I have spoken elsewhere about the inadvisability of always locating these posts in some building, or on a hill top, or in some other prominent or commanding feature of the landscape. The enemy expects them to be located in just such places as these, has the exact range figured out to each and every one, and soon shells them apart with his artillery once trouble comes from that direction. The very best locations are out in some open field, away from anything on which he may sight or range his guns. This generally calls for much hard work and preliminary preparation, all done at night of course, before the post is properly dug in, concealed, and arrangements made for getting in and out without being seen from the front or flanks.
Once the posts are completed, and we are finally inside, it remains to get the ranges laid out and sighted in before operations really commence. This consists of making your own range maps of the exact distances to all the various prominent objects in our own and the enemy trench system, and in thoroughly checking up these with the more elaborate, official maps which will be available.
This sighting in is a rather extensive proposition. First, you and your observer lay out the entire enemy trench system and back areas into general sectors and give each a designation. The most important thing is to arrange plenty of reference points. These latter are generally prominent objects or features of the enemy system and a knowledge of them soon becomes second nature to both members of the team. Your targets will be located with reference to these designated points or objects, as: “That petrol can by the new trench, nine o’clock, third sandbag, see him?” Naturally, both know where the new trench is, and can see the petrol can, but the picking up of the exact target will not be quite so easy through the sights. In addition, the rifleman must immediately judge the exact range to that particular target, set his sight (possibly) and shoot quickly, because that target is not going to stay there all day. He will have just one “first and last shot for record,” which ends that particular shooting match for the day. Then the team starts all over – at another target somewhere else. The range will be different, the angle of fire probably changed considerably, and worst of all the light will be different. This last, I consider to be the hardest of all to combat, even with a telescopic sight.
The team will have little trouble in agreeing upon a set of designating points, and will soon become so familiar with them that their use requires little conscious thought. The ranges to them become automatically known in a short time, and it does not take long to get trained upon a target. There may or may not be time to change the sight setting; one generally “holds off” a bit and takes the shot just as quickly as possible. When it becomes necessary to transmit a designation or target back to someone else – say the artillery or some other observer, there is but one method – give the exact map reference from the official maps.
The well known firing-point scheme of using the clock face in order to designate targets or objects is applied in the case of new ground where the designation points have not yet been laid out; also occasionally in directing observation on vague locations. Generally, this part is pretty easy and one soon gets a good mental picture of everything in the field of view and also the exact range to it. This range will be determined by both map readings and trial shots. The latter are much to be preferred and one may indulge in quite a bit of shooting as the day progresses, in order to keep sighted in with the various changes of light. This, as I said previously, is the most serious thing to contend with, and as the sun works its way around the position one should keep sighted in to agree with the difference in light.
This general sighting in is a very easy matter to do at almost any time of the day. It may not be possible to do much of it from concealed positions close in to the enemy (for that matter, it is hardly required at short ranges) but from the positions in the rear it is almost always possible. One utilizes small shell holes filled with water, or a bare spot of dirt in the trench system, or a bit of brick wall – anything which will give off a dust or splash when hit. The observer can readily pick up the splash with his big telescope. It pays to keep sighted in at all times.
There are any number of small tricks to sniping which may best be learned by experience – but often this sort of experience is very costly in lives, so maybe I better mention something about them right here. It is of utmost importance for the sniping team to avoid observation and detection by the enemy, and there are often small and seemingly insignificant things which may give a position away. The flashing of the objective lens of the big telescope is a common fault, and I believe more positions in the rear are given away by this than by any other occurrence. With the light coming from the front, that lens will flash for a long distance. Then there is both muzzle blast and “smoke” from the burning powder to be taken into consideration. “Smoke” do you say? “From smokeless powder?” Well, maybe not exactly smoke, but a fairly good substitute. There are often occasions when the discharge of a military rifle will leave a small puff – about as big as a campaign hat – of thin, dark smoke in front of the muzzle. Nothing at all like the old black powder fog, but still sufficiently visible to be picked up and identified – and the position given away. This phenomenon is not always visible, but can best be seen on sharp, cold mornings and often throughout the entire day during a spell of damp, muggy weather. It is only noticeable when the muzzle is close to the ground or against cover, and in certain makes of ammunition the fault may be more pronounced than in others.
The muzzle blast, or hot gases being violently expelled from the muzzle, must be taken into account in many situations. This can kick up quite a cloud of dust at times, especially from some loop-hole or nest where the muzzle does not project sufficiently – in these cases they say the thing to do is to keep the hole “wet down” with water, but personally I have never seen this done. Then, if the rifle is discharged with its muzzle hidden amongst thick grass or weeds, this gas will cause a great swirling and bending about of the vegetation and quickly give the position away. These faults I have just spoken of can be noticeable to the naked eye at ranges of a hundred yards or more and can be picked up with a glass at much greater distances, so it will be seen that they can be a serious matter even to the sniping pair in back of the lines. To the lone sniper, out in the open and close in to the enemy, they may easily become tragic.
Another point our sniper should always keep in mind, is to be a bit particular as to what targets he sights in on. Better stick to some available water hole or bit of dirt out in the general direction in which you expect your next target to appear. Avoid shooting through petrol cans, buckets, tins or boxes lying along the top of the enemy trench system – they may have been put there for just that purpose. Any shots fired into or near where you expect a target to appear can only result in greater wariness and hesitation being shown by the occupants of that place. Don’t give your position away either by careless actions or promiscuous shooting. Targets will be scarce enough anyhow – make every opportunity count.
I almost forgot to mention that the sniping team should also keep an accurate “score book.” Sure thing. This contains the sight settings and elevations of the various lots of ammunition you may have found sufficiently accurate, the ranges to all the various main designating points, official map designations and all that. You might even mark down the “bulls” as you make them – but this will often be a very uncertain matter and you will have to let your conscience be your guide many, many times.
Next to accuracy, the most essential quality possessed by our sniper is the ability to get his shot off quickly. By this statement, I do not mean the skill necessary to make a good “rapid fire” score such as we practice here in the United States, but have in mind the ability to “snap shoot” as practiced by the skilled deer stalker hunting in thick woods. These fussy and particular “old women” whom we have all seen competing in some of the matches at Camp Perry – who insist upon their six feet of clear space on the 1000 yard firing line, and the full minute-and-a-half allowed for each shot
fired, are going to fare badly when it comes to sniping. You must be able to aim quickly and get your one shot off within a few seconds after the target is indicated. First: accuracy – then speed, is the rule for the sniper.
Naturally, with the enemy at long range, or during brief periods when the light is very poor (such as at daybreak or dusk) and your man does not consider himself visible, the target offered might be of some minutes duration. But the time of exposure of the average target is apt to be mighty brief, generally lasting but a few seconds – this is especially the case if any shooting has been recently done at that particular time or place. I would say that the rifleshot who cannot locate his target, get aligned on it, and let the shot off in less than ten seconds will prove a hopeless case. Ten seconds is much more time than will often be given, and our prospective sniper had better try to reach the point where he can aim and shoot within three seconds – which can readily be done where the range is not too long.
It might be said that the rifleman of our pair should be in constant readiness to think and act at an instant’s notice, but the rule for the observer is to go slow. Accurate observation with a big telescope is a long, drawn-out proceeding. One will do best to mark off the enemy position into small sections of ground and go over each section slowly and carefully, a bit at a time; work out every foot of it inch by inch and make certain there is nothing there which can be shot at. Don’t wait for the enemy to show himself, go ahead and look for him. And keep looking.
The work of the sniper is not entirely confined to shooting. If he is really qualified for the job, he will probably do as much good by reporting his observation of the things he sees going on in and behind the enemy lines, as by killing off a few men. As a matter of record, the snipers in the Canadian Army Corps were a part of the Intelligence Section – working directly under what were, at first, called “Scout Officers,” but later “Intelligence Officers.”
Any man who is daily, carefully and conscientiously, scanning a certain bit of terrain and who has carefully marked all the noticeable landmarks, is sure to notice any change. It may be that the enemy is constructing additional defenses, or that he is bringing up more troops. Perhaps the artillery are sneaking up a battery. I have lain, day after day, watching through the big telescope the construction of concrete emplacements, the digging of new trenches and the movements of bodies of men far behind the enemy front line. The worst of it was, that when we reported a lot of these things, they were not heeded or believed by our superiors.
That was one of the advantages which the “graduates” of the later sniping schools had over us forerunners; they had a recognized organization in back of them with considerable official standing and “weight” and when they turned in a report covering their observations for the day, that report was given real consideration by the powers who were running things from the rear. Many a time I have turned in a report to my own Section or Battalion officers – one regarding which they fully recognized the accuracy and great value. But when forwarded to the rear for consideration or action by higher command, the report was pooh-poohed as being merely “some soldier’s imagination.” But those Lovat Scouts reported directly to their own Intelligence Officers, who knew just how much dependence could be placed on each man’s observations, and to whom the other staff officers were obliged to give due consideration and attention.
We “volunteer” snipers tried for some weeks to get our artillery to wipe out some German guns which we had spotted during our observations throughout the daytime. One battery in particular, which we knew to be concealed in an orchard at a place called, on the maps, Hiele Farm, had been firing from that position (it was only 800 yards away) every night – strafing one of our roads by which our supply trains and the ambulances came up. However, we finally got a chance to shoot them up a biton our own account, as mentioned elsewhere in this story.
I sometimes took a shot at men around that Hiele Farm place while sniping, but we had no observations which would prove that we ever made any hits. While it was only about 800 yards from our front line it was at least 1200 yards from our sniping and observation post. My judgment, based upon experience, is that it is futile to attempt any sniping at such ranges. Up to 1000 yards a man may, very rarely, make a hit, but the results in the end do not justify the expenditure of ammunition. Up to 600 or 700 yards I consider it comparatively easy – beyond that, hardly worth while unless you have ample opportunities to sight in and conditions are in your favor, then you might possibly make a hit up to 1000 yards. On many occasions I tried to hit men with the rifle fitted with a telescope at ranges all the way up to 1500 yards, but, although I had succeeded in previously sighting in at those ranges, I must confess that we were never certain of any hits at such distances. But inside the 500 to 600 yard limits it was “duck soup,” and we also made a big percentage of hits at 700 yards or thereabouts.
Since the war I have met a great many expert shots in our own country, and in talking with these and other shooting authorities in the United States I find an opinion prevailing that the specialized sniping rifle need only be a single-shot action; that there will seldom be any need for rapid fire on the part of the sniper, and that it is unnecessary to have the magazine on such rifles in working order as it will never be used anyhow. My experience in actual sniping has been just the opposite from these contentions.
Frequently, even in trench warfare, the opportunity will arise for three or four rapidly fired shots to be poured into a target. In two or three instances throughout this book I have described how the opportunity was offered me to shoot up a working party, and at fairly close range too, who thought themselves well concealed from sight. At my first shot into the target, which may or may not have been a hit, the entire bunch simply boiled out of there and fell all over one another in the attempt to get away. When an opportunity such as this is presented, the sniper can always get in two or three more quick shots, provided the rifle he is using can be reloaded by manipulating the bolt and it is not necessary to grope around and load the other cartridges by hand.
To me, it is ridiculous to think of using the rifle only as a single shot, and one of the reasons why I liked the Warner and Swasey and similar off-side mounts was that with it you could always use the cartridges in the magazine as in rapid fire, and not have the ejecting shell jam the gun. With the scope mounted on top of the action this may be impossible and such rifles can be used for only one shot; by the time you have placed another cartridge in the barrel by hand your target will have disappeared.
Quite often the sniper will have an opportunity to put off two or three quick shots at a target. Occasionally you will catch a man out in the open and can shoot several times as he runs to the nearest cover. Or a shell may destroy the cover or protection of a gun crew, working party, or machine-gun nest, and start several men running for shelter. On occasions like this, a magazine full of cartridges is a great thing to have available and may be the means of piling up three or four dead enemies. Such opportunities will long be remembered.
The big help in being able to load from the magazine on such occasions, is not only the greater rapidity of fire, but is also the fact that you do not have to take your eyes off the target while reloading the rifle. That’s a real advantage, I can tell you. You very likely are firing through a small loop-hole, or from some concealed location, and must remain in a decidedly circumscribed position to be able to see anything at all – once you move your face away from the gun stock, or change position in the least, your entire “shootable” field of fire may be gone. It takes a second or two to again pick up the target, and seconds are most precious at such times.
After you have lain in a sniping nest or been at a loop-hole most of the day – possibly several days – straining your eyes for something to shoot at, it is most satisfying to be able to do some real shooting if the occasion does offer. Too often it does not. Any sort of a target is generally hard to find, and once found, the cardinal rule is to keep your eye on it until it is sh
ot down or else ducks out of sight.
Our telescope sights were mounted on the left hand side, in such a manner as not to interfere with either the operation of loading from the charger or the manipulation of the bolt and the ejecting of the fired cases. Furthermore, they did not interfere with the use of the iron sights, and this was another great advantage. I always tried to check up both sets of sights every day so as to have it possible to shoot with either the ’scope or iron sights at a second’s notice. This was easy as we always had plenty of “sighting-in” targets in the bits of brick wall, or the numerous water-filled shell holes, at known ranges behind the enemy lines. The observer could almost always pick up the strike of the bullet, whether it hit the point aimed at or in the mud alongside.
It pays to have one set of sights on the rifle that you know are going to “stay put” and it also pays to have them ready for use at an instant’s notice. I remember one morning, when my very first shot was made as soon as we got into position in Sniper’s Bam, it was under very hard conditions of light and background, and was at a soldier who was standing up behind the German lines some six hundred yards from our position. There was no time whatever for sighting-in shots; I just cut loose and put him down cold. Another time I got a similar shot at an officer who was standing up right behind their parados with his back up against a tree and probably thinking himself invisible; my first shot for the day dropped him also. This chap was a Marine officer, we could see this clearly through the big telescope, and I got a lot of satisfaction out of that shot because for general cussedness those Marines had it all over anything else in the German organization, even Bavarians and Prussians, which is saying a lot.
A Rifleman Went to War Page 32