A nightmare in the hearts of the US military
In the 1960s, the U.S. military was caught in a bitter battle in Vietnam, and the elusive North Vietnamese guerrillas often caused headaches for American soldiers, including a legendary female sniper in North Vietnam, "Female Apache", who often ambushed US Marines, and was a nightmare for the US troops on the front line.
After the U.S. Navy landed on Da Nang, 9th Marine Division established a fire support base on Heights 55 and purged the nearby Viet Cong guerrilla activities.
In order to prevent the base from being attacked by the Viet Cong, the Marine Corps sent patrols to the surrounding jungle to reconnoiter, but was often ambushed by a female sniper and suffered losses. Intelligence received by the U.S. military at the time pointed out that the female sniper carried a Mosin-Nagant rifle equipped with an optical scope, sometimes fought as a lone wolf, and sometimes led the sniper sniper to hunt American troops around.
Mosin-Nagant rifle
In order to reduce the loss of troops, the US military began to reduce the range of patrol activities, and the North Vietnamese sniper, unable to find the opportunity to snipe American troops, also changed his strategy and began to torture and kill prisoners of war outside the US military base, creating panic among the US troops. And the way she tortured prisoners of war was also very cruel.
The origin of the nickname "Female Apache"
According to Vietnam veteran Charles Henderson in his book Marine Sniper: 93 Confirmed Kills, the female sniper even took prisoners of war near the U.S. military base and then "castrated" the U.S. prisoner with a knife in her own hands, ensuring that the prisoner's screams could be heard. Then she would untie the ropes that bound the prisoners of war, laughing and shouting, "Run, soldier, maybe you can hold out until you find a good doctor to treat you."
In addition, the US military often found many prisoners of war near Heights 55, some of which were skinned, nailed, or their eyelids were cut off, reminiscent of the ancient Apache tribes of the Americas, which is the origin of the female sniper's nickname "Female Apache".
Nicknamed "White Feather" sniper Heiskak
In order to deal with this notorious "female Apache", the US military recruited the famous sniper Carlos Hathcock, nicknamed "White Feather". The nickname " White Feather " comes from his penchant for a white feather in a jungle cap , and he killed 93 people during his entire service , and the number of kills was more than 300 unofficial , making him a thorn in the side of North Vietnam because of his superb marksmanship. It is said that the North Vietnamese army even offered a high reward of $30,000 to Haiskak, compared with the North Vietnamese soldier who killed an ordinary American sniper and only received a $8 bounty, which shows that the North Vietnamese army hated him to the bone.
According to an article published in the Washington Post on January 18, 1987, Heiscock recalled at the time that on the battlefield, they were very eager to get rid of the "female Apaches" and would go to the neighborhood every day to "hunt", but did not see the "female Apacheans" for several weeks.
It wasn't until one afternoon that Hescock and his partner finally discovered that in the distance appeared a petite Vietnamese woman with a gun, exactly as described as a "female Apache", acting with a group of North Vietnamese soldiers. Heskak recognized the woman's rifle with sniper scopes, so when she went to the right position, Heskak did not hesitate to shoot, and the other party fell to the ground.
According to a Tactical-Life website, Hescock once recalled that about 700 yards (640 meters) from each other, "We saw a group of five people, one of whom was crouching and peeing, and that's how I recognized her." "