SNIPERS!!!!!!

Yes please post it!!

 

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.

 

Thank You, Sapper!

 

Yes, thank you!

 

Yes, thank you!

 

Thank you very much, Brian! I really appreciate it. Very good tale!

I promise I'll give it to my grandfather and I'll post his comments here.

 

Thank you very much Sapper.

Also, the highest scoring German snipers were:

Matthias Hetzenhauer with 350++ Kills.
Sepp Allerberger with 250++ kills.
I forget what the third highest snipers name is.

 

As did Häyhä. Note that most countries hadn't a similar "sniper movement" (I hope you understand what I mean) as there was in the Red Army. Finland included. Häyhä was a spectacular shot, and thus became a sniper. He wasn't trained to be one.

Yep.


Cheers,
Sami

 

And Häyhä did get his victories during an incredible short time:



The Winter War

30th November 1939 until he wounded 6th March 1940.

The bullet that wounded Häyhä seriously seems to have a certain name for Red Army bullets:

"Zazhigateljno-Razryivnaja Pulja"...a dum-dum bullet that blew his face but did not kill him.

 

i should study my snipers more... hmmmm back to tanks!

[ 15. December 2003, 05:27 PM: Message edited by: 5-0-duce ]

 

Sniper scores seem to be a matter of debate...

http://free-sb.hinet.hr/jcumin/Posao.htm

 

Except Simo Häyhä seems to be no 1 in every list...!!!

 

As Santa Claus, the Grinch and Charlie Brown, Major Königs did NOT exist.

 

You're definitely wrong, Friedrich - I saw him in a film, and thought that he actually bore an amazing resemblance to the American actor Ed Harris....

 

You're right, Martin...

And I suppose Vasili Zaitsev was as good looking as Jude Law...

 

Ey man, he looks so... Slavic!

 

Häyhä’s famous sniper kills were indeed accomplished in less than 90 days, as the Finnish and American websites teach in the links below (and as Kai-Petri wrote in this column). Häyhä was shot to his face towards the end of the 105 days’ Winter War. He is said to have still been able to kill the perpetrator (see link below).

Many quote Häyhä’s total known sniper kills at about 542, which number is displayed in a diagram in one of Kai-Petri’s past messages. Interestingly, the sites below reveal that Häyhä had already been sniping for weeks before the ‘official’ counting of sniper kills, clearly to be credited to Häyhä, began. In comparison, world’s No. 2 sniper (?), Soviet Nikolai Iljin, did his reported kills during a period totaling over 1300 days (does not include times between wars).

What makes Häyhä’s accomplishment even more remarkable is the fact that besides his famous sniper kills Häyhä is also known to have made a high number of kills with ‘konepistooli’ and ‘pikakivääri’. The American site below states the following:

“The accomplishments of this man in battle are such that he deserves the title of warrior. While he was not a man given to hostility, Simo Häyhä was indeed one the Soviet soldiers came to fear and tell stories of. Häyhä was to many Red Army soldiers’ their nightmare, their ghost, their shadow, and for over 500 he was their "The White Death". His skillful hunting in the Winter War ranks as the all time highest kill total for a sniper, although many of his adversaries fell to the K31 Suomi-Konepistooli he operated with imposing proficiency. The most astounding fact of Häyhä’s deeds is the time frame of these events was only 90 days. The total number of "kills" by this man is truly remarkable and an accurate description of his talent as a stalker and a marksman. The conduct of Simo Häyhä and his results during the Winter War will never be matched by any other. Simo Häyhä was in a warrior class of which only a select few heroes can claim membership in.”

http://www.mosin-nagant.net/simohayha.htm
http://guns.connect.fi/gow/hayha.html