A sniper is a skilled marksman who operates alone or as part of a team to shoot targets from concealed positions or at distances exceeding the detection capabilities of normal people. Military snipers may operate independently of their parent units. Military snipers typically receive specialized training and use high-precision rifles and optics, and often have sophisticated communication gear to feed combat information back to their units.
In addition to marksmanship, military snipers are trained in camouflage, field craft, infiltration, reconnaissance and observation.[1] Snipers are especially effective when deployed within the terrain of urban warfare, or jungle warfare.
[edit]Etymology
The verb "to snipe" originated in the 1770s among soldiers in British India where a hunter skilled enough to kill the elusive snipe was dubbed a "sniper".[2] The term sniper was first attested in 1824 in the sense of the word "sharpshooter".[2]
Another term, "sharp shooter" was in use in British newspapers as early as 1801. In the Edinburgh Advertiser, 23 June 1801, can be found the following quote in a piece about the North British Militia; "This Regiment has several Field Pieces, and two companies of Sharp Shooters, which are very necessary in the modern Stile of War". The term appears even earlier, around 1781, in Continental Europe.
Another common term used in the United States during the American Civil War was "skirmisher". Throughout history armies have used skirmishers to break up enemy formations and to thwart the enemy from flanking the main body of their attack force.[3] They were deployed individually on the extremes of the moving army primarily to scout for the possibility of an enemy ambush. Consequently, a "skirmish" denotes a clash of small scope between these forces.[4] In general, a skirmish was a limited combat, involving troops other than those of the main body.[3] The term "sniper" was not in widespread use in the United States until after the American Civil War.
[edit]Modern warfare
Different countries use different military doctrines regarding snipers in military units, settings, and tactics. Generally, a sniper's primary function inwarfare is to provide detailed reconnaissance from a concealed position and, if necessary, to reduce the enemy's fighting ability by striking at high value targets (especially officers, communication and other personnel) and in the process pinning down and demoralizing the enemy.[5][6]
Soviet Russian and derived military doctrines include squad-level snipers. See the "Soviet sniper" article for further details.
Military snipers from the US, UK, and other countries that adopt their military doctrine are typically deployed in two-man sniper teams consisting of a shooter and spotter.[7] A common practice is for a shooter and a spotter to take turns in order to avoid eye fatigue.[6] In most recent combat operations occurring in large densely populated towns such as Fallujah, Iraq, two teams would be deployed together to increase their security and effectiveness in an urban environment. A sniper team would be armed with their long range weapon, and a shorter ranged weapon to engage and protect the team should enemies come in close contact. German doctrine of largely independent snipers and emphasis on concealment developed during the Second World War have been most influential on modern sniper tactics, currently used throughout Western militaries (examples are specialized camouflage clothing, concealment in terrain and emphasis on coup d'œil).[8][9][10]
Typical sniper missions include reconnaissance and surveillance, target marking for air-strikes, counter-sniper, killing enemy commanders, selecting targets of opportunity, and even destruction of military equipment, which tend to require use of rifles in the larger calibers such as the .50 BMG, like the Barrett M82, McMillan Tac-50, and Denel NTW-20.[6] Snipers have increasingly been demonstrated as being useful by US and UK forces in the recent Iraq campaign in a fire support role to cover the movement of infantry, especially in urban areas.[6]
[edit]History
Before the development of rifling, firearms were smoothbore and inaccurate over long distance. Barrel rifling was invented at the end of the fifteenth century, but was only employed in large cannons.
[edit]The American Revolution
Sniping occurred on September 19, 1777 at the battle of Saratoga, also known as the Battle of Freeman's Farm, where the Colonists hid in the trees and used early model rifles to shoot British officers. Most notably, Timothy Murphy shot and killed General Simon Fraser of Balnain on October 7, 1777 at a distance of about 400 yards.
During the Battle of Brandywine, Capt. Patrick Ferguson had a tall, distinguished American officer in his rifle's iron sights. Ferguson did not take the shot as the officer had his back to Ferguson, only later did Ferguson learn that George Washington had been on the battlefield that day.
[edit]American Civil War
Both the Union and Confederate armies employed sharpshooters; the most notable incident was during the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House, where, on May 9, 1864, General John Sedgwick, was killed at a range of about 1,000 yards (900 meters) after saying the enemy "couldn't hit an elephant at this distance."
[edit]Second Boer War
The first British sniper unit began life as Lovat Scouts, a Scottish Highland regiment that earned high praise during the Second Boer War (1899–1902).[6]The unit was formed by Lord Lovat and reported to an American, Major Frederick Russell Burnham, the British Army Chief of Scouts under Lord Roberts. Burnham fittingly described these scouts as "half wolf and half jackrabbit.".[11] Just like their Boer scout opponents, these scouts were well practised in the arts of marksmanship, field craft, and military tactics. They were the first known military unit to wear a ghillie suit.[12] They were skilledwoodsmen and practitioners of discretion: "He who shoots and runs away, lives to shoot another day." After the war, this regiment went on to formally become the British Army's first sniper unit, then better known as sharpshooters.[11]
[edit]World War I and World War II
[edit]World War I
During World War I, snipers appeared as deadly sharpshooters in the trenches. At the start of the war, only Imperial Germany had troops that were issued scoped sniper rifles. Although sharpshooters existed on all sides, the Germans specially equipped some of their soldiers with scoped rifles that could pick off enemy soldiers showing their heads out of their trench.[8] At first the French and British believed such hits to be coincidental hits, until the German scoped rifles were discovered.[8] During World War I, the Germans received a reputation for the deadliness and efficiency of their snipers, partly because of the high-quality lenses the Germans could manufacture.[8]
Soon the British army began to train their own snipers in specialized sniper schools. Major Hesketh Hesketh-Prichard was given formal permission to begin sniper training in 1915, and founded the First Army School of Sniping, Observation, and Scouting at Linghem in France in 1916.[13] In 1920, he wrote his account of his war time activities in his book Sniping in France, which is still referenced by modern authors on the subject.[14][15][16] Hesketh-Prichard developed many techniques in sniping, including the use of spotting scopes and working in pairs, and using Kim's Game to train observational skills.[17] On the Eastern Front, Imperial Russia never introduced specialized sharpshooters or snipers, allowing the German snipers to pick off their targets without danger from counter-snipers.[8]
The British did use papier-mâché figures painted to resemble soldiers to draw sniper fire. Some were equipped with rubber surgical tubing so the dummy could "smoke" a cigarette and thus appear realistic. Holes punched in the dummy by enemy sniper bullets then could be used for triangulation purposes to determine the position of the enemy sniper, who could then be attacked with artillery fire.
[edit]Rifles used during World War I
Some common sniper rifles used during the First World War include: the German Mauser Gewehr 98; the British Pattern 1914 Enfield[18] and Lee-Enfield SMLE Mk III, the Canadian Ross Rifle, the American M1903 Springfield, and the Russian M1891 Mosin–Nagant.
[edit]World War II
[edit]European Theatre
During the interbellum, most nations dropped their specialized sniper units, notably the Germans. Effectiveness and dangers of snipers once again came to the fore during the Spanish Civil War. The only nation that had specially trained sniper units during the 1930s was the Soviet Union. Soviet snipers were trained in their skills as marksmen, in using the terrain to hide themselves from the enemy and the ability to work alongside regular forces. This made the Soviet sniper training focus more on "normal" combat situations than those of other nations.
Snipers reappeared as important factors on the battlefield from the first campaign of World War II. During Germany's 1940 campaigns, it appeared that lone, well hidden French and British snipers could halt the German advance for a significant amount of time. For example during the pursuit to Dunkirk, British snipers were able to significantly delay German infantry's advance. This prompted the British to once again increase training of specialized sniper units. Apart from marksmanship British snipers were trained to blend in with the environment, often by using special camouflage clothing for concealment. However, because the British Army offered sniper training exclusively to officers and non-commissioned officers, the number of trained snipers in the combat units considerably reduced overall effectiveness.[9]
During the Winter War, Finnish snipers took a heavy toll of the invading Soviet army. Simo Häyhä is credited with 505 confirmed kills,[19][20] most with the Finnish version of the iron-sighted bolt action Mosin-Nagant.
One of the best known battles involving snipers, and the battle that made the Germans reinstate their specialized sniper training, was the Battle of Stalingrad. Their defensive position inside a city filled with rubble meant that Soviet snipers were able to inflict significant casualties on the Wehrmacht troops. Because of the nature of fighting in city rubble, snipers were very hard to spot and seriously dented the morale of the German attackers. The best known of these snipers was probably Vasily Zaytsev, immortalized in the novel War of the Rats and the subsequent film Enemy At The Gates.
German Scharfschützen were prepared before the war, equipped with Karabiner 98 and later Gewehr 43rifles, but there were often not enough of these weapons available, and as such some were armed with captured scoped Mosin-Nagant 1891/30, SVT or Czech Mauser rifles. The Wehrmacht re-established its sniper training in 1942, drastically increasing the number of snipers per unit with the creation of an additional 31 sniper training companies by 1944. German snipers were as the only snipers in the world at the time issued with purpose manufactured sniping ammunition, known as the 'effect-firing' sS round.[21] The 'effect-firing' sS round featured an extra carefully measured propellant charge and seated a heavy 12.8 gram (198 gr) full metal jacketed boat tail projectile of match grade build quality, lacking usual features such as a seating ring to further improve the already high ballistic coefficient of .584 (G1).[22] For aiming optics German snipers used the Zeiss Zielvier 4x (ZF39) telescopic sight which had bullet drop compensation in 50 m increments for ranges from 100 m up to 800 m or in some variations from 100 m up to 1000 m or 1200 m. There were ZF42, Zielfernrohr 43 (ZF 4), Zeiss Zielsechs 6x and other telescopic sights by various manufacturers like the Ajack 4x, Hensoldt Dialytan 4x and Kahles Heliavier 4x with similar features employed on German sniper rifles. Several different mountings produced by various manufacturers were used for mounting aiming optics to the rifles. In February 1945 the Zielgerät 1229 active infrared aiming device was issued for night sniping with the StG 44 assault rifle.
During the Second World War the title of distinguished sniper was awarded to 261 Red Army snipers with over 50 confirmed kills.[citation needed] 428,335 individuals received Red Army sniper training, including Soviet and non-Soviet partisans, with 9,534 receiving sniping 'higher qualification'. The two six-month training courses in 1942 for women alone trained nearly 55,000 snipers.[23][verification needed] On average there was at least one sniper in an infantry platoon and one in every reconnaissance platoon, including in tank and even artillery units.[verification needed]Some used the PTRD anti-tank rifle with an adapted scope as an early example of an anti-materiel rifle.
In the United States Armed Forces, sniper training was only very elementary and focused on being able to hit targets over long distances. Snipers were required to be able to hit a body over 400 meters away, and a head over 200 meters away. There was almost no concern with the ability to blend into the environment. Sniper training varied from place to place, resulting in a wide range of qualities of snipers. The main reason the US did not extend their training beyond long-range shooting was the limited deployment of US soldiers until the Normandy Invasion. During the campaigns in North Africa andItaly, most fighting occurred in arid and mountainous regions where the potential for concealment was limited, in contrast to Western and Central Europe.
The U.S. Army's lack of familiarity with sniping tactics resulted in disastrous effects in Normandy and the campaign in Western Europe where they encountered well trained German snipers.[8] In Normandy, German snipers remained hidden in the dense vegetation and were able to encircle American units, firing at them from all sides. The American and British forces were surprised by how near the German snipers could safely come and attack them, as well as by their ability to hit targets at up to 1,000m. A notable mistake made by the green American soldiers was to lie down and wait when targeted by German snipers, thus allowing the snipers to pick them off one after another.[8] German snipers often infiltrated Allied lines and sometimes when the front-lines moved, they fought from their sniping positions, refusing to surrender until their rations and munitions were exhausted.
Those tactics were also consequences of changes in German enrollment. After several years of war and heavy losses on East front German army was forced to rely more heavily on enrolling teenage soldiers. Due to lack of training in more complex group tactics and thanks to rifle training provided byHitlerjugend those soldiers would often be used as autonomous left behind snipers. While an experienced sniper would take a few lethal shots and retreat to a safer positions, those young boys, due both to disregard for their own safety and lack of tactical experience would rather cave in and fight until they'd run out of ammo or get taken down. While this tactic would generally end in the demise of the sniper, with a heavy human cost hence the nickname "Suicide Boys" given to those soldiers, this irrational behavior would prove quite disruptive to Allied forces progression.[24]
After World War II, many elements of German sniper training and doctrine were copied by other countries.[8]
[edit]Pacific Theater
In the Pacific War, the Empire of Japan trained snipers. In the jungles of Asia and the Pacific Islands, snipers posed a serious threat to the U.S, British, Canadian and Australian troops. Japanese snipers were specially trained to use the environment to conceal themselves. Japanese snipers used foliage on their uniforms and dug well-concealed hide-outs that were often connected with small trenches. There was no need for long range accuracy because most combat in the jungle took place within a few hundred meters. Japanese snipers were known for their patience and ability to remain hidden for long periods. They almost never left their carefully camouflaged hiding spots. This meant that whenever a sniper was in the area, the location of the sniper could be determined after the sniper had fired a few shots. The Allies used their own snipers in the Pacific, notably the U.S. Marines, who used M1903 Springfield rifles.
[edit]Rifles used during World War II
Some common sniper rifles used during the Second World War include: the Soviet M1891/30 Mosin Nagant and, to a lesser extent, the SVT-40; the GermanMauser Karabiner 98k and Gewehr 43; the British Lee-Enfield No. 4 and Pattern 1914 Enfield; the Japanese Arisaka 97; the American M1903A4 Springfield andM1C Garand; to a lesser extent, the Italians trained few snipers and supplied them with a scoped Carcano Model 1891.
[edit]Range
[edit]Longest recorded sniper kills
Main article: Longest recorded sniper kills
The longest range recorded for a sniper kill was 2,815 m (3,079 yd) by an unknown Australian sniper assigned to the Australian 2nd Commando Regiment. It happened in an engagement in 2012 in which the sniper used a Barrett M82A1 chambered in .50 BMG.[25]
The QTU Lapua external ballistics software,[26] using continuous doppler drag coefficient (Cd) data provided by Lapua,[27]predicts that such shots traveling 2,475 m (2,707 yd) would likely have struck their targets after nearly 6.0 seconds of flight time, having lost 93% of their kinetic energy, retaining 255 m/s (840 ft/s) of their original 936 m/s (3,070 ft/s) velocity, and having dropped 121.39 m (4,779 in) or 2.8° from the original bore line. Due to the extreme distances and travel time involved, even a light cross-breeze of 2.7 m/s (6.0 mph) would have diverted such shots 9.2 m (360 in) off target, which would have required compensation. The calculation assumes a flat-fire scenario, utilizing British military custom high pressure .338 Lapua Magnum cartridges, loaded with 16.2 g (250 gr) Lapua LockBase B408 bullets, fired at 936 m/s (3,071 ft/s) muzzle velocity[28] under the following on-site (average) atmospheric conditions: barometric pressure: 1,019 hPa (30.1 inHg) at sea-level equivalent or 899 hPa (26.5 inHg) on-site, humidity: 25.9%, and temperature: 15 °C (59 °F) in the region for November 2009,[29] resulting in an air density ρ = 1.0854 kg/m3 at the 1,043 m (3,422 ft) elevation of Musa Qala.
CoH Craig Harrison mentions in reports that the environmental conditions were perfect for long range shooting, no wind, mild weather, clear visibility. Mr. Tom Irwin, a director of Accuracy International, the British manufacturer of the L115A3 rifle, said: "It is still fairly accurate beyond 1,500 m (1,640 yd), but at that distance luck plays as much of a part as anything."
[edit]Police
Law enforcement snipers, commonly called police snipers, and military snipers differ in many ways, including their areas of operation and tactics. A police sharpshooter is part of a police operation and usually takes part in relatively short missions. Police forces typically deploy such sharpshooters inhostage scenarios. This differs from a military sniper, who operates as part of a larger army, engaged in warfare. In the United States, police snipers are sometimes deployed with a SWAT alongside negotiators and an assault team trained for close quarters combat. As policemen, they are trained to shoot only as a last resort, when there is a direct threat to life; the US police sharpshooter rule is: "Be prepared to take a life to save a life."[30] Police snipers typically operate at much shorter ranges than military snipers, generally under 100 metres (109 yd) and sometimes even less than 50 metres (55 yd). Both types of snipers do make difficult shots under pressure, and often kill people with one shot.
US police units that are unequipped for tactical operations may rely on a specialized SWAT team, which may have a dedicated sniper.[30] Some police sniper operations begin with military assistance.[31] Police snipers placed in vantage points, such as high buildings, can provide security for events.[32] In one high-profile incident, Mike Plumb, a SWAT sniper in Columbus, Ohio, prevented a suicide by shooting a revolver out of the individual's hand, leaving him unharmed.[33]
The need for specialized training for police sharpshooters was made apparent in 1972 during the Munich massacre when the German police could not deploy specialized personnel or equipment during the standoff at the airport in the closing phase of the crisis, and consequently all of the Israeli hostages were killed. The German police only had regular police who were selected if they did hunting as a hobby.[citation needed] While the German army did have snipers in 1972, the use of snipers of the German army in the scenario was impossible due to the German constitution's explicit prohibition of the use of the military in domestic matters. This situation was later addressed with the founding of the specialized police counter-terrorist unit GSG 9.
[edit]Training
Military sniper training aims to teach a high degree of proficiency in camouflage and concealment, stalking, observation and map reading as well as precision marksmanship under various operational conditions. Trainees typically shoot thousands of rounds over a number of weeks, while learning these core skills.
Snipers are trained to squeeze the trigger straight back with the ball of their finger, to avoid jerking the gun sideways.[6] The most accurate position isprone, with a sandbag supporting the stock, and the stock's cheek-piece against the cheek.[6] In the field, a bipod can be used instead. Sometimes asling is wrapped around the weak arm (or both) to reduce stock movement.[6] Some doctrines train a sniper to breathe deeply before shooting, then hold their lungs empty while they line up and take their shot.[6] Some go further, teaching their snipers to shoot between heartbeats to minimize barrel motion.[6]
[edit]Accuracy
The key to sniping is accuracy, which applies to both the weapon and the shooter. The weapon should be able to consistently place shots within tight tolerances.[6] The sniper in turn must utilize the weapon to accurately place shots under varying conditions.[6]
A sniper must have the ability to accurately estimate the various factors that influence a bullet's trajectory and point of impact such as: range to the target, wind direction, wind velocity, altitude and elevation of the sniper and the target and ambient temperature. Mistakes in estimation compound over distance and can decrease lethality or cause a shot to miss completely.[6]
Snipers zero their weapons at a target range or in the field. This is the process of adjusting the scope so that the bullet's points-of-impact is at the point-of-aim (centre of scope or scope's cross-hairs) for a specific distance.[6] A rifle and scope should retain its zero as long as possible under all conditions to reduce the need to re-zero during missions.[6]
A sandbag can serve as a useful platform for shooting a sniper rifle, although any soft surface such as a rucksack will steady a rifle and contribute to consistency.[6] In particular, bipods help when firing from a prone position, and enable the firing position to be sustained for an extended period of time. Many police and military sniper rifles come equipped with an adjustable bipod.[6] Makeshift bipods known as shooting sticks can be constructed from items such as tree branches or ski poles.[6]
Range and accuracy vary depending on the cartridge and specific ammunition types that are used. Typical ranges for common battle field cartridges:
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