Tag: sniper

  • Origin of “Sniper”

    In some previous posts we’ve looked at the origin of the word “sharpshooter,” tracing it back to the early 18th Century in German and to the last part of that century in English, when it passed from German to English. But what about “sniper?” Turns out that goes back pretty far as well, although its […]

  • White Death

    A quick look at the world’s most successful sniper, Simo Häyhä of Finland. During the brief Russo-Finnish “Winter War” of 1939-40, Häyhä was credited with killing an astounding 500 Russian soldiers before he was wounded. In spite of being hit in the jaw with an explosive round he survived the war and lived into his […]

  • A Rifleman At War

    There’s a lot of ongoing controversy about the effect of the rifle in battle, but there’s no question that in certain times and places an individual rifleman can have a powerful effect. One such example comes to us from Afghanistan: During the battle, the designated marksman single handedly thwarted a company-sized enemy RPG and machinegun […]