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Russian Sniperism in WWII

Discussion in 'Eastern Europe' started by JeffinMNUSA, Jun 11, 2008.

  1. JeffinMNUSA

    JeffinMNUSA Member

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    Hi all;
    Snipers of World War Two By Christopher Eger
    Note the absolute dominance of the USSR in the field of sniperism and note also the large numbers of women. Sniperism began in Stalingrad, but the basic skills came from military shooting courses that were taught to young people of both sexes in the USSR in the 1930s. 1943 saw a general rise in the strength of the Soviet forces from the Baltic to the Black Sea (No, 1943 was not just about Kursk! Most of the front looked a lot like WWI); and along with a general 3:1 artillery advantage(as per Glantz), new weapons, new training, rising morale, and the application of some hard won tactics; I think you can add sniperism to the reasons why the Soviet formations came to a rough parity that year.
    JeffinMNUSA
    PS. Some snipers' translations on The Russian Battlefield site; http://www.iremember.ru/content/blogcategory/26/61/lang,en/
    Pss. And sniping on the Eastern Front was nothing like portrayed in the movie "Enemy at the Gates"; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enemy_at_the_Gates
    PHOTO LINK; http://www.englishrussia.com/?p=905
    Of course the actual amount of stalking and waiting involved would not make very good Hollywood. Then the wild innacuracies and gross mischaratorization as to the nature of the battle caused actual Stalingrad vets to walk out of the theater. The director would have done well to have had actual vets overseeing the production as was done in "Band of Brothers".
     
  2. Kai-Petri

    Kai-Petri Kenraali

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    I read that the Germans shipped rifle scopes to the USSR during the 1939-1941 pact phase between nazi Germany and the USSR in exchange for wheat and oil and other goods.

    I wonder if anyone has any data on the numbers the Germans sent and possibly type? Thanx!
     
  3. JeffinMNUSA

    JeffinMNUSA Member

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    Kai Petri;
    Hmmm. no. It's possible the Sovs did some industrial "borrowing" however. German optics were the best of the era and one of Alexsandr Sohlzhenitsyn's fellow political prisoners ("zeks") got that way for saying so. The Soviets did excel at the manufacture of small arms as well as artillery but they were not adverse to "borrowing" (ie. The Suomi Submachinegun of the Finnish war was copyed into the PPSH "Pepishaw") http://www.russian-mosin-nagant.com/soviet_sniper_article.htm
    JeffinMNUSA
     

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