Tango01   | 25 Jan 2019 9:55 p.m. PST |
"A German source reports the following notes dealing with snipers and the use of rifles with telescopic sights….."
More here link
Amicalement
Armand
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| Lee494 | 26 Jan 2019 12:46 a.m. PST |
One per squad? So they issued 1 sniper scope per squad to the best marksman, but were they specially "trained" or just given a scope and left to their own natural skills? Seems to me that quality and effectiveness might vary greatly, for example a squad of PzGren in the SS might have a much better marksman than a 50 year old Volksgrenadier! Cheers! (smile) |
| Katzbalger | 26 Jan 2019 4:34 a.m. PST |
Or the other way around, Lee. Sniping is about patience and body control, the scope going a ways to take care of minor vision problems. Definitely more a "designated marksman" concept than actual sniper, though. Rob |
| Blutarski | 26 Jan 2019 7:14 a.m. PST |
Snipers or marksmen or whatever one wants to call them posed a very irksome problem in the Normandy fighting. See General Bradley's thinly disguised comments that (paraphrasing here) … he did not want to hear about any more German snipers being captured. Germany was very attuned to sniping as a military art. They really introduced sniping as an organized tactic on the Western Front. It became such a nuisance that the British army was forced to implement a program to counter it – Canadian frontiersmen and professional hunters, even a few well-known big game hunters were recruited to the effort. In fact, one might arguably go all the way back to Frederick's Jaegers as an earlier precedent. B |
| JMcCarroll | 26 Jan 2019 10:09 a.m. PST |
" Canadian frontiersmen and professional hunters "
That's why 3 of 5 longest confirmed sniper kills ( including the longest ) are Canadian! |
| donlowry | 26 Jan 2019 10:31 a.m. PST |
I believe the Russians issued their semi-automatic rifles to "marksmen", who were expected to make better use of them than the average Ivan. |
| Starfury Rider | 26 Jan 2019 11:39 a.m. PST |
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| Lion in the Stars | 26 Jan 2019 1:33 p.m. PST |
@Don: plus the SVT40 is a bit finnicky and needs someone to take the time to take care of it. Nowadays, the Russians issue one SVD per platoon, it's usually with the Platoon Commander's squad. |
| Legion 4 | 27 Jan 2019 9:08 a.m. PST |
Having one Sniper or Designated Marksman per Plt is a good idea. As we currently see with e.g. the Russians … As a Mech Inf Co. Cdr I tried to send as many of my troops to Sniper School as I could. Even if you don't have the scopes or weapons, it does make them better "marksmen", etc. And bottom line for an infantryman being able to hit your target is why you are there. |
| donlowry | 27 Jan 2019 10:06 a.m. PST |
Would confidence in his ability to hit something increase the likelihood that a soldier would actually fire his weapon? |
| Legion 4 | 28 Jan 2019 7:49 a.m. PST |
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