Red Army Sniper A Memoir on the Eastern Front in World War II

—— The Snipers’ Rally ——

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Kuznetsov noted its significance during the harsh times of the
present day: a time of war against Nazism. Then he spoke about
the formation of a sniper movement within the armies on our
front for exterminating Nazis, about its necessity in a period of
positional war against German invaders, and named the best of
the best exterminators of the Nazi scum.
Andrey Alexandrovich Zhdanov, who followed him, called
snipers the true heroes of the Great War for the Fatherland and
called for the sniper movement to be greatly enlarged. ‘We were
pleased to report to the Central Committee of the Communist
Party that, just within the first twenty days of January, delegates
to this gathering and participants in wartime competition, our
snipers, wiped out over 7,000 German troops and officers,’ said
Comrade Zhdanov. His words were greeted by a storm of applause.
He went on:

By a decree of the Presidium of the USSR Supreme

Soviet dated 6 February 1942, the leading soldiers

on our front have been awarded the exalted title of

Hero of the Soviet Union. The names of Lieutenant

Kozlov, Junior Lieutenant Yakovlyev, Sergeant­Major

Vezhlivtsev, Sergeant Pchelintsev, Privates Golichenkov

and Smolyachkov, Lieutenant Fomin, Deputy Political

Adviser Kalinin, Senior Sergeant Loskutov and Senior

Lieutenant Sinyavin are well known on our front.

Lieutenant Nikolai Andreyevich Kozlov personally

annihilated over 300 Nazi troops and officers. Mercilessly

exterminating the Nazi scum because a sacred cause

for Deputy Political Adviser Kalinin: 155 German

invaders were wiped out by this celebrated member

of the Leningrad Young Communist League, ardent

Soviet patriot, and national hero. Communist Party

member Sergeant Loskutov has earned eternal renown

and the respect of the Soviet people by annihilating 117

Nazis, and Party member Senior Lieutenant Sinyavin