List of snipers
Appearance
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Look up sniper in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
A sniper is a trained marksman who operates alone, in a pair, or with a sniper team to maintain close visual contact with a target and engage the targets from concealed positions or distances exceeding the detection capabilities of enemy personnel.
Military snipers
Some notable military snipers include:
Name | Lived | Active | Comments | Confirmed | Country |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Hiram Berdan | 1824-1893 | 1861–1864 | Commanded 1st and 2nd US Sharpshooters during the American Civil War. | ![]() | |
Noah Adamia | 1919–1942 | 1938–1942 | A Soviet Georgian naval infantryman who is credited with over 200 kills and several tanks knocked out within a couple months during WWII. | 200+ | ![]() |
Mikhail Surkov | ? | 1941–1945 | According to Soviet sources, Surkov had 702 confirmed kills during World War II,[1] a total which would make him the most effective sniper of the European conflict.[2] | 702 | ![]() |
Vladimir Gavrilovich Salbiev | ? - 1944 | 1941–1944 | According to Soviet sources, Salbiev had 601 confirmed kills during World War II[3] | 601 | ![]() |
Vasilij Kvachantiradze | 1907–1950 | 1941–1945 | A Soviet Georgian sniper who is credited with 534 kills during WWII, one of if not possibly the highest Soviet kill counts. Known for almost single-handedly thwarting a German assault on Shumilino in Belarus. | 534 | ![]() |
Mikhail Budenkov | 1919–1995 | 1941–1945 | Killed an estimated 437 enemy combatants in WWII.[4] | 437 | ![]() |
Herman Davis | 1888–1923 | 1918 | 60 | ![]() | |
Fedir Dyachenko | 1917–1995 | 1932–1945 | 425 | ![]() | |
Rob Furlong | 1976– | 1996–2003 | A Canadian Army sniper who held the record for the kill from the greatest distance.[5] | 1+ | ![]() |
Leysters Greener | d. 1917 | 1914–1917 | 54 | ![]() | |
Vasiliy Golosov | 1911–1943 | 1941–1943 | Said to have killed 422 enemy combatants including 70 enemy snipers.[6] | 422 | ![]() |
Gary Gordon | 1960–1993 | 1978–1993 | Delta Force sniper who was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for protecting the injured crew of a downed helicopter during the Battle of Mogadishu.[7] | N/A | ![]() |
Mark Osmond (pseudonym) | 1986– | 2007–2011 | British sniper with 4 Rifles credited with 44 confirmed kills in Afghanistan including two Taliban insurgents dispatched with a single bullet.[8] | 44 | ![]() |
Craig Harrison | 1974– | 1990–2014 | British Army sniper who achieved the second longest confirmed kill shot in history (2,475m) using the Accuracy International L115A3 Long Range Rifle.[9] | 1+ | ![]() |
Unnamed Royal Marine corporal | Reputedly the deadliest sniper alive as of 2015 with 173 confirmed kills, mostly with the L115A3 on one tour of Afghanistan in 2006–2007, including over 90 Taliban in one day.[10] | 173 | ![]() | ||
Carlos Hathcock | 1942–1999 | 1959–1979 | Renowned United States Marine Corps sniper with 93 confirmed kills.[11][12] | 93 | ![]() |
Simo Häyhä | 1905–2002 | 1925–1940 | A Finnish sniper known as "The White Death". Reportedly killed 505 to 542 men during the 1939–40 Winter War.[13][14] | 505-542 | ![]() |
Matthäus Hetzenauer | 1924–2004 | 1943–1945 | Austrian sniper on the Eastern Front during World War II who was credited with 345 kills between 1943 and 1945.[15] | 345 | ![]() |
Abukhadzhi Idrisov | 1918–1983 | 1939–1944 | A Soviet Chechen sniper with an alleged 349 plus kills during World War II. | 349+ | ![]() |
Nikolay Yakovlevich Ilyin | 1925–1943 | 1941–1943 | 469 | ![]() | |
Nicholas Irving | 2004–2010 | A sniper with the 3rd Ranger Battalion deployed in Afghanistan in 2009 with 33 confirmed kills.[16] | 33 | ![]() | |
Juba | 2005-2007 | Juba (Arabic: جوبا) (also called "Joba") is the pseudonym of an alleged sniper involved in the Iraq War's insurgency. | 37+ | ![]() | |
Abu Tahsin al-Salhi | 1953 - 2017 | 1973 - 2017 | Iraqi sniper who credited of killing 321 ISIS fighters since 2015 during Iraq civil war, and also participated in the Yom Kippur War, the Iran–Iraq War, the invasion of Kuwait, the Gulf War as well as the 2003 Invasion of Iraq.[17][18][19] | 321 | ![]() |
Tatang Koswara | 1947–2015 | 1975–1976 | A sniper credited with at least 41 confirmed kills during the Indonesian invasion of East Timor in the 1970s.[20] | 41 | ![]() |
Ivan Kulbertinov | 1917–1993 | 1941–1945 | Credited with 487 kills.[21] | 489 | ![]() |
Chris Kyle | 1974–2013 | 1999–2009 | A US Navy SEAL credited with 160 confirmed kills.[22] | 160 | ![]() |
Musa Herdem | 1987–2015 | 2006–2015 | A YPG sniper known as 'Musa' with allegedly more than 80 confirmed kills, mainly during the fighting for Kobani.[23] | 80 | ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Marie Ljalková | 1920–2011 | 1942–1953 | A Czech sniper fighting within the Soviet Army during the second world war with at least 30 confirmed kills. | 30+ | ![]() |
Ranjith Premasiri Madalana | 1969–2009 | 2000–2009 | Sniper in the Sri Lanka Army during the country's civil war, who is recorded to have killed over 180 Tamil Tigers.[24] | 217 | ![]() |
Chuck Mawhinney | 1949– | 1967–1970 | A United States Marine Corps sniper who holds the record for most confirmed kills by a US Marine (103).[25] | 103 | ![]() |
Herbert W. McBride | 1873–1933 | 1914–1918 | US citizen and captain in the 21st Battalion, Canadian Expeditionary Force, during the First World War.[26] | 100+ | ![]() |
Philip McDonald | 1886–1916 | 1914–1916 | 8th Battalion (90th Winnipeg Rifles), CEF, 70 confirmed kills during the First World War. Killed in action 3 January 1916. | 70 | ![]() |
Neville Methven | 1916–1918 | Big game hunter and target shooter who served as an officer with Sir Abe Bailey's South African Sharpshooters on the Western Front. | 100 | ![]() | |
Timothy Murphy | 1751–1818 | 1775–1780 | An American Revolutionary War sniper who killed British General Simon Fraser during the Battle of Saratoga.[27] | 1+ | ![]() |
Semyon Nomokonov | 1900–1973 | 1941–1945 | A Soviet World War II sniper with 367 logged kills.[28] | 367 | ![]() |
Henry Norwest | 1884–1918 | 1915–1918 | A sniper in the 50th Canadian Infantry Battalion during the First World War. He had 115 confirmed kills and was killed by a German sniper on August 18, 1918.[29] | 115 | ![]() |
Fyodor Okhlopkov | 1908–1968 | 1941–1945 | One of the most effective Soviet snipers, credited with 423 confirmed kills during World War II.[30] | 423 | ![]() |
Johnson Paudash | 1875–1959 | 1914–1918 | 21st Battalion (Eastern Ontario), CEF during World War One. 88 confirmed kills.[31] | 88 | ![]() |
Lyudmila Pavlichenko | 1916–1974 | 1941–1953 | Was the most successful female sniper during World War II. She served the Soviet army and has 309 confirmed kills.[30] | 309 | ![]() |
Vladimir Pchelintsev | 1920– | 1941–1945 | 456 | ![]() | |
Stepan Petrenko | 1922–1984 | 1941–1945 | 422 | ![]() | |
Francis Pegahmagabow | 1891–1952 | 1914–1919 | An Indigenous North American sniper in World War I who is credited with 378 kills, and an unknown number of unconfirmed kills.[32] | 378 | ![]() |
Friedrich Pein | 1915–1975 | 1943–1945 | Austrian fighting in the German Army credited with over 200 kills on the Eastern Front between 1943 and 1945 during the Second World War. | 200+ | ![]() |
Arron Perry | 1972– | 1999–2005 | A Canadian Army sniper who briefly held the record for the longest-ever recorded and confirmed sniper kill in 2002.[5] | 1+ | ![]() |
Graham Ragsdale | 1969– | A former Canadian Army sniper who fought in Afghanistan in 2003.[5] | N/A | ![]() | |
Patrick Riel | 1876–1916 | 1914–1916 | Métis Canadian attached to the 8th Battalion (90th Winnipeg Rifles), CEF during the First World War with 30 confirmed kills. KIA January 14, 1916 by shell fire.[33] | 30 | ![]() |
Ben Roberts-Smith | 1978– | 1996– | Served as a sniper with the Australian Special Air Service Regiment. He was awarded the Medal of Gallantry for his actions in 2006 during Operation Perth in the Chora Valley of Oruzgan Province, Afghanistan.[34] | N/A | ![]() |
Ian Robertson | 1927–2014 | 1945–1953 | Served as a sniper with Australia's 3RAR post World War 2. He became one of the most effective snipers during the Korean War. In one morning he killed 30 enemy soldiers.[35] | 30+ | ![]() |
Roza Shanina | 1924–1945 | 1943–1945 | A Soviet sniper during the Second World War, credited with 59 confirmed kills, including 12 soldiers during the Battle of Vilnius. | 59 | ![]() |
Randy Shughart | 1958–1993 | 1976–1993 | Delta Force sniper who posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for protecting the injured crew of a downed helicopter during the Battle of Mogadishu.[7] | N/A | ![]() |
Ivan Sidorenko | 1919–1994 | 1939–1945 | A Soviet sniper credited with over 500 kills during the Second World War. | 500+ | ![]() |
Billy Sing | 1886–1943 | 1914–1918 | Australian First World War sniper credited with over 150 confirmed kills.[36] | 150+ | ![]() |
Bruno Sutkus | 1924–2003 | 1944–1945 | Lithuanian fighting in the German Army. Credited with 209 kills on the Eastern Front between 1944 and 1945 during the Second World War. | 209 | ![]() |
Zhang Taofang | 1931–2007 | 1951–1953 | A Chinese sniper who fought in the Korean War with 214 confirmed kills in 32 days.[37] | 214 | ![]() |
Adelbert Waldron | 1933–1995 | 1968–1970 | A United States Army sniper who formerly held the record for the most confirmed kills by a US military sniper (109).[38] | 109 | ![]() |
Alvin C. York | 1887–1964 | 1917–1918 | 82nd Infantry Division, an expert sharpshooter using an M1917 Enfield rifle during the Meuse-Argonne offensive near Chatel-Chéhéry, France, 1918 in World War I. Medal of Honor recipient. | 28 | ![]() |
Vasily Zaytsev | 1915–1991 | 1937–1945 | A Soviet sniper who fought at the Battle of Stalingrad. Zaytsev is credited with 242 kills (including 11 snipers).[30] | 242 | ![]() |
.
Non-military snipers
Not all snipers are highly trained professional soldiers. The term is sometimes used to describe criminals firing from cover at long range with a rifle and police sharpshooters. Some notable non-military snipers include:
- Frank Carter (1881–1927) was a notorious murderer in Omaha, Nebraska, who claimed to have murdered 43 victims.[39]
- Michael Andrew Clark (1949–1965), teenage sniper who killed three and wounded six in Highway 101 shooting spree on April 25, 1965.[40]
- Byron De La Beckwith (1920-2001), ex-US Marine and white supremacist, assassinated NAACP field secretary Medgar Evers after the civil rights activist arrived home in Jackson, Mississippi on June 12, 1963.
- William "Billy" Dixon (1850–1913), defended the Adobe Walls settlement against Indian attack with his legendary buffalo rifle, and was one of eight civilians in United States history to receive the Medal of Honor.
- Jack Hinson (1807–1874) was a farmer who engaged Union troops at long range during the American Civil War and recorded 36 officer "kills" on his custom-made .50 caliber Kentucky long rifle with iron sights.[41]
- Lon Horiuchi (born 1954), a Federal Bureau of Investigation sniper who shot Randy Weaver and shot and killed Vicki Weaver at Ruby Ridge.[42]
- Thomas "Tom" Horn, Jr. (1860–1903) an American Old West lawman, scout, and hired gunman, known for shooting cattle rustlers and sheepherders at long range with a Sharps rifle.[43]
- John Allen Muhammad (1960–2009) and Lee Boyd Malvo (born 1985), perpetrators of the Beltway sniper attacks, a series of coordinated shootings that took place over three weeks in October 2002 in Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, D.C. Ten people were killed and three other victims were critically injured in several locations throughout the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area and along Interstate 95 in Virginia
- Lee Harvey Oswald (1939–1963), ex–US Marine, assassinated President John F. Kennedy and shot Governor John Connally in Dallas, Texas on November 22, 1963, and shot at General Edwin Walker on April 10, 1963.[44]
- Stephen Paddock (1953-2017), responsible for the 2017 Las Vegas Shooting, in which 58 people were killed and hundreds more were injured when he fired at a music festival from the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay resort. No motive for the attack has yet been established.
- Charles Whitman (1941–1966), college student and ex–US Marine who fired from a clock tower on the University of Texas Austin campus, killing 14 and wounding 32 on August 1, 1966.[45]
See also
- List of books, articles and documentaries about snipers
- Sniper (disambiguation)
- List of sniper rifles
- Counter-sniper tactics
- Snipers of the Soviet Union
- Longest recorded sniper kills
References
- ^ Алексей Илларионович Луковец (1975). Знамена Победы. Pravda.
During the war, "Frontovaya Illustratsiya" wrote: "Sniper Sergeant Mikhail Surkov shoots at the enemy confidently and accurately. - He does not wound - he hits the spot. After killing over 700 Fascists, he went on to the next hunt "
- ^ Mark Spicer and Pat Farey, Sniping: An Illustrated History. Grand Rapids, MI: Zenith, 2009; pg. 129.
- ^ https://news.rambler.ru/other/38830252-voyna-snayperov-na-velikoy-otechestvennoy-kto-pobedil/
- ^ "Буденков Михаил Иванович". www.warheroes.ru (in Russian). Retrieved 21 March 2018.
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(help) - ^ a b c Friscolanti,, Michael (15 May 2006), We were abandoned, Rogers Publishing, pp. 18–25
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: CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link) - ^ "Голосов Василий Иванович". www.warheroes.ru (in Russian). Retrieved 21 March 2018.
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(help) - ^ a b Durant, Michael J.; Hartov, Steve (2003). In The Company of Heroes: A True Story. Putnam Publishing Group. ISBN 0-399-15060-9.
- ^ "Dead Men Risen: The snipers' story". Daily Telegraph. London. 13 March 2011.
- ^ "British sniper Craig Harrison (The Silent Assassin) breaks record, kills target from 1.5 miles away". Daily News. New York. 3 May 2010. Archived from the original on 18 October 2010.
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suggested) (help) - ^ "British Royal Marine is world's deadliest sniper". The Daily Telegraph. London. 2 February 2015.
- ^ Sasser, Charles; Roberts, Craig (1990). One Shot, One Kill (1990 ed.). Pocket Books. ISBN 978-0-671-68219-4.
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(help) - ^ Kennedy, Harold (March 2003). "Marine Corps Sets Sights on More Precise Shooting". National Defense Magazine. Archived from the original on 30 January 2007. Retrieved 30 March 2007.
Founded in 1977, the school's first staff NCOIC was the famed sniper, Gunnery Sgt. Carlos Hathcock II, who was credited with 93 confirmed kills in Vietnam.
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suggested) (help) - ^ Rayment, Sean (30 April 2006). "The long view". The Daily Telegraph. London. Retrieved 30 March 2009.
- ^ Tapio A.M. Saarelainen: Sankarikorpraali Simo Häyhä (2006)
- ^ Scherzer, Veit (2007). Die Ritterkreuzträger 1939–1945 Die Inhaber des Ritterkreuzes des Eisernen Kreuzes 1939 von Heer, Luftwaffe, Kriegsmarine, Waffen-SS, Volkssturm sowie mit Deutschland verbündeter Streitkräfte nach den Unterlagen des Bundesarchives [The Knight's Cross Bearers 1939–1945 The Holders of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross 1939 by Army, Air Force, Navy, Waffen-SS, Volkssturm and Allied Forces with Germany According to the Documents of the Federal Archives] (in German). Jena, Germany: Scherzers Miltaer-Verlag. ISBN 978-3-938845-17-2.
- ^ Connelly, Sherryl (24 January 2015). "'The Reaper' is gripping autobiography of sniper who killed record 33 Taliban in Afghanistan deployment". Daily News. Retrieved 8 February 2015.
- ^ Watkinson, William (25 February 2017). "63-year-old Iraqi sniper says he has killed 321 Isis fighters since 2015". International Business Times UK. Retrieved 24 June 2018.
- ^ "Islamic State super sniper killing militants by the dozen". NewsComAu. Retrieved 24 June 2018.
- ^ "Anti-IS 'sheikh sniper' killed in battle for Iraq's Hawija". Gulf-Times (in Arabic). 30 September 2017. Retrieved 24 June 2018.
- ^ ""Indonesian Sniper" Tatang Koswara passes away at 68". Coconuts Media. Retrieved 4 March 2015.
- ^ "Snipers". www.snipercentral.com. Retrieved 21 March 2018.
- ^ {{https://web.archive.org/web/20120111232749/http://www.harpercollins.com/books/American-Sniper/?isbn=9780062082350}}
- ^ Buiso, Gary (1 January 2015). "Gritty Kurdish fighter gloats over recapture of Kobane". Retrieved 2 February 2015.
- ^ Infolanka. How the LTTE was 'military' defeated: A Soldier’s view - Part Seven. infolanka.asia. Infolanka. Retrieved 28 March 2015.
It is 'Juba' the sniper who causes havoc in Iraq and it was Corporal W.I. Ranjith Premasiri alias 'Nero' of SLA who was responsible for the deaths of more than 217 Tiger cadres, before his demise on 28 April 2009.
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: missing prefix (help) - ^ Perry, Tony (22 January 2000). "A Sniper at Peace With His Duties". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 16 April 2011.
- ^ "Herbert W. McBride (1873–1933)". TeeJawa. Retrieved 20 May 2015.
- ^ Senich, Peter R. (1988). The Complete Book of U.S. Sniping. Boulder: Paladin Press. pp. 50–57. ISBN 978-0-87364-460-0.
- ^ Номоконов - вновь на коне (in Russian). Zabmedia. 13 January 2010. Retrieved 5 August 2014.
- ^ "Sharpshooter: Henry Louis Norwest". Government of Canada. Retrieved 21 January 2015.
- ^ a b c Haskew, Michael (1 November 2005). The Sniper at War: From the American Revolutionary War to the Present Day. St. Martin's Press. pp. 65, 73–74. ISBN 978-0-312-33651-6.
- ^ "Johnson Paudash MM". http://21stbattalion.ca/. Retrieved 29 January 2015.
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- ^ Brownlie, Robin (2003). A Fatherly Eye: Indian Agents, Government Power, and Aboriginal Resistance in Ontario, 1918–1939. University of Toronto Press. p. 63. ISBN 978-0-19-541784-5.
- ^ "Private Patrick Riel". Canadian Great War Project. Retrieved 23 November 2015.
- ^ Nicholson, Brendan (23 April 2011). "You think I'm brave? Meet my mates: Ben Roberts-Smith". theaustralian.com.au. The Australian. Retrieved 11 February 2012.
- ^ "A sniper's tale". The Sydney Morning Herald. 26 April 2004.
- ^ Hamilton, J. C. M. (2008). Gallipoli Sniper: The life of Billy Sing. Sydney: Pan Macmillan Australia. p. 6. ISBN 978-1-4050-3865-2.
- ^ Stronge, Charles (25 January 2011). Kill Shot: The 15 Deadliest Snipers of All Time. Ulysses Press. p. 91. ISBN 978-1-56975-862-5.
- ^ Kirchner, Paul (2009). More of the Deadliest Men Who Ever Lived. Boulder: Paladin Press. ISBN 978-1-58160-690-4.
- ^ "Sniper Shoots Council Bluffs Detective; Terror of People Hits Omaha's Business". The New York Times. 20 February 1926.
- ^ Demaris, Ovid (1971). America the Violent. Penguin Books. p. 344.
- ^ McKenney, Tom (23 September 2010). Jack Hinson's One-man War: A Civil War Sniper. Pelican Publishing. p. 79. ISBN 978-1-4556-0646-7.
- ^ Witkin, Gordon (11 September 1995). "The nightmare of Idaho's Ruby Ridge". US News & World Report.
- ^ Anderson, Dan; Laurence J. Yadon (2007), 100 Oklahoma Outlaws, Gangsters, and Lawmen: 1839–1939, Pelican Publishing Company, p. 231, ISBN 978-1-58980-384-8
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suggested) (help) - ^ Bugliosi, Vincent (2007). Reclaiming History: The Assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Norton. ISBN 0-393-04525-0.
- ^ Cawthorne, Nigel (2007). Serial Killers And Mass Murderers: Profiles of the World's Most Barbaric Criminals. Ulysses Press. ISBN 1-569-75578-7.