Советские снайперы во Второй мировой войне

World War II snipers of the USSR

Snipers of the Soviet Union played an important role mainly on the Eastern Front of World War II, apart from other preceding and subsequent conflicts. In World War II, Soviet snipers used the 7.62×54mmR rifle cartridge with light, heavy, armour piercing (B 30), armour piercing incendiary (B 32), zeroing and incendiary (P3), and tracer bullets. Most Soviet World War II snipers carried a combat load of 120 rifle cartridges in the field. During World War II, 428,335 individuals, including partisans, are believed to have received Red Army sniper training, and of those 9,534 obtained higher level qualifications. Unlike the militaries of other states, these snipers could be men or women. Between 1941–1945, a total of 2,484 Soviet female snipers were functioning in this role, of whom about 500 survived the war.

In 1932, the "sharpshooters' movement" started under the supervision of Kliment Voroshilov. In 1938, Red Army snipers took part in the Battle of Lake Khasan against troops of the Imperial Japanese Army. The most successful Soviet use of snipers during the Second World War was during their defensive stages (1941–1943), after which the advantage of defense shifted to the German side and German snipers became a real danger to the advancing Soviet forces.

Soviet and Soviet derived military doctrines include squad level snipers, which may be called "sharpshooters" or "designated marksmen" in other doctrines (see the "Sniper" article). They do so because the long range engagement ability was lost to ordinary troops when submachine guns (which are optimized for close range, rapid fire combat) were adopted. Soviet military doctrine used snipers for providing long distance suppressive fire and for eliminating targets of opportunity, especially leaders, because during World War II, Soviet military leaders and combat theorists (Vassili Zaitsev contributed greatly to Soviet sniper doctrine, although he was officially neither of these) found that military organisations have difficulty replacing experienced non commissioned officers and field officers during times of war. They found that the more expensive and less rugged sniper rifles could match the cost effectiveness of a cheaper assault rifle given good personnel selection, training, and adherence to doctrine. The Soviet Union used women for sniping duties, including Lyudmila Pavlichenko and Nina Lobkovskaya. After the war, the standard Soviet Army sniper team consisted of a shooter and a spotter. After the introduction of the Dragunov sniper rifle, the Soviet army deployed snipers at platoon level. Those snipers were often chosen from personnel who did well in terms of rifle marksmanship while members of DOSAAF. Such snipers were estimated to have a 50% probability of hitting a standing, man sized target at , and an 80% probability of hitting a standing, man sized target at For distances not exceeding the probability was estimated to be well above 90%. To attain this level of accuracy the sniper could not engage more than two such targets per minute.