STALINGRAD
The struggle in the Soviet Union went on for many months, the advantage sometimes swaying this way and sometimes that way. On November 23, 1942, however, five German corps were surrounded in the Stalingrad pocket. It was the prelude to one of the greatest battles in history. The Germans had already underestimated what it would take to subdue the city of Stalingrad. One of their commanders commented: “In the town itself progress is desperately slow. The Sixth Army will never finish the job at this rate. … We have to fight endless engagements, taking one cellar after another in order to gain any ground at all.”
MOSIN-NAGANT 1891/30
This rifle, sometimes described in Russia as the Vintovka Mosina rifle, was first adopted in Russia in 1891. Its double-barrelled name is derived from its development from two different and competing designs, one a Russian design by Colonel Sergei Ivanovich Mosin and the other a Belgian design by Emile Nagant.
Although the Mosin design was ultimately selected in competition, some aspects of the Nagant design, including the magazine and feed mechanism, were also incorporated. Large numbers were produced. They were used by Finnish forces during the Winter War and by anti-Franco forces in the Spanish Civil War. The rifle was standard issue to the Imperial Russian Army during World War I. The sniper version of the rifle was based on the Model 1891/30.
The telescopic sights fitted to this version were usually either 4x magnification PE or PEM or 3.5x magnification PU. The bolt was also adapted so that it would not interfere with the telescopic sight.
Country of Origin Russia/Soviet Union
Caliber 7.62mm (0.3in)
Overall length 1287mm (50.7in)
Barrel length 730mm (28.7in)
Weight 4kg (8.8lbs)
The Soviet Marshal Chuikov wrote that success “did not depend on strength, but on ability, skill, daring, guile.” The streets and buildings of Stalingrad were reduced to a maze of rubble and concrete blocks by bombing. This was a place where neither traditional infantry tactics nor tank tactics could be used. It was the home of the sniper.
By January 1943, it was clearly all over for the German Sixth Army trapped in Stalingrad but they had orders to resist to the bitter end. Eventually, the German commander, Field Marshal Paulus, bowed to the inevitable and surrendered. Over the entire campaign the Axis armies lost more than 800,000 personnel killed or captured, while Soviet losses were approximatley 1.1 million.
VASSIL ZAITSEV (1915–91)
Whereas Simo Häyhä had been the hero of Finnish forces during the Winter War, Vassil Zaitsev takes that honor for the Soviet forces during the German invasion of the Soviet Union and particularly during the Battle of Stalingrad. Not only did Zaitsev perform with devastating effect as a sniper himself, he is also said to have trained numerous other snipers whose cumulative effect on the German Army was prodigious. Stalingrad was a modern twentieth century city with steel and concrete foundations. Many areas were reduced to rubble by German artillery and aerial bombardment and what ensued was what the Germans called “Rattenkrieg”–the War of the Rats. In this war, the sniper was king and Zaitsev was king of the snipers.
Like many good snipers, Zaitsev had been a hunter before joining the army. Brought up as a shepherd and backwoodsman, he had a natural sense of fieldcraft and the instinct for stalking his prey. It is said that in ten days Zaitsev killed forty Germans and as his score approached a hundred he became the hero that the struggling Soviet Union so desperately needed to build its morale and resilience.
Snipers’ duel
As Zaitsev’s tally of victims continued to rise, the story goes that the Germans plotted to get rid of him. This is not improbable as the Soviets had themselves tried to get rid of the famous Finnish sniper Simo Häyhä. Various identities have been put forward for the German sniper, one of them being Major König, an aristocrat who ran a sniping school in Germany. Although his identity has never been confirmed, an elite German sniper was brought in to Stalingrad and deployed on a mission specifically to neutralize the Red Army scourge. Zaitsev himself was aware of the presence of this super sniper and testifies to their duel in personal accounts. It was perhaps the most significant sniper duel in history and one where the hunter became the hunted.
Guards Sergeant A. M. Yaremchoock of the Kalininsky Front poses for the camera during the winter of 1942/43, a new recruit to the Red Army’s rapidly growing sniper corps. He is camouflaged in a white winter smock and armed with a Mosin-Nagant M1891/30 fitted with a 4x RE telescopic sight.
Since there was no visual contact between snipers of opposing sides, how would Zaitsev know where and when the German was operating? After all, there were other good German snipers around. Zaitsev was aware of the difficulty. He tells the story:
“Then something happened. My good friend Morozov was killed, and Sheikin wounded, by a rifle with telescopic sights. Morozov and Sheikin were considered experienced snipers; they had often emerged victorious from the most difficult skirmishes with the enemy. Now there was no doubt. They had come up against the Nazi ‘super-sniper’ I was looking for.”
There is no emotion in Zaitsev’s words, despite the fact that his best friend had been killed. Snipers cannot afford emotion. Zaitsev knew that the battle was now on–sniper versus sniper–and that there could only be one winner.
One evening, when inspecting the German front line, Zaitsev noticed a German helmet moving along the trench line. He could tell by the way it was moving that it was being held up on a stick. This might have fooled a rookie sniper but it did not fool the master. It was obviously a ploy to get him to fire at the helmet and give away his position to the sniper concealed somewhere else and waiting for the shot. It was love-fifteen to the German sniper. He had made his first mistake–underestimating his enemy.
Days passed and one morning Zaitsev took up position with an inexperienced colleague. As dawn broke, they lay motionless as the battle raged around them. Suddenly, Zaitsev’s companion called out, “There he is!” and raised himself momentarily. A bullet winged in and hit him. He was fortunate to be only wounded. The German sniper had their position in his sights and was waiting for his moment. He had, however, made his second mistake: he had not made sure of his victim.
Zaitsev carefully examined the German front line to see where a sniper might be positioned. There were plenty of places an inexperienced sniper might take up position but he knew that this sniper would not pick anywhere obvious.
At last he spotted a piece of metal sheeting with a slight gap under it. Most people would not have given it a second glance in this debris-strewn landscape but Zaitsev had the experience to know what might lie behind the metal sheet. He could imagine a hide and a space for the sniper to lie. He knew instinctively that that was where his quarry was hiding.
Game of cat and mouse
To confirm his suspicions, Zaitsev raised a glove on a stick and a bullet immediately passed through it. Zaitsev studied the glove and the angle of the bullet holes. It confirmed that the shot must have come from the direction of the metal sheet. The German sniper had made his third mistake: firing at the slightest movement and giving away his position. There was no way that he could have killed his victim by firing at his hand. This was an elementary error.
Having confirmed the German’s location, an inexperienced sniper might have been in a hurry to shoot at him there and then but Zaitsev knew better. He was not one for loosing off random shots in the hope that they might hit home. He silently withdrew from his position and planned to return another day.
Vassil Zaitsev (left) directs two other Soviet snipers. Zaitsev made a particular impression at the Battle of Stalingrad. Although extremely effective as a sniper in his own right, he also knew how to work with a team and to train other snipers.
A new day dawned and once again the battle began to rage around Zaitsev as he took up a new position. This time he had brought with him one of his most experienced companions–Kulikov. He knew that there was now no room for error. Showing t
heir experience and expertise, they filtered out the raging battle and focused on their aim: to identify and shoot the German super-sniper. Most people would have been impatient to get on with the job in hand. After all, Zaitsev now knew where the German was located. However, the morning sun was shining on the Soviet lines and it could easily have reflected off Zaitsev’s telescopic sights. Even a small glint of light would be enough for a sniper who was ready and waiting. Minutes turned into hours and still they waited. Gradually, the sun changed its position as the earth spun on its axis and the shadows moved over Zaitsev’s position while the rays of sun played on the German front line and the steel sheet. The time had come.
As Zaitsev and Kulikov examined the ground in front of them, they noticed a glimmer of light reflecting off glass. It could of course be an old bottle or fragment of broken window. That is what most people would think, Alternatively, it could be the glass of a telescopic sight.
Kulikov took off his helmet and raised it very slowly, not in the clown-like way the Germans had raised the helmet days before, but the way someone carefully peering over the parapet would raise their ruse worked. Under the steel sheeting the German head. The German sniper fired at the helmet and briefly raised his head to check he had got his victim. Kulikov feigned death by screaming and briefly rising It was the last thing he ever did for at that moment and disappearing. It was a neat piece of acting and the Zaitsev squeezed his trigger. Although hailed as a super-sniper, the German had made a series of errors that ultimately led to him losing the contest. He had been both impatient and trigger-happy and he had fatally underestimated his enemy. If the German had been the aristocratic Major König that some people think he was, perhaps he had fallen into the trap prevalent among the Germans at that time of thinking that the Russians were inferior.
TEAMWORK
Although the sniper is often regarded as a solitary operator, and sometimes this is indeed the case, they often work in two-man teams, with one person responsible for the sniper rifle and delivering the shots and the other for a whole range of ancillary activities ranging from observation to camouflage and back-up fire support.
Vassil Zaitsev often worked with a companion and his famous defeat of an elite German sniper was partly due to the expert help of his companion, Kulikov. The German super-snipers Matthias Hetzenauer and Josef Allerberger also sometimes worked together as a team. In World War I, the British sniper trainer H. Hesketh-Prichard had often worked with an observer and developed diversionary tactics by team members to enable the sniper to get his shot on target. War I, the British sniper trainer H. Hesketh-Prichard had often worked with an observer and developed diversionary tactics by team members to enable the sniper to get his shot on target.
Moving like snow wraiths, two Russian snipers deploy into position. This image was most likely to have been posed as trained snipers would be unlikely to break a skyline and their weapons lack any form of camouflage.
As time went on, the concept of the sniper team solidified and snipers of the twenty-first century mostly operate as teams. Ultimately, the role of the non-sniping team member is to enable the sniper to focus as much as possible on the job at hand. The assistant will therefore take on a number of roles, including navigation to the target area, preparation of all necessary equipment, building hides, providing logistical support and communications and observing the target area with a telescope or any other relevant equipment.
Often the members of the sniper team will exchange roles. Both are likely to be fully trained snipers. A team member acting as observer may also be in contact with other units, such as artillery and aircraft, and be able to call in fire missions as appropriate.
If a sniper team is discovered by an enemy, the sniper rifle may not provide enough fire to enable the team to defend themselves and make an escape. The team member is likely therefore to be armed with an automatic weapon for intensive fire support.
LYUDMILA PAVLICHENKO (1916–74)
Born in the Ukraine, Lyudmila Pavlichenko was one of the Soviet Union’s most famous female snipers during World War II. She quickly built up a formidable tally of 309 kills, which included 36 enemy snipers. Lyudmila Pavlichenko’s combat career was impressive but actually quite short. Following the German invasion of June 1941, her initial attempt to join an infantry unit was stalled by a recruiter, who decided that she would be better employed as a nurse. Pavlichenko had other ideas. She had received basic military training at school in Kiev and was the holder of a Vorolshilov Sharpshooter Badge won in regional shooting matches, and she was not interested in nursing. She wanted to fight for her country.
Combat debut
Her shooting skills were quickly recognized and she became a sniper, initially using a Mosin-Nagant bolt-action rifle with a 4x magnification scope. Pavlichenko joined V.I. Chapayev’s 25th Rifle Division, making her combat debut near Belyayevka, near Odessa, as part of a sniper platoon in the summer of 1941. There, she at first experienced great reluctance to take a life. Although she had been trained to kill, and thought she was ready, she found herself unable to shoot. Her hesitation vanished when a soldier near her was shot and killed. Pavlichenko knew the man only vaguely but he was likeable and cheerful and his death inspired a desire for revenge.
She soon began attracting the attention of her superiors with her skill and efficiency, frequently remaining in a camouflaged advanced position for eighteen hours at a stretch. For much of her career she employed classic sniper-and-observer tactics, selecting high-value targets such as officers and enemy snipers. Pavlichenko preferred to use the Tokarev SVT40 semi-automatic rifle, partly due to the fact that it had an easier cocking action than the Mosin-Nagant rifle. Her reputation quickly snowballed and soon she was being feted both in the Soviet Union and abroad.
A rare propoganda photograph of Lyudmila Pavlichenko posing from behind some foliage armed with a Tokarev SVT40 semi-automatic rifle.
Sniper leader
During August 1941, Pavlichenko, who had been promoted to sergeant, took part in the battle for Odessa, killing 187 enemy personnel over a period of ten weeks before the city fell to the Germans. Although wounded three times, she remained with her unit when it transferred to Sevastopol, in the Crimea. There, she served as a sniper leader and received a field promotion to lieutenant. By July she had been credited with some 309 confirmed kills, including more than 100 officers and a German sniper whose logbook listed over 500 kills.
In June 1942, she was wounded by mortar fire and was evacuated from Sevastopol by submarine. The city fell soon afterward and Pavlichenko’s husband, who also served in the 25th Rifle Division, was killed. The decision to pull Lyudmila Pavlichenko out of the line may have been inspired partly by a desire to ensure her safety for propaganda purposes. She had become something of a national hero and her loss might have adversely affected morale. However, it is just as likely that the Soviet leadership thought that she could best aid the war effort by passing on her formidable skills to a new generation of male and female snipers.
On tour
Pavlichenko was sent on a tour of the United States and Canada, where she became the first Soviet citizen to be received by a U.S. president and was presented with a Winchester rifle and a Colt pistol as tokens of esteem. She returned to the Soviet Union as an instructor and for the remainder of the war she trained snipers and sharpshooters at the Central Women’s Sniper Training School near Moscow.
In 1943, Lyudmila Pavlichenko was decorated for her achievements on the battlefield, being awarded the Gold Star of the Hero of the Soviet Union. She was also commemorated on a series of Soviet postage stamps. She ended the war as a Major and later served with the General Staff of the Soviet Navy. Many of the 1885 female snipers she helped train were not so fortunate or skilful; fewer than 500 survived the war.
SOVIET FEMALE SNIPERS
Because of chronic problems in finding the manpower to fulfill military and industrial tasks, the Soviet Government recruited some 7.75 million women, of whom 800,000
served in the military. Sniping was a precision role, which many women soldiers performed with expertise. It is estimated that in 1943 there were more than 2000 female snipers in the Soviet armed forces. Female snipers have been credited with more than 12,000 confirmed kills.
This sniper is part of rifle battalion who fought at the Battle of Kursk, the great clash of armour and arms in July 1943.
The Soviets found snipers were most effective during the defensive stages of the war (1941–43), after which the advantage of defense shifted to the Wehrmacht, and German snipers became a real danger to the advancing Red Army.
The illustration (right) shows a female sniper deployed around Kursk in July 1943. Soviet snipers were issued with one-piece specialist overalls to wear over their standard uniforms. However, during the war these uniforms were often camouflaged, especially for snipers. This overall was made using a khaki base with green foliage patterns. A large hood and soft cap would obscure the face in a position of hiding. Some overalls had strips of cloth sewn to the shoulders and sleeves to break up the silhouette. This sniper’s killing tool is the 7.62mm (0.3in) Mosin-Nagant M1891/30 rifle, which served the Russian and Soviet military for almost fifty years.
JOSEF “SEPP” ALLERBERGER (1924–2010)
Born in Steiermark, Austria, Josef Allerberger served in the 3rd Mountain Division on the Eastern Front. He was credited with 257 kills. Allerberger was particularly adept at camouflage. One technique he used was to deploy an umbrella painted and covered with appropriate local foliage. The umbrella could be easily deployed and provided a light screen behind which he could conceal himself. Allerberger became a master of tactical sniping and could even stop a Soviet attack by the way in which he shot at the rear rank in order to wound them and moved on to the front rank. The sound of their wounded comrades behind them would almost invariably cause the front ranks of the attack to falter and lose confidence.
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