A small mystery in a big battle.

Was re-reading Richard Lamb's book, "Montgomery in Europe-Success or Failure?" and came upon an interesting tidbit I hadn't noticed in my first reading. In two letters, one to Maj-general Frank Simpson (Director of Military Operations) and another to M-G Freddie de Guingand (CIGS), he mentions female German snipers! In the second letter to de Guingand he writes that, "The roads have been far from safe, due to snipers left behind by the enemy. So far 8 women snipers have been killed." Now I've never-ever heard any other mention of Germany using women as snipers. Any ideas on who/what they might have been?

 

http://www.oldmagazinearticles.com/WW2_German_woman_sniper_during_World_War_Two-pdf

Women snipers in Normandy? Monty mentions them (8 june 44) - Axis History Forum

So far, we hadn't heard a shot fired in anger or otherwise. However, a mile or so beyond the village, we had a reminder of the nearby war. As we passed a crossroads, we heard several shots that obviously did not come from U.S. weapons. A nearby MP told us that there had been instances of local French women sniping at our forces. At the time, I had been so indoctrinated about all French hating all Germans that I found this hard to believe. But such instances were verified and are noted in the official U.S. Army history of the Normandy campaign. After all, the Germans had been in occupation of this part of France for four years. It was a rich farming area and could feed both occupiers and occupied. Also, most Frenchmen of military age had been and still were POWs in Germany.
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I have never heard of this before either, quite unique those French women..........

 

Thanks green slime! That adds at least a bit of closure on the subject. Perhaps someone can add more. I was guessing Wehrmacht women auxiliaries that were bypassed.