There are many theories about the origin of the sniper, some from the British army shooting sand cone birds in India around 1773; there is also the theory from the American Revolutionary War Major Sharp; and the third theory is that the real sniper is derived from the German army formed in World War I to kill British and French soldiers and officers.
No matter what the origin, the meaning of his existence has never changed, that is, unexpected killing and deterrence.
An economic crisis also swept through Europe and the United States in 1929. The economic and military imbalances between various countries also led to the "long-brewing" Second World War. The German Third Reich quickly occupied Poland, swept through France, and in 1941 tore up the Soviet-German non-aggression pact and sent a large army to attack the Soviet Union. By surprise, the Germans quickly occupied a large number of Soviet territories, but with the onset of winter, the arrogant Germans, like Napoleon, made mistakes. The Red Army then launched a strategic counteroffensive in December 1941 and won the Battle of Moscow in 1942.
The Germans then intended to occupy Stalingrad, and in the midst of this meat grinder battle, Lieutenant Vasily Zaitsev of the Red Army performed very well as a sniper, killing 225 German troops in just over a month. And it was the presence of such a sniper that also caused German officers and soldiers a lot of headaches. Senior generals should be very careful not to let the incoming bullets hit their precious heads. Eventually, the Germans sent their most famous sniper school principal, Colonel Cornings, the King of Snipers.
Chess meets the opponent, will meet the good talent. For the two people who are each their masters, this is a duel that can only live alone. When Colonel Cornings appeared on the battlefield of Stalingrad, he made a great shot, and in an instant, he sniped 2 exposed Soviet snipers.
And vasily Zaitsev lurked with each other, and in the sniper positions they had already chosen, both sides did not dare to wait for a moment for the opportunity to appear. Whoever has a slack, who is discovered by the other party's realization, will be killed on the spot. And that's three days.
The turning point also appeared, and the commander of the original Soviet Red Army, Danilov, found the reflection of the enemy's scope, which meant that the enemy sniper position had been exposed. But just as he was cheering happily, the bullet arrived in an instant, and he fell to the ground, but the bullet seemed to "deviate" from the trajectory, hitting only his shoulder. Could it be Colonel Cornings' mistake? It was quite simple, he was just fishing with bait, and his target was not the Soviet commander, but the sniper behind him, Vasily Zaitsev.
And the first thing to learn as a sniper is to hide yourself, and this kind of hiding is not only the hiding above the body, but also the hiding above the feelings, just like the Shun slip in the anti-Japanese drama, in the face of the humiliation of relatives, you must also be patient, and Zaitsev is also doing this, seeing the struggling Danilov He can only endure. Silently looking for the direction of the shooting, he finally found the location of Cornings, but Cornings, obviously very clever and skilled, hid behind the steel plate, and the lethality of the sniper rifle was not enough to penetrate the steel plate.
On the fourth day, Zaitsev quickly arranged the strategy, asking his comrades to raise their helmets in the bunker, and at the moment when the helmets were raised, the gunshots rang out, but 2. One was the sound of bullets hitting the helmet, and the other was from Zaitsev, and the moment Cornings opened fire with his head out, the trigger was slammed and Cornings was sniped.
It was with this sniping that Vasily Zaitsev ranked fourth among the world's top ten snipers. Since then, Zaitsev has trained 28 more snipers, killing more than 3,000 German troops.
Reference: Wasily's autobiography NotesofaSniper