—— The Snipers’ Rally ——119of the Soviet Union. We got talking. And Vladimir Pchelintsev
told me a lot about himself. He had been born in Tambov in
- A year later he had lost his father – he had died defending
the young Soviet republic. Vladimir’s stepfather was a military
man. Moscow, Yaroslavl, Petrozavodsk, Leningrad – the family
spent time in a number of cities while Vladimir was growing up.
Vladimir was a lively and sociable lad. He loved active games and
was fascinated by the books of Thomas Mayne Reid, Walter Scott,
and Jules Verne. He liked Pioneer camps with their spartan mode
of life, hiking, wargames and camp fires.
Vladimir was attracted to shooting from his earliest years.
While still a boy, in 1935, he achieved the standard for the
Voroshilov Marksman badge. And in 1937 he headed the school
team at the national shooting championships and won first place.
His prize was a TOZ9 smallbore rifle.
He was fascinated not only by shooting. At his institute he
played soccer and volleyball, loved tennis and took part in track
and field athletics. While still a student he graduated from sniper
school and trained for the title ‘USSR Master of Sport’, but 22 June
1941 put an end to all his plans. A student in his third year, he
put his textbooks aside and took up a military rifle. True, he was
turned down by the recruitment office, when he appeared on the
very first day of the war. Vladimir then set off to construct defence
works. Soon they began to recruit volunteers to combat enemy
parachute drops and Vladimir was enrolled in the 83rd ‘Search
and Destroy’ Battalion. Vladimir Pchelintsev became a sniper and
observer. His tally of vengeance on the enemy rose day by day:
twentyfive, then thirtysix and sixty Nazis were wiped out by his
accurate shooting. He received his first award – a watch engraved
with his name.
Day and night, in freezing cold and rain, Vladimir patiently
sought out the enemy. At night he set up marksman’s foxholes and
camouflage, while during the day he engaged in observation. To
make the foxhole clean and comfortable he furnished it with mats
made from woven twigs. On the parapet he would set up forks for