Although Simo Häyhä didn't kill four with one shot, as a British officer recently did, the Finn is known for being the most prolific elite marksman in history

“I tried to do what I was ordered to the best of my ability.” This simple phrase was uttered by sniper Simo Häyhä when, already in his old age, he was asked how he felt after killing 700 Red Army soldiers (of which 502 to 542 were documented and with his rifle) during the so-called “Winter War”.

Ethical issues aside, this body count has allowed the Finn, nicknamed “The White Death,” to become one of the most prolific elite marksmen in history. And in just 100 days, during which his country's tiny army put a check on Stalin's gigantic war machine.

Although Simo, with his face disfigured after being wounded, did not kill four with one shot, as a British officer recently did with four militants from ISIS (the organization is banned in the Russian Federation - editor's note), he died in 2002 knowing that he would go down in textbooks history as one of the best snipers in the world.

First steps

Simo Häyhä, the future nightmare of Soviet soldiers, was born in the village of Rautjärvi on December 17, 1905. At least that's what historians Vesa Nenye, Peter Munter and Toni Wirtanen say in their book Finland at War: The Winter War 1939 -40"). Although, depending on the source, the shooter could have been born on a variety of dates.

“Simo was the second to last of eight children. I went to the village school and started helping my parents early. family farm. Since childhood, I have been interested in skiing, shooting, hunting and playing pesapallo, a type of Finnish baseball,” the authors of the book write. In addition, fate decreed that Simo’s native village was located right next to the border with the Russians, whom he would later destroy by the dozens.

The researchers note in their work that at the age of 17 (a controversial date, there is a widespread belief that at 25) Häyhä joined the ranks of the Finnish Civil Guard (Suojeluskunta), a military formation born from the “White Guard”, which in civilian times fought with the so-called "Red Guard". While in service, our hero spent hours improving his shooting accuracy. This rigorous training combined with his natural talent made him one of the best marksmen in the squad.

“He was an experienced marksman. At the competition, he took first place by hitting the same tiny target six times within a minute, located at a distance of 150 meters,” the book says. In 1925-1927 (at the age of only 20 and with a height of 1.52 meters), he completed his compulsory military service in a scooter battalion.

Subsequently, he completed courses for junior officers and was promoted to the rank of corporal. Just a few months later he passed his sniper exams. However, he soon quit and returned to his parents’ farm, where he led a measured life. Until the Winter War began.

Ice War

To understand how a Finnish farmer became one of the most prolific snipers in history, you need to go back to 1939, when Hitler and Stalin had just divided up conquered Poland by signing a military treaty. By that time, the Soviet leader had already annexed Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia and was eager to further expand his possessions in Europe.

That is why his eyes turned to Finland, by conquering which it would be possible to provide direct access to the Baltic Sea and move the borders away from Leningrad, which was too close to a potential enemy.

They don’t take money for demand, apparently the Soviet leader thought, and, wanting to show his best side, he invited the Finnish delegation to the Kremlin on October 14, 1939 to convince its members that the most correct thing they could do was to accept hammer and sickle banners. This is what the ambassadors did under “the pressure of threats and the promise of compensation,” as historian and journalist Jesús Hernández writes in his book “ Brief history Second World War" ("Breve historia de la Segunda Guerra Mundial").

The emissaries returned home, and a month later they rejected the USSR's offer. And they logically chose to remain within the same boundaries.

If the Finns took a month to make a decision, Stalin took only a few hours. “Without a declaration of war, the Red Army attacked Finland on November 30, 1939. Unlike the Poles, the Finns retreated behind a strong defensive line to repel the Russians,” Hernandez reports.

On that day, the Seventh Army of the Red Army approached the borders of the new enemy. At the same time, its large armored forces were mobilized, as Chris Bellamy points out in his book The Ultimate War.

Finnish ghosts

Thus began the so-called “Winter War,” which for Stalin’s gigantic army seemed like a military promenade. However, the Red Army encountered an obstacle in the icy expanses of Finland that its inexperienced fighters often could not overcome: the tenacity of the Finns.
“The Finnish resistance was fierce, and the actions of the Soviet soldiers, despite their overwhelming numbers, were extremely ineffective. Many of the units deployed were recruited from Central Asia[...] and were ill-equipped and ill-equipped to fight a winter war,” notes popular historian Martin H. Folly in his Atlas of World War II.

Context

Finns in the Winter War and the Siege of Leningrad

InoSMI 08/11/2016

Russia and Finland: the border is no longer a wall

Helsingin Sanomat 03/22/2016

Finland dreamed of revenge

Reflex 06/29/2016 In addition, the Red Army faced the deadly weapons of the “White Death”, who, like his Finnish comrades, understood that winter was a potential ally for Finland. “The Soviet army's lack of preparation for winter combat was partly due to overly optimistic forecasts for the duration of the campaign,” Bellamy explains.

It is not for nothing that Marshal Voronov himself admitted later how difficult it was for his soldiers in these snowy regions and in such low temperatures: “The troops were poorly prepared for operations in the forest and for sub-zero temperatures. […] In the harsh climate of Finland, the mechanisms of semi-automatic weapons failed.”

In addition, the White Death and the Finnish army resorted to guerrilla warfare tactics during the Winter War. And while the Russians moved their gigantic infantry units along the clogged roads, the defenders of Finland preferred to sit in the forests and attack only at opportune moments. And this was not a bad idea, because for every Finn there were 100 Red Army soldiers.

“Silently moving on skis along narrow forest paths, Finnish troops fell like ghosts on the frightened Russian soldiers and immediately disappeared into the fog. Due to a shortage of military equipment, the Finns resorted to their imagination to blow up enemy tanks and came up with Molotov cocktails, which would later be known as “Molotov cocktails,” Hernandez writes.

Attack!

When the war began, Häyhä decided to re-enlist Finnish army to fight the invaders. And from that moment on he received the nickname “White Death”. And not only because he instantly killed any Russian at whom he pointed his rifle, but also because he appeared on the battlefield dressed like a real ghost - in a white cape, a white mask that covered almost the entire face, and gloves of the same color. This ghost-like appearance (and body count) made him one of the most feared snipers for Stalin's forces.

Simo loved to shoot in severe frosts (at 20-40 degrees below zero, according to some researchers), while he kept snow in his mouth so that the steam from his breath would not give him away. This wasn't the only "trick" he used. Finn, for example, froze the crust in front of the rifle barrel with water so that when fired, the snow would not fly up, indicating its exact location, and, of course, to support the weapon and aim better.

And one more detail, which is given by “The Redwood Stumper 2010: The Newsletter of the Redwood Gun Club”: our hero hated optical sights for two reasons. Firstly, because of the shine of the lenses, which also often gave away the sniper’s location. And secondly, because of the fragility of glass in the cold. Therefore, Häyhä preferred to shoot with an open sight.

All these tricks allowed him to shoot 505 enemy soldiers with his sniper rifle, which is documented. However, as always happens, some researchers, like Robert A. Sadowski, indicate a higher figure - 542 killed. To this number should be added another 200 unconfirmed hits made from the submachine gun that Simo used on short distances(some historians also indicate 300 hits in this case). And what’s absolutely incredible is that the Finnish marksman destroyed so many Red Army soldiers in just 100 days, concludes the author of the book “Finland is at War.”

Favorite Weapon

After the end of the war, Häyhä said that he usually went out “hunting” with two guns.

1-Mosin M28 rifle

This rifle has proven itself to be excellent since it was adopted by the Russian army at the beginning of the twentieth century. The large volume of production made it possible to supply it to Finland in the 20s. However, here preference was given to a model with a weighted barrel. Finnish snipers usually used the 28/33 model, but Simo preferred the older M28, considering it more reliable and less noticeable due to its small scope.

2-Suomi M-31 SMG

This submachine gun served him for shooting at short distances. It was adopted by the Finnish Army in 1931 as the Suomi KP-Model 1931, or simply KP-31 (Konepistooli, or "automatic pistol" 31). Its production ceased in 1944, but during the “Winter War” this weapon demonstrated its effectiveness. It was this model that served as a model for Soviet designers when creating the famous PPD and PPSh. Their Finnish predecessor was an effective and reliable weapon, but very expensive to produce.

Colla doesn't give up

One of the battles in which our hero inflicted the most significant damage on the enemy was the Battle of Kolla near the Finnish-Soviet border. Since the beginning of the “Winter War,” the USSR mobilized the 56th Infantry Division, transferring it to this area on December 7, 1939, in the hope that its participation could ensure the defeat of most of the Finnish forces.

However, the Finns were not going to allow this. Colonel Teittinen was entrusted with leading the defense, who, in the first weeks of the war, had to repel the onslaught of four enemy divisions with the forces of a single regiment, holed up in hand-dug trenches.

As usual, Soviet tactics were simple - a frontal attack on the Finnish defense line. And it could have been successful, taking into account the numerical superiority of the Red Army, but it failed due to the better knowledge of the area by the defenders. The 34th Infantry Regiment, in which Häyhä served, was sent to the scene of hostilities. In a few weeks, the Finnish sniper killed from 200 to 500 (according to various sources) enemy soldiers.

“At the Battle of Colle, Simo used his old rifle, which he used to shoot in the Civil Guard. He himself did not count the dead; his comrades did. At the beginning of December, there were already 51 Red Army soldiers shot dead in three days,” note the co-authors of the book “Finland is at War.”

These figures were so incredible that the officers did not believe them at first. Colonel Teittinen directed an officer to follow Simo and keep a count of the casualties. “When Häyhä was approaching 200, having survived a particularly powerful duel with an enemy sniper, the officer returned with a report. The shooter was subsequently promoted to sergeant,” they write.

During the Battle of Kolla (where the slogan “They will not pass!” spread among the Finnish defenders), it became clear that despite superior enemy forces, the Finns were not going to give up an inch of their land.

And they confirmed this in the battle on the “Hill of Death”, which took place during the battle and in which 32 Finnish soldiers repelled the attack of 4 thousand Red Army soldiers, losing only four killed against a background of 400 dead soldiers enemy. Mount Kolla remained standing on Finnish territory.

Fatal shot

In all the following weeks, Soviet riflemen chased Simo, but he was out of reach. Stalin's artillery also turned out to be helpless against him. He seemed invulnerable to bullets. But this opinion was soon refuted - in March 1940, the legendary sniper was wounded. “On March 6, 1940, Häyhä was wounded in the face by an explosive bullet, which entered in the area of ​​the upper lip and pierced right through the cheek,” as described in the book “Finland at War.”

The lower part of his face was disfigured and his jaw was crushed. Fortunately, despite the great loss of blood, his comrades managed to evacuate Simo in an unconscious state to the rear, and he woke up only on March 13th. Some time later, Finland signed a peace treaty with the USSR, ceding part of its territory.

Being national hero, Simo Häyhä was forced to leave his home, since it was now located in territory that had been transferred to the USSR. He had no choice but to go to his parents' farm. It took 10 operations to restore the disfigured part of his face. And yet, Simo lived quietly raising cattle until April 1, 2002, when he left this world.

“Cuckoo” snipers in the Finnish war of 1939-1940

The term “cuckoo” appears repeatedly in the book “Fighting in Finland. Memoirs of Participants,” published in the USSR in 1941, in which the “cuckoo” was most often described as a sniper shooting from a tree.

Mentions of Finnish “cuckoo” snipers are quite often found in the memoirs and memoirs of participants in the Finnish war from the Soviet side, as well as in the Soviet press. They are mentioned, in particular, by General E.F. Ivanovsky (during the Finnish war, a former lieutenant, tank commander), Marshal K.A. Meretskov (during the Finnish war - commander of the 2nd rank, commander of the 7th Army), Marshal N. N. Voronov.

This is how deputy political instructor G. Shchuklin described his combat experience:

I looked up, but didn't see anyone. The snow tightly covered the tops of the trees, and the shooting was heard everywhere, and it was not possible to quickly determine where they were shooting from. Suddenly I saw junior lieutenant Kolosov crawling up to a tree. Wounded, he continued to fire his pistol upward. Rushing towards him, I noticed a Shyutskor man on the branches firing from a machine gun. It was junior lieutenant Kolosov who fought with him. I quickly took aim and pulled the trigger. The Shyutskorovets dropped the machine gun and hung on a branch. They immediately started shooting at me too. I crawled back and hid behind a fallen tree. From here I noticed the second “cuckoo”. On a tall pine tree, almost right next to the storehouse, a Shyutskor man in a gray jacket stood at full height. He stood on a bridge made of planks and fired from a light machine gun .

As modern sources note, Finnish soldiers used shooting from trees “ much less often than it seemed to the Red Army soldiers... This method of conducting single combat operations left almost no chance for a soldier sitting on a tree to retreat, and even a slight wound could lead to a fatal fall» .

It is believed that the legend of snipers in the trees appeared in conditions when the echo of a shot from a hidden sniper, repeatedly reflected from the trees in the forest, disoriented the survivors.

Also, there is an opinion that at least some of the references to “cuckoo” shooters refer to observation posts equipped in trees. During the Finnish war, such observation posts (in the form of a platform) were equipped by Finnish border guards, observers and artillery spotters. They were used in the future.

However, at least isolated cases of shooting from trees are known from history.

In addition, shooting from a position equipped on a tree (platform or “bush”) is used by hunters.

“Cuckoo” snipers in other wars and armed conflicts

• there is a mention that during the Great Patriotic War Soviet sniper Vodopyanov shot and killed a German officer and several soldiers in a village they occupied, shooting from a position on a spruce tree. Since the first shots were fired during a firefight on the front line, he was not noticed by the enemy, but later, the Germans stopped moving through the area under fire and installed signs “attention, sniper!” .
• According to the memoirs of a veteran of the Great Patriotic War, corporal of the reconnaissance platoon of the 70th naval rifle brigade V.V. Anisimov, in April 1942, during defensive battles on the Svir River, they shot a Finnish sniper who was on a tree, and a few days later on the same section of the front, during an artillery shelling of Finnish positions, another Finnish soldier fell from a tree, who was apparently caught in shrapnel. However, the second person killed could have been an observer.
• in the fall of 1942, in defensive battles for the North Caucasus, Soviet troops equipped and used tree positions for snipers and machine gunners
• At the beginning of November 1942, at the edge of the forest near the village of Berech (in the vicinity of Kovel), in preparation for a battle with the SS, partisans from the detachment of Józef Sobiesiak (“Max”) equipped carefully camouflaged positions in the trees for 12 partisan machine gunners. At the moment when the SS marching column moving along the road found itself under the trees, the “cuckoos” opened fire on the column from the trees, and the rest of the partisans opened fire from an ambush. The cuckoo machine gunners caused confusion among the enemy (almost immediately they killed 20 SS men), as a result the SS men suffered significant losses and retreated (however, in a shootout with the enemy who came to his senses, two cuckoo partisans were killed). At the battle site, the partisans collected 2 light machine guns, 13 machine guns and 35 rifles.
• In January 1943, during the fighting in New Guinea, units of the 163rd Regiment of the 41st Infantry Division encountered Japanese snipers who fired from the ground and from the trees. To combat the enemy, in one of the battalions of the 163rd regiment, in addition to camouflaged sniper ambushes at the front line of defense, sniper positions were equipped in trees on the flanks and in the rear of their own troops.
• in 1943, before the start of the battle on the Kursk Bulge, army intelligence officer G.F. attempted to shoot a German officer with a sniper rifle from a position on a tree. Egorov. Since the tree immediately began to fire from small arms, he did not have time to evaluate the results of the shot - as he was forced to immediately jump from the tree and hide in the trench. A minute later, the Germans fired ten mortar rounds at the tree on which the position was located.
• Oberleutnant W. Gerlach from the 654th Eastern Battalion of the Wehrmacht mentions in his memoirs that in the second half of 1944, in one of the military clashes in France, he and his subordinates encountered French “Maquis” partisans who were shooting from the trees.
• On the night of July 27-28, 1944, before the assault on Brest by Soviet troops, several Soviet snipers from Hero's group Soviet Union I. D. Pavlenko set up positions in attics and trees, with fire from which, after the start of the assault, they destroyed several German machine gunners and the crews of two guns on the opposite bank of the Bug.
• In September 1944, during the battles on the territory of Latvia, the Germans, during their retreat, repeatedly left single snipers in camouflaged positions along forest roads - they let advancing units and large units through and began shooting at single vehicles, messengers, and transporters (“ when retreating, the Nazis leave well-camouflaged snipers in trees and other places... the decision is not only daring, but also insidious. If the cleansing squall of war has already passed through the area, then a person moves there less carefully than on the front line - only occasionally looking at his feet so as not to run into a mine, but in general, vigilance is dulled. This is what the “foundlings” used"). One of these snipers, who had set up a position in a tree, was discovered and shot by Soviet intelligence officers at the moment when he opened fire on another group of Soviet soldiers
• On April 15, 1945, on the front line near the city of Rothenburg, a German sniper who was on a tree shot and killed Jan Zyzha, a private of the 26th. infantry regiment 9th Infantry Division of the 2nd Army of the Polish Army. After the first shot, the sniper was discovered and killed by fire from an anti-tank rifle.
• According to the memoirs of World War II veteran A.I. Ustinova, who participated in the Battle of Manchuria, in August 1945, Soviet soldiers repeatedly met with Japanese soldiers shooting from trees (in order not to fall, the Japanese tied themselves to a tree trunk with a rope)

See also

Notes

Literature and sources

• P. A. Belyakov. In the sight "Brown Bear". - M.: Voenizdat, 1977.

Links

• Finnish cuckoo, legend or reality? // website “Vyborg. About the past and present"

Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Cuckoo, shooter Dictionary of Russian synonyms. sniper noun, number of synonyms: 4 cuckoo (26) marksman ... Dictionary of synonyms

I A forest migratory bird that usually does not build nests and lays eggs in other people's nests. II decomposition 1. A small shunting steam locomotive (from the letter designation of its series K). 2. A small local train operating on various branch lines... ... Modern explanatory dictionary Russian language Efremova

I A forest migratory bird that usually does not build nests and lays eggs in other people's nests. II decomposition 1. A small shunting steam locomotive (from the letter designation of its series K). 2. A small local train operating on various branch lines... ... Modern explanatory dictionary of the Russian language by Efremova

AND; pl. genus. shek, dat. shkam; and. 1. A forest migratory bird that usually does not build its own nest and lays eggs in others. Listen to the cuckoo in the forest. Live like a cuckoo clock (giving a signal of time not by striking, but by cuckooing). Exchange the cuckoo for a hawk... ... Encyclopedic Dictionary

cuckoo- And; pl. genus. shek, dat. shkam; and. see also cuckoo 1) A forest migratory bird that usually does not build its own nest and lays eggs in others. Listen to the cuckoo in the forest. Live like a cuckoo. Cuckoo clock (signaling time not by striking, but by cuckooing) ... Dictionary of many expressions

White tights, or “White Stocking” is a slang name for a squad of female snipers of predominantly Baltic origin, who allegedly fought on the side of anti-Russian forces and separatist regimes in combat zones on the territory of ... Wikipedia

snipers who received such nicknames are among the top 20 snipers of the Second World War: Simo Häyhä and Tulegali Abdybekov

Simo Häyhä

Born in 1905 in a small village near the modern border between Russia and Finland. The main occupation in the family was fishing and hunting. Upon reaching the age of 17, Simo Häyhä took part in several sniper competitions and won prizes. This was followed by service in the Finnish army.

With the outbreak of the Soviet-Finnish War in 1939, Simo Häyhä became a sniper. On the first day alone, Simo scored 25 victories, and two days later the score exceeded fifty. As a result of active propaganda, the fame of the invincible Finn spread far beyond the front line. The Soviet government placed a bounty on Simo's head, and the sniper himself was dubbed the “White Death.”

Simo Häyhä's height is 161 cm, which was an advantage in his craft. The sniper dressed all in white, which made him practically invisible against the background of snow. Simo could remain in position for several hours, waiting for the enemy. And this is at temperatures from -20 ° C to -40 ° C. When preparing the ambush site, Simo compacted the snow so that it would not fly apart during shots, giving away his location. The sniper kept snow in his mouth so that there would be no steam when exhaling. Simo was in a better position because he knew the area like the back of his hand.

But the most surprising thing is that the marksman did not use an optical sight. Firstly, Simo believed that the glare from the sun could give him away, and secondly, at very low temperatures the glass of the scope froze. The weapon used by the sniper was a Finnish modification of the Mosin M/28-30 rifle under No. 60974. It killed 219 enemies. He also used the Lahti Saloranta M-26 machine gun, with which he killed at least 300 enemy soldiers.

In the first 100 days of the war, the Finnish sniper killed more than 500 enemies. A squad of elite Soviet snipers was sent to capture Simo Häyhä. On March 6, 1940, the bullet finally caught the Finn.
The sniper was evacuated. An explosive bullet hit him in the left side of his face. The lower part of his face was disfigured and his jaw was crushed. Häyhä was evacuated in an unconscious state to the rear, and he woke up only on March 13, 1940, the day the war ended. After Häyhä was wounded, rumors spread among the troops that he had died from his wounds. He received treatment in Jyväskylä and Helsinki. The wound required long-term care and frequent operations after the war. The jaw was restored using bone taken from Häyuha's thigh. As a result of a serious injury, Häyhä was not taken into service in the war of 1941-1944, despite his petitions.
Häyhä lived until 2002 and died at 96 years old

sniper Abdybekov in a combat position, 1944

native of the Kazakh SSR
senior sergeant
sniper of the 8th Guards Rifle Division, personal combat count of 397 fascists, including 20 Wehrmacht snipers
participant in the Battle of Stalingrad
Awarded the Order of Lenin, the Order of the Patriotic War, 1st degree, the Red Star and the Red Banner.

Tuleugali Abdybekov

Most often, people became snipers at the front this way: the commander noticed that the soldier was shooting accurately, and sent him to the regimental school for two weeks, where a seasoned sniper taught the basics of the craft. Then the marksman received a rifle with optics and was placed 200 meters in front of the trenches to perform the function of a sniper: defeating enemy command and communications personnel, destroying important emerging, moving, open and camouflaged single targets (enemy snipers, officers, etc.). The mortality rate among young snipers was especially high. If the enemy spots a sniper, he starts firing mortars at the square...

The enemies hated snipers most of all; they did not take prisoners. And although the Germans had incomparably better training in schools, ours were superior in number of shooters. If the sniper did not die after the first battle, then on average the sniper won three victories. Ten - you are already a good shooter, thirty - an ace. There were units who accounted for more than a hundred enemies, they were proud of them, the arrival of such a seasoned warrior on the front line inspired the fighters much more than the presence of a dozen commissars and political officers...

The best snipers were those who were hunters in civilian life. This is how Tuleugali Abdybekov ended up among the snipers. He was born in the Semipalatinsk region, and since childhood he went hunting with his father. Times were hard, hungry, and any small booty was a great help for the family. In his youth he moved to the village of Pakhta-Aral near Chimkent, where he worked as a cotton grower. From here he was drafted into the army and served in the Far East. Dexterous and savvy, he amazed his colleagues and commanders with his accurate shooting, all ten bullets were exactly on target. He constantly took prizes at regional competitions.

He became famous after one battle, when he was thrown in front of our positions on a high-rise building, and 25 Germans went to it. In a few minutes he shot almost all the enemies, only two managed to escape. But it is a mistake to think that snipers shot at everyone. They had their own unspoken rules, which both the Germans and ours tried to observe, a kind of etiquette of honor. It was not good to shoot at orderlies picking up the wounded, at soldiers collecting the dead. But shooting a machine gunner or an officer was considered honorable. And the coolest thing is to destroy the enemy sniper. Sometimes snipers were given specific instructions - for example, to stop an enemy attack. Then experienced shooters tried not to kill, but to injure the attackers. And in painful places - in the kidneys or liver. Then the man screamed heart-rendingly, demoralizing his comrades.

The fame of Tuleugali Abdybekov grew from battle to battle. In the battles for the city of Kholm, he sat down in a damaged tank and thwarted several enemy counterattacks, shooting 58 enemy soldiers and officers. German soldiers gave him the nickname "Black Death". Enemy counter-snipers were hunting for him, artillery and mortars fired at suspicious places with heavy fire, but luck did not leave the fighter. He was the first to use a trick that became popular among snipers. At night, a captured cigarette was lit, raised on a wire over the top of the trench, a rubber tube was attached to the filter, through which a partner puffed, and a white sheet of paper rose behind the cigarette. In the darkness it looked like someone was smoking. The enemy sniper fired, the shot was detected, the rest was a matter of technology.
Died on January 23, 1944 best friend and Tuleugali’s partner, Grigory Postolnikov, who closed the pillbox embrasure in the battle. Over the grave of a friend, the sniper swore an oath to take revenge on his enemies. At that time, Abdybekov already had 393 victories in his combat account. But without a trusted partner it was difficult. Moreover, the Germans called in their best counter-snipers to destroy the Black Death. Exactly a month later, on February 23, a sniper duel took place near the Nasva station. That day Tuleugali was not feeling well; he caught a cold and sneezed. This is what let him down. The enemy was ahead by a moment and sent the first bullet. The wounded Abdybekov was dragged to the medical battalion, where he died without regaining consciousness. The sniper count stopped at 397.
Today, many say that the Germans’ sniper scoring system was more truthful - the sniper’s victory had to be confirmed by either an officer or two soldiers. But our snipers were also required to confirm victory. And given special departments and the number of informers, there was no point in making notes - you could end up in a penal battalion. Abdybekov, by his nature, could not lie at all, even for his own benefit. He was nominated several times for the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, but he honestly wrote in the questionnaires that he had a repressed relative - an uncle. He never received the Hero's Star, despite the fact that all the best shooters from the first hundred received it...

Abdybekov’s sniper rifle No. 2916 was handed to his student, a young aspiring sniper Ashirali Osmanaliev, who vowed to avenge the death of his mentor. He fulfilled his oath, destroying 127 enemy soldiers and officers and becoming one of the 100 best snipers in the world...

Finnish War

The Finns taught the Red Army a cruel lesson during the winter campaign of 1939. The Finnish command was well prepared for war. During the attack of the Soviet infantry, Finnish snipers purposefully knocked out the officers - fortunately, they stood out sharply in the infantry chain with their white officer's sheepskin coats and shiny cross-cross belts.

During the Finnish War, Soviet commanders were faced with an inexplicable and terrible phenomenon - “cuckoo” snipers. Their work was extremely effective and is recognized as the most effective sniper practice. Combat tactics“cuckoo” snipers were incomprehensible for their unconventionality, non-regulation and deceit. The Finns were the first to point out that there are no prohibited techniques in sniper practice. These techniques were countless, and they rarely repeated each other.

Winter sniper disguise

Finnish snipers got the name “cuckoo” because they initially shot from trees and spoke in bird voices. Comfortably sitting on the mighty branches of a century-old pine tree, the Finn waited for a more important target to appear and “filmed” it. At the tree where the sniper's nest was located, the Red Army soldiers opened hurricane fire from all barrels, but the sniper was no longer there - the cunning Finn on a rope immediately descended under the cover of a thick pine trunk into a pre-dug dugout, where he waited out the shelling. Sometimes, due to circumstances, in order to calm the enemy, the Finn pulled the rope and pulled from the sniper’s nest a stuffed animal in a camouflage suit with a rifle, which fell very beautifully, rolling from branch to branch, or got stuck between the branches in the most unnatural position. After the shelling, the sniper climbed out of the dugout, climbed a tree and again began his work.

They started shooting at the tree again. Usually, with Maxim machine guns (it is stable when fired and provides very accurate and targeted combat), a tree was shot up and down until it fell. But while the machine gunners, deaf from the shooting, were enthusiastically “sawing” the tree, another Finn from the side shot everyone who was behind the machine gunners, and then took on them themselves. The machine gunners perfectly suppressed the shots of the Finnish sniper.

Finnish “cuckoos” sat in the trees one at a time - while one was looking for prey, the other calmly slept below, in an insulated dugout. In this way, 24-hour duty was ensured on forest roads, which prevented the penetration of Soviet reconnaissance and sabotage groups behind the front line.

For Finnish snipers, it made no difference which side of the front line they shot on - their own or the neighboring one. During the advance of the Red Army, many Finnish snipers remained camouflaged in the snowdrifts, near the predicted location of strategically important objects of the Red Army: airfields (on ice-covered lakes), artillery batteries, headquarters, communications centers, communications, transport interchanges, concentrations of manpower, etc. d. Usually these were flat places in the forests, protected along the perimeter by folds of the terrain, which were quite easy to calculate.

Finnish snipers, after waiting their time, began to act at the most unexpected moment. The reconnaissance units, thrown to capture and seize the "cuckoos", were blown up by mines with which the Finn had surrounded the position in advance. But even the survivors returned with nothing. The Finnish sniper got up on his skis and went to his own. For a Finn who grew up in the north, skiing 100-120 km in winter and spending the night in the snow at a temperature of minus 40° was commonplace.

But the Soviet leadership did not recognize the martial art of “cuckoo” snipers and blamed the failures on junior commanders (who were afraid to take the initiative and take a step right or left from the regulations). The high authorities became thoughtful only when the “cuckoos” shot several staff vehicles with representatives of the command along with their retinue accompanying them. The executions took place in different places, but according to one scenario: a Finnish sniper shot through the rear wheel, immobilizing the car, and calmly shot everyone who was in it. Only after this did the command begin to understand that it was necessary to organize counter ambushes along the advance routes of the Finnish snipers. But it was too late. The Finnish campaign is over. The Finnish snipers suffered few casualties and none were captured alive.

“Cuckoo” snipers, moving freely in the forests, caused the Red Army a lot of trouble in terms of sabotage. The pilots told how the “cuckoos” opened the floodgates of the lake, on the ice of which they located an airfield. In the moonlight, more than two dozen combat aircraft began to fall through the ice. The sight was terrible. Fire from sniper rifles prevented the Finns from approaching the gateways and closing them.

However, it is worth noting that the Soviet troops themselves represented a very tempting target. As one of the Finnish soldiers said: “I like to fight with the Russians, they go on the attack in full force.” Massive offensive tactics, " human wave", turned into huge losses for the Soviet Union in that war.

The winter sniper tactics developed by the Finns turned out to be so successful that they were subsequently used by both the Russians and the Germans. And even now there is practically nothing to add to it.

Development of sniper business in the USSR

After the Finnish war, the Soviet command made the appropriate conclusions. New samples have been developed for sniper use sniper weapons– SVT rifle and universal PU optical sight, which turned out to be so successful that it is still used to this day. At the same time, general-arms sniper tactics were generalized and a practical shooting training methodology was developed, suitable for wide use. Before World War II, the Germans also developed sniper techniques and placed their main emphasis on high-tech shooting techniques. Sniper training in pre-war Germany lasted at least two years. We must pay tribute, the German snipers shot very well, and a large number of them were trained. Unfortunately, we approached the war insufficiently prepared in terms of snipers.

Soviet snipers used different rifles, including German ones - after all, in 1929 the USSR was in good relations with Weimar Germany. They used disposable rifles, sporting rifles, which began to be manufactured, for example, in Tula. And in the same year, sniper courses at OSOAVIAKHIM opened. Just 6 years later, by 1935, there were 11 sniper schools operating in OSOAVIAKHIM. The Voroshilov Riflemen movement was launched. But this was a mass movement to master marksmanship, which is necessary for any soldier. The “OSOAVIAHIM Sniper” and “Voroshilov Shooter” badges were established. Graduates of sniper schools wore such badges until 1938 inclusive.

If by 1940, about 6.5 million people in the USSR passed the standards for the “Voroshilov shooter”, then about 6-7 thousand people passed the standards for the OSOAVIAKHIM sniper, i.e. these were precisely snipers. There is a good English proverb: “Every sniper is a good shooter, but not every good shooter is a sniper.”

By the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, the Red Army had significant cadres of snipers. The significant damage caused by Soviet snipers prompted the Germans to produce optical sights on a large scale and train snipers.

Camouflage cape." USSR, 1932

Shooting sports reached an unprecedented scale in the USSR in the 30s, with sports shooters practicing exercises directly related to the “long” sniper shot, for example: shooting from a large-caliber rifle prone at 300, 400, 500 and 600 meters at four targets; duel shooting from a military rifle at 300 meters with a dash; “minute” – shooting from a military rifle lying down at 300 meters for 1 minute, the number of shots is not limited; shooting from a small-caliber rifle lying down at 200 meters, 40 shots, etc. During the winter period of 1932/33 alone, 460 shooters were trained in sniper schools and 186 heads of shooting departments and sectors of OSOAVIAKHIM organizations were retrained. In October 1933, the Central Shooting Club of the Defense Society was created, which became an educational, methodological and organizational center for the development of bullet shooting. During 1935, OSOAVIAKHIM organizations trained over 3,000 snipers for the army. Already in 1936, 11 sniper schools operated in the USSR. In total, from 1935 to 1940, 13,000 snipers of various qualifications were trained.

Speaking about the surge in shooting sports and sniping in the 1930s, one cannot help but mention the name A.A. Smirnsky. A participant in the 1912 Olympic Games and winner of the 1st All-Russian Olympiad in 1913, he initiated the first all-Union shooting competitions and designed sports and special weapons. Thousands of Soviet athletes learned to shoot from the small-caliber rifles created by Smirnsky, and the bracket he developed for mounting an optical sight on an army rifle remained in supply to the Red Army without significant changes until the end of the 1930s.

Back in 1929, after a study trip to Germany, I.P. Uborevich, who was at that time the chief of armaments of the Red Army, wrote to K.E. Voroshilov: “Every fifth or eighth shooter, according to German calculations, will have an optical sight on his rifle, which will significantly increase the fighter’s shooting accuracy. Adapting an optical sight to our rifle requires improving the steel from which the barrel is made... My summary is that we do not need to skimp on converting infantry weapons to an optical sight, because this will pay off with better results in battle.”

Red Army sniper training

Of great importance for the emerging training system in our country for “super-sharp marksmen” was the instruction “Methods of shooting training and a shooting course for training snipers”, developed in 1933 by the Inspectorate of Infantry and Rifle Training of the Red Army. Here, for the first time in domestic practice, the most important information concerning the organization and conduct of sniper training sessions was summarized. For example: “In modern combat, snipers may be assigned the following tasks: the destruction of enemy command personnel, his surveillance and communications organs; suppression of enemy fire weapons, especially well-camouflaged ones; blinding enemy armored vehicles; fight against descending enemy aircraft. Snipers fire at ground targets from rifles with open sights up to 1000 meters, with optical sights up to 1500 meters. In general, shooting for snipers is possible within the scope of the sight, taking into account the visibility of the target, the importance and the possibility of hitting it.” Let us draw your attention to the fact that among the sniper’s combat missions, one very important one was not indicated - fighting enemy snipers.

Regarding the fire training of snipers, it was believed that “it consists of working out the following tasks:

a) firing a targeted, accurate and confident shot at a stationary target when shooting with an ordinary and optical sight;

b) firing a quick shot to hit targets that suddenly appear for a short period of time;

c) defeating fast-moving ground targets;

d) making a well-aimed shot from various positions, from a rest position from behind cover when shooting with a regular and optical sight;

e) defeating enemy air targets;

f) rapid engagement of several targets with transfer of fire along the front and in depth;

g) firing at different target visibility; firing as part of a group of snipers.”

Only fighters who completed the rifle shooting tests with “excellence” during training and passed a special classification exercise were allowed to take the sniper shooting course.

The Red Army soldiers received their initial sniper training at a 45-day training camp, where they worked through all the shooting tasks of the shooting course. In addition to the actual shooting, snipers during training also had to solve tactical tasks, such as reconnaissance and assessment of the terrain, choosing a location for a firing point and equipping it, drawing up a shooting card and a simple drawing of the terrain, observing the battlefield, finding and recognizing targets, identifying distances, choosing the moment to open fire, choosing a sight and aiming point, choosing a position for shooting and the moment to fire a shot, monitoring the results of fire. It is noteworthy that when practicing tactical tasks, it was recommended to use living people as targets for clarity (naturally, only training cartridges were used), and the exercise took the form of an oncoming fire collision.

Characteristic of that time was a special exercise performed in complete darkness: shooting was carried out from a distance of 150 meters at a target depicting an enemy observer smoking in a trench. A well-aimed bullet flying from the darkness towards the light of a cigarette - this image remains from the time of the Boer War.

It is significant that the target “light machine gun” the Red Army sniper had to hit with no more than the second shot from a distance of 800 meters, the “head figure” that appears for 4 seconds (distance 250 m) - with the first shot, the “head figure” moving along the front (distance 300 m) - from the second shot. All this testifies to the high shooting skill of the first Soviet snipers, as well as the good combat qualities of rifles and optics.

The Red Army sniper crew repels the enemy's "chemical attack". Maneuvers 1934

It is interesting that, taking into account the low educational level of the Red Army soldiers, in order to solve problems of choosing an aiming point for various targets at different distances, the manual recommended making a life-size model of average trajectories - from 200 to 1000 meters. A line was hung on which posts were driven into alignment with each other every 50 meters; on each stand at a certain height, corresponding to the average trajectory of the bullet at this distance, there was a nail with the inscription - what is the excess and for what scope. When the desired trajectory was shown, a cord was hung from these studs, and targets were placed at the appropriate points.

Particular attention was paid to practicing firing techniques from various positions. The greatest interest today is the method of using a standard rifle belt when shooting, which was widely practiced in the 1930s and 1940s, from which a comfortable loop was obtained, almost like on a sporting weapon. Despite the fact that eighty years have passed since the publication of this manual, little can be added to this method of training “super marksmen” today.

Even before the start of the Great Patriotic War, Soviet snipers received their baptism of fire during the military conflict on the Karelian Isthmus in 1939–1940. It was a strange war: a large, well-armed and mechanized Red Army for six months, with great difficulty and heavy losses, tried to break the resistance of a very small (about 100 thousand people) Finnish army. Many Soviet soldiers and officers were not prepared for the fact that they would have to face small, very mobile squads of skiers, numerous booby traps and the famous “cuckoo” snipers. A participant in the battles on the Karelian Isthmus later recalled: “We notice: bullets are falling around us. Where are they from? Suddenly the machine gunner falls. We ask: “Where was he wounded?” “In the back of the head,” answers the comrade, leaning towards him.

This means they are shooting from the rear. We begin to inspect the trees. The branches are thick and covered with snow. I notice that the branches of one of the fir trees are swaying slightly. I peer through the scope of a sniper rifle and see: a “cradle”, and on it there are legs in piexes. Let's shoot. A man falls from a tree. We run up: a white Finn with a machine gun.

We examine other trees; on some we notice thin stripes - circular sections of bark, we look closely: on each of these trees there are “cradles”, but there are no people, obviously these trees have been prepared “in reserve”.

...In the first minutes we thought that the White Finns we shot down were random people, cut off from their own and hiding in the trees to cause harm in our rear. At that time we did not yet know that such a method of war was a system that the enemy would use along the entire front.” (I. Kulpin. “Battles in Finland.”)

Finnish sniper

The tactics of guerrilla warfare and minor sabotage carried out by the small Finnish army bore fruit: according to estimates (most likely speculative) of some military historians, losses Soviet troops were very large, and it can be assumed that a significant part of the soldiers were destroyed by snipers. Finnish “cuckoos” worked out the basic tactics that Soviet snipers later successfully used against the Germans. For example, the work of a sniper in contact with a machine gunner and demolition men. “Cuckoos” also came up with the “Finnish snowdrift” winter sniper shelter, the use of false positions to distract the enemy, mining the abandoned “bed” and much more.

Former employee of the NKVD of the USSR S.A. Vaupshasov writes in his memoirs: “A smart and insidious enemy left numerous units of riflemen and machine gunners, entire ski battalions, on the land we occupied, with the task of disorganizing the functioning of military rear areas, disrupting communications, and attacking hospitals, headquarters, and warehouses. Light, mobile groups of Shyutskorites were masters of this kind of “small war” and caused our command a lot of trouble.

Border battalions and other NKVD troops were sent to fight the sabotage detachments. Based in the rear of the active army, we guarded access roads, communication lines, rear institutions, tracked down, caught and destroyed enemy skiers...

The greatest danger was posed by single Finnish machine gunners and snipers, perched in the trees in white camouflage robes and completely blending in with the trunk and branches covered with snow. Soviet soldiers nicknamed them “cuckoos,” apparently because of their loneliness and “arboreal” lifestyle. The “cuckoos” had the task of incapacitating the command staff. Our commanders and political workers very soon stopped wearing highly visible insignia, but the “cuckoos” still managed to recognize their superiors by their pistol holster, sword belt, and commander’s sheepskin coats, and they shot without missing a beat. It was impossible to take off the camouflage coat for a minute, so as not to stand out from among the fighters.” (S.A. Vaupshasov. “At alarming intersections.”)

The Finns lost the war on all fronts except one. The Red Army had practically nothing to oppose to the partisan war. Perhaps this is one of the reasons why the USSR did not occupy the “country of Suomi”. Indeed, in this case, the “small war” would flare up with renewed vigor and drag on for years, and the Finns have already shown what they are capable of.

It is characteristic that, in fact, the Finns used against the Red Army the same “small war” tactics that were developed in the 1920s Soviet military leaders– M.V. Frunze, I.P. Uborevich, A.I. Egorov, V.M. Primakov. Frunze wrote back in 1921 in the article “Unified Military Doctrine and the Red Army” that “if the state pays serious enough attention to this, if preparations for a “small war” are carried out systematically and systematically, then in this way it is possible to create such a a situation in which, despite all their technical advantages, they will be powerless against a relatively poorly armed, but full of initiative, bold and determined enemy.”

Many military experts still believe that the blowing up of critical bridges, massive mining of roads, ambushes and sniper terror from the first hours of the invasion could have sharply reduced the speed of the German blitzkrieg if the Soviet command had used small-unit tactics in 1941. By the way, this opinion was also supported by “Soviet saboteur No. 1” - Ilya Grigorievich Starinov: “The command of the Finnish army supplemented the devastation of the territory during the retreat with the actions of partisan snipers and various kinds of mines. All this presented significant difficulties for the Red Army.” (I.G. Starinov. “Delayed Action Mines.”)

World War II

During World War II, the importance of sniper fire increased. It is no coincidence that in battle reports the actions of enemy snipers were often mentioned in the same breath as the work of artillery and aviation, and often the majority of losses from small arms fire were attributed to snipers.

The Red Army had already seen the importance of snipers during the Soviet-Finnish War of 1939–1940. The skillful actions of Finnish snipers forced us to reconsider our own training programs. As a result, the Red Army was ready for the widespread use of snipers within its units. In the initial period of the Great Patriotic War, a sniper movement arose in parts of the Leningrad Front, which soon spread to both the RKKF marines and the NKVD troops. To increase the authority of snipers, unofficial titles such as “noble sniper” were introduced, and personalized rifles were issued. On May 21, 1942, the “Sniper” badge was approved among the badges. The “Combat Manual of the Infantry of 1942” defined the sniper’s tasks as follows: “Destruction of snipers, officers, observers, gun and machine-gun crews (especially flanking and dagger crews), crews of stopped tanks, low-flying enemy aircraft and, in general, all important ones appearing on short time and rapidly disappearing targets." Snipers were expected to be independent in choosing positions, targets and firing. The tasks of snipers during combat in special conditions were also indicated - in the forest, in a populated area.

Sniper movement in the Red Army

During the Great Patriotic War, the Soviet military leadership well understood the capabilities of even one well-trained sniper, especially a sniper-instructor capable of training dozens of shooters in a short period of time. Therefore, at the Central School of Sniper Instructors (CSHISD), the training course was designed for 6 months. Six-month training for a sniper during the war, and this at a time when a combat pilot was trained in 3-4 months!

In the first months of the war, training the best shooters was the concern of units and formations of the front line. Training took place in reserve training units, in short-term courses directly in the combat formations of troops, and was carried out through direct communication between the best snipers of the unit and their comrades and their joint departures to combat positions. This form of communication had both positive aspects, and disadvantages. No theory can replace practice - the work of a sniper in the battle formations of his unit. The process of acquiring combat experience is much more effective when an experienced mentor is next to the trainee.

But the command understood the need for centralized training of “super marksmen.” Back on September 18, 1941, a decree was issued on universal compulsory military training for citizens of the USSR, which made it possible to organize military training of the population on the job. The training program was designed for 110 hours. In addition to other military specialties (machine gunner, mortar operator, signalman), training also took place in the area of ​​sniping. Nevertheless, it was extremely difficult to train snipers in such a short time, so the decision was soon made to open special “schools of excellent marksmen for sniper training” (SHOSSP) at military districts. The training lasted for 3–4 months, already off-the-job. The Moscow Military District alone had three such schools. Sniping instructors from OSOAVIAKHIM were involved as teachers, which, as in peacetime, continued to train sniper personnel in his schools. In addition, it was decided to organize centralized training of highly qualified snipers with instructor skills. For this purpose, on March 20, 1942, a school of sniper instructors was created in Veshnyaki near Moscow.

“The sniper shoots from afar, but always for sure!” Soviet poster. 1942

Already the first months of the school’s work showed that it is extremely necessary to centrally train not only instructors, but also ordinary highly qualified snipers. Therefore, on May 15, 1942, it was proposed to form a 3-month course for training snipers at the school. The training period at the school of sniper instructors was increased to 6 months from July 18, 1942.

Sniper of the Red Army. 1941

The use of snipers at the front showed that, along with men, female snipers trained by the training units of the General Military Training (Vsevobuch) showed very high shooting skills and effectiveness in combat work. On January 1, 1942, 14,819 female snipers were trained in this structure, and in March–August of the same year, another 39,941. The school of sniper instructors was renamed the Central School of Sniper Instructors with a 6-month training period. At the same time, by the same order, women's courses for excellent sniper shooters (ZhKOSSP) and a school for excellent sniper shooters with a 3-month training period were formed at the TsSHISD. Later, on May 21, 1943, women's courses were reorganized into the Central Women's Sniper Training School. On all fronts of the Great Patriotic War, 1885 female snipers, graduates of the Central School of Shipping, fought on all fronts, about 180 people died. In particular, as part of the 3rd Shock Army, a company of the first graduates of the school went through the battle route from Velikie Luki to Berlin, destroying 3,012 fascists.

By mid-1943, all major activities for the centralized training of sniper personnel for the Red Army were basically completed. During the war, seven stages of training were carried out in the Vsevobuch system. The first stage was trained in 1941; in 1942–1944, two stages of training were carried out. During this time, a total of 428,335 excellent snipers were trained, who significantly strengthened battle formations infantry units. In addition, 9,534 highly qualified snipers were trained in centrally subordinate training formations. Training continued at the central sniping school until March 1945.

Lieutenant General G.F. made a great contribution to the organization of centralized training of sniper personnel. Morozov. Heading one of the departments of the General Staff, he accumulated and analyzed the combat experience of Soviet snipers. His books “Methods of Fire Training for a Sniper” and “Memo to a Sniper” provided invaluable assistance in training snipers in front-line units.

Sniper training took place at special training camps, in sniper schools, including the Central Women's Sniper School created in May 1943. To improve the skills of snipers, army and front-line rallies were practiced. Snipers were also trained at courses created at the headquarters partisan formations and large partisan detachments. The pre-war work of OSOAVIAKHIM prepared a solid basis for the development of sniping, and shooting sports, which actively developed in the 20s and 30s, provided the main personnel of snipers. Names of M. Budenkov, N. Galushkin, F. Dyachenko, V. Zaitsev, N. Ilyin, F. Okhlopkov, I. Sidorenko, G. Simanchuk, F. Smolyachkov, M. Passar, L. Pavlichenko, V. Pchelintsev, M . Polivanova, 3. Popova became widely known. A number of German authors, assessing the battles on the Eastern Front after the war, noted the cunning and good training of Soviet snipers.

Soviet girl sniper

The tactics of snipers also became more diverse - they acted as part of units, in separate teams, singly and in twos. The most effective was considered to be the work of snipers in pairs, when they alternately performed the functions of observer and fighter. It started and wide application silent rifles - these were mainly standard rifles with silencers of the "Bramit" type (device of the Mitin Brothers).

In 1945, after the end of the war, the American press wrote: “Russian snipers showed great skill on the German front. They encouraged the Germans to produce optical sights on a large scale and train snipers."

The standard in sniper training during the Great Patriotic War is the Central School of Sniper Instructors, located in Veshnyaki near Moscow. An example of how sniper personnel were trained at this school near Moscow is the testimony of one of the instructors about the training of not even men, but female snipers: “The girls learned to disassemble the three-line rifle and the SVT-40 sniper almost with their eyes closed. But before firing the first shot with a live cartridge, they had a lot to learn. It was necessary to study the principle of operation of the sight, almost automatically be able to determine the distance to the target, wind speed, speed of the target and quickly make the appropriate calculations. It was necessary to persistently train vision, observation, work on hand steadiness, and the ability to smoothly press the trigger.”

The female cadets mastered the rules of camouflage, learned to crawl on their bellies and quickly make dashes, equip shooting cells - main, reserve and decoys, thereby ensuring thorough camouflage. Great importance was attached to shooting from any position.

In the barracks only theoretical disciplines and the material part were studied. In the autumn rain, in the winter snowstorm, in the summer heat, the girls went to classes in full soldier gear. And we had to walk 7 kilometers to the shooting range. Girls had to be able to perform the duties of rifle squad soldiers, shoot from a light and heavy machine gun, and an anti-tank rifle. They were also trained in bayonet fighting, throwing grenades and Molotov cocktails.

At the end of the training - a 70-kilometer forced march with full equipment. It tested the knowledge and ability of snipers to put into practice the combat skills acquired in school. By the end of the training, the girls were already excellent at performing such exercises as shooting at a distance of 1000 meters at “ heavy machine gun", from 800 meters - along the "defector", from 500 meters - along the "chest" figure, from 250 meters - along the "stereo tube". The Central Girls' School operated for 27 months, during which time three main intakes were held.

Sniper Baltic Fleet. WWII

The attitude of the front-line command towards the “snipers” was peculiar. According to the memoirs of one of the graduates of the Central Women's School, Lidia Gudovantseva:

“We were warmly received at the headquarters of the 1st Shock Army, everyone came up to us to take a look... We were invited to the political department. They asked if we had weighed everything, or maybe someone had changed their mind, then we could perform other duties - there is enough work at the headquarters.” Isn’t it quite strange: career snipers who arrive at the front are offered a job at headquarters - what if someone is not ready for combat work on the front line? This is evidence that senior officers did not take female snipers seriously.

In addition to centralized training of sniper personnel, training of shooters was organized directly in front-line units. Sniper schools were formed on an army scale with a training period of up to three months, depending on the conditions and combat situation. The standard training program included learning the rules of handling weapons and optical sights, determining the range to the target, checking the weapon's engagement, learning the basics of ballistics, choosing a position for firing and camouflage. The sniper schools of the Leningrad Front alone trained 1,337 snipers.

The war required immediate action, and therefore in the Red Army the emphasis was on the physical endurance of the sniper, camouflage and mass participation. The basis of special tactics was sniper terror. In conditions of a large-scale military conflict, this tactic turned out to be the only correct one and was used until the end of the Second World War. In the first months of the war, there were no trained snipers in the Red Army. Soldiers and officers mastered sniper skills during combat operations. Later, in 1942, first three-month and then six-month sniper courses began to function. But this was not enough. In the second half of the war, the training period for snipers was increased to eight months in specialized sniper schools.

During the Great Patriotic War and in subsequent armed conflicts, our sniper movement turned out to be more effective than the German and others thanks not only to its mass character, but mainly to the boundless Russian ingenuity, superhuman endurance and hellish patience, the ability to work in mud, snow, and under the scorching sun. The ability of Soviet snipers seems to be sufficient simple weapons– a three-line rifle – old-timers still remember hitting the enemy between the eyes from a distance of 700–800 meters. During the war, time was compressed. Cruel necessity sharpened sensitivity and forced the human body to work on the verge of the impossible. What took years in peacetime took months and weeks in war. In extreme cruel conditions, a person quickly turned into what is now called a fashionable term - a ninja. Soviet snipers brought martial art to perfection, and Japanese ninja snipers were far from ours.

The snipers acted very inventively. For example, the author’s father recalled how a platoon of “touring” snipers operated in their sector of the front. Arriving at the front line, the snipers lined up along the defense line. Then, from some hillock, an iron barrel was launched towards the Germans, partly filled with various metal rubbish and rattling deafeningly on every uneven surface. As a result, several curious heads were sure to peek out from the enemy trench at the incomprehensible sound, and the snipers hit them all with rapid fire. After this, the platoon moved to a new, not yet “plowed” section of the front and repeated its trick again.

Remus 22-08-2005 22:40

In some old movie there was a German machine gunner chained to something. I was once interested in such things in terms of the psychology of extreme situations. Everything in life is possible, but there was no reliable evidence.

bader 23-08-2005 18:25

Somewhere there was a theme that towards the end of the war such cases of chaining took place. I don’t know about “cuckoos,” but I came across one about machine gunners in the literature. But I haven’t seen official confirmation anywhere, so it’s most likely nonsense, although... in life, and especially in war, anything can happen.

Mosinman 23-08-2005 21:50

The Germans practiced this back in the First World War. The idea is that first you will shoot yourself, and then, even if it comes to your mind to surrender, you will know that they will not be taken alive, because you have killed a lot of people. Therefore, you will shoot back to the end.
It seems that such machine gunners were encountered at the Seelow Heights and the Dnieper.

ranger 02-09-2005 14:05

This is not bullshit. This is history. This happened with the Germans in both wars and with the Japanese. Moreover, even before 1941, and even more so in WW2 - and not only against us, but also on the islands against the amers.

------------------
Shoot quickly and think - you will live longer...If you survive!

Sissi 18-09-2005 02:23

No, I can say quite officially that it’s bullshit. There were snipers, yes, but to a rock or a tree only if you were from a mental hospital ward. The Germans had their own group in Finland, but strictly under their command, and for example, their power did not extend to the Finns. It was strictly there, yes, there were many cases where German sentries shot at Finnish long-range detachments, and for this, as a rule, death followed the tribunal. In general, the Germans were poorly prepared for warfare in these regions and therefore fought almost only trench battles and stood at the expense of their technical power.
There were personal beds, for example, the Finnish sniper Simo Häyhä, whose score in the army was +500, according to some information, exact 542 (in the Finnish army only a partner or officer could be a witness), he crawled with an open sight (I hope everyone understands) at least 40 % of cases (it is worth saying that melting in the forest is from 30-150m maximum). And it’s not a matter of cuckoos, but a matter of skill and selection of personnel; as a rule, single workers worked. Legends were born later, just like after the First World War, about German snipers.

ASlon 18-09-2005 02:35

Sissi
Could you please provide a link (or recommend other sources) with some information about this sniper. (Simo Hayha) It’s even possible in Finnish.. I’m interested in the history of the Winter War and the actions of the Finnish army in particular. I would be very grateful.

Sissi 18-09-2005 02:48

Yes, there is no need for links, just the first and last name Simo Häyhä, and then just choose the language, there are many links in English about him or according to his statistics, there are opinions that there are no equals, but not Zaitsev, of course. There was no promotion to the whole world, and again the counting is not carried out by soldiers; there is not enough smoke like fighter jets. If I’m short on time or too lazy, I can sit, if you have any language requests, write me.

ASlon 18-09-2005 02:59

Sissi
My English is not very good, but I’ll try to search, there is a link by name, maybe you can point out other sources with interesting (or little-known) facts on this issue. Really interesting.

Sissi 18-09-2005 03:07

But I forgot where I have it. Everything you need is here, at least according to statistics.
http://www.snipercentral.com/snipers.htm#WWII

ASlon 18-09-2005 03:26

Thanks a lot! Really Ace. It's strange that I haven't heard anything about him before.

Sissi 18-09-2005 03:32

And few people in Finland know about it. This is, as they say, for the amateur/expert/historian or for training.

Sissi 18-09-2005 13:12

If you ask a male from 18-30 years old, then they know about 50/50 who they are talking about, but I’m already silent about the female part.

Remus 18-09-2005 23:15

Then all is not lost.
Legends naturally appear later. For various reasons. If you believe the archives, at the beginning of the war the Finnish army had only about 200 rifles with optical sights. Naturally, I had to spin around somehow. Simo Häyhä himself explained working with an open sight very simply - you need to stick your head out less.

Sissi 02-10-2005 21:29

Yes, there are plenty of legends, but the brightest remain those of Lauri Törni and Simo Häyhä.

apple 03-10-2005 01:13

What CAVE IGNORANCE!!! The tale of the chaining of machine gunners (snipers???, grenade throwers???, radio operators???, tankers???, pilots???, officers General Staff???) really originates in WWII. Well-known "children's" uniformologists Fred and Lilian Funken (republished from "AST") suggested that the legend originates from the fact that members of the machine gun crews of the German army were equipped with wide leather belts with metal carbines, designed for emergency carrying of machine guns on the battlefield . And, they say, the soldiers found killed enemy machine gunners and based on these belts they concluded that they were chained. I don’t know about the “chained” comrades, but after such an outrage I would not shoot, but would scream until I was hoarse: “Nih shissen!!! (French) captivity!!!" But everything is much more banal. WWII was not only the first world war, but also the first ideological one. Some lucky journalist came up with the idea to attribute this to the Germans, among other lies about enemy atrocities! And I went for a walk through the pages of various “Russian Invalids” and “Niva”, another fairy tale... In their hatred, people did not want to move beyond a convenient stamp. So the “Terrible Tale” is also mentioned by the Strugatskys, the historian Rodin attributed the “rite of chaining” to the Austro-Hungarians, the director Rodin made a film in which they chain (???) a sniper (???) “Finnik” in a German uniform (??? ) SS troops (???)...

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven!

Student 03-10-2005 02:51

Yeah.. One of the roots of such legends is misunderstandings, sort of like with a machine gun harness.
For example, in Crimea, the French press wrote that the Russian soldier was so patriotic and superstitious that he always carried a bag of his native land with him. In fact, this “land” was grated rye crackers - the food in the besieged city was disgusting. And the legend still roams his native land.

Best regards, Student

Kalmar 10-10-2005 02:37

I agree that there is no point in chaining a sniper. He is a free hunter, a most valuable fighter who will not be sacrificed. As for the machine gunner, it is quite possible at the request of the person being chained. Kind of like a kamikaze. So as not to be afraid.

apple 10-10-2005 22:16

quote: Originally posted by Kalmar:
I agree that there is no point in chaining a sniper. He is a free hunter, a most valuable fighter who will not be sacrificed. As for the machine gunner, it is quite possible at the request of the person being chained. Kind of like a kamikaze. So as not to be afraid.

Upon mobilization, many Finns came with their own rifles. There weren't enough weapons for everyone in the army. Most are hunters. This is probably why there were so many good snipers among the Finns. And civilians always have weapons of higher quality than army ones.

2. It is unlikely that army snipers armed themselves with their own rifle bikes. After all, since the middle of the 19th century, the best hunting models were alterations of army ones. For example, the famous "Berdanka". Yes, a huge minus mass weapons- low quality. But a huge plus is the mass production of ammunition.

Student 11-10-2005 13:16

A simple aspect - the chain can be broken by a bullet. But you can’t fight with a chain from an Admiralty anchor. This is the reason.

Best regards, Student

Kalmar 12-10-2005 12:18

quote: Originally posted by apple:

1. Still not logical. If you can’t have a sniper, then why can you weld a tanker into a tank or rivet a pilot to the skin of an airplane? Why was it necessary to spend enormous amounts of money and effort on maintaining the NKVD barrage detachments, if it was possible to adopt the experience of German comrades and chain the barrages themselves in the trenches? Why is it possible to bring up a bunch of literature on kamikazes or selflessness in general, but nowhere in serious research do they talk about chaining? Maybe because it wasn't there at all?

Well, no one brought any facts. All this is at the level of rumors.

quote: 2. It is unlikely that army snipers armed themselves with their own rifle bikes. After all, since the middle of the 19th century, the best hunting models were alterations of army ones. For example, the famous "Berdanka". Yes, a huge disadvantage of mass-produced weapons is low quality. But a huge plus is the mass production of ammunition.

And this, excuse me, historical fact. The Finns came with their rifles. Just like American contractors in Iraq today. And their weapons are much cooler than the army ones. I myself have weapons of higher quality and more expensive than army ones. Read what weapons the forum members own. No army can be hijacked. Just compare the quality of match weapons and army weapons.

Student 12-10-2005 13:26

Gentlemen, Finland is an interesting country. With a modest military budget, there were many enthusiasts, there were also paramilitary organizations - the Shooting Corps and the women's "Lotta-Svärd", and so they were also involved in sports shooting. From military weapons, i.e. Mosinok. And the barrels they installed there were not very simple, I mean sporting rifles. And it will be extremely stupid to argue that the sports Mosinka has a Shyutskor shooter with big name accuracy is worse than that of a military rifle. Meanwhile, the rifle could be a prize in competitions, just the one with excellent barrel processing. And it’s not strange if the owner or owner took his Mosinka to the front - the cartridge is the same, and the rifle itself is also an analogue of the army one. With higher quality.
The analogy is based on the type of Soviet weapon - few people will compare the accuracy of the 1891\30 with the AB or AVL. Although both are essentially Mosinka.

Best regards, Student

Sergey-M 15-10-2005 16:50

Grandfather told me. Before the war, they lived in a border village in western Ukraine. In the area there were bunkers of the Vladimir-Volynsky UR, hastily built the day before. A couple of months before the start of the war, residents were evacuated hundreds of kilometers from the border so as not to fall under distribution. When the front line swept through them to the east and people returned to their village, in these very bunkers they discovered dead Red Army soldiers chained. The border post there now bears the name of one of these heroic machine gunners. Maybe it’s a fable about chains, but I heard it from several eyewitnesses of those events.
By the way, the outpost then held out for a day, but there is no information about the SD.

VOYAKA 20-10-2005 07:25

Student, excuse my ignorance, but it seems to me that chains are broken by a bullet only in films... Especially, as you put it, anchor ones... Please correct me if I’m wrong.
Sincerely.

apple 20-10-2005 15:32

Student, excuse my ignorance, but it seems to me that chains are broken by a bullet only in films... Especially, as you put it, anchor ones... Please correct me if I’m wrong.

Yeah! That is, the problem is not whether this is a propaganda myth, but the thickness of the chain? Well... That's also an option!!!

bucherets 20-10-2005 16:23

quote: Originally posted by VOYAKA:
... it seems to me that chains are broken by a bullet only in films...

In this film, the hero Ville Haapsalo tried to do just that. He didn't succeed.
And if you approach the matter purely practically, what is the use of chaining a sniper. With a machine gunner we can go back and forth, but a sniper? The essence of a sniper: shoot once or twice - change position. Otherwise they will be discovered and destroyed. Those. a chained sniper simply won't shoot.

Student 20-10-2005 19:38

If a 7.62 rifle bullet easily breaks three or four millimeters of steel, then you can rivet the chain!
Another thing is that it will cut the shell with fragments, and you can catch a ricochet. You can... But it's better than the guaranteed death of a "chain sniper".

Best regards, Student

pasha333 20-10-2005 19:39

The machine gunner is the same - if not from the Ukrp. fire the points will also be filled up.

Well, what's the point? If he is pinned down, and he still wants to survive, it is better to immediately wave something white when they approach - there will be a better chance of surviving than to shoot until the last minute.

By the way, no matter how many German sources I have read, I have never seen anything like this either about ours or theirs. About the Japanese - yes, the Finns, too, in my opinion.