You are about to read an impressive book – the remarkable stories of ten combat snipers of the Second World War. Their ranks include the war’s most accomplished sniper, Finland’s Simo Häyhä; Germany’s finest shooter, Sepp Allerberger; and Russia’s famed Vassili Zaitsev and Lyudmila Pavlichenko. Their stories are told to considerable depth, offering interesting details and wartime accounts well beyond their previous exposures in magazine articles and websites.
As well, these pages contain the stories of several hitherto unknown but accomplished snipers, such as Britain’s Patrick Devlin and the U.S.A.’s Bert Kemp.
Why so unknown? In retrospect, despite many thousands of books written by WWII veterans of all countries, not a single sniper’s memoir appeared in the English language until a decade ago, and even then, the author, Sepp Allerberger, initially concealed his identity. Seventy years ago, snipers often were condemned as cold-hearted killers who took lives without risking their own, an attitude that extends at least back to the Napoleonic era. Second World War sniper veterans often concealed their wartime duties, reluctant to disclose their experiences to a misunderstanding public. And in the case of Japan, few (if any) snipers survived those broiling jungle battlefields, and if they did, their last inclination was to write about their experiences.
Contrast this post-war perception of snipers with the description in the 1940 British Army directive creating sniper teams, requiring that candidates be, ‘picked men, and fit men, and proud to be such; the best marksmen, skilled in fieldcraft, confident in their self-reliance, possessed of great courage and unrivalled patience’.
In more recent years, at last, the public has come to respect snipers and their craft very much as that British directive’s description. Modern snipers – and those of the past – are properly recognized today as representing the peak of combat skills, a worthy elite offering indispensable capabilities.
It is in this more informed perspective, then, that we can view snipers of the past, and from which these authors tell the snipers’ stories.
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And the authors here are no less impressive than their subjects – a collaboration that includes some of today’s greatest sniping authorities – with several personally known by me. Sergeant Major Mark Spicer, for instance, is a retired British sniper instructor and considered one of the world’s top sniping experts; Leroy Thompson is a fellow Vietnam veteran and prolific writer on firearms, shooting and special operations; Charles Sasser is a U.S. Army Special Forces veteran and author of a dozen books on such subjects; Adrian Gilbert has authored several major books about snipers and sniping.
Who better, then, to write these accounts? Not only do their pens paint these stories well, but their personal experiences enable them to empathize and understand these snipers as only fellow snipers and combat veterans can. Their insights are not only technically incisive, but disclose the characters and personalities of their subjects, putting a human face to the otherwise one-dimensional snipers portrayed in many motion pictures.
Thus, you will appreciate the bitter cold in which Eastern Front snipers Zaitsev and Allerberger often fought; and the stinking, steaming jungles where Japanese snipers lost their lives atop palm trees. As well, you will better understand the personal revenge that drove Lyudmila Pavlichenko, and how Simo Häyhä applied his skills as a moose hunter and skier to become World War Two’s deadliest sniper.
I think you will appreciate this book and its accounts of courage and skill amid great dangers. And come away better respecting these snipers, regardless of the diverse uniforms they wore.
John L. Plaster
Major, Special Forces
U.S. Army (retired)