—— I Become a Sniper ——23packing paper. There were ordinary and incendiary bullets, as well
as explosive ones. Since the beginning of the war I had succeeded in
wiping out three such ‘cuckoos’ on Karelian territory. One of them
was a woman.
‘A sniper is a superaccurate sharpshooter who takes aim at
important targets,’ Lieutenant Butorin told us. ‘His rifle, with its
optical sights, serves as a means of precise fire from close and
medium distances at fleeting individual targets, both in the open
and camouflaged.’ He took his rifle and raised it up high.
This rifle makes it possible to shoot effectively within a
range of between 100 and 1,300 metres. And, without
the telescopic sights, from 100 to 800 metres. And, take
note, it guarantees good results even in twilight, at first
light, and at sunset, as well as in overcast weather. You
only have to master it properly. That is your goal.
And we set about mastering it... After the exercises the
trainees would be dropping from fatigue, but later they were very
grateful to their strict teacher. In making snipers out of us, the
lieutenant did not promise us an easy task. On the contrary, at
every convenient moment he warned us of those unexpected and
difficult situations in which we might find ourselves.
Having studied the components of our rifles for several days,
we also learned how to fire them. At first we shot at paper targets,
then at objects of everdiminishing size. Among them were empty
bottles, used food tins and matchboxes. An empty box would be
threaded onto to a thin twig or straw stuck into the ground to
serve as a marker; the object was to hit the twig or straw while
leaving the box undamaged.
Hitting a bottle lying on its side was commended particularly
highly. You had to aim so that the bullet would strike the bottom
of the bottle and emerge through its neck without smashing the
bottle itself. True, not everyone managed to achieve it.
We also shot at moving targets. One of us would walk 500–600
metres away from the firing line and, choosing an uneven patch,