MASS SNIPING

Wairarapa Times-Age, 26 January 1943, Page 4

MASS SNIPING

RED ARMY MARKSMEN UNITS ORGANISED. SOME IMPOSING SCORES. When the history of this second World War is written the name of V. Galichenko, lieutenant of the Red Army, will stand out prominently among the military geniuses of the world, writes James W. Morris, in the “Sydney Morning Herald.” Galichenko is the founder and initiator of the mass sniper movement of the Soviet' infantry on the Leningrad front, and his excellent technique is foreign to our orthdodox military manner in warfare. He works his sniper units in conjunction with artillery, and in the pauses between gunfire, when the Nazis consider themselves safely covered, the snipers come into action.

When asked for his statement concerning snipers he replied: “Our job at the front is like Stakhanovite work in the factories. Just as every worker will, if he can, become a first-class master at his lathe, so every soldier at the front strives to acquire a sure aim and become a master in the use of his rifle,” and no doubt the snipers' training schools throughout the U.S.S.R. have proved to the world that this is so. Galichenko has 153 Nazis to his credit; one pupil, Krivoshei, is officially credited with 100 Nazis in three months, and Galichenko’s trainee Stepanov, who, by the way, used Galichenko’s rifle when he was wounded, has been officially credited with 81. Galichenko’s largest bag was lon December 21, 1941, when he was j officially credited with 18 victims. 1 The use of the sniper in the Red Army is not confined to a chosen few. There are about 250 snipers to each battalion, although the battalions led by Gusev and Tyazhev consist entirely of snipers. “Lurking Death” continually on the prowl for victims would wear down the strongest man, especially in the fast tempo of modern war. The average official credits of killings of these snipers is very hard to believe, but records have been verified. In the beginning of last November 802 officers and men were killed on the Leningrad front in three days’ operations; later in the same month 865 men were killed in four days’ fighting. In December 677 men were destroyed in the space of two days. WOMAN SNIPER. Among the greatOst of the snipers in the Red Army is Lieutenant Pchelinkev, who is officially credited with 52 Nazis in 154 shots. Pretty, 26-year-old Lyudmila Pavlichenko, of the Ukraine, was a sportswoman who took to target shooting as a hobby. She graduated from the Snipers’ School at Kiev, and in 1937 entered the history department of the Kiev University with the idea of becoming a teacher. , At the outbreak of war she applied as a volunteer for the army, and later was accepted as a sniper for a military unit in Odessa. She was evacuated from Odessa with other troops in October, 1941, and transferred to Sebastopol, where she fought practically to the last day. She destroved 309 enemy men —more than any other sniper there. She trained eight others who have destroyed more than 2000 between them. She was wounded four ’ times, but never abandoned her fight- : ing post, for which heroism she re- ! ceived the Order of Lenin, and was promoted to senior lieutenant. | These sniper units are also engaged as aeroplane disposal squads. The largest bag registered was in the ‘ month of March on the Kalinin front, vyhen 106 ehemy aeroplanes were officially credited to them. They are dressed in white, and their procedure is to lie flat on their backs in groups of from six to 10, and fire at the approaching aero-plane, placing an effective cone of fire for the aeroplane to run into. JAPANESE IMITATORS. The military command is so confidi ent of the Russian sniper that the 1 official war photographers often acl company them on their job. One of the • most outstanding acts of the Russian • sniper was the reported killing of • General von Kleist, of the first Ger- ■ man Tank Army, in the Caucasus. The : general was the leading expert in panzer warfare. The mass use of the sniper as initiated by Galichenko has proved such a success that the Japanese have used it to full advantage, and although they have been noted as poor shots they have caused much havoc among the Allied armies in the South Pacific 1 battle area. In Guadalcanal, they used the same tactics as they did in Singa- ! port: stealing' behind the lines and weakening our position. They also sat in the top of coconut palms and picked off the American troops. Lieutenant Stewart Blakiston, A.1.F., states that Japanese snipers picked off the A.I.F. wounded one by one after their machine-guns had cut down the trees that had given these wounded men protection. They also sniped at 1 the Americans from behind their own dead, where they waited for the Allied troops to pass them before shooting at their backs. The Japanese have used snipers for offence and defence. He uses them to cover his machine-gun posts, and as one war correspondent states: “The Tarzans of the Tommy-gun were covered effectively by the snipers.” Colonel George Degraaf (San Antonio, Texas) was awarded the American Distinguished Service Cross on December 5, 1942, at Buna, because “he engaged at close range snipers who were holding up his attack, and by his example and intrepid leadership inspired his men to greater-effort.” On precisely the same citation Colonel Gordon B. Rogers and Major Dan K. Edwards were decorated. At Milne Bay the use of Australian Kittyhawk pilots was employed to spray the tops of the trees with machine-gun fire to dislodge the snipers, whose faces and bodies wsre painted green, and on the Buna-Gona front artillery had to be used. The greatest sniper so far acknowledged among the Allied forces in the Pacific front is Sergeant Katue, of the New Guinea Native Constabulary. He was officially credited with destroying 26 Japanese up to November 7 of last year. He is a seasoned sniper and knows the country in which he is operating. The American sniping forces are now unofficially averaging about 10 to one in their own favour. Galichenko has set an example for the military minds to follow in the Pacific theatre.