Best sniper?

Eh, according to the Time-Life series 'The Third Reich' Major Konig did exist. In real life he was a Colonel though, why they demoted him in 'Enemy at the Gate's' is beyond me.


Yours,

Bill

 

Once again I hate using Wiki LOL. But some good points there,

• No records of the SS ever being in Stalingrad have been found.
• No active sniper was ever given a rank as high as Major (Sturmbannführer), as snipers were expected to serve on the battlefield, not to lead.
• At the end of the war, Germany's best documented sniper was a 21-year-old Gefreiter named Matthäus Hetzenauer, with a total of only 345 confirmed kills, compared to König's supposed 400-plus confirmed kills.
• Soviet propaganda was rife with fictitious stories to boost morale during a time when the war was so uncertain. The Battle of Stalingrad was the turning point for the German offensive into Russia.

Erwin König - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

IT IS FACT Herr König did not exist nor Thorwald, time life rubbish has been totally faked out by the media ..... again

stop this nonsense will you guys and do some serious research on the subject matter

 

LOL I agree Erich. This myth has been busted. :deadhorse:

 

I'm afraid your wrong, cant remember his name ,but it was that Finnish sniper with 505 kills

 

this is probably off topic but can someone help me find pictures of German Snipers?

 

http://www.ww2f.com/weapons-wwii/21548-german-sniper-photos.html

 

All right, I dug up the book from abox in the garage, the book is part of the 'The Third Reich' series, this one entitled 'The road to Stalingrad'. I was incorrect on Konig, his name was actaully Heinz Thorwald. Now this is clearly stated on page 87 of this book. You guy's are saying this is incorrect, which is fine, but does anyone have a book that correlates with your position/research.(I do not take wiki seriously as my college proffesors wouldnt allow us to use it as a source.).

I'd just like to make sure I've got my facts straight and I'd also like to read the book you fella's are getting this valuable information from.


Thanks,

Bill

 

Simo Häyhä. Just use the search function and find more info.

 

Thorvald and/or Konig

There is great debate over wether the legendary WWII German sniper that was sent to Stalingrad to dispatch of Vasili Zaitzev was Konig, Thorvald, or even wether he existed at all. In fact in the actual Soviet war records, it originally showed up as a Maj. Erwin Konig, which is in fact a very basic and plain German Name at the time. In Vasili Zaitsev's war memoirs, he later refers to him as Heinz Thorvald, which was yet another popular German name in that time period. Thorvald seems to be the name that is used more now, and its confusing as to which it was, and if they were the same person, or one was a mistake, or wether the German Super Sniper was fabricated by the Soviet press to represent the German army, or German snipers on a "whole", and that the story was just a means of providing morale for the Soviet troops. The two names are on official Soviet war records, but there is no record of either name in the German record books (not to say they couldn't have removed the name to save grace). Any way you look at it, its confusing and debatable. Since both names appear in Soviet propaganda and war records, Konig in early war records and Thorvald in Zaitsevs memoirs and in later war records, I have included them both on the list until there is concrete proof that one or the other, or both, did not exist.
In regards to Vasili Zaitsev, there is no doubt he existed, and was a very accomplished and successful sniper.

Sniper - Thorvald and/or Konig

 

british soldiers were all brilliant shots,with a smle,who needs a sniper.

 

Ok, I see german and russian snipers listed on this thread. What about any american snipers?

 

Sir, my question wasn't about if americans were excluded from this topic. This thread is about the best snipers so my question was who was the best american snipers.

 

awdy murphy perhaps ?.he got a metal of honour did he not?.

 

I myself would venture a guess that the USA didn't have a special or elite "sniper corp" until after WW2. There were a few men who were excellent marksmen, and given the job of "sniping", but it wasn't done on the scale and level of either our allies or our enemies.

So while Murphy was an excellent shot, he wasn't trained as a sniper; per se. He was an ordinary infantry man, who had been turned down for USMC enlistment. That is the only reason he ended up in the Army.

Nearly the same holds true for Sgt. York in WW1, he was simply an excellent shot (drafted against his position as a pacifist), not a "trained sniper".

 

there you go mr king,an excellent answer.4th wilts.

 

Here is a link to "snipers" of WW2, and those who claimed or had confirmed "kills" in the genre. All the way down to less than ten, and there isn't an American in the group. Perhaps because they weren't designated as "snipers"? We (USA) had designated snipers until post-Civil War, after then it appears the idea of killing at a distance and in "stealth" became slightly repulsive to our "military mind set" (Americans killing Americans). Especially if done so on purpose, and by special training.

Goto:

http://www.snipercentral.com/snipers.htm#WWII

 

I agree. Thank you all, for the information on the US military.