The world of real snipers in 1914

1. Infantry practice

In 1914, after months of struggle, the war slowly entered a deadlock, and both sides had fallen into a war of attrition, and the trench became a paradise for snipers. The Germans had excellent skills in this regard. At the end of the same year, they occupied the unmanned area. Like Langton, a soldier of the 7th Division of the British Artillery, recorded in his post-war memoirs, this innocuous skill led to unwelcome attention. He wrote: On the evening of February 3, 1915, he was seen standing in an empty place, a sniper shot and shot bullets and died immediately; with a luminous light

Functional watches are also very dangerous, because in dark fields, you can see such fluorescence from a distance; the sniper's gun technique is very accurate, and only a few sniper's bullets will whistle past us, and most of them will hit something. The quarantine in charge of the Royal Engineer's unit told us that this was caused by the watch and suggested that we put it in our pockets. A British sniper instructor believed that any part of a human body would cause a fatal shot from a German sniper. The Germans believed that they did not seem to be short of targets in this regard.

In 1914, British troops demonstrated the method of claiming to be the fastest and best rifleman in any country in the world. Everyone can aim at the target within 1 minute to shoot 15 consecutive times in a minute. If the battle continues, using this skill can win the war within six months. But this is not the case. Training fast gunners in Britain rarely explain the relationship with precise shooting. Most fast gunners are simply unable to deal with the threats brought to them by German snipers. What’s worse, except for some marked regional signs and severe warnings received from veterans, most soldiers

The soldiers still don’t understand what dangers are for snipers. In order to satisfy their curiosity, some new recruits couldn’t help but peek outside the low guard wall in the trench. A bullet hit his head and fell down weakly. Any day in 1915, there would be 12 to 18 people in a single battalion because of this. In 1915, a region near AUBERS RIDE was mainly Germans. A German sniper was bored. In order to find happiness, he would shoot a large cross on the wall of a destroyed hut behind the British front line for several consecutive days without being discovered by the enemy and being punished.

The large loss of manpower and the continuous death of people have brought mental pressure to the troops began to worry the frontline officers. The main part of dealing with those annoying snipers is to bomb the positions where there are suspected snipers, and bomb the positions where there are assumptions and they think there are snipers to show that the artillery has enough bullets.

But this is limited to hope. Many officers, like the CRUSI of the royal rifle unit, eventually became the target of Boers' attacks in the South African War, and they also better realized the value of snipers.

Later, CROM wrote: I left a long impression on me when I visited the trench.

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No matter where I go to the ditch, the sandbags on it will be cracked by bullets, the telescope will be broken, and the bullets hit our people on the iron plates inserted on the low guard wall make a sound.

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As soon as the colonel lifted the periscope, the bullet flew over immediately, splashing mud on his face.

The question for Britain was how to find and train enough snipers to seek revenge from the Germans. In the German troops, many farmers were farming, who carried rifled shotguns equipped with scopes before the war. They had extensive experience in shooting skills and camouflage. People used it. Unlike Britain, hunting was a common leisure sport. The vast forest also provided a place for hunting, so using guns with scopes was more common than those used by the British. In the UK, hunting with guns was an entertainment event in the upper class. Royals, nobles, and gentlemen had the time and enough money to participate in this elegant and brutal sport. Only a few large safaris and mountain deer hunters had such experience in using scopes and using such weapons.

Therefore, as soon as the war broke out, the German part could quickly requisition hundreds of rifles suitable for precision shooting, and also distribute more than 15,000 maoSe98 rifles and trained and available snipers. Some of these people spent their entire lives working as hunters in the forest or began to learn hunting from children. They were familiar with and mastered terrain and mastery of terrain much more than ordinary soldiers, and were better at pursuing the importance of geographical location to their advantages and the effectiveness of camouflage.

In addition, patience is required. The Germans have long encouraged the people with the best shooting results in the camp to gather together for closed training. The snipers in the camp are usually composed of 24 people, and they can freely choose their shooting positions. Therefore, the group of people is like wandering in an unmanned area, launching hunting-like sniper operations, adding casualties and fear to the British and French. However, these people are also fragile and cowardly. When they fire in the trenches, they will use a metal plate with shooting holes inserted on a low wall.

This also reflects another difficult problem for British snipers, that is, British snipers are not equipped with special gun bullets that can wear enemy helmets. Initially, they could only retaliate with rifles with privately obtained large-caliber and high-speed hunting. Most of the guns have a caliber of 35IN and can penetrate iron.

2. British sniper training

In 1915, to remedy this problem, the British also made a temporary attempt. The War Office purchased 52 sports rifles from commercial suppliers and distributed them to British snipers. Although they were behind, this was also improved by the insistence of experienced rifle officers such as CRUM, HHESKETH-PRITCHARD, NAARMSTORNG and others. HESKETH-PRITCHARD, a strong advocate of the pre-war hunter sniper art, he soon realized that most of the guns equipped with telescopes were used, but they lacked the basic knowledge of guns and even how to zero them. Most snipers never received adjustment scopes.

Formal guidance and training. It is no wonder that 60% of the rifles assigned to 1915 were considered unable to perform on the battlefield within a month, because they would not use more complex scope systems. For those with lower education, the process of putting the contour of the target into the cross mark was simple, but it was so bad to accurately hit the enemy's vitals. What's worse was that there was no training in camouflage and practical tactics. PRITCHARD pointed out that when he was patrolling the front line early, he observed how a British sniper quickly lifted his gun over the low guard wall and shot at the German front... a way to ensure he had a shorter service career.

Under the pressure of some like-minded officers, the senior officials began to agree to organize and train their own snipers, which not only allowed Tara to compete to control unmanned areas, but also reduced casualties and increased morale. Therefore, with the support of the commander of the troops, the first "Shooen-Shooen-Armed Forces" school was established in 1915, and then the second sniper school of the military was also established. The 17-day training outline of these schools established standards for today's sniper training, and the maintenance of rifles and scopes was also clearly stated at the time. Using general service rifles, shooting various targets were focused on accuracy and response speed.

This is not only theories of how to reset the gun to zero, but also measurement distance and wind power... These are the most difficult skills that need to be learned until now, and sometimes they can even deceive experienced snipers. The use of observation and observation mirrors is also applied with the interpretation of the map. Patrol, reconnaissance, including land cover, camouflage and sniper position construction, theory and practical work are rigorously inspected. It was found that many good target shooters are generally not suitable for sniper training, because their nerves are always consistent with silence shooting, rather than moving targets and killing them. This is not surprising at all. The most successful sniper should be the deer shooter and the game hunter.

Although the shooting is good, it is not necessary to hunt the hunters of Leeds. Major Armstrong became the commander of the second school, and he concluded that the best gunmen were the inconspicuous hunters, explorers, surveyors, loggers and even poachers. The best natural snipers can be found among Australians, Canadians, and iron-killed South Africans. Some of them came from the countryside, where they believed that guns were necessary tools, and that food and sports were necessary to do every day. But soon after, the sniper school also trained a group of excellent snipers, who did not have the backgrounds mentioned by Armstrong. In France and Flanders, snipers began to have a meaningful impact on morale. GALLIOLI landed in June 1915

The French deadlock was soon turned into a microcosm. Except for less than 100 yards of the ditch, the British, Australian, and New Zealand troops were all facing the Turkish enemies, and the enemy proved that they were stronger and more competitive than they thought. The Turks had many excellent sharpshooters, and in addition to not having the strength to equip rifles, they also made the days of the invaders very sad. Writer Herbert watched the results of their professional skills improvement on the day: ‘…We lost 12 people every day; they fell… were shot through their heads, lying in the soil as if snoring; suddenly howled at night, the soldiers kept turning to the side of the moon. The Alliance also had no right to use suitable sniper rifles, so snipers could only be in open and vast places... This was a mission, in that of the excellent kangaroo shooter in Australia.

Although some people have good shooting qualities, this does not make them snipers, not sharpshooters. Australians seem to do better than Americans in this regard, but perhaps the best record of shooters is the Indian Bere in Queensland. He is regarded as a short, never doubtful person, and he is considered unusual in perfect partnerships. He keeps up with a trend without knowing it, and he begins to herald a partnership for the next century. In addition to being a natural sniper, he is also very patient, and he can keep out his fire until his observation partner thinks that the person they are going to kill will definitely kill, and he will not shoot when the fire is opened.

3. British sniper tactics

The British can be said to be a country that carried out modern sniper operations earlier. In early 1915, Britain began to organize its own sniper battalions, including 16 snipers, 1 sergeant, and a corporal, which was the same number as the German army. Snipers were forgiven for not having to perform normal trench duties. They could be at any position they thought were useful. They could climb to any disguised position in the unmanned area or divide the German line into several parts, or even monitor the enemy's movements in one day and collect intelligence. British snipers are different from German snipers. Germans use binoculars and often work alone, while snipers teach English van snipers to work together. Snipers and observers work alternately to avoid eyes.

Fatigue. They use 20x observation lenses to train how to use them correctly, but only know that they are different from long-distance reconnaissance. LOVATSCOUTS people teach these visual training. This is a group of 200 people, mainly grown by highland hunters or safari guides. Their observational power is legendary, and if visibility allows, they have the ability to use a telescope to see the movements of enemies 10 miles away. Their experience in tracking deer shows that they can recognize hidden invisible targets, and even trained snipers like D once said: "If they report something, it will be like they report it."

Disguise became a very important factor in snipers. A new term "Gilli suit" (a common saying by snipers) became synonymous with snipers at that time. They used this term for many years. "Gilli suit" refers to people wearing loose burlap robes, covered with brown feathers, green grass mixed with the surrounding scenery. In this way, people outside 10 feet are not easy to recognize them. During World War II, this clothing became the favorite clothing of British snipers, and this clothing was adopted by almost every country.

It is also very popular, it is very light, cool and easy to obtain. Snipers have also discovered other effective methods of hiding. Tree holes, forged cattle, hollowed-out logs, earthen castles, shrub vegetation, etc. can all become their ideal hidden places. At the end of World War I, the strategic role of the snipers has expanded to reconnaissance. The movements of the army, the position of artillery, the position of machine guns or the position of orders, and the identity of the enemy troops are all essential information for the headquarters. Their eyes and ears are all possessed by snipers.

By 1917, British snipers had known that their work was very effective, and they had already had the same position as their German counterparts. Now snipers wore special clothes to suit their needs. The so-called "Geely suit" used polyester fiber materials. Obviously, these materials were actually fragments of sandbags, bundles of cloth strips, and hemp ropes. Using these things to disguise them can make the other party look more contoured and mixed with their background. He also chose to wear woven "hats", but he often used that kind of net to disguise his head; their hands often wore mittens but allowed him to clamp the plate machine freely. He was equipped with a Li Enfield MkIII rifle with a short bullet casing.

Today, snipers' use of designated hunting methods has become a mainstream trend. That is, they want to divide the target into levels, starting from the highest level to obtain the highest combat effect. If General Washington meets snipers again today, he may not encounter a hunter with a graceful attitude like Ferguson. Unlike the combat methods during World War II, as long as the target designated by the superior is killed by the sniper, even if the mission is completed, the snipers do not have to continue to expand the results. Because the current snipers are becoming increasingly high in the army, they have also become rare and valuable talents. Generally speaking, there is no need to let them take risks. Choosing a sniper position is much more important than setting up camouflage objects. Long-distance hunting with rifles in camouflage uniforms is just an error impression of ordinary people on snipers. However, long-range snipers who are far away from the target in important tasks are still the choice of most snipers, and most training is also used to train.

Of course, this kind of training also has a purpose, which is for the so-called designated hunting. There are many ways to execute designated hunting. The common method is for snipers to sneak to the target base or on the road they are expected to pass through to snipers in an ambush. Although the range of modern sniper rifles is almost more than 1,000 meters, in order to gain greater confidence, the effect within 500 meters may be the best. Because at least the ballistic changes occur in the bullets within this distance are not very large. The arrangement of shooting and retreat routes is often the key to the success or failure of the mission, so the mission

The preliminary exploration and location selection of the target area are very important homework. The designated hunting mission can be performed by one person, and it is also applicable to a 2-person group. One person observes one person to snipe, or two people snipe at the same time, or the deputy shooter makes another shot when the main shooter fails to succeed. Of course, the deputy shooter's shooting technique must also be first-class, and the state of being ready to aim and shoot at any time. As for the choice of the main shooter and the deputy shooter, the most important reason is experience. Generally speaking, people who have performed more sniper tasks have a higher chance of becoming the main shooter when performing such tasks.

Four, the age of scopes of rifles

The accuracy of shooting at long distances is considered by the shooter to be limited by his ability. Although reconnaissance telescopes are useful tools, the same sights were not very useful in the UK at first. Simple 2x sights before 1914 can be clipped on clips. Scopes such as COMMONS, LATTEY, and MARTIN have been tested on Lee Enfield. Their working principle is Galileo's expansion principle. However, their 1.25x expansion and fragility make them extremely delicate, but there is always better than not. The first time it was real to use it was 1915

The 2x component produced by PERISCOPICPRISM, approved in April 2014, is suitable for NO1MKⅢ and NO3MKI(T) rifle models. These guns are supplied to the front line to provide accurate terrain for snipers, which improves British snipers. A lieutenant sniper named Ma; Jekem wrote in his diary in 1915: 'With a scope... unclear objects become clear and time will not be wasted. I often see a head sticking out of a low guard through a telescope. Before there was no sight, I tried to lock people with a normal rifle, but that was too blurry to see clearly.

In addition to the Germans who participated in the war, the Americans were still the Americans, and they still had many M1903 "Springfield" rifles equipped with 5.2x reflective scopes. BULKYWARNER&SWASEY also had many unfortunate design errors. These errors can cause the eyepiece to be shot backwards to hit the eyebrow, which can cut the eyebrow off because...WARNER&SWASEY said: It can make a retreating person come out of the Indian cigarette shop. The prism can also enlarge the dust in it. From the eyebrow, a small stone grain is like a building. It is also affected by moisture, although all the sights will be more or less affected by the wet conditions and fog in the trench. Even the better quality sights in Germany also have these problems, which always bother snipers 70 years later.

In terms of technology, there are few more choices for sniper weapons used by participating countries. Although many weapon manufacturers have shown their ability to provide better and specially designed weapons to the military of their country, the results are often counterproductive. Because in the eyes of soldiers, the original intention of merchants is to win profits, and they will only take out some flashy things to deceive the army's procurement costs. At that time, the most direct reason for opposing the use of specially designed rifles as sniper weapons was its cost. There is no way, and shooters can only choose weapons that suit them from the old-fashioned rifles to deal with the cruel war. For example, the maoSe98 was generally considered the best choice at that time because it had good quality design technology and long barrels. It can maintain good shooting accuracy to a certain extent. However, if you want to

There are many human reasons for this very excellent rifle to be equipped with a large number of troops, the most important of which is its selection process. Even the maoSe rifles produced by the same manufacturer must undergo rigorous testing before they can be prepared to be used as candidates for sniper rifles. During the test, as long as there are several shots and large guns, they will be eliminated. In addition, it is extremely excellent in all aspects and is the most competitive of the same type of weapons. Of course, in addition to the maoSe 98 rifle, the British Lee Enfield 303.IN.SMLF rifle is also a compromise. Relatively speaking, the shorter barrel design is more suitable for the use of mobile infantry and mountain combat. In addition, the American M1903 "Springfield" is also a single-shot manual rifle with good performance, which is equipped with 7.62 mm bullets.

However, there is no process of choosing a gun based on the weapon itself. It is all about what kind of guns the front-line troops need and what kind of weapons they provide later. This has led to the manufacturers' improvements to some "Springfield" rifles that have never met more needs. The reason is that the requirements put forward by the front-line troops are completely different due to the different nature of the missions. For example, troops without special combat missions can only use general standard rifles.

Equipping a reliable scope only forms part of a good sniper rifle, just as important as the assembly process of the gun. But some factors on the battlefield are not something that can be determined by individuals. Take the scope base as an example. Maybe you are sure it is fixed, but it is likely to loosen when you are unintentionally done. There are also maintenance of the gun before shooting, the power of the trigger, etc. In short, a good gun may not necessarily become a good gunman. The guardrails of old-fashioned rifles are made of wood, and they expand as soon as they are touched, causing the aiming baseline to change. The mechanical devices of the buckle plates and guns are very simple when they leave the factory. Some may be better than others. It is generally believed that the installation requires force, because a lighter will prevent it from maintaining the aiming baseline.

Zero. Germany's Zeiss and Trandall are relatively successful companies that produce gun scopes. Snipers in many countries around the world feel assured and satisfied with the scopes produced by these companies. In addition, the creativity and objective spirit of these manufacturers have made them get more orders. For example, in addition to producing scopes with excellent performance, they are also undergoing gun modifications. The use of hooking devices is their innovation, so that the scope can be fixed to the scope base on the receiver through a simple tool. The claw device known is locked in the groove, and the mechanical device is installed on the top of the receiver. These installations require not only force, but also the scope must be placed in the best position - the right eye of the sniper, and the top of the receiver is connected into a wire.

The British War Office was obviously troubled by a fear, which was used by the snipers alone. Facing the enemy troops, they firmly agreed that all scopes were installed and allowed... Forbidden, this compensation offset required the shooter to adopt an embarrassing posture. Snipers usually only aim and shoot carefully, and the scope was quickly opened. This requirement of the War Office was strange and caused continuous complaints from the frontline sniper troops. An unforeseen impact was that the standard iron gun hole was used because the sniper could not see anything from this hole. PRITCHARD has practical experience in using this: 'A sniper next to me had a MAUTER rifle with a scope on it, and with this he could fire through the gun hole... They still had a few yards before they reached their ditch, and the sniper next to me opened a

The gun, but there were two snipers equipped with standard weapons... They were waiting for the hole... None of them could shoot at this extreme angle with their guns, where the Germans disappeared. Unlike German rifles, the scope seats suitable for British rifles in the early days of the war were not designed by factories but made by expedient wartime. Different manufacturers made suitable for SMLE and P14, and generally they were not as reliable as the maother rifle. In 1918, these problems were solved with the introduction of NO3.MK.I scopes, which were a P14 Lee; Enfield rifle equipped with an Ederson O4 scope. It has a solid scope seat and receiver, and the scope platform is very suitable. It is like the maother rifle. It also proves that this is the best way to combine and gradually promote it in later wars.

Five, range and ammunition

Involving shooting technology, many data exaggeratedly describe the actual combat capabilities of snipers in World War I, saying that they can shoot extremely small or fast moving targets from quite far away. In fact, most shooting ranges in trenches are less than 200 meters. Snipers did not choose the farthest place to shoot at the time. In order to achieve the effectiveness of shooting, they had to venture closer to the target. In an unmanned area, if they occupy favorable terrain and camouflage it in place, the sniper may be only a few dozen meters away from the target. If the sniper sets up a sniper position behind his position, he must pursue the farthest shooting distance, which is an excellent time.

When the hunter showed his talent, his shooting range was anywhere from 300 to 500 meters. However, it should be pointed out that the expansion of scope magnification was limited. At that time, the maximum scope magnification was close to the limit of the effective range. In 1915, a report from the German military pointed out that "the accuracy of weapons with scopes was about 300 meters. This shows that snipers could not play a greater role due to the limitations of the conditions at that time. At that time, the effective range of heavy machine guns was 600 to 800 meters. Even for ordinary rifles, the effective range of 200 meters was easily achieved. This means that the shooting range of snipers was about 100 meters away than that of ordinary soldiers.

The British seem to have a natural ability to summarize the concept of distance. They believe that shooting a German head at 600 yards is like telling a myth. If there is wind, it will be bad, so the farthest shooting distance is rarely more than 400 meters. Of course, the biggest difficulty is to teach snipers to judge wind power. Shooting small targets with 200 yards in strong winds depends on experience and guesswork. Snipers with good skills like to perform hunting missions at dawn and nightfall, because the weather conditions are relatively stable at that time, with only a little breeze or no wind. In addition, the concentration of the scope indicates that dawn and dusk can be considered as the first and last beams of scope lights because there was enough light to select the target at that time. Generally speaking, the best distance for shooting people with high accuracy is 200 yards, while shooting the body is 400 yards.

On the battlefield, it is best to stay away from the snipers for those who do not intend to be victims, because few people survived within the effective range of those sniper rifles. Of course, there are very few exceptions. In April 1917, British soldier Siegfried Sassoon was lucky to meet a sniper because he did not become a corpse. According to his recollection mission, I thought it was a strange thing! It was a reconnaissance mission, and I decided to climb out of the hidden object and peek around the surrounding villages, and then plan for the next move. My head
Chapter completed!