—— From the Soviet Information Bureau... ——189had long been seeking to find their range in this area! And I was
conveniently ensconced in the turret of the German tank – my
sniper’s rifle was already hot from continuous firing.
I was glad about the convenient position, glad that more and
more Nazis were dropping from my bullets, and I was concerned
only for my comrades, who were also conducting sniper fire from
somewhere close by. ‘How have they set themselves up? Are they
safe? Are they alive?’ I was not worried about Ivan Karpov, Ivan
Dobrik and Zagid Rakhmatullin – they were experienced guys;
they would not come unstuck. But what about the others? Those
who had only recently learned the sniper’s art and had barely
managed to open their tally of vengeance?
A sniper in defence is a big plus. For a good commanding
officer the snipers in a detachment occupy a special place and he
has a particular concern for them. A competent commander is
not only concerned about increasing the ranks of new snipers, but
he also creates the necessary conditions for them, helps them in
their work and cares about their safety. A commander like this
will not send a topclass sniper into a bayonet charge – he knows
that in this case a sniper will be of greater use shooting from a
wellcamouflaged firing position, supporting the attack. There are
occasions when wellpositioned snipers can bring success to the
detachment in battle and sometimes decide the outcome of the
attack itself.
Yesterday had shown that the outcome of the battle was
determined mainly by the deadeyed fire of the snipers, who did
not let the enemy near their trenches. Many of them wiped out up
to ten or more Nazis in the engagement. Besides, it was not just
the quantity but, so to speak, the quality of the felled enemy. The
snipers annihilated officers, artillery spotters, machine gunners,
sentries and those soldiers who were on the point of leaping into
our trenches.
We firmly held on to the captured territory. In the course of a
short summer night the troops managed to reequip the German
trenches once again, and in the morning, when the sun rose, the