The best snipers in the history of wars. The best sniper

10. Stepan Vasilyevich Petrenko: 422 killed.
During World War II, Soviet Union had more skilled snipers than any other country on Earth. Due to their continued training and development during the 1930s, while other countries were cutting down their teams of specialist snipers, the USSR had the best marksmen in the world. Stepan Vasilyevich Petrenko was well known among the elite.

His highest professionalism is confirmed by 422 killed enemies; The effectiveness of the Soviet sniper training program is confirmed by accurate shooting and extremely rare misses.

9. Vasily Ivanovich Golosov: 422 killed.
During the war, 261 marksmen (including women), each of whom killed at least 50 people, were awarded the title of outstanding sniper. Vasily Ivanovich Golosov was one of those who received such an honor. His death toll is 422 enemy killed.

8. Fedor Trofimovich Dyachenko: 425 killed.
During World War II, 428,335 people are believed to have received Red Army sniper training, of whom 9,534 used their qualifications in lethal experience. Fyodor Trofimovich Dyachenko was one of those interns who stood out. Soviet hero with 425 endorsements, received the Distinguished Service Medal “ high heroism in military operations against an armed enemy.”

7. Fedor Matveevich Okhlopkov: 429 killed.
Fedor Matveevich Okhlopkov, one of the most respected snipers of the USSR. He and his brother were recruited into the Red Army, but the brother was killed in battle. Fyodor Matveevich vowed to avenge his brother. Who took his life. The number of people killed by this sniper (429) did not include the number of enemies. Which he killed with a machine gun. In 1965 he was awarded the Order of the Hero of the Soviet Union.

6. Mikhail Ivanovich Budenkov: 437 killed.
Mikhail Ivanovich Budenkov was among those snipers that few others could only aspire to. Amazingly successful sniper with 437 kills. This number did not include those killed by machine guns.

5. Vladimir Nikolaevich Pchelintsev: 456 killed.
This number of casualties can be attributed not only to skill and skill with a rifle, but also to knowledge of the terrain and the ability to properly camouflage. Among these skilled and experienced snipers was Vladimir Nikolaevich Pchelintsev, who killed 437 enemies.

4. Ivan Nikolaevich Kulbertinov: 489 killed.
Unlike most other countries during World War II, women could be snipers in the Soviet Union. In 1942, two six-month courses attended exclusively by women yielded results: almost 55,000 snipers were trained. 2,000 women took an active part in the war. Among them: Lyudmila Pavlichenko, who killed 309 opponents.

3. Nikolai Yakovlevich Ilyin: 494 killed.
In 2001, a film was shot in Hollywood: “Enemy at the Gates” about the famous Russian sniper Vasily Zaitsev. The film depicts the events of the Battle of Stalingrad in 1942–1943. A film about Nikolai Yakovlevich Ilyin has not been made, but his contribution to the Soviet military history was just as important. Having killed 494 enemy soldiers (sometimes listed as 497), Ilyin was a deadly marksman for the enemy.

2. Ivan Mikhailovich Sidorenko: approximately 500 killed
Ivan Mikhailovich Sidorenko was drafted in 1939 at the beginning of World War II. During the 1941 Battle of Moscow, he learned to snipe and became known as a bandit with lethal aim. One of his most famous deeds: he destroyed a tank and three others vehicles using incendiary ammunition. However, after an injury received in Estonia, his role in subsequent years was primarily teaching. In 1944 Sidorenko was awarded the prestigious title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

1.Simo Hayha: 542 Killed (possibly 705)
Simo Haiha, a Finn, is the only non-Soviet soldier on this list. Nicknamed “White Death” by the Red Army troops because of its camouflage disguised as snow. According to statistics, Heiha is the bloodiest sniper in history. Before taking part in the war he was a farmer. Incredibly, he preferred an iron sight to an optical sight in his weapon.

A person who masters this rare profession is especially feared and hated by his enemies. As a self-sufficient combat unit, a talented sniper is capable of inflicting significant damage to enemy personnel, destroying significant amount enemy soldiers, and cause disorganization and panic in the ranks of the enemy, eliminating the unit commander. Obtaining the title of “the best sniper” is very difficult; for this you need to be not only a super-sharp shooter, but also have enormous endurance, endurance, inner calm, analytical abilities, special knowledge and excellent health.

The sniper carries out most of his operations autonomously, independently studies the terrain, outlines the main and reserve firing lines, escape routes, and equips caches with food and ammunition. Armed with a sniper rifle optical sight as the main weapon, and a powerful multi-shot pistol as an additional weapon, the modern sniper organizes high-tech caches with food and ammunition at his positions for long-term battery life.

There are many known names of the most successful snipers from various wars and local conflicts that took place in the world in the last century. Some of these riflemen single-handedly destroyed so much enemy manpower during the fighting that the number of killed could range from a company to a battalion and even higher.

It is generally accepted in the world that the best sniper is a Finn Simo Hayha, nicknamed " White death", who fought in 39-40 of the last century against the Soviet Union in Soviet-Finnish war. The number of victims of Simo Haya, who was a hunter before the war, according to fully confirmed data is more than 500 people, and according to unconfirmed information voiced by the Finnish command - more than 800 soldiers and officers of the Red Army.

Simo Haya developed his own method of successfully working even against a large enemy unit leading an attack on the area of ​​the sniper position. First of all, the Finn fired at the rear ranks of the advancing enemy with a Mosin rifle, trying to inflict painful wounds on the soldiers in the abdominal area, thus achieving disorganization of the attackers due to the screams of the wounded in the rear. The most effective wound in this case was considered to be liver damage. Simo Haya killed enemy soldiers who came within direct shooting distance with well-aimed shots to the head.

Simo Haya was out of action on March 6, 1940 after a severe bullet wound that turned him around. bottom part skull and ripped out jaw. The best sniper, who miraculously survived, for a long time was treated. Simo Haya lived a long life; he died in 2002, at 96 years old.

When it comes to the sniper business of the first half of the 20th century, the Soviet snipers of the Great Patriotic War are immediately remembered - Vasily Zaitsev, Mikhail Surkov, Lyudmila Pavlichenko and others. This is not surprising: the Soviet sniper movement at that time was the most extensive in the world, and the total number of Soviet snipers during the war years was several tens of thousands of enemy soldiers and officers. However, what do we know about the marksmen of the Third Reich?

In Soviet times, the study of advantages and disadvantages armed forces Nazi Germany was strictly limited, and sometimes simply taboo. Who, however, were the German snipers, who, if depicted in our and foreign cinema, are only as expendable material, extras who are about to take a bullet from the main character from the Anti-Hitler coalition? Is it true that they were that bad, or is this the winner's point of view?

Snipers of the German Empire

First world war It was the Kaiser’s army that was the first to use aimed rifle fire as a means of destroying enemy officers, signalmen, machine gunners and artillery personnel. According to the instructions of the Imperial German Army, weapons equipped with an optical sight are only effective at a distance of up to 300 meters. It should only be issued to trained shooters. As a rule, these were former hunters or those who had passed special training even before the start of hostilities. The soldiers who received such weapons became the first snipers. They were not assigned to any place or position; they had relative freedom of movement on the battlefield. According to the same instructions, the sniper had to take a suitable position at night or at dusk in order to begin to act with the onset of day. Such shooters were exempted from any additional duties or combined arms orders. Each sniper had a notebook in which he carefully recorded various observations, ammunition consumption and the effectiveness of his fire. They were also distinguished from ordinary soldiers by the right to wear special signs over the cockade of their headdress - crossed oak leaves.

By the end of the war, the German infantry had approximately six snipers per company. At this time Russian army, although it had seasoned hunters and experienced shooters in its ranks, it did not have rifles with optical sights. This imbalance in the equipment of the armies became noticeable quite quickly. Even in the absence of active hostilities, the Entente armies suffered losses in manpower: a soldier or officer only had to look slightly from behind a trench and a German sniper would immediately “picture” him. This had a strong demoralizing effect on the soldiers, so the Allies had no choice but to release their “super marksmen” to the forefront of the attack. So by 1918, the concept of military sniping was formed, tactical techniques were worked out and combat missions were defined for this type of soldier.

The revival of German snipers

During the interwar period, the popularity of snipers in Germany, as well as in most other countries (with the exception of the Soviet Union), began to wane. Snipers began to be treated as interesting experience positional warfare, which has already lost its relevance - military theorists saw future wars solely as a battle of engines. According to their views, the infantry faded into the background, and the primacy lay with tanks and aviation.

The German blitzkrieg seemed to be the main proof of the advantages of the new method of warfare. European states capitulated one after another, unable to resist the power of German engines. However, with the entry of the Soviet Union into the war, it became clear: you cannot win the war with tanks alone. Despite the retreat of the Red Army at the very beginning of the Great Patriotic War, the Germans still often had to go on the defensive during this period. When snipers began to appear in Soviet positions in the winter of 1941, and the number of killed Germans began to grow, the Wehrmacht still realized that aimed rifle fire, despite its archaic nature, was effective method waging war. German sniper schools began to emerge and front-line courses were organized. After 1941, the number of optics in front-line units, as well as the people who used them professionally, began to gradually increase, although until the very end of the war the Wehrmacht did not manage to equal the number and quality of training of its snipers with the Red Army.

What and how were they shot from?

Since 1935, the Wehrmacht had Mauser 98k rifles in service, which were also used as sniper rifles - for this purpose, the copies with the most accurate combat were simply selected. Most of these rifles were equipped with a 1.5-fold ZF 41 sight, but there were also four-fold ZF 39 sights, as well as even rarer varieties. By 1942, the share of sniper rifles from total number of those produced was approximately 6, but by April 1944 this figure had dropped to 2% (3,276 units out of 164,525 produced). According to some experts, the reason for this reduction is that German snipers simply did not like their Mausers, and at the first opportunity they preferred to exchange them for Soviet sniper rifles. The G43 rifle, which appeared in 1943 and was equipped with a four-fold ZF 4 sight, a copy of the Soviet PU sight, did not correct the situation.

Mauser 98k rifle with ZF41 scope (http://k98k.com)

According to the memoirs of Wehrmacht snipers, the maximum firing distance at which they could hit targets was as follows: head - up to 400 meters, human figure - from 600 to 800 meters, embrasure - up to 600 meters. Rare professionals or lucky ones who got hold of a ten-fold scope could kill an enemy soldier at a distance of up to 1000 meters, but everyone unanimously considers a distance of up to 600 meters to be the distance that guarantees hitting a target.

Defeat in the East–victory in the west

Wehrmacht snipers were mainly engaged in the so-called “free hunt” for commanders, signalmen, gun crews and machine gunners. Most often, snipers were team players: one shoots, the other observes. Contrary to popular belief, German snipers were prohibited from engaging in combat at night. They were considered valuable personnel, and due to the poor quality of German optics, such battles, as a rule, ended not in favor of the Wehrmacht. Therefore, at night they usually searched for and arranged an advantageous position for striking during daylight hours. When the enemy attacked, the task of the German snipers was to destroy the commanders. If this task was successfully completed, the offensive stopped. If a sniper of the Anti-Hitler Coalition began to operate in the rear, several “super sharp shooters” of the Wehrmacht could be sent to search for and eliminate him. On the Soviet-German front, such duels most often ended in favor of the Red Army - there is no point in arguing with the facts that claim that the Germans lost the sniper war here almost completely.

At the same time, on the other side of Europe, German snipers felt at ease and struck fear into the hearts of British and American soldiers. The British and Americans still viewed fighting as a sport and believed in gentlemanly rules of warfare. According to some researchers, approximately half of all losses in American units during the first days of hostilities were the direct result of Wehrmacht snipers.

If you see a mustache, shoot!

An American journalist who visited Normandy during the Allied landings there wrote: “Snipers are everywhere. They hide in trees, hedges, buildings and piles of rubble.” Researchers cite the unpreparedness of Anglo-American troops for the sniper threat as the main reasons for the success of snipers in Normandy. What the Germans themselves understood well during three years of fighting in Eastern Front, the allies had to master it in a short time. Officers now wore uniforms that were no different from soldiers' uniforms. All movements were carried out in short runs from cover to cover, bending as low as possible to the ground. The rank and file no longer gave the military salute to the officers. However, these tricks sometimes did not save. Thus, some captured German snipers admitted that they distinguished English soldiers by rank thanks to their facial hair: a mustache was one of the most common attributes among sergeants and officers at that time. As soon as they saw a soldier with a mustache, they destroyed him.

Another key to success was the landscape of Normandy: by the time the Allies landed, it was a real paradise for a sniper, with a large number of hedges stretching for kilometers, drainage ditches and embankments. Due to frequent rains, the roads became muddy and became an impassable obstacle for both soldiers and equipment, and soldiers trying to push out another stuck car became a tasty morsel for the “cuckoo”. The allies had to advance extremely carefully, looking under every stone. An incident that occurred in the city of Cambrai speaks about the incredibly large scale of the actions of German snipers in Normandy. Deciding that there would be little resistance in this area, one of the British companies moved too close and fell victim to heavy rifle fire. Then almost all the orderlies of the medical department died, trying to carry the wounded from the battlefield. When the battalion command tried to stop the offensive, about 15 more people died, including the company commander, 12 soldiers and officers received various injuries, and four more went missing. When the village was finally taken, many corpses of German soldiers with rifles with optical sights were discovered.

An American sergeant looks at a dead German sniper on the street of the French village of Saint-Laurent-sur-Mer
(http://waralbum.ru)

German snipers–mythical and real

When mentioning German snipers, many will probably remember the famous opponent of the Red Army soldier Vasily Zaitsev, Major Erwin Koenig. In fact, many historians are inclined to believe that there was no Koenig. Presumably, he is a figment of the imagination of William Craig, author of the book Enemy at the Gates. There is a version that ace sniper Heinz Thorwald was passed off as Koenig. According to this theory, the Germans were extremely annoyed by the death of the head of their sniper school at the hands of some village hunter, so they hid his death by saying that Zaitsev killed a certain Erwin Koenig. Some researchers of the life of Thorvald and his sniper school in Zossen consider this to be nothing more than a myth. What is true in this and what is fiction is unlikely to become clear.

Nevertheless, the Germans had sniping aces. The most successful of them is the Austrian Matthias Hetzenauer. He served in the 144th Mountain Ranger Regiment, 3rd Mountain Division, and accounted for about 345 enemy soldiers and officers. Oddly enough, No. 2 in the ranking, Joseph Allerberger, served in the same regiment with him, and by the end of the war there were 257 casualties. The third largest number of victories is the German sniper of Lithuanian origin Bruno Sutkus, who destroyed 209 Soviet soldiers and officers.

Perhaps if the Germans, in their pursuit of the idea of ​​lightning war, had paid due attention not only to engines, but also to the training of snipers, as well as the development of decent weapons for them, we would now have a slightly different history of German sniping, and for this article we would have to piece together collect material about little-known Soviet snipers.

– josser

A good sniper can undermine the enemy's morale by taking out key figures. They can prevent the enemy from completing his task.

But the next ten people are not easy good snipers; these are great snipers. They are the best of the best. They are the Military Channel's top 10 snipers.

Navy SEAL snipers

After pirates failed to capture his ship, the Maersk Alabama, Captain Richard Phillips surrendered to the bandits in order to guarantee the safety of his crew.

The pirates kept Captain Phillips aboard a lifeboat for several days while attempting to negotiate with the US Navy. But eventually the boat ran out of fuel and the pirates agreed to allow the US Navy to attach a tow rope from the USS Bainbridge to the boat.

This was their fatal mistake.

This move allowed the force's three snipers special operations US Navy SEALs take positions on the overhang of the Bainbridge's stern - just 75 feet (23 m; hereinafter - approx..

Overcome by seasickness and in an excited state, the pirates became more and more aggressive. The command on the spot, concerned about the threat to Phillip mortal danger, gave the snipers the go-ahead to destroy the pirates to save the life of the captain.

The SEALs had to fire synchronized shots in order to take down the pirates and keep the captain alive. The snipers were on a ship sailing on the ocean, and their targets were in a boat bouncing on the waves, and they only had one chance to do everything right.

The snipers had their sights on the heads of two pirates in the control room window. But they were not sure about the whereabouts of the third pirate. The third sniper was waiting for visual contact.

Once he gets it, they can all fire. And now, an opportunity - the third pirate, tormented by seasickness, sticks his head out of the boat window.

The third cat transmits - the target has been detected. All three snipers take their shots.

Rob Furlong

Canadian Corporal Rob Furlong (not pictured here) holds the record for the longest target hit by a sniper. He killed a member of an al-Qaeda mortar crew from a distance of 2,340 meters.

Not bad for a Canadian, huh?

Chuck Mawhinney

Even his own wife had no idea that Chuck Mawhinney (not pictured here) was one of the best snipers in the US Marine Corps in Vietnam until his friend wrote a book detailing Mawhinney's service.

The book “Dear Mother. Vietnam Snipers" shed light on Mawinney's record of 103 confirmed kills in Vietnam, with another 213 unconfirmed. This is a disgusting record, one that Mawhinney was in no hurry to make public, believing that no one would be enthusiastic about it.

Mawhinney left Vietnam in 1969, after 16 months as a sniper, when a military chaplain thought Mawhinney might be suffering from battle exhaustion. After short period After serving as a fire instructor at Camp Pendleton, Mawhinney left the Marines and returned home to rural Oregon.

“I just did what I was taught,” he told The Standard. – I was in a very hot place outside the USA for a long time. I didn't do anything special." Come on, don't be modest, Chuck. You're still in the top ten.

Snipers of the American Revolution

It would not be too much of a sin to say that the United States owes its independence to the sniper.

No, seriously, that's how it was.

The Battle of Saratoga was a turning point in the Revolutionary War. And one of the main turning points in the battle was the death of British Army General Simon Fraser from a shot by sniper Timothy Murphy on October 7, 1777.

Murphy, of Daniel Morgan's Kentucky Fusiliers (American commander and statesman; approx.), hit General Frazier from a distance of about 500 yards (457 m; approx.), using one of the famous Kentucky long guns.

The United States owes its independence to another sniper - this time due not to a well-aimed shot, but to the lack of one.

During the Battle of Brandywine, just months before Murphy killed Frazier, Captain Patrick Ferguson held his rifle at gunpoint (Ferguson used the original rifled weapons your invention; approx.) a tall, distinguished American officer. The officer's back was to Ferguson, and the sniper decided that it would be ungentlemanly to shoot in such a situation.

Only later did Ferguson learn that George Washington was on the battlefield that day.

Vasily Zaitsev

Several of our top 10 snipers were portrayed in movies or served as inspiration for movie characters, but none of them ultimately became more famous than Vasily Zaitsev, whose recordings formed the basis of the 2001 film Enemy at the Gates.

You know, if a recognizable actor with great looks like Jude Law plays you in a movie about your life, then you managed to leave your mark on history.

It is a pity that the fight at the center of the picture was fictitious.

Professional historians, as well as amateur researchers, tried to figure out whether the fight between the Russian ace sniper and his equivalent German shooter even took place. Documentary data on this issue are contradictory, and the usual common sense says that the Soviet media invented the duel as a propaganda tool. However, she didn't need to fuss too much.

Zaitsev’s combat achievements speak for themselves: 149 confirmed killed enemy soldiers and officers, despite the fact that the number of unconfirmed killed could reach 400.

Lyudmila Pavlichenko

When Russian sniper Lyudmila Pavlichenko was interviewed by Time magazine in 1942, she ridiculed the American media.

“One journalist even criticized the length of my skirt military uniform, saying that in America women wear shorter skirts, besides, my uniform makes me look fat,” she said.

Surely the length of the skirt did not matter to the 309 Nazi soldiers whose deaths were attributed to Pavlichenko, or to the many Russians whom she inspired with her courage and skill.

According to the Financial Times, Pavlichenko was born on July 12, 1916 in southern Ukraine and had a boyish disposition from the very beginning. Forget about playing with dolls - Pavlichenko had to hunt sparrows with a slingshot; and of course, in this activity she was superior to most boys of her age.

When Germany declared war on Russia in 1941, Pavlichenko wanted to fight. But once she got to the front, everything turned out to be not as simple as it had previously seemed.

“I knew that my task was to shoot living people,” she recalled in a Russian newspaper. “In theory everything was smooth, but I knew that in practice it would be completely different.” She turned out to be right.

Although Pavlichenko could see the enemy from where she had spent her first day on the battlefield crouched, she could not bring herself to fire.

But everything changed when a German shot a young Russian soldier who was near Pavlichenko. “He was such a good, happy boy,” she said, “And he was killed right next to me. After that, nothing could stop me.”

Francis Peghamagabo

The exploits and achievements of World War I sniper Francis Peghamagabo sound like they were straight out of a comic book or a summer blockbuster.

Ojibois warrior Peghamagabo, who fought alongside the Canadians at the battles of Montsorrel, Passchendaele and Scarpe, is credited with 378 kills as a sharpshooter.

As if that weren't enough, he was also awarded medals for serving as a signalman under heavy enemy fire, leading a critical rescue operation when his commander was incapacitated, and for delivering his squad's missing ammunition under enemy fire.

The Toronto Star suggested that Peghamagabo brought to the war the skills he had honed as a child on the Shawanaga Reservation near Georgian Bay, but historian Tim Cook had a different theory about why Peghamagabo and other Canadian First Nations went to war. war and fought so selflessly across the seas: “They felt that their sacrifice would give them the right to demand more rights in society.”

But this was not the case with Peghamagabo. Although he was a hero among his comrades in Europe, once he returned home to Canada, he was practically forgotten.

Adelbert F. Waldron III

Try searching for information about the top US snipers and you'll come across a couple of names. Carlos Hascock is a legend, but the most large number the dead were not his. Charles Benjamin "Chuck" Mawhinney is undoubtedly a talented sniper, but he is not a champion either.

And who then? Staff Sergeant Adelbert F. Waldron III. He is one of the most successful snipers in US history, with 109 confirmed kills.

Excerpt from the book “In the Crosshairs. Snipers in Vietnam" by Colonel Michael Lee Lanning describes how good Waldron's shot was: "One day he was sailing down the Mekong River on the Tango when an enemy sniper on the shore struck the ship. While everyone else on the boat struggled to find the enemy who was hitting with coastline At a distance of 900 meters, Sergeant Waldron took his rifle and with one shot took down the Viet Cong from the top of a coconut tree (and this from a moving platform). Such were the abilities of our best sniper."

Waldron is one of the few to have been awarded the Distinguished Service Cross twice, both of which he received in 1969.

He died in 1995 and was buried in California.

Simo Häyhä

Finn Simo Häyhä may be one of the most successful snipers of all time. But don't be too upset if you've never heard of it. Almost unknown outside his home country, Häyhä applied his skills to a war that American children never experienced in school.

When the Russians invaded Finland during the Winter War of 1939-1940, Häyhä hid in the snow and killed over 500 Russians in a short three-month period. He was known as the "White Death".

He was shooting the old fashioned way, without laser sights or .50 caliber ammunition. All Häyhä had was his senses and an ordinary rifle with open sights and a bolt action.

In the end, Finland lost the Winter War, but for Russia it was not a real victory. The Finns suffered 22,830 casualties compared to 126,875 casualties for the Russians, who had an invading army of one and a half million men.

As one Red Army general recalled, “We conquered 22,000 square miles of territory. Just enough to bury your dead.”

Carlos Hascock

Even if he doesn't hold the records for the number of confirmed hits or the longest shot, the legend of Carlos Hascock lives on. He is the Elvis of snipers, he is Yoda.

The Marine Corps' highest marksmanship award bears his name; as well as the shooting range at Camp Ligen (Marine Corps training center in North Carolina; approx.). The Marine Corps Library in Washington was dedicated in his honor. The Virginia unit of the Civil Air Patrol decided to name itself after him.

Hascock, sometimes called "White Feather" for the feather he wore in his hat, joined the Marines at age 17. The Corps didn't have to wait long to realize that the broke boy from Arkansas had talent. While still in training, he proved himself to be an excellent shooter and almost immediately began winning prestigious shooting competitions. But the military had their own plans for Hascock, which involved something more than simply winning cups; in 1966 he was sent to Vietnam.

According to the Los Angeles Times, during his two tours of duty, Hascock volunteered for so many missions that his superiors were forced to keep him in the barracks so he could rest.

“It was a hunt that I enjoyed,” he once told the Washington Post. - Engage in a duel with another person. In Vietnam they didn't give you second place—second place was a body bag. Everyone was scared, but those who weren’t were lying. But fear can be used to your advantage. It makes you more alert, more sensitive, that's what I came up with. He pushed me to be the best."

And he was the best. During his two tours of duty, Hascock had 93 confirmed kills; actual total may be higher. Hascock's unconfirmed hits are believed to number in the hundreds. However, the numbers were so high that North Vietnam at one point offered a $30,000 bounty on his head.

Ultimately, neither the bounty nor the enemy sniper could do anything about Carlos Hascock. He died in 1999 at the age of 57 after a battle with multiple sclerosis.

World War II snipers were almost exclusively Soviet soldiers. After all, only in the USSR in the pre-war years was shooting training virtually universal, and since the 1930s there have been special sniper schools. So it is not surprising that in both the top ten and twenty of the best shooters of that war there is only one foreign name - the Finn Simo Häyhä.

The top ten Russian snipers have 4,200 confirmed enemy fighters, the top twenty have 7,400. The best shooters of the USSR have more than 500 killed each, while the most productive sniper of the Second World War among the Germans has a count of only 345 targets. But real sniper accounts are actually higher than confirmed ones - about two to three times!

It is also worth recalling that the USSR is the only country in the world! - Not only men, but also women fought as snipers. In 1943, there were more than a thousand female snipers in the Red Army, who killed a total of more than 12,000 fascists during the war. Here are the three most productive: Lyudmila Pavlichenko - 309 enemies, Olga Vasilyeva - 185 enemies, Natalya Kovshova - 167 enemies. According to these indicators soviet women left behind most of their opponents' best snipers.

Mikhail Surkov - 702 enemy soldiers and officers

Surprisingly, but true: despite the largest number of defeats, Surkov was never awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, although he was nominated for it. The unprecedented score of the most successful sniper of the Second World War has been questioned more than once, but all defeats have been documented, as required by the rules in force in the Red Army. Sergeant Major Surkov actually killed at least 702 fascists, and taking into account the possible difference between real and confirmed defeats, the count could go into the thousands! Mikhail Surkov's amazing accuracy and amazing ability to track down his opponents for a long time, apparently, can be explained simply: before being drafted into the army, he worked as a hunter in the taiga in his homeland - in the Krasnoyarsk Territory.

Vasily Kvachantiradze - 534 enemy soldiers and officers

Sergeant Major Kvachantiradze fought from the first days: in his personal file it is especially noted that he was a participant in the Great Patriotic War since June 1941. And he finished his service only after the victory, having gone through the entire great war no concessions. Even the title of Hero of the Soviet Union was awarded to Vasily Kvachantiradze, who killed over half a thousand enemy soldiers and officers, shortly before the end of the war, in March 1945. And the demobilized sergeant-major returned to his native Georgia as a holder of two Orders of Lenin, the Order of the Red Banner, the Order of the Patriotic War 2nd degree and the Order of the Red Star.

Simo Häyhä - over 500 enemy soldiers and officers

If Finnish corporal Simo Häyhä had not been wounded by an explosive bullet in March 1940, perhaps the title of the most successful sniper of World War II would have belonged to him. The entire duration of the Finn's participation in the Winter War of 1939-40 was completed in three months - and with such a terrifying result! Perhaps this is explained by the fact that by this time the Red Army did not yet have sufficient experience in counter-sniper combat. But even taking this into account, one cannot help but admit that Häyhä was a professional top class. After all, he killed most of his opponents without using special sniper devices, but by shooting from an ordinary rifle with open sights.

Ivan Sidorenko - 500 enemy soldiers and officers

He was supposed to become an artist - but he became a sniper, having already graduated military school and command a mortar company. Lieutenant Ivan Sidorenko is one of the few sniper officers on the list of the most successful shooters of the USSR during the Great Patriotic War. Despite the fact that he fought hard: in three years on the front line, from November 1941 to November 1944, Sidorenko managed to receive three serious wounds, which ultimately prevented him from studying at the military academy, where his superiors sent him. So he entered the reserve as a major - and a Hero of the Soviet Union: this title was awarded to him at the front.

Nikolay Ilyin - 494 enemy soldiers and officers

Few Soviet snipers had such an honor: to shoot from a personalized sniper rifle. Sergeant Major Ilyin earned it by becoming not only a marksman, but also one of the initiators of the sniper movement on the Stalingrad front. He already had more than a hundred killed fascists on his account when, in October 1942, his superiors handed him a rifle named after Hero of the Soviet Union Khusein Andrukhaev, an Adyghe poet and political instructor who was one of the first during the war to shout out in the face of the advancing enemies, “The Russians do not surrender!” Alas, less than a year later Ilyin himself died, and his rifle began to be called the rifle “In the Name of Heroes of the Soviet Union Kh. Andrukhaev and N. Ilyin.”

Ivan Kulbertinov - 487 enemy soldiers and officers

There were many hunters among the snipers of the Soviet Union, but there were few Yakut hunters and reindeer herders. The most famous of them was Ivan Kulbertinov, the same age as the Soviet regime: he was born exactly on November 7, 1917! Having arrived at the front at the very beginning of 1943, already in February he opened his personal account of killed enemies, which by the end of the war increased to almost five hundred. And although the hero-sniper’s chest was decorated with many honorary awards, he never received the highest title of Hero of the Soviet Union, although, judging by the documents, he was nominated for it twice. But in January 1945, his superiors gave him a personalized sniper rifle with the inscription “To the best sniper, senior sergeant I.N. Kulbertinov from the Military Council of the Army.”

Vladimir Pchelintsev - 456 enemy soldiers and officers

The best Soviet snipers. Vladimir Pchelintsev. Source: wio.ru

Vladimir Pchelintsev was, so to speak, a professional sniper who graduated from sniper training and received the title of master of sports in shooting a year before the war. In addition, he is one of two Soviet snipers who spent the night in the White House. This happened during a business trip to the USA, where Sergeant Pchelintsev, who had been awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union six months earlier, went in August 1942 to the International Student Assembly to tell how the USSR was fighting fascism. He was accompanied by fellow sniper Lyudmila Pavlichenko and one of the heroes of the partisan struggle, Nikolai Krasavchenko.

Pyotr Goncharov - 441 enemy soldiers and officers

Pyotr Goncharov became a sniper by accident. A worker at the Stalingrad plant, at the height of the German offensive he joined the militia, from where he was taken to regular army... a baker. Then Goncharov rose to the rank of transport carrier, and only chance brought him to the rank of sniper, when, once on the front line, he set fire to an enemy tank with accurate shots from someone else’s weapon. And Goncharov received his first sniper rifle in November 1942 - and did not part with it until his death in January 1944. By this time, the former worker was already wearing the shoulder straps of a senior sergeant and the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, which he was awarded twenty days before his death.

Mikhail Budenkov - 437 enemy soldiers and officers

The biography of Senior Lieutenant Mikhail Budenkov is very vivid. Having retreated from Brest to Moscow and reached East Prussia, fought in a mortar crew and became a sniper, Budenkov, before being drafted into the army in 1939, managed to work as a ship mechanic on a motor ship sailing along the Moscow Canal, and as a tractor driver on his native collective farm... But his calling nevertheless made itself felt: the accurate shooting of the mortar crew commander attracted the attention of his superiors, and Budenkov became a sniper. Moreover, he was one of the best in the Red Army, for which he was eventually awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union in March 1945.

Matthias Hetzenauer - 345 enemy soldiers and officers

The only German sniper in the top ten most successful snipers of the Second World War was not ranked here by the number of enemies killed. This figure leaves Corporal Hetzenauer far outside even the top twenty. But it would be wrong not to pay tribute to the enemy’s skill, thereby emphasizing what a great feat the Soviet snipers accomplished. Moreover, in Germany itself, Hetzenauer’s successes were called “phenomenal results of sniper warfare.” And they were not far from the truth, because the German sniper achieved his result in just less than a year, having completed sniper courses in July 1944.

In addition to the above-mentioned masters of shooting art, there were others. The list of the best Soviet snipers, and this is only those who destroyed at least 200 enemy troops, includes more than fifty people.

Nikolay Kazyuk - 446 enemy soldiers and officers

The best Soviet snipers. Nikolay Kazyuk.