If you have the opportunity to travel to Mongotuye in Post-Baikal Krai in Siberia, Russia, you may find a monument under which the famous Soviet sniper, Semyon Norkmanov, is buried.
Born in Post-Baikal Krai, Semyon was known to the locals as the "Eye of the Eagle" from an early age because of his excellent eyesight and hit rate when hunting.
Later, with the establishment of the Soviet Union, Semyon settled in Chita Oblast, also in Siberia, where he became proficient in carpentry and found a job building houses. Later, he married and had children here, and if there were no accidents, Semyon would spend a plain and happy life here.
Then World War II broke out
On June 22, 1941, the Soviet-German Non-Aggression Pact was unilaterally torn up by Germany, and the Soviet-German War broke out. Because of the suddenness of the incident and the lack of middle-level leadership in the army caused by the Great Purge, the Soviet Union was caught off guard and lost kiev, Minsk, Bryansk, Smolensk, Liuban, Odessa and other cities in a row, but it stimulated the patriotic enthusiasm of the Soviet people. In the same year, at the age of 41, Semyon joined the Red Army.
Semmiao's initial military career was not good, he successively served as a leading soldier, logistics, and was assigned to the health platoon, because the first two times Semyon was not competent for the post and the transfer made Semyon doubt his decision to join the army. But as the sanitary platoon is closer to the front line, Semyon is about to start writing his legend.
In August 1941, Semyon killed a German soldier who was aiming at the wounded while transferring wounded soldiers on the battlefield, so Semyon was transferred to the sniper platoon.
In the sniper platoon, Semyon gave full play to the patience he had exercised in his early hunting career, and after a long period of squatting, he snipped a major general in October of that year.
Since then, the number of snipers killed by Semyon has risen all the way. 10, 30, fifty, and by the time the Soviet newspaper Al-Kokor reported on his deeds, Semyon had snipeed and killed 76 Nazis. By December, three months after Semyon joined the sniper platoon, 106 Nazis had been killed.
Semyon had a lot of fame in the Soviet Red Army, but he also became a thorn in the eyes of the German army and a thorn in the flesh.
Beginning in 1942, Semyon was ambushed by several German snipers, but all of them used dexterous tactics to maneuver with him and kill them, leaving the Germans gritting their teeth but helpless.
During the long battle, Semyon was able to identify soldiers and officers and kill them, which in 1942 during the defensive battle of the field hospital in the Sakunihano area of the Far East, when the incident was sudden and friendly artillery fire could not be supported in time, the German army lost many German officers.
By February 1945, Semyon had killed 294 Nazis, but had been stabbed in the ear by the German retaliatory bombing, and there were no more serious injuries.
In 1945, Germany surrendered and the dust settled on the European battlefield, but Semyon's battle was not over, he came to the Far East Outer Baikal Front, fought against the Japanese fascists, and killed 15 enemies.
In his army, Semyon received a Lenin Medal of the Highest Honor of the Soviet Union, a Red Banner Medal for cultivating a large number of sniper talents, a Red Star Medal, and after the battle against Japan, he received a sniper rifle specially made by the Soviet Army with the number 24638, a binoculars and a horse.
Because Semyon likes to smoke, whether it is on the existing video materials or when received by Soviet Marshal Zhukov, the pipe does not leave his hand, and the pipe is also used by Semyon to portray his own killing record, so he is also called "Pipe God of War".
After the war, Semyon returned to work on his hometown farm, where he spent the rest of his time, and in 1973, Semyon died at the age of 73.
References:
"Legendary Sniper of the Soviet Union: Yellow Skin, Smoke In Your Hand, 368 Enemies Killed in Four Years" - Hokuan WenShike
"The Heroic Sniper of the USSR – Semyon Monoknov"
——CCTV", "History of World War"