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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:

American

• Hiram Berdan (1824 – 1893), commanded 1st and 2nd US Sharpshooters during the American Civil War.
• Gary Gordon and Randy Shughart were Delta Force snipers who were posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for their unsuccessful attempt to protect the injured crew of a downed helicopter during the Battle of Mogadishu.
• Carlos Hathcock (1942 – 1999), renowned United States Marine Corps sniper with 93 confirmed kills.
• Nicholas Irving, a sniper with the 3rd Ranger Battalion deployed in Afghanistan in 2009 with 33 confirmed kills.
• Chris Kyle (1974–2013), a former US Navy SEAL credited with 160 confirmed kills.
• Marcus Luttrell (born 1975), a United States Navy SEAL known for being the lone surviving member of SDV Team 1 in the Operation Red Wings ambush in Afghanistan, 2005.
• Herbert W. McBride, US citizen and captain in the 21st Battalion, Canadian Expeditionary Force, during the First World War.
• Chuck Mawhinney (born 1949), a United States Marine Corps sniper who holds the record for most confirmed kills by a US Marine (103).
• Timothy Murphy was an American Revolutionary War sniper who killed British General Simon Fraser during the Battle of Saratoga.
• John Plaster, former American special forces major.
• Adelbert Waldron (1933 – 1995), a United States Army sniper who formerly held the record for the most confirmed kills by a US military sniper (109).
• Alvin C. York (1887 – 1964), 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.

Australian

• Ben Roberts-Smith of the Australian Special Air Service Regiment was awarded the Medal of Gallantry for his actions in 2006 during Operation Perth in the Chora Valley of Oruzgan Province, Afghanistan.
• Ian Robertson 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.
• Billy Sing, an Australian soldier in WW1 was credited with over 150 confirmed kills.

British

• James Brander-Dundar, (1875 – 1969), The Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders, First World War. A Scottish laird and roe-deer stalker, who was instrumental in the creation of the first professional sniper school within the British First Army in France 1914-15.
• Craig Harrison (born 1975), British Army sniper who achieved the longest confirmed kill shot in history (2,475m) using the Accuracy International L115A3 Long Range Rifle.
• Hesketh Hesketh-Prichard, (1876 – 1922) an explorer, adventurer, big-game hunter and marksman who made a significant contribution to sniping practice within the British Army during the First World War.
• 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 2006-7, including over 90 Taliban in one day.

Canadian

• Rob Furlong, a Canadian Army sniper who held the record for the kill from the greatest distance.
• Henry Norwest, 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 in August 1918.
• Johnson Paudash (1875-1959), 21st Battalion (Eastern Ontario), CEF during World War One. 88 confirmed kills.
• Francis Pegahmagabow, a Native Canadian sniper in World War I who is credited with 378 kills, and an unknown number of unconfirmed kills.
• Arron Perry, a Canadian Army sniper who briefly held the record for the longest-ever recorded and confirmed sniper kill in 2002.
• Graham Ragsdale, a Canadian Army sniper who fought in Afghanistan in 2003.

Chinese

• Zhang Taofang (1931 – 2007), a Chinese sniper who fought in the Korean War with 214 confirmed kills in 32 days.

German

• Josef Allerberger, (1924 – 2010), credited with 257 kills on the Eastern Front between 1942 and 1945 during the Second World War.
• Matthaus Hetzenauer, most famous German sniper on the Eastern Front of the World War II who was credited with 345 kills between 1943 and 1945.
• Erwin König (died c. 1942) an apocryphal German officer and sniper said to have taken part in the Battle of Stalingrad.
• Friedrich Pein (1915 – 1975), Austrian fighting in the German Army credited with over 200 kills on the Eastern Front between 1943 and 1945 during the Second World War
• Bruno Sutkus (1924 – 2003), credited with 209 kills on the Eastern Front between 1944 and 1945 during the Second World War

Finnish

• Simo Häyhä (1905 – 2002), the White Death, a Finnish sniper who holds the record for highest number of confirmed sniper kills. Häyhä was credited with 505 confirmed sniper kills of Soviet soldiers accomplished in fewer than 100 days during the Winter War.

Indonesia

• Tatang Koswara (1947 – 2015), was a sniper credited with at least 41 confirmed kills during the Indonesian invasion of East Timor in the 1970s.

Iraqi

• Juba, an Iraqi insurgent sniper who features in several propaganda videos who may be a constructed composite of a number of insurgent snipers.

Soviet

• Semyon Nomokonov (1900 – 1973), a Soviet World War II sniper with 367 logged kills.
• Fyodor Okhlopkov (1908 – 1968), was one of the most effective Soviet snipers, credited with 423 confirmed kills during World War II.
• Lyudmila Pavlichenko (1916 – 1974), was the greatest female sniper. She served the Soviet army and has 309 confirmed kills.
• Roza Shanina (3 April 1924 – 28 January 1945) was a Soviet sniper during the Second World War, credited with 59 confirmed kills, including 12 soldiers during the Battle of Vilnius.
• Ivan Sidorenko (1919 – 1994), credited with over 500 kills during the Second World War.
• Vasily Zaytsev (1915 – 1991), a Soviet sniper who fought at the Battle of Stalingrad. Zaytsev is credited with 242 kills (including 11 snipers).
• Nikolay Yakovlevich Ilyin 496 kills

Sri Lankan

• Ranjith Premasiri Madalana (1969 – 2009) alias ‘Nero’, a sniper in the Sri Lanka Army during the country's civil war, who is alleged to have killed over 180 Tamil Tigers.

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:

• 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 the history of the U.S. to receive the Medal of Honor.
• Frank Carter (1881 – 1927) was a notorious murderer in Omaha, Nebraska, who claimed to have murdered 43 victims.
• Michael Andrew Clark (1949 – 1965), teenage sniper who killed three and wounded six in Highway 101 shooting spree on April 25, 1965.
• Jack Hinson (1807 – 1874) was a farmer who engaged Union troops at long range during the American Civil War and recorded 36 "kills" on his custom made .50 caliber Kentucky long rifle with iron sights.
• Lon Horiuchi (born 1954), a Federal Bureau of Investigation sniper who shot Randy Weaver and shot and killed Vicki Weaver at Ruby Ridge.
• 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.
• John Allen Muhammad and Lee Boyd Malvo, 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 of the United States John F. Kennedy and shot Gov. John Connally in Dallas, Texas on November 22, 1963, and shot at Gen. Edwin Walker on April 10, 1963.
• Charles Whitman (1941 – 1966), student and ex-US Marine who fired from a clock tower on the University of Texas Austin campus, killing 14 and wounding 32 in August 1966.

See also

• Sniper (disambiguation)
• List of sniper rifles
• Counter-sniper tactics
• Snipers of the Soviet Union
• Longest recorded sniper kills

References

1. ^ Senich, Peter R. (1988). The Complete Book of U.S. Sniping. Boulder: Paladin Press. pp. 50–57. ISBN 978-0-87364-460-0.
2. Durant, Michael J.; Hartov, Steve (2003). In The Company of Heroes: A True Story. Putnam Publishing Group. ISBN 0-399-15060-9.
3. Sasser, Charles; Roberts, Craig (1990). One Shot, One Kill (1990 ed.). Pocket Books. ISBN 978-0-671-68219-4. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
4. 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.
5. 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.
6. Buiso, Gary (1 January 2012). "Meet the big shot". Retrieved 2 February 2015.
7. Luttrell, Marcus (12 June 2007). Lone Survivor: The Eyewitness Account of Operation Redwing and the Lost Heroes of Seal Team 10. Little, Brown and Company. p. 390. ISBN 978-0-316-06759-1.
8. Perry, Tony (22 January 2000). "A Sniper at Peace With His Duties". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 16 April 2011.
9. Rosenau, William (2001). Special operations forces and elusive enemy ground targets: lessons from Vietnam and the Persian Gulf War. Rand Corporation. p. 17. ISBN 978-0-8330-3071-9.
10. Kirchner, Paul (2009). More of the Deadliest Men Who Ever Lived. Boulder: Paladin Press. ISBN 978-1-58160-690-4.
11. 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.
12. "A sniper's tale". The Sydney Morning Herald. 26 April 2004.
13. Hamilton, J. C. M. (2008). Gallipoli Sniper: The life of Billy Sing. Sydney: Pan Macmillan Australia. p. 6. ISBN 978-1-4050-3865-2.
14. "British sniper Craig Harrison (The Silent Assassin) breaks record, kills target from 1.5 miles away". New York Daily News'. 3 May 2010.
15. Brown, Larisa (2 February 2015). "Deadlier than American sniper Chris Kyle: With 173 kills, Marine is revealed as the world's deadliest". The Daily Mail.
16. ^ Friscolanti,, Michael (15 May 2006), We were abandoned, Rogers Publishing, pp. 18–25{{citation}}: CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link)
17. "Sharpshooter: Henry Louis Norwest". Government of Canada. Retrieved 21 January 2015.
18. "Johnson Paudash MM". http://21stbattalion.ca/. Retrieved 29 January 2015. {{cite web}}: External link in |publisher= (help)
19. 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.
20. Stronge, Charles (25 January 2011). Kill Shot: The 15 Deadliest Snipers of All Time. Ulysses Press. p. 91. ISBN 978-1-56975-862-5.
21. 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 (in German). Jena, Germany: Scherzers Miltaer-Verlag. ISBN 978-3-938845-17-2. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |trans_title= ignored (|trans-title= suggested) (help)
22. ^ 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.
23. Stirling, Robert (20 December 2012). Special Forces Sniper Skills. Osprey Publishing. pp. 79–80. ISBN 978-1-78096-003-6.
24. ""Indonesian Sniper" Tatang Koswara passes away at 68". Coconuts Media Limited. Retrieved 4 March 2015.
25. Reuters (29 October 2006). "U.S. military probes sniper threat in Baghdad". alertnet.org. Reuters. Retrieved 9 May 2010. {{cite web}}: |last= has generic name (help); Invalid |ref=harv (help)
26. Номоконов - вновь на коне (in Russian). Zabmedia. 13 January 2010. Retrieved 5 August 2014.
27. 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 180 Tiger cadres, before his demise on 28 April 2009. {{cite web}}: Invalid |script-title=: missing prefix (help)
28. "Sniper Shoots Council Bluffs Detective; Terror of People Hits Omaha's Business". The New York Times. 20 February 1926.
29. Demaris, Ovid (1971). America the Violent. Penguin Books. p. 344.
30. 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.
31. Witkin, Gordon (11 September 1995). "The nightmare of Idaho's Ruby Ridge". US News & World Report. {{cite news}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)
32. Anderson, Dan; and Laurence J. Yadon (2007), 100 Oklahoma Outlaws, Gangsters, and Lawmen: 1839-1939, Pelican Publishing Company, p. 231, ISBN 978-1-58980-384-8{{citation}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
33. Bugliosi, Vincent (2007). Reclaiming History: The Assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Norton. ISBN 0-393-04525-0.
34. Cawthorne, Nigel (2007). Serial Killers And Mass Murderers: Profiles of the World's Most Barbaric Criminals. Ulysses Press. ISBN 1-569-75578-7.

• Use dmy dates from October 2010
• Lists of military personnel
• Snipers
• Criminal snipers