does any one know the name of any american sniper regiments,battlions ect

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"Maybe Tertius knew there was some value in his men thinking he was the toughest son of a b!tch in the whole roman legion" -Lt.Spiers Band Of Brothers

As far as I know, there weren't any dedicated sniper units in the US Army - instead marksmen were scattered throughout US infantry units.

I agree,

However I believe a recent TV programme (on cable TV) did state that there is some sort of 'sniper school' in the US Army where soldiers can 'perfect' their art. Don't know if this is a new addition though
Regards Graham.

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The 1st and 2nd US Sharpshooter Regiments of the Army of the Potomac?

HAHA! If you're hinting what I think you're hinting, that would be an unfair fight. Automatic rifles were not very common in the 19th century.

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Because we are talking about snipers now, who was the most succesfull sniper in WW2? And which nationality did he had?

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The usual answer to that question is Simo Hayha (mispelt I expect) who was Finnish.

what about vassili Zaitsev of russia. and why is the finish guy so good

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"Maybe Tertius knew there was some value in his men thinking he was the toughest son of a b!tch in the whole roman legion" -Lt.Spiers Band Of Brothers

And what about Medvedev ?The most famous russian sniper was Zajcev or Medvedev?

Because Simo Hayha, known as "The White Death" is credited with between 504 to 541 confirmed kills...depending on which list you read

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Texas Fred

But didn't Russia have the best snipers of the war!!!

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Depends on how you are judgeing the snipers and if you believe some of the kill claims.

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There's no honorable way to kill, no gentle way to destroy. There is nothing good in war. Except its ending.

Indeed, the Soviet Union had the best snipers of the war. The top 10 of best snipers of WWII has 9 Russians in it or so, and of course there's Simo Häyhä leading them.

And incredibly, the famous Vasili Zaitsev is not among the 10 best snipers. And one of the incredible cases in that list is that it includes Tania Mikhaílovna Pavlichenko, who scored 306 kills.

The only thing about the Soviet snipers is that they tended to shoot everyone and German snipers shot assigned targets and officers or very important people. That's why their numbers are far smaller than the Russian snipers. Check Häyhä thread for the top 10 list!

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"A mon fils: depuis que tes yeux sont fermes les miens n’ont cessé de pleurir." - Mère française, Verdun

That is one thing I would agree with, the reason the Russian snipers scored so highly was that they would hunt for anyone, where as soldiers from other nations targeted specific individuals or at least those holding rank. I have often wondered which of the two is most effective tactically.

Just out of curiosity, wasn't Hayha the bloke who only ever used an iron sight, not a scope?

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There's no honorable way to kill, no gentle way to destroy. There is nothing good in war. Except its ending.

Yah the Soviets shot everyone that is why what isthe point of only killing the leaders!

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Killing senior officers is far more disruptive than just shooting lowly soldiers.

Think about it this way, you have a Company of men, as a sniper you target men in order of their importance to the unit, starting with the company commander and working your way down. The logic is that actually a bunch of soldiers with no leaders is actually more damageing to its own force than to yours because they drain resources but theoretically are not very combat effective. As a sniper you have a limited number of shots before you have to move, thus a German sniper might find a great vantage point and wait for an officer to come along, in the mean time me may leave the opportunity to drop several other ranks (which is actually a good thing because it will make the enemy feel safe in the area, make it less likely that officers will hide etc) and then when he sees someone with rank walk through, bang! In the same situation your Russian sniper might have killed three ordinary soldiers and thats it, none of the rest of the unit would go through the area, they still have a leader and are still a combat effective unit. Actually, this tactic was supposedly particularly effective against Russian units where NCO's were not as adaptable as those of other (particularly the German) armies and so if an officer was killed the unit could have no true leadership whereas if you killed a German, US or British officer an NCO could take his place.

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There's no honorable way to kill, no gentle way to destroy. There is nothing good in war. Except its ending.

May I add a little about German snipers?
I have had a personal duel with a sniper while in a cornfield. I do not know if I have already posted that bit of action or not?

I will if requested?

One thing I could never understand, is why young German snipers continued to take lives after the were left behind when the battle swept forward. Then to come out with their hands up. NO WAY PAL! NO WAY! The snipers were very good,and we were constantly on the lookout for them, any unusual shape would warrant a burst from a Bren, on a rare occasion a body would drop out.
Brian

Hey Brian I am requesting the story of the sniper in the cornfield. Any and every story you have I'm going to second that so go for it.

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Please, sapper. I'd like to see the story too. And will later print it and show it to my grandfather, who was a sniper in the German Army, though most of the time he worked as an average officer.

But one of the things he has told me is that when they faced American or British forces, the first ones to fall were not the officers, but radio operators - if they could damage the radio equippment even better - because they knew that a radio might bring up to eight artillery batallions or fighter bombers immediately against them.

[ 04. December 2003, 11:52 AM: Message edited by: General der Infanterie Friedrich H ]

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"A mon fils: depuis que tes yeux sont fermes les miens n’ont cessé de pleurir." - Mère française, Verdun

Yes please post it!!

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Yes,Brian,I´´d like to read your story too!

Snipers.
Duel under the hot Norman Sun.
We had moved up again and a small group of us were supporting an attack on a village to the North of, and in front of Caen, I cannot remember its name, all that I remember that it was on the high ground that rose up slightly in front of Caen. We were to pass through after the first wave of infantry and take up the attack and drive on,

Mustering the platoon amongst some trees on the edge of a ripe cornfield. German wounded and prisoners were already filtering back, I stood there and happened to have, as usual, a Bren machine gun over my shoulder and watched as three young Germans approached, two of them with their arms round a comrade, supporting him, he was a handsome young blond German and stripped to the waist, with a neat round bullet hole right through the centre of his stomach. As I stood there, an officer gave the order to move out and said to me "get out through the cornfield to that high ground on the left, ready to give us covering fire as we move in"

A beautiful sunny day, I slowly and very cautiously made my way out into the open and immediately captured a German in the corn, a poor specimen, he had no interest at all in the war, (who can blame him) all that I could get out of him was "minen minen" and he pointed in the direction of where I was going, he was terrified! Who isn't? I got hold of his hands and placed them on top of his head, stuck a lighted cigarette in hid mouth, (So bloody grateful) then pointed out the way back, and sent him back on his own, with his hands on his head.

None of us liked taking prisoners back, we had to walk some way find someone to take them, and then make our way back to the front, Much better to send him back on his own with his hands on his head. Sometimes, if he, or they, looked in a bad state I would always light up and give him a cigarette. Something they all showed a lot of gratitude for. But not the ‘SS’ they had to be escorted and watched rigorously, for they would kill you as soon as look at you.

The corn was ripe and just about chest high, setting off again, I tried to run and keep my head down, as I got deeper into the corn I was singled out by a very persistent sniper. Each time I raised my head above the corn this sniper had a go at me, it was there that I discovered that a rifle bullet, as it goes by, near your head, makes a loud cracking noise. A few hundred yards to go he was very determined to get me, time and time again he tried.

Now, I had the feeling that it had started to develop into something personal, he was so set on getting me that he ignored others! To my left, and far below me, standing in the corn, was a Guards Armoured Sherman tank, giving covering fire in support of the attack. I watched with amazement as a Guards officer came striding up through the corn, very smart, the tank commander got out of the tank and saluted the officer and they stood talking for a while. "Yea Gods" it reminded me of a Giles cartoon. For heavens sake! Here we are full-scale battle going on with vicious shell and mortar fire; this blasted sniper trying get me, and in the middle of it, two Guardsmen saluting each other.


When I reached the brow of the hill in the cornfield I must have been out of his line of fire, he did not bother me any more. Snipers were always a problem and I am sometimes amazed that they were allowed to kill, and then surrender. None of us liked fighting in the corn… If we were wounded and dropped down, no one would find us, often the corn would catch fire from the continuous mortar and shell fire, then the undiscovered wounded would be burnt to death….

This particular sniper? If I had my way, I would have ripped the bastards head off, and stuffed it up his backside. This was one very angry nineteen year old that did not like being shot at.
I did not fire at anybody, this was of those very confused battles in the heavy foliage of the “Bocage” and I must admit, I did not have a clue where the Enemy was supposed to be anyway. Snipers were a continuing problem, they were very good at their job and we were always on the watch for unusual shapes in trees and hedgerows. Rarely, we would fire a burst into an unusual shape in a tree that did not ‘look right’ and even rarer a body would drop out.

The battle for the village was hard fought and at a time when the war had become very bitter, this was the period when it was reputed that not many prisoners where taken, the origin of this was the shooting in cold blood, by the 12th SS Panzer Division, the Hitler Youth, they murdered both Canadian and British prisoners.

Then there were reputed instances of Germans offering surrender under a white flag, when approached to accept their surrender, another of them would pop up and cut down our men with machine gun fire. After taking the village there were many casualties from both sides, all of them propped up against an earthen bank, where we had set up a field dressing station. It was the practice to treat all wounded the same, indeed, it was not uncommon to see a Jerry on one end of a stretcher and a Tommy on the other.
Brian

Thanks Brian - that's a vivid story, worth reading and re-reading.

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