When it comes to the sniper business of the first half of the 20th century, the 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 most extensive 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 well-aimed shooters of the Third Reich?
In Soviet times, the study of the advantages and disadvantages of the armed forces of Nazi Germany was strictly limited, and sometimes simply tabooed. Who, however, were the German snipers, who, if they are portrayed in our and foreign cinema, are only expendable, extras who are about to grab a bullet from the main character from the Anti-Hitler coalition? Is it true that they were that bad, or is that a 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 an optical sight only work perfectly at a distance of up to 300 meters. It should only be issued to trained shooters. As a rule, these were former hunters or those who had undergone special training before the start 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 the day. Such shooters were exempted from any additional duties or combined arms outfits. 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. Such an 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 officer to peek out slightly from behind the trench, as he was immediately "shot" by a German sniper. This had a strong demoralizing effect on the soldiers, so the allies had no choice but to release their “super-shooters” to the forefront of the attack. So by 1918, the concept of military sniping was formed, tactics were worked out and combat missions were defined for this kind of soldier.
Revival of German snipers
In the interwar period, the popularity of sniper business in Germany, in fact, as in most other countries (with the exception of the Soviet Union), began to fade. Snipers began to be treated as an interesting experience of positional warfare, which had already lost its relevance - military theorists saw the coming wars exclusively as a battle of engines. According to their views, the infantry faded into the background, and the championship was for tanks and aircraft.
The German Blitzkrieg seemed to be the main proof of the advantage of the new way of warfare. European states capitulated one by one, unable to withstand the power of German engines. However, with the entry of the Soviet Union into the war, it became clear that you could not win the war with tanks alone. 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 snipers began to appear on Soviet positions in the winter of 1941, and the number of Germans killed began to grow, the Wehrmacht nevertheless realized that aimed rifle fire, for all its archaism, was an effective method of warfare. German sniper schools began to appear 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 grow, although until the very end of the war, the Wehrmacht was not able to match the quantity and quality of training of its snipers with the Red Army.
From what and how they shot
Since 1935, the Wehrmacht was armed with Mauser 98k rifles, which were also used as sniper rifles - for this, specimens with the most accurate battle were simply chosen. 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 approximately 6, but by April 1944 this figure had fallen to 2% (3276 pieces out of 164,525 produced). According to some experts, the reason for this reduction is that the German snipers simply did not like their Mausers, and at the first opportunity they preferred to change them to Soviet sniper rifles. The G43 rifle that appeared in 1943, which was equipped with a four-fold ZF 4 sight, a copy of the Soviet PU sight, did not correct the situation.
Mauser 98k rifle with ZF41 scope (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 hold of a ten-fold 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 the distance that guarantees hitting the 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. Most often, snipers were team players: one shoots, the other observes. Contrary to popular belief, German snipers were forbidden to engage in combat at night. They were considered valuable personnel, and due to the poor quality of German optics, such battles, as a rule, ended not in favor of the Wehrmacht. Therefore, at night they were usually engaged in searching for and arranging an advantageous position for striking during daylight hours. When the enemy went on the attack, the task of the German snipers was to destroy the commanders. With the successful completion of this task, the offensive stopped. If a sniper of the Anti-Hitler coalition began to operate in the rear, several Wehrmacht “super-sharp shooters” could be sent to search for and eliminate him. On the Soviet-German front, this kind of duel ended most often in favor of the Red Army - there is no point in arguing with the facts that the Germans lost the sniper war here almost outright.
At the same time, on the other side of Europe, German snipers were at ease and struck fear into the hearts of British and American soldiers. The British and Americans still treated combat as a sport and believed in the gentlemanly rules of warfare. 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 during the Allied landings wrote: “Snipers are everywhere. They hide in trees, hedges, buildings and piles of 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 a uniform 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 rank and file no longer gave the military salute to the officers. However, these tricks sometimes did not save. So, some captured German snipers admitted that they distinguished English soldiers by rank due to facial hair: at that time, mustaches were 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 paradise for a sniper, with many hedges stretching for kilometers, drainage ditches and embankments. Due to frequent rains, the roads became muddy and became an impassable obstacle for both soldiers and equipment, and soldiers trying to push out another stuck car became a tasty morsel for the cuckoo. The allies had to move very carefully, looking under every stone. An incident that occurred in the city of Cambrai speaks of the incredibly large scale of the actions of German snipers in Normandy. Deciding that there would be little resistance in the area, one of the British companies got too close and fell victim to heavy rifle fire. Then almost all the orderlies of the medical department died, trying to carry the wounded from the battlefield. When the battalion command tried to stop the offensive, about 15 more people died, including the company commander, 12 soldiers and officers received various injuries, and four more went missing. When the village was nevertheless taken, many corpses of German soldiers were found with rifles that had an optical sight.
An American sergeant looks at a dead German sniper in the street of 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 remember the famous opponent of the Red Army soldier Vasily Zaitsev - Major Erwin Koenig. In fact, many historians are inclined to believe that no König existed. Presumably, he is a figment of the imagination of William Craig - author of the book "Enemy at the Gates". There is a version that sniper ace Heinz Thorwald was given 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 covered up his death, saying that Zaitsev killed a certain Erwin Koenig. Some researchers of the life of Thorvald and his sniper school in Zossen consider this to be nothing more than a myth. What is true in this, and what is fiction - is unlikely to become clear.
Nevertheless, the Germans had aces of sniping. The most productive of them is the Austrian Matthias Hetzenauer. He served in the 144th regiment of mountain rangers of the 3rd mountain rifle division, and on his account about 345 enemy soldiers and officers. Oddly enough, Josef Allerberger, No. 2 in the rating, served in the same regiment with him, on whose account there were 257 victims by the end of the war. Third in the number of victories is the German sniper of Lithuanian origin Bruno Sutkus, who destroyed 209 Soviet soldiers and officers.
Perhaps if the Germans, in their pursuit of the idea of a blitzkrieg, 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, but for this article we would have to grains collect material about little-known Soviet snipers.
Here is another interesting infa (already posted), but it is in this post that readers will be interested.
Said the commander of the Corvette company of the Marine Corps, he is also the commander of the landing group, incl. and brazen Corvettes to uninhabited islands:
Hand-to-hand combat instructor - cadets:
- To engage in hand-to-hand combat, a special forces soldier must *****@ be on the battlefield: machine gun, pistol, knife, waist belt, shovel, body armor, helmet. Find a flat area where not a single stone or stick is lying around. Find on it the same raspiya. And even then engage in hand-to-hand combat with him! ..
And he is about snipers
Former KGB officer Yuri Tarasovich recently pleased with an old story about the war, which he heard at dacha gatherings from a friend of Maxim.
Grandfather Maxim managed to win the whole war with a sniper and at the same time survive, although he has a whole German cemetery scattered from Stalingrad to Prague ... By the way, when he traveled with veteran delegations to the GDR, he liked to insert on occasion: “I volunteer went to war, destroyed a German company in full strength and returned home to his mother ... "" German friends "in response, smiled sourly, and this sour smile every time made Grandfather Maxim very happy.
But the story is not about that.
Sitting in Tarasych's garden, the grandfathers argued: which country had better weapons? They argued for a long time, even cursed, so they didn’t come to anything and decided that everyone would say about his own, in which he understands. There were no pilots among them, so they decided not to argue about the planes. We started with grandfather Maxim: “Whose sniper rifle was the best?” Grandfather cleared his throat and reported:
- I worked with both German and English, and, of course, with three-rulers, but I won’t say right off the bat which one is better. Each has its own "weak point".
Everyone hummed in disappointment:
- Maxim, well, you blurted out ... we can do that too. You also say that it all depends on the person ...
Grandfather Maxim:
- And I'll tell you. Of course, from a person. Here’s what ball you don’t slip into ours, but they won’t play football ... And vice versa - people can work such miracles with a three-ruler that cannot exist.
When I was already an experienced sniper, ridiculous rumors began to reach me about some kind of Ukrainian sniper, who knocks down the Germans who looked out of the trench from a distance of 1000 meters! I understood that five hundred or six hundred meters is already the limit, and at a distance of a kilometer you need to foresee so much: air temperature, and humidity, and the bullet moving to the right due to rotation, not to mention the speed and direction of the wind .. .and this is with ideal weapons and ammunition. Of course, I didn't believe it.
But the crest-sniper acquired more and more new legends, they came from those people whom I could not disbelieve, then I had to think about it - how does he do it?
And imagine what it was like for the Germans: at first they thought that the Russian sniper had an invisibility cap, he always hits, but he himself was nowhere to be found and, judging by the terrain, it couldn’t be ... Then, when they realized that the sniper was sitting a kilometer away from them, became even more worried. Apparently, the Russians have a secret rifle that will change the whole tactics of the war.
Our colonels begged each other for a Ukrainian sniper even for a day. The sniper came to the “tour”, clicked a couple of officers from a kilometer and left for another sector of the front. After that, for another week it was possible to safely walk along the front line in full growth and pick mushrooms - the Germans perceived this as a bait and pressed their heads into the ground even more.
Finally, I myself met the legendary sniper when he arrived on a "tour" to our neighbors. I had to walk ten kilometers through the forest, but I could not help getting to know each other. His last name was Kravchenko. And of course he had a secret...
It turned out that this Kravchenko was not a person ... but a whole family: an uncle and three nephews, and all Kravchenkos.
Well, of course, I'll tell you, they really were real artists: they carried with them almost a "lorry" with weapons and tools. Here you have turntables - to measure the speed of the wind - and telescopes, and stereo tubes, and all sorts of darn-darned dolls on strings. I even envied. It got to the point that they had a doll that “pulled” another doll by the strings.
They treated weapons like porcelain services - they carried rifles only in boxes, they almost slept with cartridges so that the gunpowder would not become damp.
But the most important thing is their “signature” style: they occupied a position of four side by side to each other, the uncle measured, calculated and gave everyone different corrections - one “click” to the right, another to the left, the third - keep it up, yourself somehow ... And they developed such coherence that, almost without saying a word, all four “sculpted” in one salvo, so the Germans perceived them as one sniper, and no matter how the bullets spread, always one out of four hit the target. Kravchenko's personal account of the killed Germans was replenished strictly in turn - after all, it is not known whose bullet the German had in the head ...
The most amazing case of their work was when they killed a senior German officer through a steel barge.
The grandfathers moved:
- Maxim, do not breach! How - through the barge? Come on, it can't be...
Grandfather Maxim continued:
- So, the German, like you, also thought that he couldn’t, that’s why he was killed ... Imagine: the front line was along the river, the Germans dug in on one side, and they knew that our snipers were guarding them on the other, and the distance is decent - 800-900 meters, all around the plain. The Kravchenkos killed several soldiers and spent the whole day grazing the protruding officer's stereotube, but they never fired so as not to give themselves away. Waiting for the head. But the officer, too, was not a fool, and did not look out. At least cry. Suddenly they see: a long, rusty, charred, half-flooded barge is dragging along the river, and when it, while sailing, completely blocked the officer from snipers, the German “didn’t let me down” - he decided to stretch his arms and legs that had become stiff during the day and straightened up to his full height. The Kravchenkos immediately killed him, although they did not see through the barge, but they felt that they should look out of the trench. It’s just that the German, like you, was not a sniper and did not know that at such a distance the bullet describes such a high arc that even a barge of a meter and a half or two meters high will fit under it ... http://filibuster60.livejournal.com/398155.html
10. Stepan Vasilyevich Petrenko: 422 killed.
During World War II, the Soviet Union had more skilled snipers than any other country on Earth. Due to their continued training and development during the 1930s, while other countries cut back their teams of specialist snipers, the USSR had the best marksmen in the world. Stepan Vasilyevich Petrenko was well known among the elite.
His highest professionalism is confirmed by 422 killed enemies; the effectiveness of the Soviet sniper training program is confirmed by accurate shooting and extremely rare misses.
9. Vasily Ivanovich Golosov: 422 killed.
During the war, 261 shooters (including women), each of whom killed at least 50 people, were awarded the title of outstanding sniper. Vasily Ivanovich Golosov was one of those who received such an honor. His death list is 422 killed enemies.
8. Fedor Trofimovich Dyachenko: 425 killed.
During World War II, 428,335 people are believed to have received Red Army sniper training, of which 9,534 used their qualifications in death experience. Fedor Trofimovich Dyachenko was one of those trainees who stood out. Soviet hero with 425 confirmations, received the Distinguished Service Medal for “high heroism in military operations against an armed enemy.”
7. Fedor Matveevich Okhlopkov: 429 killed.
Fedor Matveyevich Okhlopkov, one of the most respected snipers in the USSR. He and his brother were recruited into the Red Army, but the brother was killed in action. Fyodor Matveyevich vowed to avenge his brother by those. Who took his life. The number of people killed by this sniper (429 people) did not include the number of enemies. Which he killed with a machine gun. In 1965 he was awarded the Order of the Hero of the Soviet Union.
6. Mikhail Ivanovich Budenkov: 437 killed.
Mikhail Ivanovich Budenkov was among those snipers that few others could only aspire to. Surprisingly successful sniper with 437 killed. This number does not include those killed by machine guns.
5. Vladimir Nikolaevich Pchelintsev: 456 killed.
Such a number of dead can be attributed not only to the skill and mastery of the rifle, but also to the knowledge of the landscape and the ability to competently disguise. Among these skilled and experienced snipers was Vladimir Nikolaevich Pchelintsev, who killed 437 enemies.
4. Ivan Nikolaevich Kulbertinov: 489 killed.
Unlike most other countries during World War II, women could be snipers in the Soviet Union. In 1942, two semi-annual courses in which only women were trained paid off: almost 55,000 snipers were trained. 2,000 women took an active part in the war. Among them: Lyudmila Pavlichenko, who killed 309 opponents.
3. Nikolai Yakovlevich Ilyin: 494 killed.
In 2001, a film was made in Hollywood: "The Enemy at the Gates" about the famous Russian sniper Vasily Zaitsev. The film depicts the events of the Battle of Stalingrad in 1942-1943. A film about Nikolai Yakovlevich Ilyin has not been made, but his contribution to Soviet military history was just as important. Having killed 494 enemy soldiers (sometimes listed as 497), Ilyin was a deadly shooter for the enemy.
2. Ivan Mikhailovich Sidorenko: approximately 500 killed
Ivan Mikhailovich Sidorenko, was drafted in 1939 at the beginning of World War II. During the 1941 Battle of Moscow, he learned to snipe and became known as a gunman with a deadly aim. One of his most famous exploits is that he destroyed a tank and three other vehicles using incendiary ammunition. However, after his injury in Estonia, his role in the following years was primarily teaching. In 1944 Sidorenko was awarded the prestigious title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
1. Simo Hayha: 542 Killed (probably 705)
Simo Hayha, a Finn, is the only non-Soviet soldier on this list. Nicknamed "White Death" by the troops of the Red Army because of the camouflage disguised as snow. According to statistics, Hayha is the bloodiest sniper in history. Before taking part in the war, he was a farmer. Incredibly, in weapons, he preferred an iron sight to an optical one.
Soviet snipers worked actively on all fronts of the Great Patriotic War and sometimes played a huge role in the outcome of the battle. Sniper work was dangerous and hard. The guys had to lie for hours or even days in constant tension and full combat readiness in a very different area. And it doesn't matter if it was a field, swamp or snow. this post will be dedicated to Soviet soldiers - snipers and their heavy burden. Glory to the heroes!
A former cadet of the Central Women's School of Sniper Training A. Shilina said:
“I was already an experienced fighter, who had 25 fascists on his account, when the cuckoo started up among the Germans. Every day, two or three of our soldiers are gone. Yes, it shoots something like aptly: from the first cartridge - in the forehead or in the temple. They called in one pair of snipers - it did not help. Doesn't take any bait. They order us: as you wish, but they must destroy it. Tosya, my best friend, and I dug in - the place, I remember, was swampy, there were hummocks all around, small bushes. They began to observe. A day was wasted, another. On the third day, Tosya says: “Let's take it. Whether we stay alive, no - it doesn't matter. The fighters are falling ... "
She was shorter than me. And the trenches are shallow. He takes a rifle, attaches a bayonet, puts a helmet on it and begins to crawl, run, crawl again. Well, I have to look. The tension is huge. And I worry about her, and the sniper cannot be missed. I see that the bushes in one place seem to have parted a little. He! She took him in right away. He fired, I immediately. I hear shouting from the front line: girls, cheers for you! I crawl up to Tosya, I look - blood. The bullet pierced her helmet and ricocheted her neck. Here the platoon commander arrived. They lifted her - and to the medical unit. It worked out... And at night, our scouts pulled out this sniper. He was a mother, he killed about a hundred of our soldiers ... " 
In the combat practice of Soviet snipers, there are, of course, cooler examples. But he began with the fact that the front-line soldier Shilina told about, not by chance. In the past decade, at the suggestion of the Belarusian writer Svetlana Aleksievich, some publicists and researchers in Russia are trying to assert the opinion in society that the sniper is too inhumane front-line specialty, without making a distinction between those who set the goal of exterminating half the world's population, and those who opposed this goal . But who can condemn Alexandra Shilina for the fact cited at the beginning of the essay? Yes, Soviet snipers came face to face with Wehrmacht soldiers and officers at the front, sending bullets at them. How else? By the way, the German aces of fire opened their account much earlier than the Soviet ones. By June 1941, many of them destroyed several hundred enemy soldiers and officers - Poles, French, British. 
... In the spring of 1942, when there were fierce battles for Sevastopol, the sniper of the 54th Infantry Regiment of the 25th Division of the Primorsky Army, Lyudmila Pavlichenko, was invited to the neighboring unit, where the Nazi shooter brought many troubles. She entered into a duel with a German ace and won it. When they looked at the sniper book, it turned out that he destroyed 400 French and British, as well as about 100 Soviet soldiers. Lyudmila's shot was extremely humane. How many she saved from the bullets of the Nazis! 
Vladimir Pchelintsev, Fedor Okhlopkov, Vasily Zaitsev, Maxim Passar ... During the Great Patriotic War, these and other names of snipers were widely known among the troops. But who won the right to be called the number one ace sniper?
In the Central Museum of the Armed Forces of Russia, among many other exhibits, there is a sniper rifle of the Mosin system of the 1891/30 model. (number KE-1729) "Named after the Heroes of the Soviet Union Andrukhaev and Ilyin". The initiator of the sniper movement of the 136th Infantry Division of the Southern Front, political instructor Khusen Andrukhaev, died heroically in heavy battles for Rostov. In memory of him, a sniper rifle named after him is established. In the days of the legendary defense of Stalingrad, the best sniper of the guard unit, foreman Nikolai Ilyin, smashes the enemy from it. In a short time, from 115 destroyed Nazis, he increases the score to 494 and becomes the best Soviet sniper during the Great Patriotic War.
In August 1943, near Belgorod, Ilyin died in hand-to-hand combat with the enemy. The rifle, now named after two heroes (Nikolai Ilyin was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union on February 8, 1943), was traditionally awarded to the best sniper of the unit, Sergeant Afanasy Gordienko. He brought his account from it to 417 destroyed Nazis. This honorary weapon failed only when it was hit by a shell fragment. In total, about 1000 enemy soldiers and officers were struck from this rifle. Nikolai Ilyin made 379 accurate shots from it.
What was typical for this twenty-year-old sniper from the Luhansk region? He knew how to outwit the enemy. One day, Nikolai tracked down an enemy shooter all day. Everything felt: a hundred meters from him lay an experienced professional. How to remove the German "cuckoo"? From a padded jacket and a helmet, he made a stuffed animal and began to slowly pick it up. The helmet did not have time to rise even half, when two shots rang out almost simultaneously: the Nazi man pierced the scarecrow with a bullet, and Ilyin - the enemy. 
When it became known that graduates of the Berlin sniper school arrived at the front near Stalingrad, Nikolai Ilyin told his colleagues that the Germans were pedants, they had probably learned the classic tricks. We need to show them Russian ingenuity and take care of the baptism of Berlin newcomers. Every morning, under artillery fire, under bombardment, he sneaked up on the Nazis for a sure shot and destroyed them without a miss. Near Stalingrad, Ilyin's account increased to 400 destroyed enemy soldiers and officers. Then there was the Kursk Bulge, and there he again flashed his ingenuity and ingenuity.
Ace number two can be considered a Smolyan, assistant chief of staff of the 1122nd Infantry Regiment of the 334th Division (1st Baltic Front) Captain Ivan Sidorenko, who destroyed about 500 enemy soldiers and officers and trained about 250 snipers for the front. In moments of calm, he hunted the Nazis, taking his students with him to “hunt”.
The third in the list of the most successful Soviet sniper aces is the sniper of the 59th Guards Rifle Regiment of the 21st Division (2nd Baltic Front) Guard Senior Sergeant Mikhail Budenkov, who killed 437 Nazi soldiers and officers. Here is what he said about one of the battles in Latvia:
“There was some kind of farm on the way of the offensive. There were German machine gunners. It was necessary to destroy them. With short dashes, I managed to reach the top of the height and kill the Nazis. Before I had time to catch my breath, I see a German running to the farm in front of me, with a machine gun. Shot - and the Nazi fell. After a while, a second one with a machine-gun box runs after him. He suffered the same fate. A few more minutes passed, hundreds of one and a half fascists ran from the farm. This time they were running along a different road, further away from me. I fired several shots, but I realized that many of them would still hide. I quickly ran up to the dead machine gunners, the machine gun was working, and I opened fire on the Nazis from their own weapons. Then we counted about a hundred killed Nazis.
Other Soviet snipers were also distinguished by amazing courage, endurance and ingenuity. For example, Nanai Sergeant Maxim Passar (117th Infantry Regiment of the 23rd Infantry Division, Stalingrad Front), who accounted for 237 destroyed Nazi soldiers and officers. Tracking down an enemy sniper, he pretended to be killed and lay all day in no man's land in an open field, among the dead. From this position, he sent a bullet to the fascist shooter, who was under the embankment, in a pipe for draining water. Only in the evening, Passar was able to crawl back to his own. The first 10 Soviet sniper aces destroyed over 4,200 enemy soldiers and officers, the first 20 - more than 7,500. Vasily Zaitsev, the legendary sniper of the Great Patriotic War Vasily Zaitsev, during the Battle of Stalingrad, destroyed more than two hundred German soldiers and officers, including 11 snipers. 
The Americans wrote: “Russian snipers showed great skill on the German front. They prompted the Germans to produce optical sights on a large scale and train snipers.” Of course, one cannot fail to say how the results of Soviet snipers were recorded. Here it is appropriate to refer to the materials of the meeting held in the summer of 1943 with the Deputy Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars K.E. Voroshilova.According to the memoirs of ace-sniper Vladimir Pchelintsev, those present at the meeting proposed to introduce a single, strict procedure for recording the results of combat work, a single “Personal Sniper Book” for all, and in a rifle regiment and company - “Journals for recording the combat activities of snipers”.
The basis for accounting for the number of Nazi soldiers and officers killed should be the report of the sniper himself, confirmed by eyewitnesses (company and platoon observers, artillery and mortar spotters, reconnaissance officers, officers of all degrees, unit commanders, etc.). When counting the destroyed Nazis, each officer should be equated with three soldiers. In practice, this was basically how the records were kept. Perhaps the last point was not observed.
Separately, it should be said about female snipers. They appeared in the Russian army during the First World War, most often they were the widows of Russian officers who died in the war. They sought to take revenge on the enemy for their husbands. And already in the first months of the Great Patriotic War, the names of the female snipers Lyudmila Pavlichenko, Natalia Kovshova, Maria Polivanova became known to the whole world. 
Lyudmila in the battles for Odessa and Sevastopol destroyed 309 Nazi soldiers and officers (this is the highest result among female snipers). Natalya and Maria, who accounted for over 300 Nazis, glorified their names with unparalleled courage on August 14, 1942. On that day, near the village of Sutoki (Novgorod region), Natasha Kovshova and Masha Polivanova, repelling the onslaught of the Nazis, were surrounded. With the last grenade, they blew themselves up and the German infantrymen who surrounded them. One of them was then 22 years old, the other 20 years old. Like Lyudmila Pavlichenko, they were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
Following their example, many girls decided to master sniper skills in order to participate in battles with weapons in their hands. They were trained in high marksmanship directly in military units and formations. In May 1943, the Central Women's School of Sniper Training was created. More than 1300 female snipers came out of its walls. During the fighting, the pupils exterminated more than 11,800 fascist soldiers and officers.
... At the front, Soviet soldiers called them "private soldiers without a miss", as, for example, Nikolai Ilyin at the beginning of his "sniper career". Or - “sergeants without a miss”, like Fyodor Okhlopkov ... Here are lines from letters from Wehrmacht soldiers that they wrote to their relatives: “A Russian sniper is something terrible. You can't hide from him anywhere! You can't raise your head in the trenches. The slightest negligence - and you will immediately get a bullet between the eyes ... "
“Snipers often lie in one place for hours in ambush and take aim at anyone who shows up. Only in the dark can one feel safe.”
“There are banners hanging in our trenches: “Caution! Shooting Russian sniper! 
The Second World War became that period in the history of mankind when people performed the most incredible feats and showed all their hidden talents. Naturally, those fighters whose abilities could be used in military operations were most valued. The Soviet command especially singled out snipers, who, using their skills, could destroy up to a thousand enemy soldiers with well-aimed shots during their service. Lists of the best snipers of World War II, with names and an indication of the number of enemies hit, often flicker in different versions on the Internet. In our article, we gathered those who brought victory closer with all their might, despite the difficulties of front-line life and serious injuries. So, who are they - the best snipers of World War II? And where did they come from, later transforming into an elite caste of fighters?
Shooting training in the USSR
Historians of many countries of the world unanimously declare that during the Second World War, fighters from the USSR proved to be the best snipers. Moreover, they surpassed the enemy and allied soldiers not only in terms of training, but also in the number of shooters. Germany was able to get a little closer to this level only at the end of the war - in 1944. Interestingly, to train their fighters, German officers used manuals written for Soviet snipers. Where did such a number of well-aimed shooters come from in the pre-war period in our country?
Since 1932, shooting training has been carried out with Soviet citizens. During this period of time, the country's leadership established the honorary title "Voroshilovsky shooter", confirmed by a special badge. They were divided into two degrees, the second was considered the most honorary. To obtain it, it was necessary to pass a series of difficult tests that were beyond the power of ordinary shooters. Every boy, and what to hide, and the girls too, dreamed of showing off the badge of the "Voroshilovsky shooter". For this, they spent a lot of time in shooting clubs, working hard.
In the thirty-fourth year of the last century, demonstration competitions were held between our and American shooters. The unexpected result for the US was their loss. The Soviet riflemen snatched the victory by a huge margin, which spoke of their excellent preparation.
Shooting training work was carried out for seven years and was suspended with the outbreak of the first hostilities. However, by this time the "Voroshilovsky shooter" badge was proudly worn by more than nine million civilians of both sexes.
Sniper caste
Now it's no secret to anyone that snipers belong to a special caste of fighters who are carefully protected and transferred from one area of the military conflict to another in order to demoralize the enemy. In addition to the psychological impact on the enemy, these arrows are distinguished by real destructive power and have very impressive "death" lists. For example, the best snipers of World War II from the USSR had long lists of five to seven hundred killed. This takes into account only confirmed deaths, but in reality their number could exceed one thousand soldiers per shooter.
What makes snipers so special? First of all, it is worth saying that these people by their nature are really special. After all, they have the ability to stay motionless for a long time, tracking down the enemy, the utmost concentration of attention, calmness, patience, the ability to make quick decisions and unique accuracy. As it turned out, the required set of qualities and skills was fully possessed by young hunters who spent their entire childhood in the taiga, tracking down the beast. It was they who became the first snipers who fought with conventional rifles, showing simply stunning results.
Later, on the basis of these shooters, a whole unit was formed, which turned into the elite of the Soviet army. It is known that during the war years, sniper meetings were held more than once, designed to increase their effectiveness as a result of the exchange of experience.
At the moment, some foreign historians are trying to challenge the results of Soviet soldiers listed in the list of the best snipers of World War II. But it is quite difficult to do this, because each target is documented. In addition, most experts are sure that the number of real successful shots exceeds the number indicated in the award lists by two or even three times. After all, not every hit target in the heat of battle could be confirmed. Do not forget the fact that many documents take into account the result of a particular sniper only at the time of submission to the award. In the future, his exploits may not have been fully tracked.
Modern historians claim that the top ten snipers of World War II were able to destroy more than four thousand enemy soldiers. There were also women among the excellent shooters, we will talk about them in one of the following sections of our article. After all, these brave ladies skillfully bypassed their colleagues from Germany in their results. So who are they - these people, called the best snipers of World War II?
Of course, the list of Soviet snipers includes far from ten people. According to the archives, their number may be more than one hundred skilled shooters. However, we decided to bring to your attention information about the ten best Soviet snipers of World War II, the results of which still seem fantastic:
- Mikhail Surkov.
- Vasily Kvachantiradze.
- Ivan Sidorenko.
- Nikolai Ilyin.
- Ivan Kulbertinov.
- Vladimir Pchelintsev.
- Peter Goncharov.
- Mikhail Budenkov.
- Vasily Zaitsev.
- Fedor Okhlopkov.
A separate section of the article is devoted to each of these unique people.
Mikhail Surkov
This shooter was drafted into the army from the Krasnoyarsk Territory, where he spent his whole life in the taiga, hunting the beast with his father. With the onset of the war, he picked up a rifle and went to the front to do what he did best - hunt and kill. Thanks to life skills, Mikhail Surkov managed to destroy more than seven hundred Nazis. Among them were ordinary soldiers and officers, which undoubtedly allowed the shooter to be included in the list of the best snipers of World War II.
However, the talented fighter was not presented for the award, since most of his victories could not be documented. Historians attribute this fact to the fact that Surkov liked to rush into the epicenter of the battle. Therefore, in the future it turned out to be quite problematic to determine from whose well-aimed shot this or that enemy soldier fell. Mikhail's brother-soldiers confidently said that he had destroyed more than one thousand fascists. Other people were especially struck by Surkov's ability to remain invisible for long hours, tracking down his enemy.
Vasily Kvachantiradze
This young man went through the whole war from beginning to end. Vasily fought in the rank of foreman and returned home with a large track record of awards. On account of Kvachantiradze - more than half a thousand German fighters. For his accuracy, which ranked him among the best snipers of World War II, by the end of the war he was awarded the title of Hero of the USSR.
Ivan Sidorenko
This fighter is considered one of the most unique Soviet shooters. Indeed, before the war, Sidorenko planned to become a professional artist and had great prospects in this area. But the war ordered in its own way and the young man was sent to a military school, after which he went to the front in an officer rank.
Immediately, the newly minted commander was entrusted with a mortar company, where he showed his sniper talents. During the war years, Sidorenko destroyed five hundred German soldiers, but he himself was seriously wounded three times. After each time, he returned to the front, but in the end, the consequences of the injuries turned out to be very difficult for the body. This did not allow Sidorenko to graduate from the military academy, but before leaving for the reserve he received the Hero of the Soviet Union.
Nikolai Ilyin
Many historians believe that it is Ilyin who is the best Russian sniper of World War II. He is considered not only a unique shooter, but also a talented organizer of the sniper movement. He gathered young soldiers, trained them, forming from them a real backbone of shooters on the Stalingrad front.
It was Nikolai who had the honor to fight with the rifle of the Hero of the USSR Andrukhaev. With it, he destroyed about four hundred enemies, and in total, in three years of hostilities, he managed to kill almost five hundred fascists. In the fall of 1943, he fell in battle, receiving the posthumous title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
Ivan Kulbertinov
Naturally, most of the snipers in civilian life were hunters. But Ivan Kulbertinov belonged to hereditary reindeer herders, which was rare among soldiers. Yakut by nationality, he was considered a professional in shooting and, according to his results, outperformed the best snipers of the Wehrmacht of World War II.
Ivan got to the front two years after the outbreak of hostilities and almost immediately opened his death account. He went through the entire war to the end and almost five hundred fascist soldiers were on his list. Interestingly, the unique shooter never received the title of Hero of the USSR, which was awarded to almost all snipers. Historians claim that he was twice nominated for an award, but for unknown reasons, the title never found its hero. After the end of the war, he was presented with a nominal rifle.
Vladimir Pchelintsev
This man had a difficult and interesting fate. It can be said that he was one of the few people who could be called professional snipers. Even before the forty-first year, he studied shooting and even achieved the high rank of master of sports. Pchelintsev had a unique accuracy, which allowed him to destroy four hundred and fifty-six fascists.
Surprisingly, a year after the start of the war, he was delegated to the United States along with Lyudmila Pavlichenko, who was later named the best female sniper of World War II. They spoke at the International Student Congress about how boldly the Soviet youth is fighting for the freedom of their country and urged other states not to surrender under the onslaught of the fascist infection. Interestingly, the shooters were honored to spend the night within the walls of the White House.
Petr Goncharov
Not always fighters immediately understood their calling. For example, Peter did not even suspect that fate had prepared for him a special fate. Goncharov went to war as part of the militia, then he was accepted into the army as a baker. After some time, he became a convoy, which he planned to serve further. However, as a result of a surprise attack by the Nazis, he managed to prove himself as a professional sniper. In the midst of the unfolding battle, Peter raised someone else's rifle and began to accurately destroy the enemy. He even managed to knock out a German tank with one shot. This decided the fate of Goncharov.
A year after the start of the war, he received his own sniper rifle, with which he fought for another two years. During this time, he killed four hundred and forty-one enemy soldiers. For this, Goncharov was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, and twenty days after this solemn event, the sniper fell in battle, not letting go of his rifle.
Mikhail Budenkov
This sniper went through the entire war from the very beginning and met the victory in East Prussia. In the spring of 1945, Budenkov received the title of Hero of the Soviet Union for four hundred and thirty-seven hit targets.
However, in the first years of service, Mikhail did not even think of becoming a sniper. Before the war, he worked as a tractor driver and ship mechanic, and at the front he led a mortar crew. His marksmanship attracted the attention of his superiors, and he was soon transferred to the snipers.
Vasily Zaitsev
This sniper is considered a true legend of the war. A hunter in peacetime, he knew everything about shooting firsthand, so from the first days of his service he became a sniper. Historians claim that in just one Battle of Stalingrad, more than two hundred enemies fell from his well-aimed shots. Among them were eleven German snipers.
There is a well-known story about how the Nazis, tired of the elusiveness of Zaitsev, sent to destroy his best sniper in Germany of the Second World War - the head of the secret school of shooters Erwin Koenig. Vasily's brother-soldiers said that a real duel was fought between the snipers. It lasted almost three days and ended with the victory of the Soviet shooter.
Fedor Okhlopkov
This man was spoken of with admiration during the war years. He was a real Yakut hunter and tracker, for whom there were no impossible tasks. It is believed that he managed to kill more than one thousand enemies, but most of his victories were difficult to document. Interestingly, over the years of service in the army, he used as a weapon not only a rifle, but also a machine gun. In this way, he destroyed the soldiers, aircraft and tanks of the enemy.
The best Finnish sniper of World War II
"White Death" - this is the nickname given to the shooter from Finland, who destroyed more than seven hundred Red Army soldiers. Simo Häyhä worked on a farm in 1939 and did not even think that he would become the most productive sniper in his country.
After a military conflict arose between Finland and the USSR in November 1939, units of the Red Army invaded the territory of a foreign state. However, the fighters did not expect that the locals would put up such tough resistance to the Soviet soldiers.
Simo Hyayuha, who fought in the thick of things, especially distinguished himself. Every day he destroyed sixty or seventy enemy soldiers. This forced the Soviet command to launch a hunt for this well-aimed shooter. However, he continued to remain elusive and sowed death, hiding in the most inappropriate, as it seemed to the officers, places.
Later, historians wrote that Simo was helped by his small stature. The man barely reached one and a half meters, so he quite successfully hid almost in full view of the enemy. He also never used an optical rifle, because it often glared in the sun and gave out an arrow. In addition, the Finn was well versed in the features of the local terrain, which gave him the opportunity to take the best places to observe the enemy.
At the end of the Hundred Days War, Simo was wounded in the face. The bullet passed right through and completely smashed the facial bone. In the hospital, his jaw was restored, after which he lived safely to almost a hundred years.
Of course, war does not have a feminine face. However, Soviet girls made their invaluable contribution to the victory over fascism, fighting on different sectors of the front. It is known that among them there were about one thousand snipers. Together they were able to destroy twelve thousand German soldiers and officers. Surprisingly, the results of many of them are much higher than those who were called the best German snipers of World War II.
Lyudmila Pavlichenko is considered the most productive shooter among women. This amazing beauty signed up as a volunteer immediately after the declaration of war with Germany. In two years of hostilities, she was able to eliminate three hundred and nine fascists, including thirty-six enemy snipers. For this feat she was awarded the title of Hero of the USSR, the last two years of the war she did not take part in the battles.
Olga Vasilyeva was also often called the best female sniper of World War II. On account of this fragile girl, one hundred and forty-eight fascists, but in the forty-third year, no one believed that she could become a real sniper, who would be afraid of the enemy. The girl left a notch on the butt of her rifle after each well-aimed shot. By the end of the war, he was completely covered in marks.
Genya Peretyatko was deservedly ranked among the best female snipers of World War II. Almost nothing was known about this girl for a long time, but she destroyed one hundred and forty-eight enemies with well-aimed and accurate shots of her rifle.
Even before the start of the war, Genya was seriously engaged in shooting, she was her real passion. In parallel, the girl was fond of music. It is amazing that she skillfully combined both activities until the war intervened in her life. Peretyatko immediately volunteered for the front, and thanks to her abilities she was quickly transferred to snipers. After the end of the war, the girl moved to the United States, where she lived for the rest of her life.
German snipers
The results of the German shooters have always been much more modest than those of the Soviet soldiers. But among them were unique snipers who glorified their country. Many legends circulated during the war years about Matthias Hetzenauer. He fought for only one year as a sniper, having managed to destroy three hundred and forty-five Red Army soldiers. For Germany, this was simply a phenomenal result that no one managed to surpass.
Josef Allerberger was considered one of the best German snipers of World War II. He was able to confirm the elimination of two hundred and fifty-seven targets. His colleagues considered the young man a born sniper who possessed not only accuracy and endurance, but also a certain psychology that allowed him to intuitively choose the right battle tactics.
