SNIPER HISTORY-VASSILI ZAITSEV
"ENEMY AT THE GATES"
THE TRUE STORY
by Thomas Bruner,
copyright 2001 SniperӒs Paradise
In modern history theres never been
a battle so dominated by snipers, as was Stalingrad, the 1942 high-water
mark of German conquest in Russia. By October 1942, the Germans had
seized nine-tenths of the city, which artillery had so reduced to rubble
that the Reichs weary soldiers called the fighting "Rattenkrieg," or
the "War of the Rats." Combatants on both sides tunneled,
scurried, and hid in the ruins of once enormous industrial plants and
whole blocks of collapsed apartment buildings. It was a snipers haven.The
premier Soviet sniper at Stalingrad was Vasili/Vassili/ Zaitsev, who
had been a shepherd in the Ural Mountains. In his first 10 days of
shooting, Zaitsev killed 40 Germans. When his tally neared 100, he
became the focus of a Soviet propaganda campaign as the living epitome
of Russian resistance.It was inevitable that Berlin would strike back.
Dispatched to Stalingrad was the commandant of the Sniper School at
Zossen, Major Koning/Konig to kill Vasili. Vasili was alerted. Focusing
his search along a narrow front in his area of operation, the Red October
factory district, he and his spotter, Nikolai Kulikov, finally observed
the top of a German helmet creeping along a trench. Vasili realized
it was a trick, because the helmet some how moved unevenly.
The next day they returned to the area
before dawn, this time with a Communist political officer who wanted
to witness the historic encounter. At one point, the commissar excitedly
proclaimed that he could see the German and raised himself. A bullet
struck him. Though the commissar lay in the open writhing in pain,
his wound was not serious. Zaitsev, keen to the tactics of German snipers,
continued to search with his binoculars, to see if the German sniper
would compromise him self by engaging the medics, purposely wounding
rather than killing, while they retrieved the commissar. To test this,
Zaitsev slid a glove over a plank and slowly exposed it. A bullet smacked
through it. The Russian could see that the shot must have come from
somewhere in a particular rubble pile. But it was too late to do anything
about it that day. Returning the next day and waiting for the sun to
be at his back, so as not to reflect his riflescope, he had his spotter
raise a dummys head inside a helmet. He saw a glimmer of scope glare
from beneath a boilerplate. Bang! The German shattered the dummys
head. Instantly Zaitsev fired, too, but it was no decoy he hit. The
contest was over; the Reichs super sniper, Major Konig, lay dead.
SO GOES THE STORY
Zaitsev eventually was credited with 142-242(varies) kills
at Stalingrad. He received the Order of Lenin and by the end of the war;
he personally had accounted for 400 Germans and was declared a Hero of the
Soviet Union.
WAS THERE A MAJOR KONIG?
The above is one account of the incident. There are several
versions of the duel, but they all have some of the following elements: Glare
from sniper scope, helmet, decoy, under boilerplate, Red October factory
district, German sniper, Major Konig, wounded commissar, Vasilis spotter,
glove and over several days. Several historians doubt that the incident ever
took place, and others believe it did. One interviewed Sgt Tania Charnova
and Kulikov, members of Vasilis sniper team, and one believes that the duel
was a product of Russian propaganda. The story of a Major Konig coming to
kill Vasili originated from a German POW. In one statement he said that Zaitsev
would soon die. In another statement he mentions a Major Konig, from Berlin.
Did he pick this information up from other prisoners, or did he know it himself?
The problem lies in the fact that all documentation of the duel comes from
the Russian side. There is no documentation from the German side. Until there
is such documentation, we cant be sure. Vasili, in his sniper diary, never
mentions the word "Major." There was a German sniper, but was he
sent by Berlin to kill Zaitsev? There were many German snipers in Stalingrad.
My own view is that, because of Vasilis record, it would not be unreasonable
for Germany to send an expert sniper to hunt him down and kill him. It is
also not unreasonable to believe that Vasili did kill a German sniper hidden
under a boilerplate, who was trying to kill him.
WHAT DID VASILI BELIEVE?
Did the Russian Propaganda Ministry tell Vasili that a super-sniper was
sent to kill him? Yes. If Vasili had killed a sniper who had the rank of
Major, I am sure he would have known and mentioned it. Would the Germans
send someone that prestigious, who was a high-ranking officer and Commandant
of one of their sniper schools to Stalingrad? I doubt it. Would they have
sent a top enlisted sniper to hunt down and kill Vasili? Yes, more probably.
In any case, Vasili believed in his own mind that he had killed the super-sniper that
he was told was sent to kill him. Without documentation from Germany, we
will never know for sure if there was a Major Konig, or that an expert sniper
was sent specifically to kill Vasili. .
FROM THE POSTWAR MEMOIRS OF VASILI ZAITSEV
Every sniper put forward his speculations
and guesses arising from his days observation of the enemy forward
positions. All sorts of different proposals and baits were discussed.
I knew the style of the Nazi snipers by their fire and camouflage and
without any difficulty could tell the experienced snipers from the
novices, the cowards, from the stubborn, experienced enemies. But the
character of the Head of the School was still a mystery to me. He presumably
altered his position frequently and was looking as carefully for me
as I was for him.Then something happened: my friend Morozov was killed
and Sheykin wounded - by a rifle with telescopic sights. Morozov and
Sheykin were considered experienced snipers; they often emerged victorious
from the most difficult skirmishes with the enemy. Now there was no
doubt. They had come up against the Nazi super-sniper I was looking
for.For a long time I examined the enemy positions, but could not detect
his hiding-place. From the speed with which he had fired, I came to
the conclusion that the sniper was somewhere directly ahead of us.
I continued to watch. To the left was a tank, out of action, and on
the right was a pillbox. Between the tank and the pillbox, on a stretch
of level ground, lay a sheet of iron and a small pile of broken bricks.
It had been lying there a long time, and we had grown accustomed to
it being there. I put myself in the enemys position and thought -
where better for a sniper? One had only to make a firing slit under
the sheet of metal, and then creep up to it during the night.Yes, he
was certainly there, under the sheet of metal in no mans land. I thought
I would make sure. I put a mitten on the end of a small plank and raised
it. The Nazi fell for it. I carefully let the plank down in the same
position as I had raised it and examined the bullet-hole. It had gone
straight though from the front; that meant that the Nazi was under
the sheet of metal.Now came the question of luring even a part of his
head into my sights. I was useless trying to do this straight away.
Time was needed, but I had been able to study the Germans temperament.
He was not going to leave the successful position he had found. We
were therefore going to have to change our position.We worked by night
and were in position by dawn. The sun rose. Kulikov took a blind shot;
we had to rouse the snipers curiosity. We had decided to spend the
morning waiting, as we might have been given away by the sun on our
telescopic sights. After lunch our rifles were in the shade, and the
sun was shining directly on the Germans position, at the edge of the
sheet of metal something was glittering: an odd bit of glass or telescopic
sights? Kulikov carefully - as only the most experienced can do - began
to raise his helmet. The German fired. For a fraction of a second Kulikov
rose and screamed. The German believed that he had finally got the
Soviet sniper he had been hunting for four days, and half raised his
head from beneath the sheet of metal. That was what I had been banking
on. I took careful aim. The Germans head fell back, and the telescopic
sights of his rifle lay motionless, glistening in the sun...
FROM THE BOOK - SNIPER, BY ADRIAN GILBERT.
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