German Sniping Practice On The Eastern Front

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American shooters are familiar with Carlos Hathcock's and Chris Kyle's exploits as snipers, but far less familiar with the fieldcraft and experiences of German snipers on the Eastern Front during WW II. Sniping was a desultory practice before WW II, but developed into a high military art form on the Eastern Front. Both the Germans and Russians emphasized sniping and developed regular sniper instruction schools. Much of American post war sniping practice was cribbed from Soviet manuals, which in turn reflected lessons the Germans and Russians taught each other.

Phil Zimmer has posted a very long form article at the Warfare History Network on the history of Josef “Sepp” Allerberger and Matthaus Hetzenauer, two Austrians who were among the highest performing snipers in the Wehrmacht. The post is, to a great extent, an extended review of books published under their names. Fairly certain that the books were ghost written, but written by capable writers who interviewed the subjects extensively.

The books, like the Warfare History Network post, go far beyond just firearms and ammunition into the fieldcraft, tactics, and strategy of sniping. Even Zimmer's Warfare History Network post is far too long to parse here, but you can read it there if you have a few minutes to spare. Note: no political content whatsoever in either the post or the books. Here is the lede:

https://warfarehistorynetwork.com/da...erman-snipers/

A Tale of Two German Snipers
Phil Zimmer • June 21, 2019

The three Soviet tanks edged forward slowly as the drivers scanned for the concealed Germans that lay ahead. The lead tank suddenly clanked to a stop and swung its long barrel around. It looked much like one of Hannibal’s elephants with its trunk raised, sniffing the air before its planned lunge forward toward the hapless enemy.

The Wehrmacht troops were in a precarious situation. They lacked air support there as the Soviets mounted a heavy attack in mid-August 1943 along the length of the Donets Front in eastern Ukraine.

Antitank panzerfausts were not available to the 3rd Gebirgsjager (Mountain) Division, and the unit had few, if any, sticky charges to blow the tracks from the Soviet T-34 tanks. All they had were their wits and their bolt-action Mauser rifles against the three steel titans that loomed in front of them with scores of Red Army soldiers trailing.

Suddenly, the lead tank’s hatch opened about 10 inches and a head appeared with binoculars to scan the scene. Sniper Josef “Sepp” Allerberger brought the Soviet tanker’s head into the center of his scope, and at some 500 feet he squeezed off a round. A splat of blood hit the hatch as the head sank into the bowels of the tank.

That single shot marked the beginning of yet another wild melee on the Eastern Front. The tanks lobbed a few shots toward the German positions, but after a few minutes they gunned their engines and left the field to the exposed and largely doomed Soviet riflemen who did not fare well against the well-entrenched Germans.

The battle might have gone the other way had it not been for the young 19-year-old Austrian sniper who singlehandedly changed the course of the engagement by likely taking out the commander of the three tanks. His timely, well-aimed bullet negated the Soviets’ heavy initial advantage in firepower and maneuverability.

Snipers have often been “force multipliers” in warfare with their ability to take out key military leaders or crucial signal and communications officers. For example, the course of the crucial Battle of Saratoga in the American Revolution was dramatically changed when an American sniper killed British General Simon Fraser at a distance of some 300 yards. During the American Civil War, Union General John Sedgwick fatally fell to a sniper’s round at the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House just after he remarkably stated the enemy “couldn’t hit an elephant at this distance.”

Allerberger and Matthaus Hetzenauer, another skilled Austrian sniper in the same division, were officially credited with killing more than 600 enemy soldiers during the Soviet advance toward Berlin in the latter stages of World War II. And their sniper totals did not include scores and scores of Soviets who fell to their rapid-fire machine pistol efforts during numerous determined and often foolish Russian frontal assaults.....

Start reading and you won't quit until the end of the post. The books are also compelling for anyone who has seen or handled German WW II sniping equipment.

Another Wehrmacht sniper who actually wrote his own memoirs, Bruno Sutkus, was a Lithuanian with a much briefer period of service in the field. Sutkus was a quick study and possibly the highest skilled sniper on the Eastern Front. His memoir is also notable because in its second part he discusses the aftermath of the war and his many difficulties with the Soviet authorities, despite concealing his war service. This does result in some political content, but not a glorification of the German WW II regime.

Unfortunately, we have little of equal quality on Red Army snipers on the Eastern Front beyond the post war manuals. Most of the memoirs are obvious propaganda and probably inventions. A shame, because the German snipers had high praise for some of their Soviet adversaries.

[red442joe]

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