Out of Nowhere: A History of the military sniper

356 Pages·2004·42.712 MB·English

by  Martin Pegler

Kill one man, terrify a thousand
Ancient Chinese proverb
An American study revealed that in the First World War it took about
7,000 rounds of small arms ammunition to kill a single enemy soldier.
By the time of the Vietnam war, this had risen to around 25,000
rounds. The average sniper requires 1.3 rounds.1
Dieu n'est pas pour les gros bataillons, mais pour ceux qui tirent le mieux.
God is not on the side of the biggest battalions, but of the best shots.
Voltaire
DEDICATION
To all of the men and women whose experiences made this book
possible, and Medal of Honor recipients Master Sergeant Gary I.
Gordon and Sergeant First Class Randall O. Shughart, Snipers,
US Army, who paid the highest possible price.
First published in Great Britain in 2004 by Osprey Publishing, Elms Court,
Chapel Way, Botley, Oxford 0X2 9LP, United Kingdom.
Email: [email protected]
© 2004 Trustees of the Royal Armouries, Leeds, LS10 I LT
All rights reserved. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study,
research, criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and
Patents Act, 1988, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a
retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, electrical,
chemical, mechanical, optical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the
prior written permission of the copyright owner. Enquiries should be addressed
to the Publishers.
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 1 84176 854 5
Editors:Anita Hitchings and Ruth Sheppard
Design: Ken Vail Graphic Design, Cambridge, UK
Index by Alan Thatcher
Originated by The Electronic Page Company, Cwmbran, UK
Printed in China through Worldprint Ltd.
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Author's note
The photographs in this book have come from many different sources, both public
and private, and some, by the very nature of the subject matter, are of poor quality
but have been reproduced for the sake of historical interest. Wherever possible,
sources have been acknowledged, but some illustrations have proved impossible
to trace. In such cases, if the publisher or author are contacted, such omissions
will be rectified. There are many facts in this book and all have been checked for
accuracy, so any surviving errors are mine. Any further information readers are
able to supply regarding the contents of the book will be greatly appreciated.
FRONT COVER A Russian sniper, accompanying an armed patrol in Chechnya.
(TM Press)
CONTENTS
9
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
10
FOREWORD
CHAPTER 1
THE SNIPER IN PERSPECTIVE 12
CHAPTER 2
THE RIFLEMAN EMERGES, 1500-1854 30
CHAPTER 3
THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR & EUROPEAN WARS 1854-1914 52
CHAPTER 4
THE FIRST WORLD WAR, THE WATERSHED, 1914-16 78
CHAPTER 5
THE FIRST WORLD WAR, THE FIGHT BACK, 1916-18 118
CHAPTER 6
RUSSIAN SNIPING, 1936-45 158
CHAPTER 7
THE GERMAN SNIPER & THE WAR WITH RUSSIA, 1941-45 182
CHAPTER 8
THE WAR AGAINST JAPAN, 1941-45 204
CHAPTER 9
THE WAR IN WESTERN EUROPE, 1940-45 226
CHAPTER 10
LIMITED WARS, 1945-85 262
CHAPTER 1 1
VIETNAM, AMERICA'S NEMESIS 292
CHAPTER 12
INTO THE 21ST CENTURY 310
334
GLOSSARY
336
ENDNOTES
340
SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY
341
INDEX