RUSSIAN SNIPER

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 6, Issue 91, 20 July 1943, Page 3

RUSSIAN SNIPER

170 GERMANS KILLED GREAT SOVIET EFFORT (By Vera Moro/.ovn) A Russian soldier,, Sniper Vassili Komaretsky, has already a score of 170 Germans. He practises Jiis craft with an intensity notable, even among our snipers, grudging even the time lie must spend in sleep. His native village i.s in Nazi hands. So remarkable is his skill that Lieut.-General Belov recently presented him 'with his own riile —the very rifle that had been a gifti to the G.eneral from the famous, armourers of Tula. Komaretsky guards it as the apple of his eye. In one month lie .killed 35 Germans with it. Ke picked off 17' Nazis during a single enemy attack. Waiting For Their Victims Every day at 3 a.m. Komaretsky and his senior lieutenant take, up their places in ambush about 100 yards from the advanced enemy lines. They carefully camouflage their post and settle down to wait for the dawn. In the morning the Germans, set bout their chores, J} rcparing for the winter: collecting logs for fuel; strengthening their ■defences. They are all fair game for Komaretsky. Not long ago, during a brief spell of leave, Komaretksy visited the Tula Avorkmen, the makers of his rifle. He also went to the Moscow Goal Basin to see some miner friends of hi.s in Shaft No. 10 of the Stalinogorsk coal mine. Three of them— Boriskin,, Rudnev and Sharafigulin— had already cut KHi truekloads above their yearly plan. Komaret.skv was delighted. When he got back to his unit he sent them a challenge. "Will Kill 35 Nazis a Month" "Let's have a competition," he wrote. "1 take on myself to skill'not less than .'{s Nazis a month and. to master still better the .soldier's art, while you persevere for an even bigger coal output. All our ellorts —■ yours in the mine and. my own at the front —will be directed to one and the same end: to defeat the enemy as soon as possible." The miners sent the sniper the following answer: "You have killed 170 Nazis. We also are working for victorj'. Our hammers are as good weapons as your rifle. In one month Sharafigulin produced 145 tons of coal above his normal output. Rudnev KH) and Boriskin 127. You have pledged yourself to annihilate Hitlerites a month. We'll lake you on! "Show the Germans no Mercy" "Our pit was' the first jn the Soviet Union to fulfil its yearly plan of production. As early as October 25 we had started on our 194.3 programme. We promise to produce 40 trainloads of coal above plan. W T e three pledge ourselves to turn out another three trainloads of coal above the yearly plan, and each one of us is going to train 10 pupils. In addition, each of us has given his word to establish a new record: to give 100 tons of coal a shift! "Dear Comrade Komaretsky! Show the Germans no mercy. Be sure that we will do our part for (the front and the country!"