battle it captured seventeen prisoners, seven of them turned out to be snipers.

Another British infantry unit moved from the coast to Cambrai, a small village surrounded by dense forest and stone walls. Since it was impossible to observe the enemy, the British made a hasty conclusion that the resistance should be negligible. When one of the companies reached the edge of the forest, it came under heavy rifle and mortar fire. The effectiveness of the rifle fire of the Germans was strangely high: the orderlies of the medical department were killed while trying to remove the wounded from the battlefield, the captain was killed on the spot by a shot in the head, one of the platoon commanders was seriously wounded. The tanks supporting the unit's attack were powerless to do anything because of the high wall surrounding the village. The battalion command was forced to stop the offensive, but by this moment the company commander and fourteen other people had been killed, one officer and eleven soldiers were wounded, and four people were missing. In fact, Cambrai turned out to be an excellently fortified German position. When, after processing it with all kinds of artillery - from light mortars to naval guns - the village was still taken, it turned out to be filled with dead German soldiers, many of whom had rifles with telescopic sights. One wounded SS sniper was also captured.

Many of the shooters the Allies encountered in Normandy had good rifle training in the Hitler Youth. Before the start of the war, this youth organization strengthened the military training of its members: they all studied the device of military weapons without fail, trained in shooting from small-caliber rifles, and the most capable of them were purposefully trained in the art of sniper. When these "children of Hitler" later entered the army, they received full-fledged sniper training. In particular, the 12th SS Panzer Division "Hitler Youth", which fought in Normandy, was staffed with soldiers from among the members of this organization, and officers from the SS Panzer Division "Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler", notorious for its atrocities. In the battles in the Cannes area, these teenagers received the baptism of fire.

In general, Cannes was almost an ideal place for a sniper war. Working together with artillery spotters, German snipers completely controlled the terrain around this city, British and Canadian soldiers were forced to carefully check literally every meter of the territory to make sure that the area was really cleared of enemy "cuckoos".
On June 26, an SS soldier named Pelzmann, from a well-chosen and carefully disguised position, destroyed allied soldiers for several hours, restraining their advance in his sector. When the sniper ran out of cartridges, he got out of his "prone", smashed his rifle on a tree and shouted to the British: "I finished off enough of yours, but I ran out of cartridges - you can shoot me!" Probably, he could not have said this: the British infantrymen gladly complied with his last request. The German prisoners who were present at this scene were forced to gather all those killed in one place. One of these prisoners later claimed that he counted at least thirty English dead near Pelzmann's position.

Despite the lesson learned by the Allied infantry in the very first days after the landing in Normandy, there were no effective means against the German "super-sharp riflemen"; they became a constant headache. The possible presence of invisible shooters, ready at every moment to shoot a bullet at anyone, was exhausting nerves. Clearing the area of \u200b\u200bsnipers was very difficult, sometimes it took a whole day to completely comb the area around the field camp, but without that no one could vouch for their safety.

Allied soldiers gradually learned in practice the basics of precautions against sniper fire, which the Germans themselves learned three years ago, finding themselves in the same situation at gunpoint of Soviet fighter shooters. In order not to tempt fate, the Americans and the British began to move, bending low to the ground, dashing from cover to cover; the rank and file stopped greeting the officers, and the officers, in turn, began to wear a field uniform, very similar to the soldier's - everything was done in order to minimize the risk and not provoke the enemy sniper to shoot. Nevertheless, the sense of danger became a constant companion of the soldiers in Normandy.

German snipers disappeared into the complex landscape of Normandy. The fact is that most of this area is a real labyrinth of fields fenced with hedges. These hedges date back to Roman times and were used to mark the boundaries of land. The land here was divided by hedges of hawthorn, blackberry and various creepers into small fields, which strongly resembled a patchwork quilt. Some of these fences were planted on high embankments, in front of which drainage ditches were dug. When it rained - and it did often - the dirt stuck to the soldiers' boots, the cars got stuck, and they had to be pulled out with the help of tanks, and all around was darkness, a dull sky and shaggy walls of hedges.

Unsurprisingly, such a terrain provided an ideal battlefield for sniper warfare. Moving deep into France, the units left in their tactical rear a lot of enemy riflemen, who then began the systematic shooting of careless rear soldiers. The hedges made it possible to view the terrain for only two or three hundred meters, and from such a distance even a novice sniper is capable of hitting the head figure from a rifle with an optical sight. The dense vegetation not only limited the view, but also allowed the cuckoo shooter, after several shots, to easily escape from the return fire.

The battles among the hedges were reminiscent of Theseus' wanderings in the labyrinth of the Minotaur. Tall, dense bushes along the roads made the Allied soldiers feel like they were in a tunnel, in the depths of which an insidious trap was arranged. The terrain presented numerous opportunities for snipers to choose "lays" and equip rifle cells, while their enemy was in exactly the opposite situation. Most often, in the hedges on the paths of the most probable movement of the enemy, Wehrmacht snipers arranged numerous "prisons" from which they fired harassing fire, and also covered machine-gun positions, set up surprise mines, etc. - in other words, there was a systematic and well-organized sniper terror. Single German shooters, finding themselves deep in the rear of the allies, hunted enemy soldiers and officers until they ran out of ammunition and food, and then ... simply surrendered, which, given the attitude of the enemy's military personnel towards them, was a rather risky business.

However, not all tried to surrender. It was in Normandy that the so-called "suicide boys" appeared, who, contrary to all the canons of sniper tactics, did not at all seek to change their position after several shots, but, on the contrary, continued to fire continuously until they were destroyed. Such a tactic, suicidal for the shooters themselves, in many cases allowed them to manage to inflict heavy losses on the infantry units of the allies.

The Germans did not only ambush among the hedges and trees - the crossroads, where such important targets as senior officers were often encountered, were also convenient spots for ambushes. Here the Germans had to fire from fairly large distances, since it was the intersections that were usually closely guarded. The bridges were exceptionally convenient targets for shelling, since the infantry was crowded here, and just a few shots could cause panic among the still unfired reinforcements heading to the front. Detached buildings were too obvious places to select a position, so snipers usually camouflaged themselves away from them, but numerous ruins in villages became their favorite place - however, here they had to change position more often than in normal field conditions, when it is difficult to locate the shooter ...

The natural desire of every sniper was to be located in a place from which the whole area would be clearly visible, so water pumps, mills and bell towers were ideal positions, but it was these objects that were primarily subjected to artillery and machine gun fire. Despite this, some of the German "super-sharp shooters" were still stationed there. Destroyed by the guns of the Allies, Norman village churches became a symbol of the German sniper terror.

Like snipers of any army, German shooters tried to hit the most important targets in the first place: officers, sergeants, observers, gun servants, signalmen, tank commanders. One captured German during interrogation explained to the interested British how he could distinguish officers at a great distance - after all, British officers had long worn the same field uniform as privates and had no insignia. He said, "We're just shooting people with mustaches." The fact is that in the British army, officers and senior sergeants traditionally wore mustaches.
Unlike the machine gunner, the sniper did not reveal his position when firing, therefore, under favorable circumstances, one competent "super-sharp shooter" could stop the advance of an infantry company, especially if it was a company of non-fired soldiers: once under fire, infantrymen often lay down and did not even try to shoot back ... A former commander of the US Army recalled that “one of the biggest mistakes recruits consistently made was that they just lay down on the ground under fire and didn’t move. Once I ordered the platoon to advance from one hedge to another. During the movement, the sniper killed one of the soldiers with the first shot. All other soldiers immediately fell to the ground and were almost completely killed one by one by the same sniper. "

In general, 1944 was a turning point for the sniper art in the German troops. The role of sniping was finally appreciated by the high command: numerous orders emphasized the need for the competent use of snipers, preferably in pairs "shooter plus observer", various types of camouflage and special equipment were developed. It was assumed that during the second half of 1944, the number of sniper pairs in the grenadier and people's grenadier units would be doubled. The head of the "black order" Heinrich Himmler also became interested in sniping in the SS troops, he approved a program of specialized in-depth training of fighter shooters.

In the same year, by order of the Luftwaffe command, the training films "Invisible weapons: a sniper in battle" and "Field training of snipers" were filmed for use in training ground units. Both films were shot quite competently and very high quality, even from the height of today: here are given the main points of special sniper training, the most important recommendations for action in the field, and all this in a popular form, with a combination of game elements.

A memo, widely circulated at this time, entitled "The Ten Commandments of the Sniper" read:
- Fight selflessly.
- Fire calmly and carefully, concentrate on each shot. Remember that fast firing has no effect.
- Only shoot when you are sure you will not be detected.
- Your main enemy is an enemy sniper, outsmart him.
“Don't forget that the sapper's shovel prolongs your life.
- Constantly practice measuring distances.
- Become a master in terrain and camouflage.
- Train constantly - on the front line and in the rear.
- Take care of your sniper rifle, don't give it to anyone.
- Survival for a sniper in nine parts - camouflage and only one - shooting.

In the German army, snipers were used at various tactical levels. It was the experience of applying this concept that allowed E. Middeldorf in his book to offer the following practice in the post-war period: “There are no other issues related to infantry combat operations as big as the issue of using snipers. Some consider it necessary to have a regular platoon of snipers in each company, or at least in the battalion. Others predict that snipers in pairs will be most successful. We will try to find a solution that satisfies both points of view. First of all, one should distinguish between "amateur snipers" and "professional snipers". It is desirable that each squad has two non-standard amateur snipers. They need to be given a 4x telescopic sight to the assault rifle. They will remain regular shooters with additional sniper training. If using them as snipers is not possible, then they will act like regular soldiers. As for professional snipers, there should be two in each company or six in the company command group. They must be armed with a special sniper rifle with a muzzle velocity of more than 1000 m / sec., With a 6x high aperture optical sight. These snipers, as a rule, will conduct "free hunting" in the company area. If, depending on the situation and terrain conditions, the need to use a platoon of snipers arises, then this will be easily feasible, since the company has 24 snipers (18 amateur snipers and 6 professional snipers), which in this case can be combined together " ... Note that this concept of sniping is considered one of the most promising.

Allied soldiers and lower-level officers who suffer most from sniper terror have developed various methods of dealing with invisible enemy riflemen. And yet, the most effective way was still to use their snipers.

According to statistics, during the Second World War it usually took 25,000 rounds to kill a soldier. For snipers, this number averaged 1.3-1.5.

As for the theme of the army of fascist Germany, I can remind you of the history of such its leaders as The original article is on the site InfoGlaz.rf The link to the article this copy was made from is

A good sniper doesn't have to be a regular soldier. This simple postulate was well understood by the soldiers of the Red Army who participated in the Winter War of 1939. One successful shot does not make a person a sniper either. Luck is very important in war. Only the true skill of a fighter who knows how to hit a target at a great distance, from an unusual weapon or from an awkward position has a higher price.

The sniper has always been an elite warrior. Far from everyone can cultivate a character of such strength.

1. Carlos Hatchcock

Like many American teenagers from the hinterland, Carlos Hatchcock dreamed of joining the army. A 17-year-old boy with a cinematic white feather in his cowboy hat was greeted in the barracks with grins. The very first training ground, taken by Carlos on a swoop, turned the giggles of his colleagues into awe-inspiring silence. The guy had more than just talent - Carlos Hatchcock was born solely for the sake of accurate shooting. 1966 the young fighter met already in Vietnam.

On his formal account, there are only a hundred dead. Hatchcock's surviving co-workers' memoirs feature significantly larger numbers. This could be attributed to the quite understandable bragging of the fighters, if not for the huge amount that North Vietnam put up for his head. But the war ended - and Hatchcock went home without a single wound. He died in his bed, before he was 57 years old, just a few days.

2.Simo Häyhä

This name has become a kind of symbol of war for both participating countries at once. For the Finns, Simo was a real legend, the personification of the god of vengeance himself. In the ranks of the soldiers of the Red Army, the patriotic sniper received the name White Death. For several months of the winter of 1939-1940, the shooter killed more than five hundred enemy soldiers. The incredible skill level of Simo Häyhä is highlighted by the weapon he used: the M / 28 rifle with an open scope.

309 enemy soldiers on the account of the Russian sniper Lyudmila Pavlyuchenko make her one of the best shooters in the history of world wars. A kid from childhood, Lyudmila was eager to go to the front from the very first days of the invasion of the German invaders. In an interview, the girl admitted that it was difficult to shoot a living person only the first time. The first day of combat duty Pavlyuchenko could not bring herself to pull the trigger. Then a sense of duty overpowered - it also saved the fragile female psyche from an incredible load.

In 2001, the film Enemy at the Gates was released worldwide. The main character of the film is a real fighter of the Red Army, the legendary sniper Vasily Zaitsev. It is still not known exactly whether the opposition between Zaitsev and the German shooter, reflected in the film, took place: most Western sources lean towards the version of propaganda launched by the Soviet Union, Slavophiles claim the opposite. However, this fight means almost nothing in the overall standings of the legendary shooter. Vasily's documents list 149 successfully hit targets. The real number is closer, rather, to five hundred killed.

Eight years old is the most appropriate age to take your first shot. If you, of course, were born in Texas. Chris Kyle has aimed his entire adult life: sports targets, then animals, then people. In 2003, Kyle, who had already managed to register in several secret operations of the US Army, receives a new assignment - Iraq. The glory of a merciless and very skillful killer comes a year later, the next business trip brings Kyle the nickname "Shaitan of Ramadi": a respectful, frightened tribute to the self-righteous shooter. Kyle has officially killed exactly 160 enemies of peace and democracy. In private conversations, the shooter mentioned three times the number.

For a long time, Rob Furlong served as a simple corporal in the Canadian army. Unlike many of the other snipers mentioned in this article, Rob didn’t have an overt shooting talent. But the perseverance of the guy would have been enough for a company of completely mediocre warriors. Through constant training, Furlong developed his ambidexter abilities. Soon the corporal was transferred to the special forces. Operation Anaconda became the high point of Furlong's career: in one of the battles, a sniper made a successful shot at a distance of 2,430 meters. This record is still being held.

With just two shots, British Army private soldier Thomas Plunkett became the best sniper of his time. In 1809, the Battle of Monroe took place. Thomas, like all of his colleagues, was armed with a Brown Bess musket. Field exercises were enough for the soldiers to hit the enemy at a distance of 50 meters. Unless, of course, the wind was too strong. Thomas Plunkett, taking good aim, knocked down a French general from his horse at a distance of 600 meters.

The shot could be attributed to incredible luck, magnetic fields and alien machinations. Most likely, the shooter's comrades-in-arms would have done so, having recovered from their surprise. Here, however, Thomas demonstrated his second virtue: ambition. He calmly reloaded his gun and shot the general's adjutant - at the same 600 meters.

Many soldiers and officers of the Red Army became heroes of the Great Patriotic War. Perhaps it is difficult to single out military specialties that would be particularly prominent when awarding military awards. Among the famous Heroes of the Soviet Union are sappers, tankmen, pilots, sailors, infantrymen and military doctors.

But I would like to highlight one military specialty, which occupies a special place in the category of feat. These are snipers.

A sniper is a specially trained soldier who is fluent in the art of marksmanship, camouflage and observation, striking targets from the first shot. Its task is to defeat the command and communications staff, to destroy camouflaged single targets.

At the front, when special military units (companies, regiments, divisions) act against the enemy, the sniper is an independent combat unit.

We will tell you about the hero snipers who made a significant contribution to the common cause of victory. You can read about female snipers who participated in the Great Patriotic War in our.

1. Passar Maxim Alexandrovich (08/30/1923 - 01/22/1943)

A participant in the Great Patriotic War, a Soviet sniper, during the fighting, he destroyed 237 enemy soldiers and officers. Most of the enemies were eliminated by him during the Battle of Stalingrad. For the destruction of Passar, the German command appointed a reward of 100 thousand Reichsmarks. Hero of the Russian Federation (posthumously).

2.Surkov Mikhail Ilyich (1921-1953)

Member of the Great Patriotic War, sniper of the 1st battalion of the 39th rifle regiment of the 4th rifle division of the 12th army, foreman, holder of the Order of Lenin and the Order of the Red Star.

3. Kovshova Natalia Venediktovna (11/26/1920 - 08/14/1942)

Participant of the Great Patriotic War, Hero of the Soviet Union.

On the personal account of the sniper Kovshova, 167 killed Nazi soldiers and officers. During the service she taught the fighters the skill of marksmanship. On August 14, 1942, near the village of Sutoki, Novgorod Region, she died in an unequal battle with the Nazis.

4.Tulaev Zhambyl Yesheevich (02 (15) .05.1905 - 17.01.1961)

Member of the Great Patriotic War. The hero of the USSR.

Sniper of the 580th Infantry Regiment of the 188th Infantry Division of the 27th Army of the North-Western Front. Petty officer Zhambyl Tulaev exterminated 262 Nazis from May to November 1942. Prepared more than 30 snipers for the front.

5.Sidorenko Ivan Mikhailovich (09/12/1919 - 02/19/1994)

The assistant to the chief of staff of the 1122nd Rifle Regiment, Captain Ivan Sidorenko, distinguished himself as the organizer of the sniper movement. By 1944, he personally destroyed about 500 Nazis from a sniper rifle.

Ivan Sidorenko trained more than 250 snipers for the front, most of whom were awarded orders and medals.

6. Okhlopkov Fedor Matveevich (03/02/1908 - 05/28/1968)

Member of the Great Patriotic War, Hero of the Soviet Union.

By June 23, 1944, Sergeant Okhlopkov destroyed 429 Nazi soldiers and officers from a sniper rifle. He was wounded 12 times. The title of Hero of the Soviet Union and the Order of Lenin were awarded only in 1965.

7. Moldagulova Aliya Nurmukhambetovna (10/25/1925 - 01/14/1944)

Participant of the Great Patriotic War, Hero of the Soviet Union (posthumously), corporal.

Sniper of the 54th separate rifle brigade of the 22nd army of the 2nd Baltic front. Lance corporal Moldagulova in the first 2 months of participation in the battles destroyed several dozen enemies. On January 14, 1944, she took part in the battle for the village of Kazachikha, Pskov region, and drew the fighters into the attack. Bursting into the enemy's defenses, she destroyed several soldiers and officers from a machine gun. She died in this battle.

8. Budenkov Mikhail Ivanovich (05.12.1919 - 02.08.1995)

Member of the Great Patriotic War, Hero of the Soviet Union, senior lieutenant.

By September 1944, Guard Senior Sergeant Mikhail Budenkov was a sniper of the 59th Guards Rifle Regiment of the 21st Guards Rifle Division of the 3rd Shock Army of the 2nd Baltic Front. By that time, he had 437 enemy soldiers and officers destroyed by sniper fire. He entered the top ten snipers of the Great Patriotic War.

9. Etobaev Arseny Mikhailovich (15.09.1903- 1987)

Participant of the Great Patriotic War, the Civil War of 1917-1922 and the conflict on the Sino-Eastern Railway in 1929. Knight of the Order of Lenin and the Order of the Red Star, full knight of the Order of the Patriotic War.

The sniper destroyed 356 German invaders and shot down two planes.

10. Salbiev Vladimir Gavrilovich (1916- 1996)

Member of the Great Patriotic War, twice holder of the Orders of the Red Banner and the Order of the Patriotic War, II degree.

Salbiev's sniper account includes 601 killed enemy soldiers and officers.

11. Pchelintsev Vladimir Nikolaevich (08/30/1919- 27.07.1997)

Member of the Great Patriotic War, sniper of the 11th Infantry Brigade of the 8th Army of the Leningrad Front, Hero of the Soviet Union, sergeant.

One of the most successful snipers of the Second World War. Destroyed 456 soldiers, non-commissioned officers and enemy officers.

12. Kvachantiradze Vasily Shalvovich (1907- 1950)

Participant of the Great Patriotic War, Hero of the Soviet Union, foreman.

Sniper of the 259th Infantry Regiment of the 179th Infantry Division of the 43rd Army of the 1st Baltic Front.

One of the most effective snipers of the Great Patriotic War. Destroyed 534 enemy soldiers and officers.

13. Goncharov Pyotr Alekseevich (15.01.1903- 31.01.1944)

Member of the Great Patriotic War, Hero of the Soviet Union, Guard Senior Sergeant.

On his sniper account there are more than 380 killed enemy soldiers and officers. Killed on January 31, 1944 during a breakthrough of the enemy's defenses near the village of Vodyanoe.

14. Galushkin Nikolay Ivanovich (07/01/1917- 22.01.2007)

Member of the Great Patriotic War, Hero of the Russian Federation, lieutenant.

Served in the 49th Infantry Regiment of the 50th Infantry Division. Reportedly killed 418 German soldiers and officers, including 17 snipers, and trained 148 snipers. After the war, he conducted active military-patriotic work.

Member of the Great Patriotic War, commander of a sniper company of the 81st Guards Rifle Regiment, Guard Lieutenant.

By the end of June 1943, already the commander of a sniper company, Golosov personally destroyed about 420 Nazis, including 70 snipers. In his company, he trained 170 snipers, who in total killed more than 3,500 fascists.

He died on August 16, 1943 in the midst of battles for the village of Dolgenkoe, Izyumsky district, Kharkov region.

16. Nomokonov Semyon Danilovich (08/12/1900 - 07/15/1973)

Member of the Great Patriotic War and the Soviet-Japanese War, twice holder of the Order of the Red Star, Order of Lenin, Order of the Red Banner.

During the Great Patriotic War, he destroyed 360 German soldiers and officers, including one major general. During the Soviet-Japanese War, he destroyed 8 soldiers and officers of the Kwantung Army. The total confirmed score is 368 enemy soldiers and officers.

17. Ilyin Nikolay Yakovlevich (1922 - 04.08.1943)

Member of the Great Patriotic War, Hero of the Soviet Union, foreman, deputy political instructor.

In total, the sniper had 494 killed enemies. On August 4, 1943, in a battle near the village of Yastrebovo, Nikolai Ilyin died, struck by a machine-gun burst.

18. Antonov Ivan Petrovich (07.07.1920 - 22.03.1989)

Member of the Great Patriotic War, shooter of the 160th separate rifle company of the Leningrad Naval Base of the Baltic Fleet, Red Navy, Hero of the Soviet Union.

Ivan Antonov became one of the founders of the sniper movement in the Baltic.

From December 28, 1941 to November 10, 1942, he killed 302 Nazis and taught 80 snipers the art of marksmanship at the enemy.

19. Dyachenko Fedor Trofimovich (16.06.1917 - 08.08.1995)

Member of the Great Patriotic War, Hero of the Soviet Union, major.

By February 1944, Dyachenko had destroyed 425 enemy soldiers and officers with sniper fire, including several snipers.

20. Idrisov Abukhadzhi (Abukhazhi) (05/17/1918- 22.10.1983)

Member of the Great Patriotic War, sniper of the 1232th rifle regiment of the 370th rifle division, senior sergeant, Hero of the Soviet Union.

By March 1944, he had 349 killed Nazis on his account, and he was nominated for the title of Hero. In one of the battles in April 1944, Idrisov was wounded by a fragment of a mine exploding nearby, and he was covered with earth. His comrades dug him up and sent him to the hospital.

When it comes to the sniper business of the first half of the 20th century, Soviet snipers of the Great Patriotic War immediately come to mind - Vasily Zaitsev, Mikhail Surkov, Lyudmila Pavlichenko and others. This is not surprising: the Soviet sniper movement at that time was the largest in the world, and the total score of Soviet snipers during the war years is several tens of thousands of enemy soldiers and officers. However, what do we know about the marksmen of the Third Reich?

In Soviet times, the study of the merits and demerits of the armed forces of Nazi Germany was strictly limited, and at times simply taboo. Who, however, were the German snipers, whom in our and foreign cinema, if they are portrayed, then only as consumables, extras who are about to grab a bullet from the protagonist from the Anti-Hitler coalition? Is it true that they were so bad, or is this the winner's point of view?

Snipers of the German Empire

In the First World War, it was the Kaiser's army that first began to use aimed rifle fire as a means of destroying officers, signalmen, machine gunners and artillery servants of the enemy. According to the instructions of the German Imperial Army, weapons equipped with a telescopic sight only work perfectly at a distance of 300 meters. It should only be issued to trained shooters. As a rule, these were former hunters or those who underwent special training even before the outbreak of hostilities. The soldiers who received such weapons became the first snipers. They were not assigned to any place or position; they had relative freedom of movement on the battlefield. According to the same instructions, the sniper had to take a suitable position at night or at dusk in order to start acting with the onset of day. Such shooters were exempted from any additional duties or combined arms detachments. Each sniper had a notebook in which he carefully recorded various observations, ammunition consumption and the effectiveness of his fire. They were also distinguished from ordinary soldiers by the right to wear special signs over the cockade of their headdress - crossed oak leaves.

By the end of the war, the German infantry had about six snipers per company. At this time, the Russian army, although it had experienced hunters and experienced shooters in its ranks, did not have rifles with an optical sight. This imbalance in the equipment of the armies became noticeable rather quickly. Even in the absence of active hostilities, the Entente armies suffered losses in manpower: it was enough for a soldier or an officer to look out slightly from behind the trench, as a German sniper immediately "shot" him. This had a strong demoralizing effect on the soldiers, so the allies had no choice but to release their "super-sharp shooters" to the front line of the attack. So by 1918, the concept of military sniping was formed, tactical techniques were worked out and combat missions for this kind of soldiers were determined.

Rebirth of German snipers

In the interwar period, the popularity of sniping in Germany, in fact, as in most other countries (with the exception of the Soviet Union), began to fade away. Snipers began to be treated as an interesting experience of positional warfare, which had already lost its relevance - military theorists saw the coming wars solely as a battle of engines. According to their views, the infantry faded into the background, and the primacy was for tanks and aircraft.

The German blitzkrieg seemed to be the main proof of the superiority of the new method of warfare. European states capitulated one after another, unable to resist the power of German motors. However, with the entry of the Soviet Union into the war, it became clear that tanks alone cannot win a war. Despite the retreat of the Red Army at the very beginning of the Great Patriotic War, the Germans still often had to go on the defensive during this period. When in the winter of 1941 snipers began to appear on Soviet positions, and the number of killed Germans began to grow, the Wehrmacht nevertheless realized that aimed rifle fire, for all its archaism, was an effective method of waging war. German sniper schools began to emerge and front-line courses were organized. After the 41st, the number of optics in the front-line units, as well as people who professionally use it, began to gradually increase, although until the very end of the war, the Wehrmacht did not manage to equal the number and quality of training of its snipers with the Red Army.

What and how they shot

Since 1935, the Wehrmacht has been armed with Mauser 98k rifles, which were also used as sniper rifles - for this, the specimens with the most hectic combat were simply selected. Most of these rifles were equipped with a 1.5x ZF 41 sight, but there were also 4x ZF 39 sights, as well as even rarer varieties. By 1942, the share of sniper rifles in the total number produced was about 6, but by April 1944 this figure had dropped to 2% (3276 pieces out of 164 525 produced). According to some experts, the reason for this reduction is that German snipers simply did not like their "Mauser", and at the first opportunity they preferred to change them to Soviet sniper rifles. The G43 rifle, which appeared in 1943, did not correct the situation, which was equipped with a four-fold ZF 4 sight - a copy of the Soviet PU sight.

Mauser 98k rifle with ZF41 sight (http://k98k.com)

According to the memoirs of Wehrmacht snipers, the maximum firing distance at which they could hit targets was as follows: head - up to 400 meters, human figure - from 600 to 800 meters, embrasure - up to 600 meters. Rare professionals or lucky ones who got a tenfold sight could lay down an enemy soldier at a distance of up to 1000 meters, but everyone unanimously considers a distance of up to 600 meters to be a distance that guarantees hitting a target.

Defeat in the east– victory in the west

Wehrmacht snipers were mainly engaged in the so-called "free hunt" for commanders, signalmen, gun crews and machine gunners. More often than not, snipers were team players: one shoots, the other watches. Contrary to popular belief, German snipers were prohibited from engaging in combat at night. They were considered valuable personnel, and because of the poor quality of German optics, such battles, as a rule, did not end in favor of the Wehrmacht. Therefore, at night, they usually were engaged in finding and arranging a favorable position for striking in the daytime. When the enemy was on the attack, the task of the German snipers was to destroy the commanders. With the successful completion of this mission, the offensive was stopped. If a sniper of the Anti-Hitler coalition began to operate in the rear, several "super-sharp shooters" of the Wehrmacht could be sent to find and eliminate him. On the Soviet-German front, this kind of duel most often ended in favor of the Red Army - there is no point in arguing with the facts claiming that the Germans lost the sniper war here almost outright.

At the same time, on the other side of Europe, German snipers felt at ease and instilled fear in the hearts of British and American soldiers. The British and Americans still viewed combat as a sport and believed in the gentlemanly rules of war. According to some researchers, about half of all losses in American units in the first days of hostilities were the direct merit of Wehrmacht snipers.

You see the mustache - shoot!

An American journalist who visited Normandy when the Allies landed there, wrote: “Snipers are everywhere. They hide in trees, hedges, buildings and rubble. " As the main reasons for the success of snipers in Normandy, researchers cite the unpreparedness of the Anglo-American troops for the sniper threat. What the Germans themselves understood well during the three years of fighting on the Eastern Front, the Allies had to master in a short time. The officers now wore uniforms that did not differ from the soldier's. All movements were carried out in short dashes from cover to cover, bending as low as possible to the ground. The privates no longer gave the military salute to the officers. However, these tricks sometimes did not help. So, some captured German snipers admitted that they distinguished English soldiers by rank due to facial hair: mustaches were at that time one of the most common attributes among sergeants and officers. As soon as they saw a soldier with a mustache, they destroyed him.

Another key to success was the landscape of Normandy: by the time the Allies landed, it was a real sniper's paradise, with many hedges stretching for kilometers, drainage ditches and embankments. Due to frequent rains, the roads became limp and became an impassable obstacle for both soldiers and equipment, and soldiers trying to push out another jammed car became a tidbit for the "cuckoo". The allies had to advance with extreme caution, looking under every stone. The incredibly large scale of the actions of German snipers in Normandy is evidenced by the incident in the city of Cambrai. Deciding that there would be no strong resistance in this area, one of the British companies came too close and fell prey to heavy rifle fire. Then almost all the orderlies of the medical department died, trying to take the wounded out of the battlefield. When the battalion command tried to stop the offensive, about 15 more people died, including the company commander, 12 soldiers and officers were variously injured, and four more went missing. When the village was taken, many corpses of German soldiers with rifles that had a telescopic sight were found.

An American sergeant looks at a dead German sniper on a street in the French village of Saint-Laurent-sur-Mer
(http://waralbum.ru)

German snipers– mythical and real

At the mention of German snipers, many will surely recall the famous opponent of the Red Army soldier Vasily Zaitsev - Major Erwin Koenig. In fact, many historians are inclined to believe that no Koenig existed. Presumably, he is a figment of the imagination of William Craig, author of The Enemy at the Gates. There is a version that the sniper ace Heinz Torvald was given out for Koenig. According to this theory, the Germans were extremely annoyed by the death of the head of their sniper school at the hands of some village hunter, so they concealed his death, saying that Zaitsev had killed a certain Erwin König. Some researchers of the life of Torvald and his school of sniper in Zossen consider this to be nothing more than a myth. What is true and what is fiction is hardly clear.

Nevertheless, the Germans had sniping aces. The most productive of them is the Austrian Matthias Hetzenauer. He served in the 144th Mountain Ranger Regiment of the 3rd Mountain Rifle Division, and has about 345 enemy soldiers and officers on his account. Oddly enough, Josef Allerberger served in the same regiment as No. 2 in the ranking, who had 257 casualties by the end of the war. The third in terms of the number of victories is the German sniper of Lithuanian origin Bruno Sutkus, who killed 209 Soviet soldiers and officers.

Perhaps, if the Germans, in their pursuit of the idea of \u200b\u200blightning-fast war, paid due attention not only to engines, but also to the training of snipers, as well as the development of decent weapons for them, we would now have a slightly different history of German sniping, and for this article we would have had to grains collect material about little-known Soviet snipers.