BobL

Matt, after seeing the movie I looked up the particulars in a WWII set of encyclopedias I have. Here is the text from that.


The ruins were the natural habitat of snipers, and each army had its

recognized champions. The Russians in the Lazur chemical works had even

set up a school for snipers under the tutelage of Vasily Zaitsev, a

onetime shepherd who had perfected his marksmanship while hunting deer

in the foothills of the Ural Mountains. In one 10-day period, Zaltsev

had killed nearly 40 Germans, and his fame had spread into enemy lines.

The Germans retaliated by flying to the scene SS Colonel Heinz Thorwald,

the head of their own snipers' school at Zossen, near Berlin.


Zaitsev soon heard talk of this deadly new German sniper, and he set

down a tense account of their duel to the death: "The arrival of the

Nazi sniper set us a new task: We had to find him, study his habits and

methods, and patiently await the moment for one, and only one,

well-aimed shot. "I knew the style of the Nazi snipers by their fire and

camouflage. But the character of the head of the school was still a

mystery for me. Our day-by-day

observations told us nothing definite. it was difficult to decide in

which sector he was operating. He presumably altered his position

frequently and was looking for me as carefully as I for him. "Then

something happened. My good friend Morozov was killed, and Sheikin

wounded, by a rifle with telescopic sights. Morozov and Sheikin were

considered experienced snipers; they had often emerged victorious from

the most difficult skirmishes with the enemy.


Now there was no doubt. They had come up against the Nazi 'super-sniper'

I was looking for. "At dawn I went out with Nikolai Kulikov to the same

positions as our comrades had occupied the previous day. Inspecting the

enemy's forward positions, I found nothing new. The day was drawing to a

close. Then above a German

entrenchment unexpectedly appeared a helmet, moving slowly along a

trench. Should I shoot? No! It was a trick: The helmet somehow or other

moved unevenly and was presumably being held up by someone helping the

sniper, while he waited for me to fire. "A second day passed. Whose

nerves would be stronger? Who would

outwit whom?


"On the third day, the political instructor, Danilov, also came with us

to the ambush. The day dawned as usual: The light increased and minute

by minute the enemy's positions could be distinguished more clearly.

Battle started close by, shells hissed over us, but, glued to our

telescopic sights, we kept our eyes on what was happening ahead of us.

"'There he is! I'll point him out to you!'suddenly said the political

instructor, excitedly. He barely, literally for one second, but

carelessly, raised himself above the parapet, but that was enough for

the German to hit and wound him. "For a long time I examined the enemy

positions, but could not detect his

hiding place. To the left was a tank, out of action, and on the right

was a pillbox. Where was he? In the tank? No, an experienced sniper

would not take up position there. In the pillbox, perhaps? Not there,

either- the embrasure was closed.


Between the tank and the pill- box, on a stretch of level ground, lay a

sheet of iron and a small pile of broken bricks. It had been lying there

a long time and we had grown accustomed to its being there. I put myself

in the enemy's position and thought-where better for a sniper? One had

only to make a firing slit under the sheet of metal, and then creep up

to it during the night. "Yes, he was certainly there, under the sheet of

metal in no

man's land. I thought I would make sure. I put a mitten on the end of a

small plank and raised it. The Nazi fell for it. I carefully let the

plank down in the same position as I had raised it and examined the

bullet hole. it had gone straight through from the front; that meant

that the Nazi was under the sheet of metal. " 'There's our viper!' came

the quiet voice of Nikolai Kulikov from his hide-out next to mine. "Now

came the question of luring even a part of his head into my sights. It

was useless trying to do this straightaway. Time was needed. But I had

been able to study the German's temperament. He was not going to leave

the successful position he had found. We were therefore going to have to

change our position.


"We worked by night. We were in position by dawn. The Germans were

firing on the Volga ferries.. It grew light quickly and with daybreak

the battle developed with new intensity. But neither the rumble of guns

nor the bursting of shells and bombs nor anything else could distract us

from the job in hand. "The sun rose. We had decided to spend the morning

waiting, as we might have been given away by the sun on our telescopic

sights. After lunch our rifles were in the shade and the sun was shining

directly on the German's position. At the edge of the sheet of metal

something was glittering: an odd bit of glass or telescopic sights?

"Kulikov carefully, as only the most experienced can do, began to raise

his helmet. The German fired. For a fraction of a second Kulikov rose

and screamed. The German believed that he had finally got the Soviet

sniper he had been hunting for four days, and half raised his head from

beneath the sheet of metal. That was what I had been banking on. "I took

careful aim. The German's head fell back, and the telescopic sights of

his rifle lay motionless, glistening in the

sun until night fell."


Russian sources credited Vasily Zaitsev with killing 242 Germans before

the end of the battle of Stalingrad. Then he was blinded by a detonating

land mine.


Hope you find this as interesting as I did.


Bob


PS Zaitsev wasn't the most noted sniper - it was Nickolai Ilyin with 315

kills.