SNIPING THE ENEMY

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 87, 7 January 1919, Page 8

SNIPING THE ENEMY

' -TT-. ♦——.'- SCIENCE OF THE "DEATH THAT • LURKS" (By Lieutenant F. J. Slealh.) In the early 'stages of the war many loose ideas were current as to the methods adopted'by snipei's-especially German—in the pursuit of their vocation. We heard of the German disguise as a gate-post, ,a tree, a doad cow, or even a grave, and many'young British soldiers, during their first few months in France kept a keen look-out. for such phenomena. Some of them may. possibly have ' hiid their expectations realised., dliat ' the great majority did not . assuredly points the moral that sniping is a much less spectacular affair than most people imagined. When tho hostile lines are . a great distance apart, as in open warfare, tho dead cow, or gale-post is quite . unnecessary aid to concealment. Ihe sniper has only to lie down behind n tuft of grass to be completely hidden even at so short a'range as four hundred yards. ' When the lines have settled down to established trench or outpost ■ systems, with comparatively narrow expanses of No Man's Land, the sniper would he fool indeed to take refuge be-\ hind or inside a cow unless the animal s hide were first made bullet-proof. The sniper has got to reckon with a constant aiid intensive observation of his side of the lines by the other side; and once his hiding-placo' is discovered only distance or solid, steel-plating will save him from a hostile sniper s bullet. The German sharp-shooters quickly found this oiit in the early months of the war. They started sniping from the open with only nntural cover or with very simnle camouflage devices, oven ' pushing their activities behind the British lines. But when the British snipers anil observers got to work- against them they faded away from the open country, and took refuge behind . strongly- . constructed defences, with ajmllet-pvoof steel shield- protecting • their loopholes. Only when the nature of the country lent itself readily' to concealment did the sniper lake up his position in an unprotected post, imd 'even then such a practice was dangerous in view of the constantly developing system of advanced observation from the firing-line. With the establishment of,trench warfare as a stable condition of things, most sniping posts were constructed in the, firing-line. The deep, well developed trenches gave excellent cover to their garrisons, and at most only a passing glimpse of a' head or shoulder was given to the cnemv. This meant that to take advantage of such fleeting targets tho t range must be the shortest possible; and ■ so snipers dug themselves ,in to_ their ; front-line parapets and shot at their tar- ' gets or nt each other from'ranges some- ! times as little ns fifty yards. Thus sniping became a matter of rou- ■ tine, often exceedingly tiresome. The posts were built to command definite sec- '. tors of the hostile' lines,, rnd at each ; post two men were stationed, one to obi serve, the other to snipe. The snipers i of each battalion were even divided into watches, morning and afternoon, so that . while, daylight lasted the hostile lines , were kept ,under constant, observation. ! 1 But often days wmld go bv without a ; sign of life showing, and the strain of the .incessant watching was very severe. To relieve the ..monotony the snipers ; often look lo dislodging l each other's • shields by shooting c-vay the foundations. But. this could only be done exi tensively when the one set of snipers had established such a fire superiority over i the other'as to prevent the latter from , using their loophole's. Sometimes a rare -, struggle took place for.this niperiority, - I generally at . the ' beginning 'of a bati talion's stay in any particular sector. By : the. beginning, of. 1916 this sunerionly i rested almost invariably with the British. The tracking down of, a new snin- ' ing post also added zest to the daily (round; and sometimes a post could be so : constructed as to look down into an i enemy communication trench.. Then any • unsuspecting Germans who walked along I that, trench were quickly added to the ; tally of successful snipes. But the value • of such posts was only transient. Durin" the night the Germans would cut oft ■ the view by raising the height of - theiu- . parapet, and next morning the old rou--1 tine would have to be resumed.