Soviet sniper
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Soviet snipers, also referred to as Russian snipers, played an important role during World War II (known as Great Patriotic War in the Soviet Union, in Russia, and in some other post-Soviet states). It is estimated that these snipers killed or wounded over 40,000 German soldiers during the war.
Doctrine
Soviet, Russian, and derived military doctrines include squad-level snipers, which may be called "sharpshooters" or "Designated marksman" in other doctrines (see "Sniper" article). They do so because this ability was lost to ordinary troops when assault rifles (which are optimized for close-in, rapid-fire combat) were adopted.Soviet and Russian military doctrine uses snipers for long-distance suppressive fire and targets of opportunity, especially leaders, because during World War II they found that military organizations find it hard to replace experienced non-commissioned officers and field officers during times of war. They also found that the more expensive and delicate sniper rifles could match the cost-effectiveness of a cheaper assault rifle given good personnel selection, training, and adherence to doctrine. For example, the Kremlin Regiment's snipers reportedly killed 1200 enemy soldiers for the loss of less than one hundred men. The Soviet Union also used women for sniping duties extensively, and to great effect, including Lyudmila Pavlichenko (who killed over 300 German soldiers) and Nina Alexeyevna Lobkovskaya.
Rifles
Two rifles commonly used by modern day Russian snipers are the SVD or the SVDS. The SVD was designed to provide special fire support, not as a standard sniper rifle. It's main role is to extend effective range of fire of an infantry squad up to 600 meters.The SVD is a lightweight and quite accurate rifle, capable of semi-auto fire. The first request for a new sniper rifle was issued in 1958. In 1963 the SVD (Snaiperskaya Vintovka Dragunova, or Dragunov Sniper Rifle) was accepted by Soviet Military.
The SVD replaced the Mosin-Nagant rifle used before and during World War II. Altough the rifle was replaced, the calibre remained unchanged from the 7.62 x 54 mm R which is still in use today, not only in sniper rifles, but also in General purpose machine gun (like the PK).
In fiction
A film called Enemy at the Gates was made about Vasily Grigoryevich Zaitsev, a 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 allegedly fictionalizes a 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.The role of a Soviet sniper is also portrayed in the game Call of Duty which contains similar scenes to Enemy at the Gates.
Famous Soviet Snipers
- Nina Alexeyevna Lobkovskaya (WWII, 308 kills)
- Fyodor Matveyevich Okhlopkov (WWII, 429 kills)
- Lyudmila Pavlichenko (WWII, over 300 kills)
- Vasily Grigoryevich Zaitsev (WWII, 257 kills)
See also
- Designated marksman, similar role to Soviet sniper.
- Sniper, more specialised role than Soviet sniper.
- Sniper rifles
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