1914 The world of real snipers

1. Infantry conventions

In 1914, after months of struggle, the war slowly reached a stalemate, and both sides were locked in a war of attrition, and the trenches became a sniper's paradise. The Germans are excellent in this regard. At the end of the same year, no man's land was occupied. Like Langton, a soldier of the 7th British Artillery Detachment, recorded in his post-war memoirs, this innocuous specialty led to unwelcome attention. He wrote: On the night of February 3, 1915, he was seen standing in an open place, and a sniper shot a bullet and died instantly; Watches with glow-in-the-dark functions are also very dangerous, because in a dark field, such fluorescence can be seen from a long distance; Snipers are very accurate in their marksmanship, only a few snipers will have bullets whistling past us, and most of them will hit something. The quartermaster in charge of the Royal Engineer Corps told us it was caused by the watch and suggested that we put it in our pockets. A British sniper instructor believed that exposing any part of a person's body for more than 3 seconds would result in a fatal shot from a German sniper. The Germans, in their opinion, do not seem to lack goals in this regard.

In 1914, British troops demonstrated what was claimed to be the fastest and best trained rifleman of any country in the world. The ability for each person to aim at the target for 15 consecutive shots in 1 minute within a war range. If the battle continues, you can win the war within six months using this skill. But this was not the case, and the relationship between the British training of fast gunners and precision shooting was rarely explained. Most of the fast gunners were simply unable to deal with the threat posed to them by German snipers. To make matters worse, apart from a few marked geographical signs and stern warnings from veterans, most soldiers did not understand the dangers of snipers. In order to satisfy their curiosity, some recruits couldn't help but peek out of the low parapet wall in the trench, and a bullet hit the head and fell weakly. On any given day in 1915, 12 to 18 men in a single battalion would have been killed by snipers because of this. IN 1915 IN AN AREA NEAR AUBERSRIDGE THAT WAS PREDOMINANTLY GERMANISH, A GERMAN SNIPER IDLE BORED, IN ORDER TO FIND PLEASURE IN ORDER TO SHOOT A LARGE CROSS ON THE WALL OF A RUINED HUT BEHIND THE BRITISH FRONT LINE WITHOUT BEING DISCOVERED BY THE ENEMY AND BEING PUNISHED FOR THE FEAR OF BEING PUNISHED.

The massive loss of manpower and the mental stress of the troops from the constant death of people began to worry the officers at the front. The main part of dealing with those pesky snipers is to bomb the positions where there are suspected snipers, and to bomb the positions where there are assumed and those who think there are snipers to show that the artillery has enough ammunition. But this was only in the hope that many officers, such as the Royal Riflemen's CRUM, who ended up being targeted by the Boers in the South African War, also recognized the value of sniping better.

LATER CRUM WROTE: "I WAS LEFT A LASTING IMPRESSION WHEN I VISITED THE TRENCH.... No matter where I went in the ditch, the sandbags on it would be torn apart by bullets, the binoculars would shatter, and the bullets would make a sound when they hit the iron plates stuck in the low parapet by our men .... As soon as the colonel lifted the periscope goggles, bullets flew over and splattered dirt all over his face.

The problem for Britain was how to find and train enough snipers to take revenge on the Germans. Many of the German troops were farmers, and before the war they hunted with rifled shotguns equipped with scopes. He has extensive experience in shooting skills and camouflage. People use it. In Germany, unlike in England, hunting is a very common leisure sport. The vast forests also provided a place for hunting, so the use of guns with scopes was more common than those used by the British. And in Britain, hunting with guns was an upper-class pastime. Royalty, aristocrats, gentlemen had the time and money to participate in this noble and brutal sport. Only a few large safari grounds and mountain deer hunters had such a rifle with a scope and experience with such weapons.

Thus, as soon as war broke out, the German part was soon able to requisition hundreds of rifles suitable for accurate shooting, as well as more than 15,000 Maoser 98 rifles and trained snipers that were ready for use. Some of these people have been hunters in the forest all their lives or have been learning to hunt since childhood, and they are much more familiar with the terrain and mastery of the terrain than ordinary soldiers, and are better at pursuing the importance of geographical location to their advantage and the effectiveness of camouflage. Patience was also required, and the Germans had long encouraged the best shooters in the battalion to be grouped together for closed training. The snipers in the battalion usually consisted of 24 people, who freely chose their firing positions. As a result, the group roamed in no-man's land, sniping like a hunt, inflicting casualties and fear on the British and French. However, these people are also vulnerable and cowardly. When they fired in the trenches, they used a metal plate with a shooting hole inserted into a low wall.

This also reflects another thorny problem for British snipers, which are not equipped with special ammunition that can wear the enemy's steel helmet. INITIALLY THEY COULD ONLY RETALIATE WITH PRIVATELY ACQUIRED LARGE-CALIBER, HIGH-SPEED HUNTING RIFLES, MOST OF WHICH REACHED .35IN CALIBER AND PENETRATED IRON.

2. British sniper training

In 1915, the British made a temporary attempt to remedy this problem, and the War Office purchased 52 sporting rifles from commercial suppliers and distributed them to British snipers. ALTHOUGH BACKWARD, THE SITUATION CHANGED ONLY AT THE INSISTENCE OF EXPERIENCED RIFLE OFFICERS SUCH AS CRUM, H HESKETH-PRITCHARD, N A ARMSTORNG AND OTHERS. HESKETH-PRITCHARD, A STRONG ADVOCATE OF THE HUNTER-SNIPER ART BEFORE THE WAR, SOON LEARNED THAT MOST OF THE TELESCOPE-MOUNTED GUNS WERE USED, BUT THEY LACKED BASIC KNOWLEDGE OF THE GUN. Or even how to zero them out. Most snipers never received formal instruction and training in adjusting their scopes. It is not surprising that 60 per cent of the rifles allocated in 1915 were considered ineffective on the battlefield within a month, as they would not have used more sophisticated scope systems. For these less educated people, the process of fitting the outline of a target into the crosshairs is simple, but it is so bad to accurately hit the enemy's vital points. To make matters worse, there is little training in camouflage and actual combat tactics. PRITCHARD NOTES THAT DURING HIS EARLY ROUNDS OF THE FRONT LINE, HE OBSERVED HOW A BRITISH SNIPER QUICKLY LIFTED HIS GUN OVER A LOW PARAPET AND FIRED AT THE GERMAN FRONT...... A way to guarantee himself a short service career.

Under pressure from some like-minded officers, the top brass began to agree to organize and train their own snipers, which would not only allow Tala to compete for control of the no-man's land, but also reduce casualties and improve morale. Thus, with the support of the unit commander, the first "shooting-reconnaissance-search" school was established in 1915 in Berschuen, followed by a second military-affiliated sniper school. The 17-day syllabus of these schools set the standard for today's sniper training, and the maintenance of rifles and scopes was also clearly stated at the time. Using a general service rifle, shooting at a wide variety of targets, focusing on accuracy and speed of reaction. Here we teach not only the theory of how to zero the gun, but also the measurement of distance and wind force...... These are some of the hardest skills to learn, sometimes fooling even experienced snipers. Observation and the use of sight mirrors are also applied along with the reading of maps. Patrols, reconnaissance including land cover, camouflage and sniper position building, theoretical and practical work are rigorously checked. It has been found that many good target shooters are generally not suitable for sniper training, as their nerves are always aligned with a mere stationary shot, rather than moving the target and killing them. This is not surprising at all. The most successful sniper should be the deer shooter, the mini-game hunter.

Although the shooting is good, it is not necessary to hunt the hunters by the Leeds standard. Major Armstrong, who became the commander of the second school, concluded that the best gunners were the inconspicuous hunters, prospectors, surveyors, lumberjacks and even poachers. The best natural snipers can be found in Australians, Canadians, and iron-clad South Africans. Some of them came from the countryside, where they considered guns to be necessary tools, and where food and exercise were daily necessities. But it wasn't long before the sniper school produced a group of good snipers who didn't have the kind of background Armstrong mentioned. In France and Flanders, sniping began to have a meaningful effect on morale. THE LANDING OF GALLIOLI IN JUNE 1915 QUICKLY TURNED THE FRENCH STALEMATE INTO A MICROCOSM. In addition to the ditch less than 100 yards, the British, Australian, and New Zealand armies all faced the Turkish enemy, who proved to be stronger and more competitive than expected. The Turks had a lot of good sharpshooters, and in addition to not being able to arm rifled guns, they made life difficult for the invaders. Writer Herbert Day watched the results of their professional skills progressing: '..... we lose 12 people a day; They fell..... shot through the head, and lay in the dirt as if they were snoring; There was a sudden howl at night, and the soldiers kept turning to the side with their backs to the moon. The Union forces also did not have the right to use suitable sniper rifles, so sniping could only be done in open expanses...... It's a task to be an excellent kangaroo shooter in that Australia.

Although some people have good marksmanship, this does not make them snipers and not sharpshooters. The Australians seem to be doing better than the Americans in this regard, but perhaps the best scorer record is Queenslander's Indian's Bailey. He is judged to be a man of small stature and never doubtful, and he is considered unusual when it comes to the perfect partnership. Unbeknownst to him, he kept up with a trend, and he began to herald the next century of partnerships. He's very patient in addition to being a natural sniper, and he can stay unfired until his observer thinks they're going to kill someone they want to kill, and then he says fire.

3. British sniper tactics

The British can be said to be a relatively early country in conducting modern sniper operations. In early 1915, the British began to organize their own sniper battalions, consisting of 16 snipers, 1 sergeant, and one corporal, which were the same in number as the German army. Snipers are forgiven and can be exempted from performing normal trench duties. They can be in any position they think useful. They could climb to any camouflaged position in a no-man's land or divide the German line into several parts, or even spend a day monitoring enemy movements, gathering intelligence. British snipers differed from German snipers, who used binoculars and often worked alone, while sniper schools taught British car snipers to work together in two people. Snipers and observers alternately work so as not to strain the eyes. They use 20 times the scope of observation and train how to use it correctly, but it is only clear that it is not the same as long-range reconnaissance. THE PEOPLE OF LOVAT SCOOUTS TEACH THESE VISUAL ASPECTS OF TRAINING. It is a group of 200 people, mostly raised by highland hunters or safari guides. Their observation skills are legendary, and if visibility allows, they have the ability to use telescopes to see enemy movements up to 10 miles away. Their experience in tracking deer shows that they are able to recognize hidden, unseen targets, and even trained snipers like D once said, "If they report something, then it will be like they report." ”

Camouflage became a very important factor in sniping, and a new term "gilly suit" (a common phrase used by snipers) became synonymous with snipers at the time. They used the word for many years. A "gilli suit" refers to a person who wears a loose burlap robe covered with brown feathers, and the green grass blends with the surrounding scenery. This makes it difficult for people 10 feet away to recognize them. During World War II, this clothing became the favorite clothing of British snipers, and it was adopted by almost every country. Camouflage nets are also popular, they are light, cool and easy to obtain. Snipers have also discovered other hidden effective methods. Tree cavities, forged livestock carcasses, hollowed-out logs, dirt bunkers, shrub vegetation, etc., can be ideal hiding places for them. At the end of the First World War, the strategic role of the sniper was expanded again to reconnaissance. The movement of the troops, the position of the artillery, the position of the machine guns or the position of the order, the identity of the enemy's troops are all indispensable information for the people at the headquarters. Their eyes and ears are possessed by snipers.

By 1917, the British snipers knew that they were effective, and they were on the same level as their German counterparts. Now snipers wear specially made clothes to suit their needs. The so-called "Geely suit" is made of polyester fiber material. Obviously, these materials are actually pieces of sandbags, bundles of cloth strips, hemp rope. Using these things to disguise them will make them look more contoured and blend in with their background. He also chooses to wear a woven 'hat', but he often uses the net to disguise his head, and they often wear mittens on their hands, but they allow him to hold the plate freely. He was armed with a short-magazine Lee • Enfield Mk III rifle.

The use of designated hunting by snipers has become a mainstream in today's view. That is, they have to divide the objectives into levels, starting with the highest level to get the highest combat effect. If General Washington encounters a sniper again today, perhaps he will not encounter a hunter as personable as Ferguson again. Unlike during World War II, as long as the target designated by the superior is killed, the sniper does not have to continue to expand the results even if the mission is completed. Because now snipers have a higher and higher status in the army, they have also become rare and valuable talents, and there is generally no need to let them take risks. The choice of sniper position is much more important than the setting of camouflage, and long-distance hunting with a rifle in a camouflage suit is just a misconception of a sniper, but long-range sniping away from the target during an important mission is still the choice of most snipers, and most training is also based on training.

Of course, this training also has a purpose, that is, for the so-called designated hunting. There are many ways to perform a designated hunt, but the most common method is for a sniper to sneak up to the target's base or the road it is expected to pass through and snipe in an ambush. Although modern sniper rifles almost always have a range of more than 1,000 meters, for greater confidence, within 500 meters may be the best. Because at least the ballistic changes that occur at this distance are not very significant. The arrangement of shooting and retreat routes is often the key to the success or failure of a mission, so the advance exploration and location selection of the mission target area are quite important tasks. The assigned hunt can be performed by 1 person, but it can also be used in groups of 2 people, where one person observes one person to snipe, or two people snipe at the same time, or the secondary shooter makes up another shot if the main shooter fails, of course, the secondary shooter's marksmanship must also be first-class, and always be ready to aim and shoot. As for the choice of main shooter and secondary shooter, one of the main reasons is experience, and generally speaking, people who have performed more sniper missions are more likely to become the main shooter when performing such tasks.

Fourth, the era of rifle scopes

The accuracy of shooting at long distances is considered by the shooter to be the limitation of his ability. While reconnaissance telescopes are useful tools, the same crosshairs were initially of little use in the UK. Before 1914, a simple 2x crosshair could be clipped with a clip. SCOPES SUCH AS COMMONS, LATTEY, MARTIN, ETC., HAVE BEEN TESTED ON LEE•ENFIELD. Their working principle is Galileo's enlargement principle. But their 1.25x size and fragility make them incredibly squeamish, but something is better than nothing. THE FIRST REAL USE WAS APPROVED IN APRIL 1915 BY THE COMPANY PERISCOPIC PRISM FOR 2 TIMES THE PARTS OF THE NO1 MKIII. AND 1914 NO3MKI (T) rifle models. The supply of these guns to the front line provided the snipers with accurate terrain and improved the British snipers. A lieutenant sniper named Ma•Jekam wrote in his diary in 1915: 'With the scope... Unclear objects become clearer, and no time is wasted. I could often see through the telescope a head sticking out of a low parapet, and before I had a crosshair, I tried to lock on to people with a normal rifle, but it was too blurry to see.

In addition to the fact that the Germans used telescope devices in the war, there were still many M1903 "Springfield" rifles equipped with 5.2x reflex scopes. BULKY WARNER &SWASEY ALSO HAS A NUMBER OF UNFORTUNATE DESIGN MISTAKES. These mistakes can cause the eyepiece to bounce backwards very badly on the eyepiece, which can cut the eyepiece off, because... WARNER &SWAMY SAYS IT CAN GET A MAN BACK OUT OF AN INDIAN SMOKE SHOP. The prism can also magnify the dust inside, and a small stone grain from the eyepiece is also like a piece of building a house. It is also affected by moisture, although all crosshairs are more or less affected by the damp conditions and fogging in the trenches. Even the better quality of German crosshairs had these problems, and this problem has been bothering snipers 70 years later.

In terms of technology, there are few more options for sniper weapons used by countries participating in the war. While many arms manufacturers have expressed their ability to provide better, specially designed weapons to their host militaries, the results are often counterproductive. Because in the eyes of the military, the original intention of businessmen is to make profits, and they will only come up with some flashy things to deceive the army's procurement costs. At the time, the most direct argument against the use of specially designed rifles as sniper weapons was their cost. There is no way, the shooters can only choose their own weapons from the old rifles in service to deal with the brutal war. For example, the Maoser 98 was generally considered the best choice at the time due to its good design and long barrel. To a certain extent, it can maintain good shooting accuracy. However, there are many artificial reasons for this very good rifle to equip the troops in large quantities, the main of which is its selection process. Even Maoser rifles made by the same manufacturer must undergo rigorous testing before they can be used as candidates for sniper rifles. At the time of testing, as long as there are several shots with a large dispersion, the gun will be eliminated. In addition to this, it is extremely excellent in all aspects, and it is the most competitive weapon of its type. In addition to the Maoser Type 98 rifle, of course, the British Lee • and Enfield 303. IN. The SMLF rifle is also a compromise, with a relatively shorter barrel design more suitable for use in motorized infantry and mountain combat. In addition, the American M1903 "Springfield" is also a good single-shot manual rifle, which is equipped with 7.62 mm cartridges.

However, there is no process of choosing a gun that is based on the weapon itself, it is all what kind of gun the front-line troops need, and what kind of weapon they are provided with in the rear. As a result, the manufacturer's improvements to some "Springfield" rifles were never able to meet the demand. The reason for this lies in the fact that the front-line troops, due to the different nature of their tasks, put forward completely different requirements. Like units that do not have a special combat mission, they can only use standard rifles in general.

Having a reliable scope is only one part of what makes a good sniper rifle, just as important is the process of assembling the gun. But on the battlefield, there are some factors that are not up to the individual. In the case of the scope base, you may be sure that it is fixed, but it is likely to come loose when you don't even notice it. There is also the maintenance of the firearm before shooting, the force when the trigger is pulled, and so on. In short, having a good gun doesn't necessarily make a good gunner. The handguards of older rifles were made of wood, which swelled when exposed to water, causing a change in the aiming baseline. The mechanics of the gusset and guns are very simple when they leave the factory, and some may be better than others, and it is generally considered that the maoser is the best. Mounting requires force, as being lighter will make it impossible to keep the aiming baseline zero. Germany's Zeiss and Trandall are relatively successful enterprises in the production of gun sights, and snipers in many countries in the world are relieved and satisfied with the scopes produced by these enterprises. In addition, the creativity and objectivity of these manufacturers have led them to win more orders. For example, in addition to producing high-performance scopes, they are also renovating firearms. Their innovation is the use of a hook-foot device, which allows the scope to be fixed to the base of the scope on the receiver with a simple tool multiplier. The known claw device, which is locked in the slot, is mechanically mounted on top of the receiver of the gun. These installations require not only force, but also the best possible position of the scope--- the right eye of the sniper, and the top of the receiver.

The British War Office was clearly plagued by a fear that the snipers were single-handed, and in the face of enemy troops, firmly agreed that all scopes were installed and allowed... This compensatory offsetting requires the shooter to adopt an embarrassing position. Snipers usually only carefully aim and shoot, and then the scope is quickly disassembled, this request of the War Office is very strange, and it also causes a lot of complaints from the sniper units on the front line, and an unforeseen effect is that the standard iron gun hole is used, because the sniper cannot see anything through this hole. PRITCHARD HAS PRACTICAL EXPERIENCE WITH THIS: 'A SNIPER NEXT TO ME HAS A MAUTER RIFLE WITH A SCOPE ON IT, AND WITH THIS HE CAN FIRE THROUGH THE HOLE OF THE GUN... They were still a few yards away from their ditch, and the sniper next to me fired a shot, but two of the snipers were equipped with standard weapons...... They're waiting for the hole... None of them could shoot with their guns at this extreme angle, and there the Germans disappeared. Unlike the German rifles, the scope mounts suitable for British rifles in the early years of the war were not factory designed but made as expediency in wartime, and different manufacturers made suitable for the SMLE and P14, and in general they were not as reliable as the Maoser rifles. These problems were solved in 1918 with the introduction of the NO3.MK.I scope, a P14 Lee • Enfield rifle fitted with the Edson O4 scope. It had a solid scope mount and receiver that fit, and a platform with a scope at the back, which, like the Maoser rifle, also proved to be the best way to combine and gradually spread in later wars.

V. Range and ammunition

When it comes to shooting techniques, much of the information exaggerates about the actual combat capabilities of snipers in World War I, saying that they could shoot at very small or fast-moving targets at considerable distances. In fact, most of the firing in the trenches has a range of less than 200 meters. Snipers did not pick the farthest point from the target to shoot at the time, and in order to be effective, they also had to risk walking closer to the target. In a no-man's land, if a favorable terrain is occupied and camouflaged in place, it is possible for the sniper to be only a few tens of meters away from the target. If a sniper has a sniper position behind his own position, he must aim for the farthest shooting distance, and this is the time for a good hunter to show his talents. Anywhere in 300-500 meters is his firing range. However, it should be pointed out that the expansion of the scope magnification was limited, and the maximum magnification of the scope was already close to the limit of the effective range at that time. In 1915, a report by the German military stated that "the accuracy of a weapon with a scope is best around 300 meters." This shows that the sniper was limited by the conditions at the time and could not play a greater role. At that time, the effective firing range of heavy machine guns was 600-800 meters, and even for ordinary rifles, the effective firing range of 200 meters was easily attainable. This means that the sniper's firing range is about 100 meters farther than that of an ordinary soldier.

The British, who seem to have an innate ability to summarize the concept of distance, believed that shooting a German head at 600 yards was like telling a mythical story, and that it was not good if there was wind, so the farthest shooting distance rarely exceeded 400 meters. The biggest difficulty, of course, is teaching snipers to judge the wind. Shooting a small target of 200 yards in strong winds relies on experience and a lot of guesswork. Skilled snipers like to hunt at dawn and nightfall, when the weather conditions are relatively stable with little or no wind. In addition, the light-concentrating nature of the scope indicates that dawn and dusk can be considered the 'first and last beam of sight light', because there is exactly enough light to select the target. Generally speaking, the best distance for shooting a person with high accuracy is 200 yards, while shooting the body is 400 yards.

On the battlefield, it is better to stay away from those snipers who do not intend to be killed, because very few will survive the effective range of those sniper rifles. Of course, there were very few exceptions, and in April 1917, British soldier Sgfred• and Siegfried Sassoon were lucky to encounter a sniper because he did not become a corpse. According to his recollection: I think what a strange thing that was! It was a reconnaissance mission, and I decided to climb out of the shelter and peek around the village before planning my next move. As soon as my head was raised, my body immediately leaned back, as if someone had struck me the head from behind, and my head was really hanging on my shoulder. But the facts tell me that I was hit by something from the front, and thankfully I was not fatally injured...... In any case, my attitude towards life, towards war, gradually changed, even completely, and I began to hate war and began to oppose it. Truth be told, the soldier was lucky, because the bullet was directed at his head, but it had struck him in the chest and caused only minor injuries.