Soviet sniper
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. Unlike the militaries of other nations, these snipers could be men or women. In 1943, there were over 2,000 women functioning in this role.
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 submachine gun
s (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 World War II
, Soviet military leaders and combat theorists (Vassili Zaitsev contributed greatly to Soviet sniper doctrine, although he was officially neither of these) found that military organisations have difficulty replacing experienced non-commissioned officer
s and field officers during times of war. They also found that the more expensive and less rugged sniper rifle
s 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 Lobkovskaya. The most successful Soviet use of snipers during the second world war were during their defensive stages of the war (1941–1943), after which the advantage of defense 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.
, the Tokarev SVT-40, and later, the SVD; the first purpose built sniper rifle.
The sniper version of the Mosin-Nagant rifle was used before, during, and after World War II
. It used the standard bolt action 1891/30 infantry rifle as a platform, though rifles destined for conversion were hand-selected for quality and accuracy. Four-power scopes were added, and came in two versions. The PE scope was a copy of a German Zeiss scope, manufactured by Emil Busch AG. The PEM model was later introduced as a more reliable, easier to produce scope. The second version of the Mosin-Nagant sniper rifle, known as the PU, began production late in 1942. This rifle included a simpler scope design, which was incorporated from the short-lived SVT-40, and was far easier to mass produce. To this day, it remains the most widely produced and longest serving sniper rifle in the world, and remained the Soviet Union's main sniper rifle until it was superseded in 1962 by the semi-automatic SVD Dragunov rifle.
The Tokarev SVT-40 was another Soviet sniper rifle used in WWII. Designed as a replacement to the Mosin-Nagant PE/PEM sniper rifles, the SVT-40 was a semi-automatic rifle
chambered for the same 7.62x54R ammunition
as the Mosin-Nagant. However, due to several problems, including accuracy issues and muzzle flash, as well as being complex and slow to manufacture, production ceased, and work began on developing the aforementioned PU version of the Mosin-Nagant.
The SVD, or Snaiperskaya Vintovka Dragunova (Dragunov sniper rifle), was the Soviet Union's answer to requests for an updated sniper platform. Though issued as early as 1958, the SVD was officially adopted by the Soviet Military in 1963. The rifle retained the use of the same 7.62x54R ammunition, but is a semi-automatic gas-operated rifle with a detachable 10-round box-style magazine. The SVD continues to be the standard sniper rifle of several countries, including those of the former Warsaw Pact.
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
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
Rifle
A rifle is a firearm designed to be fired from the shoulder, with a barrel that has a helical groove or pattern of grooves cut into the barrel walls. The raised areas of the rifling are called "lands," which make contact with the projectile , imparting spin around an axis corresponding to the...
cartridge
Cartridge (firearms)
A cartridge, also called a round, packages the bullet, gunpowder and primer into a single metallic case precisely made to fit the firing chamber of a firearm. The primer is a small charge of impact-sensitive chemical that may be located at the center of the case head or at its rim . Electrically...
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. Unlike the militaries of other nations, these snipers could be men or women. In 1943, there were over 2,000 women functioning in this role.
Doctrine
SovietSoviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
and Soviet-derived military doctrines include squad-level snipers, which may be called "sharpshooters" or "designated marksmen
Designated marksman
The designated marksman is a military marksman role in a U.S. infantry squad. The term sniper was used in Soviet doctrine although the soldiers using the Dragunov were the first to use a specifically designed designated marksman's rifle. Sniper is also used in Russian doctrine...
" in other doctrines (see the "Sniper
Sniper
A sniper is a marksman who shoots targets from concealed positions or distances exceeding the capabilities of regular personnel. Snipers typically have specialized training and distinct high-precision rifles....
" article). They do so because the long-range engagement ability was lost to ordinary troops when submachine gun
Submachine gun
A submachine gun is an automatic carbine, designed to fire pistol cartridges. It combines the automatic fire of a machine gun with the cartridge of a pistol. The submachine gun was invented during World War I , but the apex of its use was during World War II when millions of the weapon type were...
s (which are optimized for close-range, rapid-fire combat) were adopted.
Suppressive fire
In military science, suppressive fire is a fire that degrades the performance of a target below the level needed to fulfill its mission. Suppression is usually only effective for the duration of the fire. Suppressive fire is not always a direct form of fire towards targets; it can be an effective...
and for eliminating targets of opportunity, especially leaders, because during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, Soviet military leaders and combat theorists (Vassili Zaitsev contributed greatly to Soviet sniper doctrine, although he was officially neither of these) found that military organisations have difficulty replacing experienced non-commissioned officer
Non-commissioned officer
A non-commissioned officer , called a sub-officer in some countries, is a military officer who has not been given a commission...
s and field officers during times of war. They also found that the more expensive and less rugged sniper rifle
Sniper rifle
In military and law enforcement terminology, a sniper rifle is a precision-rifle used to ensure more accurate placement of bullets at longer ranges than other small arms. A typical sniper rifle is built for optimal levels of accuracy, fitted with a telescopic sight and chambered for a military...
s could match the cost-effectiveness of a cheaper assault rifle
Assault rifle
An assault rifle is a selective fire rifle that uses an intermediate cartridge and a detachable magazine. Assault rifles are the standard infantry weapons in most modern armies...
given good personnel selection, training, and adherence to doctrine. The Soviet Union also used women for sniping duties extensively, including Lyudmila Pavlichenko
Lyudmila Pavlichenko
Lyudmila Mykhailivna Pavlichenko was a Soviet sniper during World War II, credited with 309 kills, and is regarded as the most successful female sniper in history.-Early life:...
and Nina Lobkovskaya. The most successful Soviet use of snipers during the second world war were during their defensive stages of the war (1941–1943), after which the advantage of defense shifted to the German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
side and German snipers became a real danger to the advancing Soviets.
After the introduction of the SVD, the Soviet army
Soviet Army
The Soviet Army is the name given to the main part of the Armed Forces of the Soviet Union between 1946 and 1992. Previously, it had been known as the Red Army. Informally, Армия referred to all the MOD armed forces, except, in some cases, the Soviet Navy.This article covers the Soviet Ground...
deployed snipers at platoon level.
Those snipers were often chosen from personnel who did well
in terms of rifle marksmanship while members of DOSAAF
DOSAAF
DOSAAF was a paramilitary society in the Soviet Union, Voluntary Society for Cooperation with the Army, Aviation, and Fleet . The society was preserved in a number of post-Soviet Republics, e.g., in Russia and Belarus...
.
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.
Rifles
The three most common sniper rifles employed by the Soviet Union were the Mosin-NagantMosin-Nagant
The Mosin–Nagant is a bolt-action, internal magazine-fed, military rifle invented under the government commission by Russian and Belgian inventors, and used by the armed forces of the Russian Empire, the Soviet Union and various other nations....
, the Tokarev SVT-40, and later, the SVD; the first purpose built sniper rifle.
The sniper version of the Mosin-Nagant rifle was used before, during, and after World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. It used the standard bolt action 1891/30 infantry rifle as a platform, though rifles destined for conversion were hand-selected for quality and accuracy. Four-power scopes were added, and came in two versions. The PE scope was a copy of a German Zeiss scope, manufactured by Emil Busch AG. The PEM model was later introduced as a more reliable, easier to produce scope. The second version of the Mosin-Nagant sniper rifle, known as the PU, began production late in 1942. This rifle included a simpler scope design, which was incorporated from the short-lived SVT-40, and was far easier to mass produce. To this day, it remains the most widely produced and longest serving sniper rifle in the world, and remained the Soviet Union's main sniper rifle until it was superseded in 1962 by the semi-automatic SVD Dragunov rifle.
The Tokarev SVT-40 was another Soviet sniper rifle used in WWII. Designed as a replacement to the Mosin-Nagant PE/PEM sniper rifles, the SVT-40 was a semi-automatic rifle
Semi-automatic rifle
A semi-automatic rifle is a type of rifle that fires a single bullet each time the trigger is pulled, automatically ejects the spent cartridge, chambers a fresh cartridge from its magazine, and is immediately ready to fire another shot...
chambered for the same 7.62x54R ammunition
Ammunition
Ammunition is a generic term derived from the French language la munition which embraced all material used for war , but which in time came to refer specifically to gunpowder and artillery. The collective term for all types of ammunition is munitions...
as the Mosin-Nagant. However, due to several problems, including accuracy issues and muzzle flash, as well as being complex and slow to manufacture, production ceased, and work began on developing the aforementioned PU version of the Mosin-Nagant.
The SVD, or Snaiperskaya Vintovka Dragunova (Dragunov sniper rifle), was the Soviet Union's answer to requests for an updated sniper platform. Though issued as early as 1958, the SVD was officially adopted by the Soviet Military in 1963. The rifle retained the use of the same 7.62x54R ammunition, but is a semi-automatic gas-operated rifle with a detachable 10-round box-style magazine. The SVD continues to be the standard sniper rifle of several countries, including those of the former Warsaw Pact.
In popular culture
- A Hollywood film called Enemy at the GatesEnemy at the GatesEnemy at the Gates is a 2001 war film directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud, starring Joseph Fiennes, Jude Law, Rachel Weisz, Bob Hoskins and Ed Harris set during the Battle of Stalingrad in World War II....
was made about Vasily Zaitsev, a Soviet sniper who fought in the Battle of StalingradBattle of StalingradThe Battle of Stalingrad was a major battle of World War II in which Nazi Germany and its allies fought the Soviet Union for control of the city of Stalingrad in southwestern Russia. The battle took place between 23 August 1942 and 2 February 1943...
. The plot of the movie is based on a section in the eponymous book by William CraigWilliam Craig (author)William Craig was an American author and historian.Born in Concord, Massachusetts, USA, he was educated at Columbia University. His first book, The Fall of Japan, was a documentary account of the last weeks of the Second World War in the Pacific. His first novel, The Tashkent Crisis, a thriller...
which fictionalizes an alleged duel between Zaitsev and a maybe fictional German sniper called Major KönigErwin KönigErwin König and Heinz Thorvald are names of an apocryphal highly skilled Wehrmacht sniper allegedly killed by the legendary Soviet sniper Vasily Zaytsev. König is depicted in fictional accounts as a ruthless Bavarian aristocrat pitted against the shepherd Vasily Zaytsev...
.
- The role of a Soviet sniper is also portrayed in the game Call of Duty: World at WarCall of Duty: World at WarCall of Duty: World at War is a first-person shooter video game developed by Treyarch and published by Activision for PC, PlayStation 3, Wii, and Xbox 360. It is generally considered to be the fifth mainstream game of the Call of Duty series and returns the setting to World War II. The game was...
which contains scenes directly taken from Enemy at the GatesEnemy at the GatesEnemy at the Gates is a 2001 war film directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud, starring Joseph Fiennes, Jude Law, Rachel Weisz, Bob Hoskins and Ed Harris set during the Battle of Stalingrad in World War II....
. On one of the maps, an injured sniper (who gives the player the job of sniping) runs around to tempt German snipers into opening fire, revealing their position and allowing the player to snipe them.
- In Tom ClancyTom ClancyThomas Leo "Tom" Clancy, Jr. is an American author, best known for his technically detailed espionage, military science, and techno thriller storylines set during and in the aftermath of the Cold War, along with video games on which he did not work, but which bear his name for licensing and...
's novel The Bear and the DragonThe Bear and the DragonThe Bear and the Dragon is a political thriller novel by Tom Clancy featuring Jack Ryan. It was published in 2000.-Plot introduction:In the book Jack Ryan is President of the United States. After Russia discovers oil fields rivaling those of the Persian Gulf in Siberia and gold deposits just as...
, a veteranVeteranA veteran is a person who has had long service or experience in a particular occupation or field; " A veteran of ..."...
WWIIWorld War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
Soviet sniper uses his old sniper rifle to take out a ChineseChinaChinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
general during a Chinese invasionInvasionAn invasion is a military offensive consisting of all, or large parts of the armed forces of one geopolitical entity aggressively entering territory controlled by another such entity, generally with the objective of either conquering, liberating or re-establishing control or authority over a...
of Russia.
- Soviet snipers are occasionally encountered in the game Sniper EliteSniper EliteSniper Elite, also known as Sniper Elite: Berlin 1945, is a 2005 tactical shooter developed by UK-based video game developer Rebellion Developments.The main character is Karl Fairburne, an American OSS secret agent disguised as a German sniper...
, especially on later levels. They are incorrectly portrayed as wearing a sniper mask, standard gear for Waffen SS snipers.
- In David L. Robbins novel War of the RatsWar of the RatsWar of the Rats is a World War II fiction novel written by David L. Robbins in 1999.The movie Enemy at the Gates is partially based on this book.-Plot summary:...
, the lead character, Vasily Zaitsev, is a Soviet Sniper in WWII.
- James RiordanJames RiordanJames Riordan is a retired English novelist, broadcaster, association football player and Russian scholar.Well known for his work Sport in Soviet Society, the first academic look at sport in the Soviet Union, and for his children's novels.He claims to have been the first Briton to play football in...
's novel The Sniper tells the story of Tania Chernova and is based on Riordan's interviews with the subject.
- The video game Red Alert 3 features Natasha Volkova, commando unit for the Soviet faction. Natasha has a longer range than any other unit in the game, can take out multiple infantry in a single line, can snipe drivers in their vehicles leaving the vehicle open for capture, and can call in airstrikes on buildings and vehicles.
- Four Steps to Death, a book written by John Wilson, portrays a Soviet sniper, Yelena Pavlova, as a main character in the Battle of Stalingrad
Famous Soviet snipers
- Fyodor OkhlopkovFyodor OkhlopkovTimur Matveyevich Okhlopkov , was a Soviet sniper during World War II, credited with as many as 429 kills. He was born in the village of Krest-Khaldzhay of what is now Tomponsky Ulus of the Sakha Republic, Russian Federation....
(WWII, 429 kills) - Lyudmila PavlichenkoLyudmila PavlichenkoLyudmila Mykhailivna Pavlichenko was a Soviet sniper during World War II, credited with 309 kills, and is regarded as the most successful female sniper in history.-Early life:...
(WWII, 309 kills) - Nina Lobkovskaya (WWII, 308 kills)
- Vassili Zaitsev (WWII, 225 kills)
- Vasilij Shalvovich KvachantiradzeVasilij Shalvovich KvachantiradzeVasilij Shalvovich Kvachantiradze was a Soviet sniper during World War II. He entered Red Army service in 1941 and is credited with confirmed kills numbering at least 215 officers and soldiers of the German Wehrmacht during the Vitebsk-Orsha Offensive....
(WWII, 215-534 kills)
- Aliya Moldagulova (WWII, 91 kills)
- Roza ShaninaRoza ShaninaRoza Yegorovna Shanina was a Soviet sniper during World War II, credited with 54 confirmed kills, including 12 snipers during the Battle of Vilnius. Praised for her shooting accuracy, Shanina was capable of firing precise semi-automatic shots on moving enemy manpower...
(WWII, 54 kills)