Zaitsev served until January 1943, when he suffered an injury to his eyes. Professor Filatov restored his sight. After that he returned to the front and finished the war on the Dniestr river with the military rank of Captain. After the war, Zaitsev managed a factory in Kiev. just try wikipedia, it has a lot of good information
managing a factory was his life long dream I saw in the movie enemy at the gates but I do not know rather this info is correct or not
that would be depending on what kind of information you are looking for. recent information (like bill gates or about george bush) isn't accurate because pro and contra's are trying to proove their right. but when it comes to the battles of WW2, who will be posting those articles?, just a bunch of WW2 freaks like us. and if the info isn't correct you can always send a comment and it might be changed
I have seen from sevral sources that he was wonded from shrapnel (some say mines,others say artillary) and blinded. I named my self after him too
Zaitsev is a hero because he killed more than 100 Germans with a scoped rifle at great ranges whilst remaining out of sight? Achieving... what exactly? Snipers are overrated, and their method of warfare, while definitely effective in terms of winning without losing, is not heroic at all.
If a sniper would have killed hitler or göring we wouldn't have this discussion in the first place then they would be heroes. And BTW killing german officers is also important if you want to win a battle like stalingrad...
and you also have to watch this from a propaganda point of view wich was very importand if you are the red army an,d you haven't won a single battle... I am not saying they are more important than regular soldiers...
Yes, but they didn't, which is why I am trying to point out how they are not really so special. The ideal that snipers only kill officers is really nothing more than an ideal. In reality a sniper will either spend hours or days trying to get an officer in his sights (and being of no use whatsoever in all that time) or simply kill whatever poor souls happens on his line of fire.
I have to agree with Roel. Nothing really heroic about shooting an enemy from far away, not giving him a chance - dirty form of warfare if you ask me. A part of warfare, but not a heroic part of warfare.
Snipers do: Harass an enemy - force him to always worry about whether he is about to be shot - even if he is not in the immediate 'front line'. Kill officers and NCOs, which can bugger up unit cohesion and reduce the efficiency of a unit far more than killing a load of the private soldiers. Snipers can be used as great propaganda tools (they were in Germany and the CCCP) - striking back at the enemy with impunity. They can even slow the advance of quite large units while the sniper is unearthed and dealt with. Snipers don't: Win wars.
War is indeed not fair. This should not affect our choice of heroes - if one's morals or conduct can be considered less than heroic one is not a hero. Choose your heroes with care, I always say (though no doubt I stole it from someone).