Snipers of the Soviet Union

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Snipers of the Soviet Union played an important role mainly on the Eastern Front of World War II, apart from other preceding and subsequent conflicts. In World War II, Soviet snipers used the 7.62x54R rifle cartridge with light, heavy, armour-piercing (B-30), armour-piercing-and-incendiary (B-32), zeroing-and-incendiary (P3), and tracer bullets. Most Soviet WWII snipers carried a combat load of 120 rifle cartridges in the field.[1] Unlike the militaries of other nations, these snipers could be men or women. In 1943, there were over 1,000 women functioning in this role.[2]

Contents

[edit] Doctrine

Soviet and Soviet-derived military doctrines include squad-level snipers, which may be called "sharpshooters" or "designated marksmen" in other doctrines (see the "Sniper" article). They do so because the long-range engagement ability was lost to ordinary troops when assault rifles (which are optimized for close-range, rapid-fire combat) were adopted.

Soviet military doctrine used snipers for providing long-distance suppressive fire and for eliminating targets of opportunity, especially leaders, because during The Great Patriotic War, Soviet military leaders and combat theorists (Vasily Zaytsev contributed greatly to Soviet sniper doctrine, although he was officially neither of these) found that military organisations have difficulty replacing experienced non-commissioned officers and field officers during times of war. They also found that the more expensive and less rugged sniper rifles could match the cost-effectiveness of a cheaper assault rifle given good personnel selection, training, and adherence to doctrine. The Soviet Union also used women for sniping duties extensively, including Lyudmila Pavlichenko and Nina Alexeyevna Lobkovskaya. The most successful Soviet use of snipers during the Great Patriotic War was during their defensive stages of the war (1941-1943), after which the advantage of defence shifted to the German side and German snipers became a real danger to the advancing Soviets.

After the introduction of the SVD, the Soviet army deployed snipers at platoon level. Those snipers were often chosen from personnel who did well in terms of rifle marksmanship while members of DOSAAF. Such snipers were estimated to have a 50% probability of hitting a standing, man-sized target at 800 m (1/2 mile), and an 80% probability of hitting a standing, man-sized target at 500 m. For distances not exceeding 200 m the probability was estimated to be well above 90%. To attain this level of accuracy the sniper could not engage more than two such targets per minute.[3]

[edit] Rifles

Two rifles commonly used by Soviet snipers were the SVD and the Mosin-Nagant. The SVD was designed to provide special fire support, not as a standard sniper rifle. Its main role was to extend a squad's range of engagement from 300 metres to 600 metres.

The SVD is a lightweight and quite accurate rifle, capable of semi-automatic fire. It was the response to requests for a new sniper rifle, issued as early as 1958. In 1963, the SVD (Snaiperskaya Vintovka Dragunova, or Dragunov Sniper Rifle) was officially adopted by the Soviet Military.

The SVD replaced the Mosin-Nagant rifle used before, after, and during The Great Patriotic War. Although the rifle was replaced, the calibre remained unchanged from the 7.62 x 54 mm R. This cartridge is still in use today, not only in sniper rifles, but also in General purpose machine guns, like the PK machine gun.

[edit] In fiction

  • A Hollywood film called Enemy at the Gates was made about Vasily Grigoryevich Zaitsev, a Soviet sniper who fought in the Battle of Stalingrad. The plot of the movie is based on a section in the eponymous book by William Craig which fictionalizes an alleged duel between Zaitsev and a German sniper. During the battle, Zaitsev killed 242 Germans. While he is arguably the most famous Russian sniper, there were thousands of snipers in the Russian Army. The battle between the German sniper and Zaitsev was not documented in any reference from the Soviet army, although a similar battle between Zaitsev and a German named Heinz Thorvald is recounted personally by Zaitsev.
  • The role of a Soviet sniper is also portrayed in the game Call of Duty which contains scenes directly taken from Enemy at the Gates. On one of the maps, a squadmate runs around to tempt German snipers into opening fire, revealing their position and allowing the player to snipe them.
  • Soviet snipers are occasionally encountered in the game Sniper Elite, especially on later levels. Ironically, they are incorrectly portrayed as wearing a sniper mask, a standard gear for Waffen SS snipers.
  • In David L. Robbins novel War of the Rats, the lead character, Vasily Zaitsev, is a Soviet Sniper in WWII.

[edit] Famous Soviet snipers

[edit] External links

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ (Russian)Snayperskaya vintovka obraztsa 1891/1930. Retrieved on 2007-09-29.
  2. ^ (Russian)Snaypery VOV. Retrieved on 2007-09-29.
  3. ^ Isby, David C. (1981). Weapons and Tactics of the Soviet Army. Jane's Information Group. ISBN 0-531-03732-0. 
v • d • e
World War II Snipers
Canada
Finland
Simo Häyhä · Sulo Kolkka
Germany
Soviet Union
Czechoslovakia
See also