Produced from the contributions of leading specialists in the field, this book provides the most faceted study of snipers during WWII. The sniper of WWII descended from the earliest shooters, firing from places of concealment and, more recently, from the snipers of WWI who were the scourge of the trenches. – Highly Recommended.
NAME: The Sniper Anthology, Snipers of the Second World War FILE: R3143 AUTHOR: Adrian Gilbert, Tom C McKenney,Dan Mills, Roger Moorhouse, Tim Newark, Martin Pegler, Charles W Sasser, Mark Spicer, Leroy Thompson, John B Tonkin PUBLISHER: frontline books, Pen & Sword BINDING: soft back PRICE: £9.99 GENRE: Non Fiction SUBJECT: WWII, World War II, World War 2, World War Two, Second World War, snipers, riflemen, marksmen, rifles, custom rifles, sights, scope sights, telescopic sights, ammunition, hand loaded ammunition, long range shooting, sniper teams ISBN: 1-52676-069-X PAGES: 206 IMAGE: B3143.jpg BUYNOW: tinyurl.com/ts4579s DESCRIPTION: Produced from the contributions of leading specialists in the field, this book provides the most faceted study of snipers during WWII. The sniper of WWII descended from the earliest shooters, firing from places of concealment and, more recently, from the snipers of WWI who were the scourge of the trenches. – Highly Recommended. In the early days of firearms, the sniper was using a weapon with limited range and accuracy, requiring him to find a place of concealment close to the target. In that he was following archers who were tasked with taking out high value targets. When James the Bastard, half brother of Mary Queen of Scots, was assassinated by a sniper using a hackbut and stone bullet, the shooter was firing from concealment less than 50 metres away from his target. By the Napoleonic Wars, the art of sniping had advanced, the Baker rifle giving British Army 'Chosen Men' a significant advantage. The Baker rifle achieved a range and level of accuracy well beyond what the musket could offer. It had a lower rate of fire and required the user to be carefully selected and trained. In effect, the Baker rifles were carefully selected from those shipped out to the troops and partnered with soldiers who, in the main, were skirmishers and reconnaissance troops from Light Companies. They proved very successful in Portugal and Spain with Wellington's Army and were frequently used to take out French officers and NCOs, leaving French units without the commanders to engage the main British Army and its muskets in close combat. By WWI, snipers had evolved further, but were typically armed with the same standard bolt-action rifles used by other troops and usually with standard iron sights. In most cases, the more effective shooters were used from the trenches to take out any soldier who put his head above the parapet. That changed during WWII with all armies using snipers to take out high value targets and targets of opportunity. Usually, they were firing from concealment and using standard issue rifles, although the firearms may have been carefully selected from available stock. The sniper was usually carefully selected for his marksmanship and trained in the art of firing with precision from concealment at extended range. In the siege of Stalingrad Soviet snipers proved highly effective and the Germans responded by employing their own snipers. In these contests, the snipers were often operating on their own as hunters and the game rifle was often used in place of the standard army issue, equipped with a telescopic sight and using carefully selected or hand loaded ammunition. The team of authors has covered an extensive selection of facets of the snipers working during WWII. Although modest in size, this volume contains a mine of information and good illustration in support.