—— Red Army Sniper ——60they had been. They began to act more cautiously, not only on the
front line but even deep in the rear; they started digging themselves
in more soundly, walked round crouched close to the ground, or
else even resorted to crawling.
Unsettled by their heavy losses, the German command was
compelled to call in troops urgently from other fronts and direct their
supersharpshooters against Leningrad. So, aces like this, expert
masters of their craft, killers with seniority and huge experience,
appeared in our area too. We quickly felt the presence of the Nazi
snipers; they would fire through the slit of a pill box and skilfully
take out our observers. Now it was also imposs ible for us to walk
freely along our trenches, especially on our awkwardly constructed
section of the line. It became more difficult for us snipers to operate.
Some lost their lives at the hands of Nazi marks men. Thus, in January
1942, the life of the illustrious sniper Feodosy Smolyachkov of the
13th Division, was tragically cut short. Feodosy’s tally amounted
to 125 obliterated Nazis. At a funeral gathering, where they bade
farewell to him, the snipers of our division swore that they would
mercilessly wipe out the Nazi invaders and avenge the death of
their comrade. He was buried not far from where he had fought –
in the Chesmenskoe War Veterans’ Cemetery. In February 1942,
by a decree of the Presidium of the USSR Supreme Soviet, Feodosy
Smolyachkov was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union. In the
Vyborg district of Leningrad a memorial to him has been erected –
on the same street that bears his name.
I resolved to test myself against one of the Nazi ace snipers
who had appeared in our sector. For three days I sat in the rear of
the regiment checking my readiness for the forthcoming tussle.
Again and again I would string empty matchboxes on straws and,
starting from a range of 100 metres and gradually increasing the
distance, snap the straws in two. Feeling at last that I was completely
prepared for the duel, I set off for the battalion command post.
‘Comrade Major,’ I addressed battalion commander Morozov,
‘I request permission to seek out the Nazi sniper. I want to get close
to him. Do I have your permission? I’m ready for anything; it’s