The best sniper. The best snipers according to the Military Channel

The Second World War was the period in the history of mankind when people performed the most incredible feats and showed all their hidden talents. Naturally, the most appreciated were those fighters whose abilities could be used in military operations. Especially the Soviet command allocated snipers who, using their skill, could destroy up to a thousand enemy soldiers during their service with well-aimed shots. Lists of the best snipers of the Second World War, with names and an indication of the number of enemies hit, often flash across the Internet in different versions. In our article, we have 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 transformed into an elite caste of fighters?

Shooting training in the USSR

Historians from 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 soldiers of the enemy and allies not only in terms of training, but also in the number of shooters. Germany was able to come a little closer to a similar level only at the end of the war - in 1944. Interestingly, to train their fighters, German officers used training 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, work has been carried out with Soviet citizens on training in shooting. 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 honorable. To obtain it, it was required to go through a series of difficult tests that were beyond the power of ordinary shooters. Every boy, and what to hide, and girls too, dreamed of showing off the "Voroshilov shooter" badge. For this, they spent a lot of time in shooting clubs, diligently practicing.

In the thirty-fourth year of the last century, a demonstration competition was held between our and American shooters. The unexpected result for the United States was their loss. The Soviet shooters snatched victory with a huge advantage, which indicated 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 not a secret for anyone that snipers belong to a special caste of fighters who are carefully guarded 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 shooters are distinguished by real destructive power and have very impressive "mortal" lists. For example, the best snipers of World War II from the USSR had long lists of five or seven hundred killed. In this case, only confirmed deaths are taken into account, but in reality their number could exceed one thousand soldiers per shooter.

What makes snipers so special? First of all, it should be said that these people are really special by nature. After all, they have the ability to be motionless for a long time, tracking down the enemy, the utmost concentration of attention, calmness, patience, the ability to quickly make 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 hunting 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, training sessions of snipers 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 fighters listed in the list of the best snipers of World War II. But this is quite difficult to do, 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 target hit 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 presentation for the award. In the future, his exploits may not have been fully tracked.

Modern historians claim that ten of the best snipers of the Second World War were able to destroy more than four thousand enemy soldiers. Among the excellent shooters were women, we will talk about them in one of the following sections of our article. After all, these brave ladies by their results skillfully bypassed their colleagues from Germany. So who are they - these people, named the best snipers of the Second World War?

Of course, the list of Soviet snipers does not include ten people. According to the archives, their number can be estimated at more than one hundred skillful 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.
• Nikolay 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 an animal with his father. With the onset of war, he took up a rifle and went to the front to do what he knew best - to hunt down and kill. Thanks to his life skills, Mikhail Surkov managed to destroy more than seven hundred fascists. Among them were ordinary soldiers and representatives of the officer corps, which undoubtedly made it possible to include the shooter in the list of the best snipers of the Second World War.

However, the talented fighter was not presented for the award, since most of his victories were never documented. Historians associate this fact with the fact that Surkov loved 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 one or another enemy soldier fell. Mikhail's fellow 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 entire war from beginning to end. Vasily fought with the rank of foreman and returned home with a long 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 the Second World War, 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 decided in its own way and the young man was sent to a military school, after graduating from which he went to the front as an officer.

Immediately, the newly minted commander was entrusted with a mortar company, where he showed his sniper talents. During the war years, Sidorenko killed 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 were very severe for the body. This did not allow Sidorenko to graduate from the military academy, but before leaving for the reserve he received a Hero of the Soviet Union.

Nikolay Ilyin

Many historians believe that it is Ilyin who is the best Russian sniper of the Second World War. 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 skeleton of riflemen 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 a rarity among soldiers. Yakut by nationality, he was considered a professional in shooting and in his results bypassed the best snipers of the Wehrmacht of the Second World War.

Ivan got to the front two years after the outbreak of hostilities and almost immediately opened his death toll. He went through the entire war to the end and almost five hundred fascist soldiers were included in his list. It is interesting that 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 presented for the award, but for unknown reasons, the title never found its hero. After the end of the war, he was presented with a personalized rifle.

Vladimir Pchelintsev

This man had a difficult and interesting fate. We can say 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 title of master of sports. Pchelintsev possessed unique accuracy, which allowed him to destroy four hundred and fifty-six fascists.

Surprisingly, a year after the outbreak of the war, he was delegated to the United States along with Lyudmila Pavlichenko, who was later named the best female sniper of the Second World War. They spoke at the International Student Congress about how boldly Soviet youth are fighting for the freedom of their country and called on 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.

Peter Goncharov

The fighters did not always immediately understand their calling. For example, Peter did not even suspect that fate had a special fate in store for him. At the war, Goncharov ended up in the militia, then he was accepted into the army as a baker. After a while, he became a wagon train, 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 precisely 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 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 targets hit.

However, in the early years of his 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 accurate shooting attracted the attention of his superiors, and he was soon transferred to the sniper.

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 Stalingrad battle, more than two hundred enemies fell from his well-aimed shots. Among them were eleven German snipers.

There is a story about how the Nazis, tired of the elusiveness of Zaitsev, sent to destroy his best German sniper of the Second World War - the head of the secret school of riflemen Erwin Koenig. Vasily's fellow 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 over one thousand enemies, but most of his victories were difficult to document. Interestingly, over the years of service in the ranks of the army, he used not only a rifle, but also a machine gun as a weapon. In this way, he destroyed soldiers, aircraft and tanks of the enemy.

Best Finnish Sniper of World War II

"White Death" - this nickname was given to the shooter from Finland, who killed more than seven hundred soldiers of the Red Army. Simo Häyhä in the thirty-ninth year of the last century worked on a farm and did not even think that he would become the most effective sniper of 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 local residents would show such tough resistance to the Soviet soldiers.

Simo Häyhä, who fought in the thick of things, was particularly distinguished. Every day he killed sixty to seventy enemy soldiers. This forced the Soviet command to launch a hunt for this well-aimed shooter. However, he continued to remain elusive and sow 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 was quite successful in hiding almost in full view of the enemy. Also, he 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 peculiarities of the local terrain, which gave him the opportunity to occupy the best places to observe the enemy.

At the end of the Hundred Day War, Simo was wounded in the face. The bullet went right through and completely disintegrated the facial bone. In the hospital, his jaw was restored, after which he happily lived to almost a hundred years.

Of course, war does not have a woman's 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 the Second World War.

The most productive shooter among women is Lyudmila Pavlichenko. This amazing beauty volunteered immediately after the declaration of war with Germany. For 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, for the last two years of the war she did not take part in battles.

Olga Vasilyeva was often called the best female sniper of the Second World War. On the 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, whom the enemy would be afraid of. The girl left a notch on the butt of her rifle after each well-aimed shot. By the end of the war, it was completely covered in markings.

Genya Peretyatko is deservedly ranked among the best female snipers of the Second World War. For a long time, practically nothing was known about this girl, 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 the rest of her life.

German snipers

The results of the German riflemen have always been much more modest than those of the Soviet soldiers. But even among them were unique snipers who glorified their country. Many legends circulated during the war about Mathias 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 just a phenomenal result that no one was able to surpass.

Joseph Allerberger was also 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 natural-born sniper who possessed not only accuracy and endurance, but also a certain psychology that allowed him to intuitively choose the right battle tactics.

World War II snipers are almost exclusively Soviet fighters. Indeed, only in the USSR in the pre-war years, rifle training was practically universal, and since the 1930s, special sniper schools have been operating. So there is nothing surprising in the fact that there is only one foreign name in the top ten and in the twenty best shooters of that war - the Finn Simo Häyhä.

The top ten Russian snipers have 4200 confirmed enemy fighters, the top twenty have 7400. The best shooters of the USSR have more than 500 killed for each, while the most productive sniper of the Second World War among the Germans has only 345 targets. But the real accounts of snipers are actually more than the confirmed ones - about two to three times!

It is also worth recalling that the USSR is the only country in the world! - not only men, but also women fought as snipers. In 1943, there were more than a thousand female snipers in the Red Army, who killed a total of more than 12,000 fascists during the war years. Here are the three most productive: Lyudmila Pavlichenko - 309 enemies, Olga Vasilyeva - 185 enemies, Natalia Kovshova - 167 enemies. By these indicators, Soviet women left behind most of the best snipers among their opponents.

Mikhail Surkov - 702 enemy soldiers and officers

Surprisingly, it is a fact: despite the largest number of defeats, Surkov was never awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, although he introduced himself to him. The unprecedented score of the most effective sniper of the Second World War has been questioned more than once, but all the defeats are documented, as required by the rules in force in the Red Army. Sergeant Major Surkov really killed at least 702 fascists, and taking into account the possible difference between real and confirmed defeats, the count may go into the thousands! The amazing accuracy of Mikhail Surkov and the amazing ability to track down his opponents for a long time, apparently, can be easily explained: before being drafted into the army, he worked as a hunter in the taiga in his homeland - in the Krasnoyarsk Territory.

Vasily Kvachantiradze - 534 enemy soldiers and officers

Sergeant Major Kvachantiradze fought from the first days: in his personal file it is especially noted that he has been a participant in the Great Patriotic War since June 1941. And he finished his service only after the victory, having gone through the whole great war without indulgences. Even the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, Vasily Kvachantiradze, who killed over half a thousand enemy soldiers and officers, was awarded shortly before the end of the war, in March 1945. And the demobilized foreman returned to his native Georgia as a holder of two Orders of Lenin, the Order of the Red Banner, the Order of the Patriotic War of the 2nd degree and the Order of the Red Star.

Simo Häyhä - over 500 enemy soldiers and officers

If in March 1940 the Finnish corporal Simo Häyhä had not been wounded by an explosive bullet, perhaps the title of the most effective sniper of the Second World War would have belonged to him. The entire period of participation of a Finn in the Winter War of 1939-40 is three months - and with such a terrifying result! Perhaps this is due to the fact that by this time the Red Army did not yet have sufficient experience in counter-sniper combat. But even with this in mind, it must be admitted that Häyhä was a professional of the highest class. After all, he killed most of his opponents, not using special sniper devices, but shooting from an ordinary rifle with an open sight.

Ivan Sidorenko - 500 enemy soldiers and officers

He was supposed to become an artist - but he became a sniper, having managed to graduate from a military school and command a mortar company. Lieutenant Ivan Sidorenko is one of the few sniper officers in the list of the most productive shooters of the USSR during the Great Patriotic War. Despite the fact that he fought hard: for three years on the front line, from November 1941 to November 1944, Sidorenko managed to receive three severe wounds, which ultimately prevented him from studying at the military academy, where he was sent by his superiors. So he went into the reserve as a major - and a Hero of the Soviet Union: this title was awarded to him at the front.

Nikolay Ilyin - 494 enemy soldiers and officers

Few Soviet snipers had such an honor: to shoot from a personalized sniper rifle. Sergeant Major Ilyin deserved it, becoming not only a well-aimed marksman, but also one of the initiators of the sniper movement on the Stalingrad front. On his account there were already more than a hundred killed Nazis, when in October 1942 the authorities handed him a rifle named after the Hero of the Soviet Union Hussein Andrukhaev - the Circassian poet, political instructor, one of the first in the war years who shouted in the face of the advancing enemies "Russians do not surrender!" Alas, less than a year later, Ilyin himself died, and his rifle became known as the rifle "In the name of the Heroes of the Soviet Union Kh. Andrukhaev and N. Ilyin."

Ivan Kulbertinov - 487 enemy soldiers and officers

There were many hunters among the snipers of the Soviet Union, but there were not many Yakut hunter-reindeer herders. The most famous of them was Ivan Kulbertinov - the same age as the Soviet regime: he was born exactly on November 7, 1917! Having got to the front at the very beginning of 1943, in February he opened his own account for killed enemies, which by the end of the war brought it to almost five hundred. And although the chest of the hero-sniper was decorated with many honorary awards, he never received the highest title of Hero of the Soviet Union, although, judging by the documents, he was twice presented to him. But in January 1945, the authorities handed him a personalized sniper rifle with the inscription "To the best sniper, senior sergeant IN Kulbertinov from the Military Council of the army."

Vladimir Pchelintsev - 456 enemy soldiers and officers

The best Soviet snipers. Vladimir Pchelintsev. Source: wio.ru

Vladimir Pchelintsev was, so to speak, a professional sniper who graduated from the sniper and received the title of master of sports in shooting a year before the war. In addition, he is one of two Soviet snipers who spent the night in the White House. It happened during a business trip to the United States, where Sergeant Pchelintsev, six months earlier awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, went to the International Student Assembly in August 1942 to tell how the USSR is fighting fascism. He was accompanied by fellow sniper Lyudmila Pavlichenko and one of the heroes of the partisan struggle Nikolai Krasavchenko.

Peter Goncharov - 441 enemy soldiers and officer

Pyotr Goncharov became a sniper by accident. A worker of the Stalingrad plant, at the height of the German offensive, he went into the militia, from where he was taken to the regular army ... as a baker. Then Goncharov rose to the rank of transport, and only the case brought him to the snipers, when, hitting the front line, he set fire to an enemy tank from someone else's weapon with accurate shots. And Goncharov received his first sniper rifle in November 1942 - and did not part with it until his death in January 1944. By this time, the former worker was already wearing the shoulder straps of a senior sergeant and the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, which he was awarded twenty days before his death.

Mikhail Budenkov - 437 enemy soldiers and officers

The biography of Senior Lieutenant Mikhail Budenkov is very bright. Retreating from Brest to Moscow and reaching East Prussia, who fought in a mortar crew and became a sniper, Budenkov, before being drafted into the army in 1939, managed to work as a ship mechanic on a motor ship that sailed along the Moscow Canal and as a tractor driver in his native collective farm ... But his vocation all the same made itself felt: the accurate shooting of the commander of the mortar crew attracted the attention of the authorities, and Budenkov became a sniper. Moreover, one of the best in the Red Army, for which, in the end, in March 1945, he was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

Matthias Hetzenauer - 345 enemy soldiers and officers

The only German sniper in the top ten most effective snipers of World War II did not get here in the number of enemies killed. This figure leaves Lance corporal Hetzenauer far beyond even the top twenty. But it would be wrong not to pay tribute to the skill of the enemy, thereby emphasizing what a great feat the Soviet snipers performed. Moreover, in Germany itself, Hetzenauer's successes were called "the phenomenal results of waging a sniper war." And they were not far from the truth, because the German sniper scored his result in just less than a year, having finished sniper courses in July 1944.

In addition to the above-mentioned masters of shooting art, there were others. The list of the best Soviet snipers, and this is only those who destroyed at least 200 enemy servicemen, includes more than fifty people.

Nikolay Kazyuk - 446 enemy soldiers and officers

The best Soviet snipers. Nikolay Kazyuk.

The ability to hide makes a great sniper out of the shooter. Highly skilled shooters, who destroy targets from incredible distances, undergo extensive combat training, which makes them perhaps the most dangerous weapon in warfare.
Below is a list of the greatest snipers in history.

705 confirmed kills (505 with a rifle, 200 with a submachine gun).

Was a Finnish soldier who has accumulated the highest confirmed victory rate in history!
Haya was born in Rautjärvi near the modern border of Finland and Russia, and began his military service in 1925. He began serving as a sniper during the "Winter War" (1939-1940) between Russia and Finland. During the conflict, Haya endured frosts as low as -40 degrees Celsius. In less than 100 days, he credited 505 confirmed victories, but according to unofficial figures from the front, he killed more than 800 people. In addition, he is also credited with 200 murders from
machine Suomi KP / 31, which gives a total of 705 confirmed victories.
How Haya did his job was amazing. He was alone in the snow, shooting the Russians for 3 months in a row. Of course, when the Russians found out that so many soldiers had been killed, they thought it was a war, there would certainly be casualties. But when the generals were told that one man with a rifle had done it, they decided to take emergency measures. First, they sent a Russian sniper to fight Khaya. When his body was returned, they decided to send a team of snipers. When they did not return, a whole battalion of soldiers was sent to the scene. They suffered losses and could not find him. In the end they
ordered artillery strikes, but to no avail. Khaya was smart. He was wearing an all-white camouflage. He used a small rifle to increase the accuracy of his shots. He compacted the snow in front of him so as not to stir it up during the shooting, thus not revealing his position. He also kept snow in his mouth so that his breath would not condense and steam would form, which could betray his position. Ultimately, however, he was shot in the jaw by a stray bullet during a battle on March 6, 1940. He was found by Finnish soldiers, who said that half of his head was missing. He did not die, however, and regained consciousness on the 13th day after the conclusion of peace between Russia and Finland.

Let's count all the murders again ...
505 sniper + 200 assault rifle = 705 confirmed kills ...
all in less than 100 days.

Nickname: "Da Chung Kich du" ("Sniper White Feather").

93 confirmed murders.

Let's forget about the top 10 shooting championships he won, with 93 confirmed kills during the Vietnam War. The Vietnam Army has approved a $ 30,000 bounty for his life for killing so many of his people. The bounties for killing common American snipers were usually $ 8.

Hatcock was the one who fired the most famous gunshots in history. It was he who shot from a very long distance at another sniper, hitting him in the eye through his scope. Hatcock and Roland Burke, his spotter, were pursued by an enemy sniper (who had already killed several Marines), which they believed was specifically sent to kill Hatcock.
When Hatcock saw a flash of light bouncing off an enemy scope, he fired at it in one of the most accurate shots in history. Hatcock reasoned that such a situation was only possible at a time when both snipers were aiming at each other at the same time. And then he was saved by the fact that he first pulled the trigger. "White feather" was synonymous with Hatcock (he held
one feather in a hat) and pulled it out only once during his entire service. This was a mission where he had to crawl about 1,500 yards to kill an enemy general. This mission took 4 days and 3 nights without sleep. One enemy soldier almost stepped on him as he lay disguised in a meadow. Elsewhere he was nearly bitten by a viper, but he did not flinch. He finally arrived at position and waited for the general. When the general arrived, Hatcock was ready. He fired once and hit him in the chest, killing him. The soldiers began searching for the sniper and Hatkok had to crawl back to avoid detection. They didn't catch him. Nerves of steel.

Adelbert F. Waldron (March 14, 1933 - October 18, 1995)

109 confirmed murders.

He holds the record for the most confirmed victories among any American sniper in history. However, not only does his impressive kill count make him one of the best, but also his incredible accuracy.

This excerpt from Inside the Crosshairs: Snipers in Vietnam, a book by Colonel Michael Lee Lanning, describes what I am talking about:

“One day he was driving along the Mekong River in a boat when he found himself an enemy sniper on the shore. Although everyone on board was still looking for this sniper, who fired from the coastline from a distance of more than 900 meters, Sergeant Waldron took a sniper rifle and killed a Vietcong soldier who was sitting at the top of a coconut tree, with one shot (this is from a moving platform). That was the ability of our best snipers. "

Francis Pegamagabo (March 9, 1891 - August 5, 1952)

378 confirmed murders.
300+ captured targets.

Awarded three times with a medal and twice seriously wounded, he was an expert marksman and scout, credited with 378 kills of German soldiers and more than 300 captures of targets. But killing about 400 Germans was not enough, he was also awarded medals for delivering important messages through heavy enemy fire when his commander was out of action.

Although he was a hero among his fellow soldiers, he was practically forgotten as soon as he returned home to Canada. Regardless, he was one of the most effective snipers of the First World War.

Lyudmila Pavlichenko (July 12, 1916 - October 10, 1974)

309 confirmed kills.

In June 1941, Pavlichenko was 24 years old and in the same year Nazi Germany attacked the Soviet Union. Pavlichenko was among the first volunteers and asked to join the infantry. She was assigned to the Red Army's 25th Infantry Division. She later became one of 2,000 Soviet female snipers.

Her first 2 kills were made near the village of Belyaevka with a Mosin-Nagant rifle, a bolt rifle with a 4x scope. The first military action she saw was the conflict in Odessa. She was there for 2 and a half months and committed 187 murders. When the army was forced to move, Pavlichenko spent the next 8 months in Sevastopol on
Crimean peninsula. There she chalked up 257 murders. A total of 309 murders were confirmed during World War II. 36 of those killed were enemy snipers.

Vasily Zaitsev (March 23, 1915 - December 15, 1991)

242 confirmed murders.

Zaitsev is probably the most famous sniper in history thanks to Enemy at the Gates. This is a great movie and I would like to say that it is all true. But this is not the case. There was no alterego of Zaitsev on the part of the Nazis Zaitsev was born in the village of Eleninka and grew up in the Urals. Before Stalingrad, he served as a clerk in the Soviet Navy, but after reading about the conflict in the city, he volunteered for the front. He served in the 1047th Infantry Regiment.

Zaitsev made 242 confirmed kills between October 1942 and January 1943, but the real number is probably closer to 500. I know that I said there was no sniper confrontation, but in his memoir, Zaitsev claims that there was a certain Wehrmacht sniper, a duel with whom he passed for three days in the ruins of Stalingrad.
The details of what happened are not really complete, but by the end of the three-day period Zaitsev had killed a sniper and claimed that his scope was considered the most valuable trophy.

Rob Furlong

A former corporal of the Canadian Forces, he holds the record for the longest confirmed murder in history. He hit the target from a distance of 1.51 miles or 2430 meters.
It is the length of 26 football fields.

This amazing feat happened in 2002 when Furlong was taking part in Operation Anaconda. His sniper team consisted of 2 corporals and 3 senior corporals. When three armed al-Qaeda men set up camp in the mountains, Furlong took aim. He was armed with a 50 caliber Macmillan Tac-50 rifle. He fired and missed. His second
the shot hit the enemy with a backpack on his back. He had already fired his third shot by the time the second hit reached its target, but now the enemy already knew that he was under attack. For each bullet, the flight time was about 3 seconds due to the huge
distance, and this time was enough for the enemy to take cover. However, the stunned gunman realized what was happening just as the third shot hit him in the chest.

Charles Mawainney 1949 -

According to official records, he killed 103 people.

An avid hunter since childhood, Charles joined the Marine Corps in 1967. He served in the United States Marine Corps in Vietnam and holds the record for most confirmed naval sniper victories, surpassing legendary sniper Carlos Hatcock. In just 16 months, he killed 103 enemies, and another 216 kills were listed as probable.
due to the fact that it was too risky at the time to search for the bodies of those killed for confirmation. When he left the Marines, he did not tell anyone how great his role in the conflict was, and only a few Marines knew about his assignments. It took almost 20 years before someone wrote a book detailing his amazing sniper skills. Mawainni stepped out of the shadows because of this book and became a teacher at a sniper school. He once said: "It was a deadly hunt: a person was hunting another person who was hunting me. Don't tell me about hunting lions or elephants, they don't fight back with rifles."

Usually, a fatal shot was recorded at a distance of 300 - 800 meters, while Mawainni killed from more than 1000 meters, which makes him one of the greatest snipers of the Vietnam war.

Sergeant Grace, 4th Georgia Infantry Division

It was May 9, 1864, when Sergeant Grace, a Confederate sniper, fired that incredible shot that caused one of the most ironic deaths in history. It was during the Battle of Spotsylvania when Grace was targeting General John Sedgwick's rifle (pictured above) from 1,000 meters away. It was an extremely long distance for
time. Early in the fight, Confederate Riflemen advised Sedgwick to take cover. But Sedgwick refused and replied: "What? Men are hiding from lonely bullets? And what will you do when they open fire all over the line? I am ashamed of you. They cannot even hit an elephant at such a distance." His men stubbornly took cover. He repeated: "They will not be able to strike
even an elephant at that distance! ”A second later, Sergeant Grace's shot struck Sedgwick with a precise shot in the left eye.

I swear this is a real, unthinkable story. Sedgwick was the Union's highest-ranking victim in the civil war and upon hearing of his death, Lieutenant General Ulysses Grant repeatedly asked, "Is he really dead?"

Thomas Plunkett died in 1851

Was an Irish soldier serving in the British 95th Infantry Division. One single shot made him great, the one that killed the French general, Auguste-Marie-François Colbert.

During the Battle of Kakabelos, during the Monroe retreat in 1809, Plunkett, using a Baker rifle, fired at the French general from a distance of about 600 meters. Imagining the incredible inaccuracy of early 19th century rifles, this case can be considered either an impressive achievement or a hell of a shooter's luck. But Plunkett, not wanting his comrades to think he was just lucky, decided to fire one more shot before returning to his position. He reloaded his rifle and took aim again, this time at the major, who had come to the general's aid. When that shot also hit its intended target, Plunkett proved to be an incredible marksman. After the second shot, he looked back at his line to see the surprised faces of others in the 95th Rifle.

For comparison: British soldiers were armed with Brown Bess muskets and trained to hit a man's body up to 50 meters. Plunkett hit from a distance 12 times greater. Twice.

A post about snipers - for anyone interested: a little history about personalities who became famous thanks to their mastery of the art of marksmanship.

Roza Egorovna Shanina (1924-1945)

She was known for her ability to accurately fire at moving targets, she chalked up 59 confirmed killed enemy soldiers and officers (of which 12 were snipers). She took part in hostilities for less than a year, the Allied newspapers called Shanina "the invisible horror of East Prussia."
She died on January 28, 1945 during the East Prussian operation, defending the seriously wounded commander of an artillery unit.

Thomas Plunket (?-1851)

Baker rifle

Plunket is an Irishman from the British 95th Infantry Division who became famous for one episode. It was in 1809, Monroe's troops were retreating, but a battle took place at Kakabelos: Plunket managed to "remove" the French general Auguste-Marie-François Colbert. The enemy felt completely safe, since the distance to the enemy was about 600 meters (then the British riflemen used Brown Bess muskets and more or less confidently hit the target at a distance of about 50 m).
Plunkett's shot was a miracle: using the Baker rifle, he was 12 times the best results at the time. But even this seemed to him not enough: he proved his skill, from the same position, precisely hitting the second target - the adjutant of the general, who rushed to the aid of his commander.

Shooting a Brown Bess musket, 3 shots in 46 seconds:
Sergeant Grace

Grace is a sniper from the 4th Georgia Infantry Division who killed the highest-ranking Union military in the US Civil War.
On May 9, 1864, General John Sedgwick led the Union artillery at the Battle of Spotsilvani. Confederate snipers opened a hunt for him from a distance of about a kilometer. The staff officers immediately lay down and invited the general to go into cover. However, Sedgwick questioned whether targeted fire was possible from such a distance, and stated that officers behaved like cowards. According to legend, he did not even finish speaking when Grace's bullet hit him in the left eye and blew his head apart.

Simo Häyhä

Born in 1905 (died in 2002) on the border of Finland and Russia in a family of farmers, he fished and hunted as a child. At the age of 17 he entered the security detachment, and in 1925 he entered the Finnish army. After 9 years of service, he passed sniper training.
During the Soviet-Finnish war of 1939-1940, in less than 3 months, he killed 505 Soviet soldiers. There are some discrepancies in its performance. This is due to the fact that the corpses of the dead were in enemy territory, in addition, Simo shot perfectly with both a pistol and a rifle, and hits from this weapon are not always taken into account in the overall standings.
During the war he received the nickname "White Death". In March 1940 he was seriously wounded: a bullet crushed his jaw and disfigured his face. It took a long recovery. In World War II, he failed to get to the front due to the consequences of his injuries.
Simo's effectiveness is primarily due to his talented use of the features of the theater of military operations. Häyuha used an open sight, since the optical sights are covered in frost in the cold and give glare, according to which the enemy can detect them, require a higher head position from the shooter, as well as a longer aiming time. He prudently poured water into the snow in front of the firing position (so that a cloud of snow unmasking the position would not rise into the air from the shot), cooled his breath with ice so that no vapor was noticeable, etc.

Vasily Zaitsev (1915-1991)

The name of Vasily Zaitsev became famous all over the world thanks to the film "Enemy At The Gates". Vasily was born in the Urals in the village of Eleninka. In the Pacific Fleet, he served since 1937 as a clerk, then as head of the financial department. From the first days of the war, he regularly submitted reports on the transfer to the front.
Finally, in the summer of 1942, his request was granted. He began his work at Stalingrad with a "three-line". In a short time, Zaitsev managed to hit more than 30 opponents. The command noticed a talented shooter and assigned snipers to the detachment. In just a few months, he had 242 confirmed hits. But the real number of killed enemies during the Battle of Stalingrad reached 500.
The episode from the combat biography of Zaitsev, highlighted in the film, took place in reality: at that time, a German "super sniper" was sent to the Stalingrad region to fight Soviet snipers, when he was killed, it turned out that his rifle was equipped with optics with a 10-fold increase. A 3-4x sight was considered the norm for shooters of that time, since it was difficult to cope with a large one.
In January 1943, as a result of an explosion of a mine, Vasily lost his sight, and only with the enormous efforts of doctors was it possible to restore him. After that, Zaitsev led the school of snipers, wrote two textbooks. It is he who owns one of the methods of "hunting", used to this day.

Lyudmila Pavlichenko (1916-1974)

Since 1937, Lyudmila has been involved in shooting and gliding sports. The beginning of the war found her in her graduation practice in Odessa. Lyudmila immediately volunteered for the front - she became one of 2,000 female snipers (one thousand of our female snipers, according to official figures alone, destroyed more than 12 thousand fascists during the war).
She hit her first targets in the battles at Belyaevka. She took part in the defense of Odessa, where she destroyed 187 enemies. After that, she defended Sevastopol and Crimea for eight months. At the same time, she trained snipers. Throughout the war, Lyudmila Pavlichenko eliminated 309 fascists. After being wounded in 1942, she was recalled from the front and sent with a delegation to Canada and the United States. After returning, she continued training snipers at the Shot school.

Some data on the effectiveness of our snipers during the Second World War:

The real accounts of the snipers are actually more than the confirmed ones. For example, Fyodor Okhlopkov, according to estimated data, destroyed more than 1000 (!) Germans in total, using also a machine gun.
The top ten Soviet snipers killed (confirmed) 4,200 soldiers and officers, while the top 20 killed 7,400.
The sniper of the 82nd rifle division, Mikhail Lysov, shot down a Ju87 dive bomber from an automatic rifle with a sniper scope in October 1941. 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-engined Ju88 bomber with 4 rifle shots! There is also no data on the number of infantrymen killed by him.

Charles Mawhinney, born 1949

From childhood he was fond of hunting. In 1967 he joined the Marine Corps. As part of the United States Marine Corps, Mawainni went to Vietnam.
The usual working distance for a sniper shot was 300-800 meters. Charles became the best sniper of the Vietnam War, hitting his targets from a distance of a kilometer. On his account - 103 confirmed defeats. Due to the difficult military situation and the riskiness of the search for the dead, another 216 victims are considered likely.

Charles Mawainni today.

Rob Furlong, born in 1976

Rob Farlang not so long ago held the record for the range of a confirmed successful shot. He hit his target from a distance of 2430 meters!
In 2002, Furlong participated in Operation Anaconda, with a group of two corporals and three senior corporals. They spotted three armed al-Qaeda fighters in the mountains. While the opponents set up camp, Furlong took one of them at gunpoint with his McMillan Tac-50 rifle.

The first shot missed the target. The second bullet hit one of the militants. But at the moment the second bullet hit, the corporal made the third shot. The bullet had to cover the distance in 3 seconds - this time is enough for the enemy to take cover. But the militant realized that he was under fire when the third bullet had already pierced his chest.

Craig Harrison

A new record in sniper shooting - 2477 m - was set in Afghanistan by a British sniper who shot down two Taliban machine gunners. He fired an L115A3 Long Range Rifle sniper rifle of 8.59 mm caliber with a nominal firing range of about 1100 m.Nevertheless, Corporal Garrison, a veteran of the Royal Cavalry Regiment, destroyed the enemy machine-gun crew at a range more than a kilometer higher than the standard.
The sniper fired from a nearby car: he saw two machine gunners who opened fire on the soldiers and his commander, and destroyed the enemy with two shots. "The first shot hit the machine gunner in the stomach. When he fell, the second Taliban tried to raise the weapon, but was shot in the side," says the corporal. "The conditions for shooting were ideal, calm weather, excellent visibility."
It took the bullet about three seconds to reach the target.
This rifle, which killed many Taliban militants, is called the "Silent Assassin" in Afghanistan.

The corporal killed 12 Taliban and wounded seven, a bullet had already hit his helmet once, and both his arms were broken by a roadside bomb, but after recovering he returned to serve in Afghanistan. Craig is married with a child from Cheltenham, Gloucestershire.

A good sniper does not 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 also does not make a person a sniper. 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 unfamiliar weapon or from an awkward position has a higher price.

The sniper has always been an elite warrior. Not 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. The 17-year-old boy, in whose cowboy hat a cinematic white feather stuck out, 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. The young fighter met 1966 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 enormous amount that North Vietnam put up for his head. But the war ended - and Hatchcock went home without getting 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 Red Army soldiers, the patriotic sniper was named 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 sight.

3. Lyudmila Pavlichenko

309 enemy soldiers on the account of the Russian sniper Lyudmila Pavlyuchenko make her one of the best shooters in the entire 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 one of the interviews, the girl admitted that it was difficult to shoot at 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.

4. Vasily Zaitsev

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 confrontation 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.

5. Chris Kyle

Eight years old is the most suitable age to take your first shot. If you were born in Texas, of course. 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 fame of a merciless and very skillful killer comes a year later, the next business trip brings Kyle the nickname "Shaitan from Ramadi": a respectful, frightened tribute to the self-righteous shooter. Kyle has officially finished off exactly 160 enemies of peace and democracy. In private conversations, the shooter mentioned three times the number.

6. Rob Furlong

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 for Furlong the high point of his career: in one of the battles, a sniper made a successful shot at a distance of 2430 meters. This record is still being held.

7. Thomas Plunkett

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 intrigues. Most likely, the shooter's comrades-in-arms would have done so, having recovered from their surprise. However, here Thomas demonstrated his second virtue: ambition. He calmly reloaded his gun and shot the general's adjutant - at the same 600 meters.