Selection of candidates for sniper groups of the armed forces, special units of the police department and internal troops of the Russian Federation. Special forces officer about modern snipers in the armed forces of Russia (9 photos) A separate company of snipers

Snipers conduct combat operations as part of, for example, a motorized rifle unit. This means that the shooter, machine gunner, grenade launcher, radio operator, gunner and other important guys are going on the attack (or sitting on the defensive - it doesn’t matter). With them - a regular medical officer. That is, in the event of a wound on the battlefield, one of the comrades will be able to take out the wounded, and the first aid specialist will provide this same assistance in the shortest possible time, for which he is appointed in each unit. Another thing is the work of a sniper pair as part of an exclusively pair, outside the combat formations of the unit. Two people work separately from everyone, it happens that at a considerable distance from their own. And in case of injury, there will be no one to provide even first aid. Except for yourself and your partner. Only self-help and mutual assistance remain - there are no other options.

The most common task in this case is to establish where the fighter is wounded and how to help him. The sniper has few means to assist - mainly a tourniquet and an individual dressing bag. And, in general, everything. There are no syringe tubes with promedol. In combat conditions, things can (and hopefully will) be different.

A special exercise was devoted to practicing the skill of quickly evacuating a wounded sniper from the danger zone by his partner. Noticing that a fighter is in trouble, a colleague approaches him in a belligerent manner, finds out how and where he was wounded, applies a tourniquet, stops the blood and bandages the comrade with individual bags. When the blood has stopped, and there is no immediate danger of death from the wound and blood loss, it is necessary to evacuate the wounded. During the evacuation process, the sniper should try to perform all his actions unnoticed by the enemy, crouching as low as possible and using the available means of disguise. In our case, the wounded sniper was conscious according to the conditions of the task, therefore he was instructed to keep both sniper rifles on himself and help when crawling, pushing "healthy" foot.

The actions to evacuate the wounded were observed by a medical officer, guard lieutenant of the medical service. In his opinion, the task was completed for evaluation "satisfactorily". The first aid was provided quickly, correctly and in the proper amount, but at the stage of crawling away, the fighters did not bend low enough to the ground and were a good target for the enemy.

Further, according to plan, everyone proceeded to the shooting range past the smart green "tanchikov". Snipers fired in position "lying" from conventional SVDs with conventional four-time PSOs at a distance of 100 meters. The distance is not typical, but given the number of film crews and the desire of all those who gathered to reach the targets after shooting, it is convenient for everyone.

After firing, at the command of the deputy commander 27 separate motorized rifle brigade Lieutenant Colonel Dmitry Aksyonov, everyone moved to the targets.

Comrade sergeant fired accurately and accurately. Well done!

Comrade sergeant fired accurately and accurately. Well done!

Here - the result is worse. But the sniper is also a beginner, just learning.

At the end of the race, I managed to talk with one of the officers of a separate sniper company. The following questions were discussed:

What task can an ordinary soldier who has been trained as a sniper with his ordinary rifle solve?

It can confidently hit a target at a distance of 200-500 meters. At these distances, all typical exercises are worked out in a planned manner. In a real battle, a shot at a distance of more than 500 meters is simply impractical. What for? And yes, this rarely happens. During hostilities in the city - it is completely excluded. And do not forget about the need to identify the target as an enemy. A four-fold PSO sight mounted on an SVD rifle does not really allow this. How to make a decision to hit a target without being sure that the target is the same one?

Are there frequent shootings? How many shots are fired in the company?

In our unit, shooting takes place two or three times a week. Minimum - weekly, but this is rare. The unit is newly formed, so the attention to us is appropriate, it is necessary to train the personnel intensively. Cooking. We do not regret patrons.

Are there any "stars" of sniping among rookie snipers?

There is. 10 percent shoot really great, show outstanding results. Practice in this matter is not enough, you also need talent. So there are excellent shooters among seasoned contract soldiers with extensive experience and among conscripts who, before service, did not come close to sniper weapons. The sniper is a calling. You need to feel it and be able to control yourself. This is indeed a necessary condition. Emotions, breathing, mood - everything must be in harmony with the rifle. The basics of shooting training are given to a fighter using typical tools, for example, commander's boxes KYA-73 and KYa-83 allow you to clearly and intelligibly convey information about the conditions necessary for an accurate shot. This is both theory and practice of aiming. Later we move on to exercises with live shooting.

How about hitting a target the size of, say, a head? Distance is kilometer.

Much depends on the weapon, on the sight, on the position, on the strength of the wind, on experience. In general, it happens. Not a miracle. Especially in order to establish a personal sports record.

What about SVD? Good rifle?

How can you say for sure? The weapon, I think, is immortal. And its merits in practice outweigh any idle talk. I think it's obsolete, but for wide application in the army, it is still - "the very thing." There is no need to compare it with piece foreign rifles equipped with multi-thousand-dollar sights - after all, there is nothing like this massively in the army and never will be. And there is an SVD with PSO. And for her tasks, she is still an excellent tool. Those who wish, as elsewhere, apparently in the army, can buy any sight for their own. Yes, there is such a practice, we are constantly trying something new. Personally, I am not a supporter of such "weighting", I think that the simpler - the more reliable and better it will be.

Highly important detail- SVD rifle is hard to spoil by inept handling. Sometimes there is no time to clean. In real extreme conditions- took off his sock, hastily cleaned the dirty mechanism, it will work. When conditions are normal, there is no time pressure - mandatory cleaning after each use. If the rifle still breaks down or behaves strangely, it is officially sent to the gunsmith for repairs. After repair - again the procedure of fitting-tuning-shooting. I can't recall a rifle damaged by mishandling. Wear - yes. There is nothing eternal.

Are any specially selected cartridges used in preparation?

No, only those that come in zinc with the inscription "Sniper". Normal ammo. Reliable. But there are all sorts of singles - often sticking happens.

Is the rifle assigned to a specific fighter?

The rifle is assigned to each fighter individually. He prepares weapons “for himself” himself - he adjusts, leads to a normal battle, shoots, cleans, grooms and cherishes.

Is there rivalry within the military collective?

Among the fighters there is some informal competition, the spirit of rivalry, of course, is inherent in the male team. Usually everyone knows who is capable of what, if a person shoots well - of course, he enjoys authority among his comrades. Shooting straight is prestigious.

If necessary - is it possible to make a decent sniper from an ordinary soldier taken at random?

Probably not. Snipers are the elite. Everyone cannot be the best. And besides, in fact, snipers, there are many other needs. We need intelligent soldiers in the release groups, in cover, in reconnaissance. Of those who have already fallen into the ranks of snipers, some are leaving. The sifting is there all the time. He changed his mind, failed, professionally unsuitable. Such people are simply transferred to other units, for example, to ordinary motorized rifles.

Any foreign experience is used in the training of our snipers? Is there anything new in sniper business?

In my opinion - all the most important things have long been invented. Sniper business is very painstaking. It is necessary to “sharpen” the experience that has long been accumulated carefully and specifically for oneself. The memories of the snipers of the Red Army help a lot in this matter. From precisely foreign experience - German was found useful educational film about the training of snipers, made for the training of Wehrmacht snipers. For example, a wire fan as the basis of a wireframe disguise is borrowed from there. We are studying the memories of our veteran snipers and scouts, that's for sure. Luckily they are on the internet now.

What other types of training are required for a sniper, besides physical, shooting, medical and psychological?

For example, a sniper receives additional engineering training. It cannot be said that it is very deep, but it is quite capable of detecting, for example, a mine. Disposal of an explosive object is not the task of a sniper. Found - just bypass or mark. Well, engineering intelligence has not been canceled.

What does a sniper usually carry on a mission?

The less cargo the sniper carries, the better. The main cargo is weapons, ammunition, appliances, water, food. Sometimes, if conditions allow - a walkie-talkie. The food is the most common. Dry rations, chocolate, stew.

How does a sniper feel when he hits an enemy?

There is no remorse or fear. There is satisfaction from a well-executed work that was taught. Did an excellent job - well done, rejoice. What is there to suffer? (Hmm, about the sniper felt the same way , who filled up more than one German from his SVT during the war - the author.)

How do snipers get hit?

Voluntarily. By my own will. After a tough selection, of course. We serve only those who want. It's in our own interests. We have a special purpose unit, we need, in addition to discipline, personal aspirations. People come, of course, different. There are more sensible ones. From ordinary, but professionally fit, we make good and excellent snipers. And about the "elite" - this is not just what they say. This "ideology" is imposed on the recruit, it is extremely important, without it it is difficult to develop and self-develop as a warrior. Yes, for some, as they say, wings open, a sniper rifle, again, not everyone gets it. They even say: only a sniper has a rifle, the rest have weapons. Well, we have badges. These are chevrons. Chevron must be earned. They are worn in the entire brigade only by two companies - snipers and deblockers. Chevron is truly prestigious. A great reason to be proud of yourself. Soldiers understand this.

*****

MO Press Club - thanks for stopping by. There, at the link - video of the Zvezda TV channel.

In August of this year, both in motorized rifle and tank brigades, a new organizational unit was formed - a company of snipers, instead of separate platoons and lone snipers distributed among motorized rifle companies.

In the 18th separate motorized rifle brigade (Chechnya), a sniper company was created on August 1, 2011, and at the time of my visit (August 25) it is in the process of formation. Why hasn't it been formed yet? No one is forcibly driven into the company, only volunteers who themselves have expressed a desire to serve, and the former composition of the platoon of snipers of the brigade, are taken. The selection among newcomers is tough, preference is given to phlegmatic people, as they are more assiduous and unflappable. The simplest occupation, when for five minutes you need to lie motionless with a spent cartridge case placed on top of a rifle, without dropping it, allows you to quickly weed out unsuitable soldiers.

What a company is - it's a few dozen people in several platoons. Rifle platoons (on motor vehicles) are attached to motorized rifle battalions of the brigade in case of hostilities, a special platoon (on armored vehicles) operates according to separate plans. The main weapon of the company is the SVD, SVD-S rifles, each of them has the VSS Vintorez rifle as an additional weapon. A special platoon according to the state should still have 12.7 mm rifles (OSV-96), but they have not yet been delivered. Also, Steyr-Mannlicher SSG 04 rifles were inherited from a special group of snipers, which was created in the 42nd division at the end of 2008 (10 warrant officers and 2 officers). . An old veteran warrant officer says that with this rifle he confidently hits a target at a distance of 800 meters, while with an SVD a confident defeat can be no further than 400-500 meters.

While there is no specialized training program for the company (it is under development), training is carried out according to the combat training program drawn up for a platoon of snipers of the brigade in Solnechnogorsk. There is a team backbone that has been sniping for many years, but most of them are beginners. The command of the brigade, taking advantage of the specifics of the region, plans to attract professionals from the FSB units performing tasks in the republic during a business trip to train the personnel of the company as instructors.

Now the soldiers are going through a kind of KMB, individual training is underway: tactics, fire, camouflage, individual adjustment of weapons. Not everyone can withstand physical training, for example, a company has forced marches every morning for 5 km. Even in the course of a normal advance at the shooting range, various standards are worked out in terms of tactics, engineering training, and topography. As if smiling, one of the commanders said: "You can, of course, go straight, but you can also make a detour."
There is no firing schedule (such as: "Today from 15 to 16 and that's it"), it is determined by the unit commander. They plan that fire training should be at least 3-4 times a week with a large shot.
3.They promise to give out equipment, but for now they use their own - backpacks, karimats, camouflage suits "Goblin" and "Kikimora"
4. Rangefinders received standard army ones, about which the fighters had a low opinion, those who graduated from the Solnechnogorsk courses were given much better (unfortunately, they did not ask for the name). Weather stations are received at all nominally. Of the navigation devices, Russian GPG / GLONASS navigators "Grot" are used, giving an accuracy of up to 2 meters (according to GLONASS)
5.And here is a fresh statement on the topic of what should ideally come out of the mouths of snipers:

"In every motorized rifle and tank brigade included a full-time company of snipers, armed with domestic small arms," ​​Vlasov said.

According to him, a stage-by-stage, multi-level system of selection and training of snipers "for operations as part of a sniper unit and independently" is being formed. "All snipers will receive special training in training centers with a frequency of at least once every 3-4 years," Vlasov said.

Due to the wide variety of fire missions performed in service sniper units there are several types of rifles with different combat characteristics. In addition to weapons and sights, a sniper pair / two snipers acting together / is also equipped with optoelectronic surveillance equipment - a small-sized laser reconnaissance device, binoculars and means for determining the initial data for firing. The individual and group equipment of a sniper pair includes a sniper complex, uniforms, equipment and other equipment necessary to complete tasks and maintain life, Vlasov listed.

Source in the Commander-in-Chief ground forces clarified ITAR-TASS that while sniper units are armed with existing domestic rifles - SVD caliber 7.62 and silent sniper rifles VSS caliber 9 mm. "In the future, we will either upgrade these rifles or order new ones from the industry," he said.

December 2nd, 2012

If the Soviet and German rifle squads and platoons were approximately similar in composition and structure, then there were very significant differences between the Soviet rifle and German infantry companies.
The main difference was that the Soviet rifle company, unlike the German one, did not have material supply and support units in its structure.

It was a 100% combat unit.
The rear support of the company was a rifle battalion and a regiment. There were corresponding rear structures, rear convoys, etc.

At the level of a rifle company, the only person who was directly involved in providing the company was the company commander himself and the company foreman. It was on them that all the care for a simple company economy hung.

The rifle company did not even have its own field kitchen. Therefore, hot meals were provided at the battalion or regiment level.

The situation was quite different in the German infantry company.

German infantry company can be conditionally divided into two parts: combat and logistics (convoy, two quartermaster detachments, a mobile workshop).
These are the rear divisions of the company, which were engaged in supplying the company with everything necessary.

They did not participate directly in the fighting at the forefront and during the offensive of the company they were directly subordinate to the battalion and regimental rear structures.

From the front line, these units were at a distance of 3-5 km.

And what was the combat unit of the German infantry company?

German infantry company (Schuetzenkompanie).

The total strength of the German infantry company - 191 people (in the Soviet rifle company 179 people).
This is what it looks like schematically:

Four messengers up to and including Gefreiter.
One of them is simultaneously a bugler, the other a light signaller.
Armed with carbines.

Two cyclists in the rank from to gefreiter (Gefreiter) inclusive.
Armed with carbines. They ride bicycles.

Two coachmen in the rank up to Gefreiter inclusive. They drive a heavy horse-drawn carriage drawn by four horses.
Armed with carbines.

Groom for an officer's horse up to and including Gefreiter. Armed with a carbine. For movement is equipped with a bicycle.

Thus, the total number of combat units of the control department was not 12, but 9 people. With the company commander - 10 people.

The basis of the combat unit of an infantry company was infantry platoons.
There were 3 of them, just like in the Soviet rifle company.

The total number of soldiers in infantry platoons was 49x3 = 147 people.
Taking into account the number of combat units of the control section, including the company commander (10 people), we get 157 people.

Infantry platoons at the company level received reinforcements in the form of an anti-tank squad (Panzerabwehrbuchsentrupp).

There are 7 people in the department. Of these, 1 non-commissioned officer and 6 soldiers.
The group weapons of the squad are three Pz.B.39 anti-tank rifles.
Squad leader in rank from Obergeifreiter to Unterfeldwebel. Armed with a carbine.

Three calculations of anti-tank guns.
Each calculation consisted of a PR shooter in ranks up to Gefreiter (Gefreiter) inclusive ( personal weapons- pistol) and his assistant in ranks up to Gefreiter inclusive. Armed with a carbine.

The total number of calculation is 4 people.
Squad strength - 7 people (3x2 +1 squad leader)
The anti-tank squad was armed with:
Anti-tank gun Pz.B.39 - 3 pcs.
Mauser 98k magazine rifle - 4 pcs.
Pistol 8-shot - 3 pcs.

Total in a German infantry company combat strength 157 + 7 = 164 people out of 191 people in the company.

27 people are rear guards.

Vehicles:
1. Riding horse - 1 pc.
2. Bicycle - 3 pcs.

Only 4 horses per company.

A few words about the Pz.B.39 anti-tank rifle.

German anti-tank gun Pz.B.39

The German army in World War II had two main types of anti-tank guns - the PzB-38 and its later modification PzB-39.

The abbreviation PzB stands for Panzerbüchse (anti-tank rifle).
Both the PzB-38 and the PzB-39 used the "Patrone 318" 7.92x94 mm cartridge.
Several types of such cartridges were produced:
Patrone 318 SmK-Rs-L"spur- a cartridge with a pointed bullet in a shell, with a poisonous reagent, tracer.

Patrone 318 SmKH-Rs-L"spur.- a cartridge with a pointed bullet in a shell (solid) with a poisonous reagent, tracer.
This is actually an armor-piercing cartridge.

Number 318 was the reciprocal of the old designation (813 - 8 mm bullet in a 13 mm sleeve).
smk meant Spitzgeschoss mit Kern (pointed bullet in a sheath)
SmKH- Spitzgeschoss mit Kern (Hart) (pointed bullet in a jacket (Hard)
Rs- Reizstoff (Poison agent), because the bullet had a small amount of tear gas to affect the crew of armored vehicles, chlor-acetophenone was placed in the recess at the bottom of the core - a tear-acting poison, but due to the small amount of tear gas in the capsule, the crew most often simply did not notice. By the way, until the German samples of anti-tank rifles were captured, no one suspected that there was gas in their bullets.
L "spur- Leuchtspur (tracer), the bullet had a small tracer in the back.

His bullet weighing 14.5 g accelerated in the barrel to 1180 m / s. A rather high armor-piercing effect of a bullet penetrating 20 mm armor set at an angle of 20 ° to the normal at a distance of 400 m was provided by a tungsten core.

According to other data, the PTR pierced 20 mm armor from a distance of 300 m and 30 mm armor from a distance of 100 m at an angle of 90 °.
In practice, fire was fired from a distance of 100 to 200 m, mainly on the tracks and fuel tanks of the tank in order to stop it.
However, at the same time, the PTRovets very quickly found its position and became an excellent target for shooters.
Therefore, if the PTRs were a strengthening of the German infantry company in the confrontation with tanks, then not too significant.

The bulk of the tanks were still destroyed by anti-tank guns, which were not at the disposal of the German infantry company.

Now let's compare a German infantry company with a Soviet infantry company, not from the point of view of the total number of staff, but from the point of view of the combat strength of those who were directly at the forefront.

Soviet rifle company
The rifle company was the next largest tactical unit after the platoon and was part of the rifle battalion.

He commanded a rifle company company commander (company commander) with the rank of captain.
The company commander relied on a riding horse.
Because on the march of the company, he had to control the movement of the company, which was stretched during the march, and if necessary, the horse could be used to communicate with other companies or the battalion command.
Armed with a TT pistol.

The assistant commander of the company was a company political instructor.
He conducted political educational work in the divisions of the company and kept in touch with the political department of the battalion and regiment.
Armed with a TT pistol.

But the actual assistant to the company commander was the company foreman.
He was in charge of a poor, one must say frankly, company economy, dealt with issues of providing company units with everything necessary, getting everything they needed in a battalion, which included a rifle company.
For these purposes, the company had one horse with a cart, which was driven by a rider in the rank of private, armed like a foreman with a rifle.

The company had its own clerk. He was also armed with a rifle.

There was one messenger in the company with the rank of private. But despite the ordinary rank, he was, perhaps, the left hand of the company commander. He was entrusted with responsible tasks, he was always close to the battalion commander, he knew all the platoon and squad commanders well, etc. And he was known not only in the divisions of the company, but also in the battalion.
He was also armed with a rifle.

The basis of a rifle company was rifle platoons.
There were 3 such platoons in a rifle company.
At the company level, rifle platoons received reinforcements, primarily in the form of a machine-gun platoon.

Machine gun platoon.
The machine gun platoon was led by a machine gun platoon commander with the rank of lieutenant.
Armament - TT pistol.

The machine-gun platoon consisted of two crews of the Maxim machine gun.
Each crew was commanded by a sergeant.
Armament - TT pistol.

The calculation consisted of a calculation commander and four privates (gunner, assistant gunner, cartridge carrier and rider), armed with rifles.
According to the state, each calculation relied on a horse and a cart for transporting a machine gun (tachanka). The calculation was armed with rifles.

The number of machine-gun crew was 6 fighters.
The number of machine gun platoon was (6x2 + platoon leader) = 13 fighters.
In service with a machine gun platoon:
Machine gun "Maxima" - 2 pcs.
Self-loading rifle SVT 38/40 - (4x2) = 8 pcs.
TT pistol - 3 pcs.

The main purpose of the Maxim machine gun was to suppress enemy firing points and support infantry.
The high rate of fire (combat 600 rounds per minute) and the high accuracy of the machine gun fire made it possible to carry out this task from a distance of 100 to 1000 m to friendly troops.
All fighters of the machine gun crew had the same skills in shooting from a machine gun and, if necessary, could change the crew commander, gunner, etc.
Each machine gun carried a combat set of cartridges, 12 boxes of machine-gun belts (tape - 250 rounds), two spare barrels, one box of spare parts, one box of accessories, three cans for water and lubricants, an optical machine gun sight.
The machine gun had an armored shield that protected against shrapnel, light bullets, etc.
Shield thickness - 6 mm.

German machine gunners have no protection other than a helmet.

True, this shield did not always save the machine gunner.

Bullet hits are visible.

And here in general a sieve. Apparently fired from armor-piercing cartridges.
And the trunk got it.

Thus, the main armament of the platoons at the company level was the 7.62 mm machine gun of the Maxim system of the 1910/30 model.

In addition, as a company reinforcement of platoons during the battle, there were 2 snipers in the company.
Sufficiently powerful strengthening of company units for the purpose of destroying enemy firing points from a long distance and incapacitating enemy unit commanders.
The snipers were armed with a Mosin rifle (three-line) with a PU optical sight (short sight).
What is a sniper? A good sniper from a distance of 300 m per minute of shooting can easily lay down an infantry squad. And in pairs - half a platoon. Not to mention machine-gun points, gun crews, etc.

But they could work from 800 m.

The company also included a sanitary department.
The department was commanded by the commander of the department, a sergeant-medical instructor.
He had 4 nurses under him.
The squad is armed with 1 pistol.
Well, this is practically one orderly per platoon.
In rifle platoons, unlike the German infantry, the orderly was not supposed to be in the state.
But as we can see, the platoon still did not remain without a nurse.
Total: 5 people. Armed with one pistol.

Total company strength:
Company commander - 1 person.
Political instructor of the company - 1 person.
Company foreman - 1 person.
Messenger - 1 person.
Scribe - 1 person
Riding - 1 person.
Rifle platoons - 51x3 = 153 people
Machine gun platoon - 13 people
Sniper - 2 people
Sanitary department - 5 people.
Total: 179 people.

In service with the company:
Machine gun "Maxima" - 2 pcs.
Machine gun PD Degtyarev - 12 pcs. (4 pieces each in each rifle platoon)
Light 50 mm mortar - 3 pcs. (1 piece each in each rifle platoon)
Submachine gun PPD - 27 pcs. (9 pieces in each platoon)
Rifle SVT-38, SVT-40 - 152 pcs. (36 pieces in each platoon + 8x4 = 32 + 8 pieces in a machine gun platoon + 4 for the rest)
Mosin sniper rifle with PU sight - 2 pcs.
TT pistols - 22 pcs. (6 pieces in each platoon + 1 in the machine gun platoon + 1 in the sanitary department + 2 in the commander of the company and political officer)

Vehicles:
Riding horse - 1 pc.
Horse with a cart - 3 pcs.
Total 4 horses

In service with a German infantry company / in comparison with a Soviet rifle company:

1. light machine gun - 12/12
2. Machine gun - 0/2
3. Submachine gun - 16/27
4. Magazine rifle - 132/0
5. Self-loading rifle - 0/152
6. Sniper rifle - 0/2
7. Mortar 50 mm - 3/3
8. Anti-tank rifle - 3/0
9. Pistol - 47/22

From this we can conclude that the Soviet rifle company at the company level significantly outnumbered the German infantry company in terms of firepower and armament.

Conclusions on the number.
The total strength of a German infantry company is 191 people. (Soviet rifle company - 179 people)
However warhead infantry company was only - 164 people. The rest belonged to the rear services of the company.

Thus, the Soviet rifle company also outnumbered the German infantry company by 15 people (179-164) in terms of the number of combat personnel.
At the battalion level, this excess was 15x3 = 45 people.
At the regimental level 45x3 = 135 people
At the divisional 135x3 = 405 people.
405 people is almost 2.5 companies, that is, almost an infantry battalion.

The advantage in vehicles, wagons and draft power at the company level in a German infantry company was associated with the work of the rear services of a German company.
The combat unit of the company moved on foot in the same way as the Soviet rifle company.

Vehicles of the combat unit of the Soviet rifle company:
1. Riding horse - 1 pc.
2. Horse and cart - 3 pcs.
Only 4 horses per rifle company

Vehicles of the combat unit of the German infantry company:
1. Riding horse - 1 pc.
2. Bicycle - 3 pcs.
3. 4-horse heavy wagon - 1 pc.
Only 4 horses per infantry company.

On the march, the German infantry company moved exclusively on foot, as did the fighters of the Soviet rifle company.

Therefore, the German infantry company had no advantage in vehicles over the Soviet rifle company.

Making a general conclusion, we can conclude that both in terms of the number of combat personnel and in terms of weapons and firepower, the Soviet rifle company was superior to the German infantry company, yielding to it only in the supply organization system.

ORGANIZATION AND ARMAMENT OF THE SNIPER UNIT

ORGANIZATION OF A SNIPER TEAM

A properly organized sniper team consists of two people, a sniper and an observer. They are both skilled and fully trained snipers, so it's more accurate to say that the team consists of two snipers. However, in order to be effective, one of them will fire (sniper) while his partner is watching (observer) and rotate these duties regularly.

Also, since the military sniper is armed with a slow-firing, low-capacity bolt-action rifle, his partner needs a high-capacity automatic weapon - I recommend the M16A2 rifle with the M203 40mm grenade launcher - to protect the team during unexpected fire contacts at short distances. Both people switch weapons when changing their duties. With only two members, the sniper team must act as a single entity in order to seize every opportunity to complete their task and survive in a very dangerous environment. Compatibility, a willingness to share responsibility, and a willingness to rotate duties without pettiness, grumbling, or evasiveness are absolutely essential qualities. We have compiled a list of sniper and observer duties, but it must be understood that within the specified duty there is always a joint effort; the responsible member of the team eventually sees that it is done, but to a certain extent, his partner contributes to everything that is done.

Some jobs are shared among team members, such as splitting a sector so that both can observe, but even here there must be a change of duties and rest, otherwise one team member will get eye strain. And always, one is resting, the other is working, one is guarding while his friend is digging, and so on. This is real team work.

The team member with the most experience should be the team leader, but his main task is to train his partner and raise his skills to the level of his own, so that they can completely change duties without any reduction in their combat capabilities.

TEAMWORK

Most often, the novice sniper serves as the spotter, but some organizations believe that the more experienced of the two should be the spotter, as he is likely to be better at ranging and estimating wind and targets. Due to the nature of their service, police snipers do not change weapons - each must have only his own rifle. But police snipers also have to rotate duties, rest, and share work, otherwise they will not be able to operate during a prolonged operation - and, in fact, most incidents that ultimately lead to a police sniper being fired are long ones.

Combat units are organized based on mission, weaponry, statutory requirements, and the terrain they will be fighting on, and are balanced with flexibility and simplicity to keep the unit manageable. These factors apply equally to the organization of sniper units and to a tank division. From these factors, two basic concepts for the organization of sniper units have developed: centralized and decentralized.

The organizational structure of sniper units, which is most often found in the US military, is centralized, in which snipers are part of their own platoon at the battalion level, which operates directly under the command of the chief of intelligence (S2) and operations officer (S3). As shown in the diagram, such an organization of snipers exists in the units of the US Marine Corps (MCC) and in the light infantry units of the US Army. In most structures using such an organization, snipers also serve as battalion scouts, which is well suited to their skills and tasks. In fact, the USMC officially refers to them as "sniper scouts" and is assigned to the Surveillance and Targeting Platoon (STA).

A centralized sniper platoon has many advantages. First, they can train together and focus their efforts on sniping, under the supervision of platoon leaders who evaluate and support their requirements. Secondly, since they are the assets of the battalion, their role is taken into account and included in every operation of the battalion.

Centralization gives greater flexibility in combat, allowing the battalion officer responsible for the use of snipers to concentrate or disperse snipers according to the situation and the combat mission. For example, all snipers can be focused along one enemy approach path, concentrated within a company area if the terrain the best way suitable for sniping, or spread evenly, with three sniper teams assigned to each company or one team for each line platoon. They can also conduct independent operations, under the control of the battalion.

A decentralized organization exists in the US Army Ranger units and some reserve components. This approach, shown in the top diagram, involves separating snipers and always assigning one team to each platoon.

Given that the Rangers often conduct raids and ambushes in platoon-sized units—they are, after all, America's premier sabotage force—it makes sense that they would want to pool as many resources as possible at the platoon level. Creating such a platoon team allows all members to get used to working together, honing their tactical and other skills in unison.

How such decentralized sniper teams are used in operations is determined by the company or platoon leader; at battalion level, snipers or sniping are not considered in planning.

The downside of this organization is that the emphasis on sniping may be reduced and snipers may not be trained to the same high standard as when they were in the same platoon. But this is usually corrected by the supervision and instructions of the battalion commander.

We must not forget that in reality any military organization can vary considerably to accommodate battlefield circumstances, as has happened in every American war. AT Peaceful time even a small change in the state of a division requires a decision of Congress, but in war time, your unit leaders have considerable leeway to adapt to the situation. When the bullets start flying, the only thing that matters is what works.

We recently saw this clearly in the War on Terrorism. Prior to the attack on September 11, 2001, the US Army had three two-man sniper teams in each airborne and light infantry battalion and four teams in mechanized infantry battalions. Based combat experience in Afghanistan and Iraq, many units have added a third man and a Barrett .50 caliber rifle to each sniper team, plus a fourth non-sniper, to increase security and add another pair of surveillance eyes. In 2004, the number of snipers in the 7th Infantry Division was tripled by deploying 18 sniper teams in each battalion. Every 12-man U.S. Special Operations Forces "A" team is now cross-trained as snipers by at least two.6 The U.S. Marine Corps has also shown its confidence in snipers by adding them to their traditional surveillance and targeting platoons ( STA) of 17 battalion-level men. But greatest growth precision shooting in both the Army and the Marine Corps was a significant increase in the number of designated marksmen (Designated Marksmen).

ASSIGNED ACCURATE ARROWS

Although the concept dates back to the earliest days of the infantry, at the beginning of the 21st century, the Americans showed considerable interest in infantrymen at the platoon and squad level, with the additional duty of assigned marksmanship. The Marines even issued custom-made M14 and M16A3 rifles for them, respectively for platoon and detached marksmen. The Designated Marksman Rifle (DMR) is an M14 precision-engineered rifle that combines a McMillan match barrel and stock with a pistol grip with adjustable cheekpiece. I've seen various versions with the traditional Marine Corps Unertl 10x scope, or the Leupold Mark 4 M3 scope, or even the PVS-10 day/night scope. While these specially selected marksmen receive additional training in marksmanship and field skills, they do not qualify as sharpshooters.

The same is true for marksmen of the units of the Marine Corps. Armed with heavy-barreled M16 match-grade rifles mounted with Trijicon's Advanced Combat Optical Gunsight (ACOG) 4x scope or Leupold scope, these sharpshooters provide additional optical surveillance and precision fire capabilities in every infantry squad, although in the Marine infantry, they have not yet been officially authorized.
The Stryker Brigade Combat Team (BCG) has three sniper teams at each battalion headquarters, plus an additional team of three in each company. However, like the Marine Corps, the Army added a designated marksman to each nine-man Stryker brigade squad, armed with an M16 or M4 carbine and an ACOG 4x scope. Although these marksmen receive specialized training like their Marine counterparts, they are not fully trained sharpshooters. In both branches of the military, the concept is that such designated marksmen fill the gap between infantry armed with automatic rifles and fully trained and armed snipers in terms of their capabilities - or, looking from the other side, assigned marksmen provide effective fire beyond the effective ranges of conventional infantry (over 350 yards, up to 550 or 600 yards), giving US forces an edge over their automatic-rifle-wielding enemy.

SNIPER SELECTION

Frederick Russell Burnham, an American explorer-adventurer who led British scouts in the Boer War, described his scouts as "half wolves and half hares". What a fitting description for a sniper - and how aptly Burnham put it! For Burnham, the most accomplished scouts were the Scots of the Highlander regiment known as Lovat's scouts; 16 years later, these phenomenal forest people formed the first sniper unit in the British Army. Yes, the sniper is a bold tempter of fate, but he must also be a wise visionary: "He who shoots and retreats lives to shoot the next day."

This controversial nature - also concerning that sniping may attract some undesirable elements - requires special attention when selecting snipers. To this must be added reliability. “This is the only combat unit in which we can give the order to go and complete the task of two people,” says Lt. Col. Michael

Phillips (Michael Phillips), former commander firearms training course at Fort Benning, “I think because of the amount of things that are required of them, we need to make sure that only those who are truly worthy get the title of "sniper."

What should you look for in sniper candidates? Because sniping involves a triad of skills—marksmanship, field skills, and tactics—I suggest that a sniper candidate must have experience, interest, or demonstrated ability in at least one of these areas. Preparation will solidify that base and polish it into other skills.

It is foolish to think that you are recruiting trained people; the selection process is more about identifying people with the best potential, whom you then train to a standard level. Most of all I am interested in the candidate's perspective and attitude, not necessarily in his knowledge, which can be expanded in the learning process. Is this person's training justified? This is the main question.

A World War II British Army directive in creating sniper teams paid attention to candidates' attitudes towards sniping as well as their skills, requiring candidates to be "selected and fit men who take pride in it; the best marksmen, skilled in the field, confident in their self-confidence, possessing great courage and unsurpassed patience."

Marksmanship

When we start talking about marksmanship, the candidate must be at least a qualified expert rifleman, a level that, as he will soon learn, is only the starting point for sniper-level shooting.

His weapon handling ideally goes beyond his skill with a service rifle. My interest in features firearms started as a child when I started handling a rifle alone in the woods at the age of eight. Perhaps the candidate was an athlete shooter, or perhaps he has a deeper understanding and experience with weapons than the average police officer or soldier. Skip Talbot, world record holder in .50 caliber 1,000-yard shooting, opines that “long range shooters are like wild stallion busters; they are born, not made.

The candidate improves in marksmanship, because in order to hone and maintain sniper skills, he must shoot often. Therefore, the candidate must have an interest in small arms and technical issues beyond the layperson; natural curiosity about things like ballistics, bullets, and optics. Hunting experience is especially useful because the sniper candidate has already learned the consequences of inaccuracy or slow reflexes.

Field Skills
Field skills include many additional skills that the sniper must develop, such as wind estimation, camouflage, and observation. The value of sports and hunting experience cannot be underestimated, for how else can a young person learn such skills?

I attach more value those who hunt elusive beasts. Hunters of squirrels, turkeys, or deer can develop into excellent snipers. Bow hunters know a lot about flora and fauna and camouflage.

But it's more than just certain skills. It is an attitude, a deeper level of trust and compatibility with nature, what I call "closeness to the earth." Anyone who has spent their youth in the countryside, especially in places like Alaska, Montana, Maine, Minnesota, or Idaho - or who has just walked in the forest - develops his own concept of the relationship between himself and nature, forest, weapons - directly about life.

A number of sports help develop this attitude, including trailing (catching animals and birds with traps and traps), hiking, mountain climbing, camping, and canoeing. These athletes are learning to read the weather, to see footprints in natural environment, understand topographic maps, observe fauna, move covertly - and many other related skills.

But before you feel like city dandies have no place in sniping, don't forget that all of our ancestors once hunted day and night for their survival and that all these skills are hidden within us and that the less experienced A city boy can learn to perform admirably in the woods if he completely immerses himself and uses himself. These are forgotten, but not lost, arts.

The best compliment in the Special Operations Forces SOG group was: "He's good in the woods," meaning that the person has mastered the whole gamut of skills of ancient warriors and foresters required for jungle warfare. And most of the jungle soldiers from SOG, like yours truly, grew up in cities.

But there was a natural talent within us, an instinct for preying on other people that some of our peers had applied to surfing or football. It is wonderful to watch a young soldier develop these martial skills and find, often to his own surprise, that hidden deep in his mind and body, they have always been the creators of the warrior. He was always close to the ground, but he didn't know it.

A little about hunters

But traditionally, a person, as a potential sniper, was distinguished hunting experience. The Germans historically referred to their snipers as "jaegers" or "hunters", how close this connection is.

The Russians especially liked snipers with hunting experience. Their greatest World War II sniper, Sergeant Vasily Zaitsev, was a hunter and trapper in the Ural mountains before the war.

The best Australian snipers of World War II were experienced hunters on kangaroos, who knew that a badly fired shot would ruin the skin, so they grew up learning to shoot headshots from a distance. Stealth and offhand shooting were their way of life.

Returning to the United States, more than anything else, firearms and hunting are essential components of the modern American experience. The United States probably has today more hunters per capita than any other major country.

But you don't have to be a hunter to be a sniper; indeed, some experienced snipers have no interest in hunting. My friend, a former Green Beret sniper for a major metropolitan police department, decries "unnecessary" wildlife destruction - but won't hesitate to "turn" the bad guy out of his McMillan rifle. He's a marksman, a good tactician, and uses other skills just as well. Steve and I can debate the ethics of hunting, but he's clearly a competent sniper with no hunting experience.

Tactics

I'm not sure how a sniper candidate can develop his attitude to tactics in any other way than by studying military history– and reading books is one way to do that.

The study of military history helps develop an understanding of the relationship between fire and maneuver, cover from fire and from observation, and concentration versus dispersion. The most suitable tactics are small units below the level of Napoleon or Clausewitz.

I highly recommend Sun Tzu's The Art of War, a Chinese treatise on deceit and war written in 300 BC, which is useful for snipers. For example, Sun Tzu wrote: “When you are close, pretend that you are far away; when far away, pretend you are close.” This book is required reading for CIA officers.

An implicit quality I look for in cadets is "tactical sense," the ability to see tactical opportunities and threats in order to quickly assess a situation and draw my plan in the dust. Some of this comes with experience, but much of it, I believe, is a gift from God.

Serious boxers and hand-to-hand fighters perhaps have a better and more natural grasp of the basic principles of tactics, as do chess players and members of some team sports like football. I would give extra points to the candidate if he was a paintball player.

Physical state

A physically strong shooter holds his rifle more steadily, hard muscles withstand recoil better, he carries the load without premature fatigue, he stays alert longer, he can go further and faster.

Lots of police S.W.A.T. (Special Weapons and Tactics) are difficult and long preparations and maintain a high level of fitness. But whether your tactical team does it or not, you must stay in shape or you will begin to avoid tension by subconsciously dropping into a low trot when you should be using a low crawl, or visibly circling a wall instead of slipping over it unnoticed. bad physical form, laziness, and bad tactics go hand in hand.

Army level test physical training good for the police, although the S.W.A.T. teams that I am familiar with have higher standards of fitness, approaching the level of Special Operations Forces and Ranger units.

In terms of vision, a sniper needs to have at least 20-20.15 vision as most of his job is observation. Glasses? Corrective vision is acceptable if the sniper has non-reflective lenses and has a spare set in his equipment.

Smoking

It is better that the sniper candidate is not a smoker, but this choice is better left to the sniper, and not to the one who should select him. Smoking should not be used as a basis for exclusion, any more than drinking alcohol or coffee, which to some extent affects the performance of a sniper.

The sniper must understand how smoking affects his performance. During the day, his cigarettes will produce smoke and smell, while at night they create visually noticeable light. His marksmanship may be impaired if he is out of nicotine at the right time, while his sense of smell may be insufficient to detect odors associated with hostile activity or danger.

A smoker who smokes a pack of cigarettes a day creates high levels of carbon monoxide in his blood that reduces normal night vision at sea level by 20 percent, an effect that increases with altitude; at 10,000 feet, he loses 40 percent of his night vision.

I would encourage snipers to stop smoking, but I would also advise coffee drinkers to switch to decaffeinated coffee for stronger nerves.

Mental abilities and personal qualities

To understand and apply the complexities of ballistics, adjust rifle scopes, plan combat operations, and outsmart your enemies, a sniper needs intelligence.

He also needs wisdom, for his usual combat encounter greatly annoys a vastly superior enemy. Like an agile mongoose, his strike and dodge tactics outsmart the deadly cobra. It requires composure in stressful situations.

Easily excitable, adrenaline-prone "cheer" types are the exact opposite of the calm, impassive, thinking sniper. They can adjust with great effort, but it is not so easy.

These observations also apply to police snipers. A member of an assault team needs to be bold and aggressive, ready to burst through doors and hit their opponent in close fire combat. His whole job is to break through risk and accurately hit his target. But a police sniper has to be careful, methodical, mature. His task requires avoiding risk, minimizing chance, and using all chances to prevent the suspect from engaging in aggressive actions.

The sniper must be compatible with his teammate. I didn't say have the same personal qualities, I said compatible. But they need to be about the same size, so that one can pull the other out if it gets incapacitated. Teaming Hulk Hogan with a medium-sized man means they'll both die if the bigger one is seriously injured.

Returning to personality, you don't need to use the "Lone Wolf" type. Sniping is a team effort in which each person must give himself completely, and not feed on the efforts of his partner.

Patience

Particular attention must be paid to patience, which World War I sniper Captain H.A.V. McBride said was the most important quality of a sniper. Whether he is a police officer waiting for a terrorist during a lengthy hijacking operation, or a soldier dispassionately peering into an enemy trench for [several] hours, the sniper must be able to produce an excellent shot both 10 minutes after arrival and 10 hours of waiting.

The most experienced long-range shooters I know are "slow-walking, slow-talking" guys, men like Lance Peters, an Olympic-level shooter who won a silver medal at the Pan American Games. Possessing an analytical mindset, patient, dispassionate, planning every step. Of course, these people have emotions, but they have learned to overcome them in order to mentally send stress and anxiety into oblivion.

As a form of self-discipline, patience enables the sniper to lie still in the wet and cold for hours, waiting for a shot he knows will most likely not even come. But just for the sake of making a possible shot, he walks his way through discomfort, so calm and ready, as if it were a sure blow.

Psychological picture

Most men become snipers because they are confident, proud of their skills, and want to get the job done and be the best. They wish to fight as a small unit, so success or failure, life or death - their very destiny - is largely determined by their own efforts. In an environment that is often ruled by mindless brutality, they want to fight smart. They embody the American spirit.

However, for certain reasons, the mystique of sniping can attract the wrong element - the ghostly "wants to be", those who think that glory comes through killing. Deranged psychos and pathological braggarts don't last long in war, because so-called "recreational killers" are usually cowards, unable to endure the dangers of real combat.

Those who think they are on Divine missions or who hate their moms and dads are quickly identified and disqualified. What is much more difficult and subtle, I think, is the purge of those who will never risk under fire; those who, when all the chips are on the table, do not shoot or get confused or hide instead of shooting. However, the purpose of the psychological review is to rule out the crazy, not to identify those who have true courage.

Law enforcement agencies often have a formal psychological interview of sniper candidates and even run diagnostic tests, similar to the Minnesota multi-phasic questionnaire. With the heavy obligations and attendant dangers associated with firing a high-yield rifle in an urban environment in peacetime, no police agency wants to have people too quick to fire a shot.

My biggest concern with the psychological review is that it depends on the subjective opinion of the psychiatrist, who may not fully appreciate the stress and reality of the sniper environment. He may exclude the best candidates because they like firearms, or enthusiasts.

"To be ready"

I think attitude reflects the spirit, but the key to judging attitude is to observe what the devoted man does, not what the braggart says. Actions, not words, have real value. Will he go when the others leave? Is he behind his comrades? Will he endure pain and discomfort for the sake of success? Does he give himself, or does he only take? Will he risk himself to get a chance? And, ultimately, will he follow orders and take the shot?

Unlike most soldiers and police, it is difficult to know if a sniper will shoot at a target that is distant and does not pose an immediate threat to him. He might have plenty of time to study the target and notice how similar she is to his Uncle Ralph. I don't know of any cases where a cop or soldier couldn't shoot a nearby bad guy who was shooting at them. Marksmanship could be bad, ricochet, but no display of emotion or social taboos affected [in this case] the good guy.

But something happens when a sniper looks through a scope and sees a pair of live eyes. It is the eyes that distinguish a living person from a target.

I've been unable to find a means to determine who won't be able to fire, so until that actually happens, you can never be sure who is "ready". And it highlights the importance of realism in training, making sniper targets so realistic that they don't differ too much from the real thing. Take special care to have eyes on the sniper's target.

The Ultimate Sniper:

An Advanced Training Manual for Military

In the course of a comprehensive study on the basis of the Totsk and Samara tactical combined arms formations of the combat capabilities of heavy and medium motorized rifle brigades, an analysis of the second stage began - the coordination of departments.

How the veteran's letter "shot"
As a result of organizational and regular measures, the number of snipers in motorized rifle companies of heavy and medium motorized rifle brigades doubled. With regard to the growth of their number in new tactical formations, the proposal of the reader of the Red Star, retired lieutenant colonel Vladimir Golubkov, was actually implemented (see the issue of March 17, 2009, “Sniping is in the spotlight”). In connection with the radical reorganization of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation and the transition to brigade formations, the veteran, in his letter to the newspaper, spoke in favor of the expediency of having a company of snipers in each motorized rifle brigade: “Local wars in Afghanistan and Chechnya indicated an urgent need to have sniper units. If they were in Afghanistan and Chechnya, then we would have suffered fewer losses and more successfully completed our tasks.”
However, as Colonel Andrey Serdyuk, head of the group of the Main Directorate for Combat Training and Service of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, noted in his commentary on the development of the structure of sniper units, such units will be integrated into each brigade. Their number will be determined depending on the composition of the brigade and the tasks facing it. “At the same time, the company of snipers, which Vladimir Anatolyevich speaks about in a letter, is not needed as a whole in a combat situation, and in principle it is useless to manage it on the battlefield. Snipers may need to be trained as part of sniper units, but they will never fight as part of these units. As a result of organizational and regular measures, a company proposed by the veteran actually appeared in the average motorized rifle brigade - three dozen sniper pairs operating as part of motorized rifle companies and reconnaissance platoons of battalions.
Indeed, snipers fight either alone or in pairs. Except for those cases when, for example, three sniper pairs go out in the rear of the enemy as part of a raid group. But thanks to staff changes, today in each motorized rifle platoon during the battle there can be more than one full-time sniper, but their combat team, established back in the years of the Great Patriotic War, is a sniper pair. The battle order, like military pilots, where there is a leader and a follower: a sniper fighter and his inseparable partner sniper observer. The only difference is that it is easier for sharpshooters to switch roles with each other.
They can be separated from the sniper squad, which is part of the fire support platoon of a motorized rifle company. And as part of a raid detachment, even ten sniper pairs can go behind enemy lines - nine in three motorized rifle companies and one in a reconnaissance platoon of a motorized rifle battalion!
Snipers do not determine combat capability?
In motorized rifle units, changes in the staffing of tactical formations more than doubled the effectiveness of marksman fire. But, unfortunately, the gain occurred only due to a quantitative increase in the number of snipers in the battle formations of motorized rifle platoons and companies and has not yet been backed up by the quality of their selection and level of training.
At the same time, it is emphasized that there is a low methodological level of training of platoon and squad commanders.
At the very least, but over the past year, commanders of rifle platoons and sniper squads were picked up in formations. Platoon commanders - ensigns and foremen - completed training courses at the all-army sniper training camp in Kovrov. True, it was not without drawbacks. For example, in the Totsk brigade, the platoon commander, senior warrant officer Vasily Derbenev, was forced to move to another position. As the chief of staff of the brigade, Lieutenant Colonel Viktor Elovenko, told Krasnaya Zvezda, the movement was purely due to personal qualities - the well-known "bad habit" of Derbenev himself. Ensign Dmitry Makarov from the Roshinsky motorized rifle brigade was also dismissed from the platoon - he was replaced by senior sergeant Alexander Zulkarnaev.
The training of snipers in brigades is mainly for the deputy commanders of formations. In the Totsk brigade - Colonel Konstantin Stepanishchev, in the Samara - Colonel Sergei Milchakov. Unfortunately, they lack full-time assistants - competent instructors-methodologists from among professionally trained ensigns and contract service sergeants who are able to take on planned training sessions with snipers, including during sniper brigade training. Moreover, fire support platoon commanders have to deal not only with the training of sniper squads, but also the personnel of the grenade launcher, machine gun squad and ATGM squad. It is very difficult to organize such exercises with heterogeneous primary units without well-trained sergeants. Especially in the interval between brigade gatherings of specialists.
Now the number of sniper squads in the formations has tripled. They appeared in every motorized rifle company. I had to look for commanders on them. And not all of them turned out to be the same people in love with sniper business as some of the pioneers were. All these reasons had a negative impact on the quality of sniper training.
And the first of the reasons leading to poor results in the training of snipers is the low quality of selection for these positions. In the context of the demographic crisis and the absence of a sniper movement in the country, it is more than difficult to staff all positions in motorized rifle units with high-quality human material.
It turns out that snipers "from the infantry" today cannot be equipped with contract soldiers, and reconnaissance snipers from the same motorized rifle battalions- can. Thus, "infantry snipers" in terms of recruitment priority are on a par with ordinary riflemen of motorized rifle companies armed with conventional machine guns. From among the conscripts sent to serve in motorized rifle units, selection is carried out as snipers-observers for motorized rifle companies.
Although no one has canceled the task of "deploying explanatory and propaganda work on the targeted selection of sergeants and soldiers in the troops for the military position of a sniper, while first of all selecting military personnel from among sportsmen-shooters, hunters-hunters, huntsmen". But it is very difficult to carry it out, because, according to the officers of the recruitment departments of both formations, it is more than difficult for commanders of motorized rifle companies to choose: shooters-athletes, hunters and huntsmen do not reach the "infantry": they are sorted into the Border Troops, Airborne Forces, GRU special forces, marines and in part of other elite troops. Snipers in motorized rifle companies are not considered the military elite, and their positions are completed last.
However, in a rifle platoon, both the selection of people, their training, and the service of the troops are set at a noticeably higher level than in the sniper squad of a motorized rifle company.
At the operational-strategic exercise "Vostok-2010" your correspondent happened to fly on Far East, live and work in a rifle platoon of 38-year-old service foreman Arkady Kuzmichev of a separate motorized rifle brigade of the PUrVO. And this family friendly platoon remained in my memory, as did the chief of staff of the brigade, Lieutenant Colonel Denis Lyamin and the brigade commander, Colonel Anatoly Sinelnikov. Exemplary in military discipline, internal order, state of equipment. In addition to performing combat training tasks by a platoon at these strategic maneuvers, including in a raid detachment behind enemy lines, the brigade chief of staff used the subordinates of foreman Arkady Kuzmichev as his combat reserve to protect the brigade command post. And it was difficult to find the best guards: around the clock, the approaches to the command post of the formation were vigilantly viewed through the optics of day and night sights of the SVD. Along the way, the snipers of the brigade honed their skills in camouflage, covert radio communications, observation and determination of data on landmarks and training targets ...
True, Sergeant Major Arkady Kuzmichev noted with undisguised bitterness when he said goodbye that this autumn he was expecting the dismissal of 21 professional snipers in his platoon at once, that is, all senior sniper shooters and observer snipers. Therefore, he is preparing to recruit candidates for his "infantry snipers" from among the conscripts.
About military sports support
Special Forces snipers have International competitions of sniper pairs of special forces units, dedicated to memory Viktor Lisovsky. And the International competition of snipers of special forces, dedicated to the memory of Captain Vladimir Berlin. The Border Guard Service of the FSB of Russia is proud of the championship in shooting from combat hand small arms for the prize named after Army General Vadim Matrosov.
Until 2001, on the basis of the Combined Arms Academy, open championships of military snipers were held twice. They were attended by representatives of all military districts, the Baltic and Northern Fleets, the Airborne Forces, the Caspian Flotilla, the 201st Motorized Rifle Division, as well as snipers from the units of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Federal Border Guard Service, and the Ministry of Emergency Situations.
As the head of the training and sports department of the SKA PUrVO, Major Valery Kutsekol, told the Krasnaya Zvezda correspondent, since 1986, on the initiative of the former head of physical training and sports of the Ground Forces, Colonel Mikhail Kozodoy, championships in shooting from regular weapons began to be held. The teams of military districts and groups of troops competed at these championships of the Ground Forces in shooting from machine guns, pistols and SVD rifles. Accordingly, championships were held in shooting from standard weapons of military districts and armies, in which well-aimed shooters from military units and formations, who shot well from Dragunov sniper rifles, took part. Snipers competed in hitting targets at the lines of 300, 500 and 700 meters. Unfortunately, there were no competitions in shooting from regular weapons at the championships of the Armed Forces.
According to the head of physical training of the 2nd Guards Army, Major Vitaly Popov, the participation of shooters from the SVD in the district sports days with standard weapons and the performance of SV-1, SV-3 exercises and duel shooting continued only until 2001. Then, only Kalashnikov assault rifles and Makarov pistols were left from small arms at these championships, and Dragunov sniper rifles were removed from shooting competitions. Allegedly due to the fact that SVD rifles are not in service in most military units - only in motorized rifle, reconnaissance and air assault units. As they say, the baby was thrown out with the water. So the remarkable undertaking of Colonel Mikhail Kozodoy to promote domestic sniper weapons at shooting competitions in the first year of the 21st century successfully came to naught.
It was recommended to hold educational and methodological meetings with the leaders of sniper training classes with the involvement of the most trained officers and "coaches (athletes) of the sports club of the army of military districts (fleets) in shooting sports." But it seems that this recommendation was of a one-time nature. The head of the Guards Army department, Colonel Oleg Novak, noted to the Krasnaya Zvezda correspondent that they did not attract coaches and athletes of the SKA PUrVO in shooting sports either to the training camps with the leaders of sniper training classes, or to the training camps of snipers in motorized rifle brigades.
In the Central Sports Club located in Samara Air force The Krasnaya Zvezda correspondent was informed that the CSK VVS has a team for shooting types sports. The club serves and trains world-class athletes - champions and prize-winners Olympic Games. Including shooting from small-caliber and air rifles - majors Irina Gerasimenko and Lyubov Galkina, senior warrant officer Maria Feklistova. But they were not invited to train snipers in the troops.
The author was explained that the time of the general fashion for the Voroshilov shooters from Osoaviakhim had passed. As well as the need to learn to shoot from a combat rifle in order to fulfill the norm for the Voroshilovsky shooter badge of the II stage. (Recall that in the country before the Great Patriotic War, 9 million people who became owners of the Voroshilov shooter badge were taught to shoot accurately.) Shooting from large-caliber (regular) weapons is also not particularly popular today. Both in DOSAAF and in the Shooting Union of Russia. Therefore, even the All-Russian competitions in shooting from large-caliber weapons are held among men and juniors no more than once a year and no more than a hundred athletes gather at them. This is not at all the same base for training and educating snipers that was created before the Great Patriotic War from the many millions of "Voroshilov shooters".
About army and district rallies
It is impossible today to talk about raising the prestige of military snipers without holding army and district rallies of sharpshooters. These were real military holidays, primarily for ordinary snipers-observers - those who are simply “from the infantry”.
At one time, your correspondent had to participate in the preparation and conduct by the headquarters of the Turkestan military district after 7 years of hostilities in Afghanistan, the first regional sniper meeting, which was originally planned as a meeting of snipers of the 40th Army. The initiator of that district sniper holiday was a talented senior officer, a member of the military council of the TurkVO, Lieutenant General Gennady Stefanovsky, who himself was a first-class shooter. Gennady Alexandrovich prompted the holding of sniper rallies in the warring armies and the district, based on the experience of the Great Patriotic War. He gave us a convincing example of the same 40th Army, but in wartime. In 1942-1943, she was commanded by Major General of Artillery and the future Marshal Soviet Union Kirill Moskalenko. By supporting and encouraging snipers, the command of that army during the war years achieved a significant increase in their numbers and skills. As a result, for example, in December 1942, 4,572 Nazis were destroyed by units and formations of the 40th Army of the Voronezh Front, including 2,193 snipers. That is, almost half of the destroyed soldiers and officers of the enemy! It was the army and front-line rallies of snipers that made the legendary heroes-shooters famous and famous throughout the country. For example, in the same 40th Army, he was the commander of a sniper company of the 25th Guards Division, Lieutenant Vasily Golosov, who destroyed 421 fascists and was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
During that gathering of snipers in the warring Turkestan military district, fire conferences were held with the exchange of experience of the best shooters of divisions, brigades of the 40th combined arms army and the entire TurkVO. There were performances by experienced fire officers, ostentatious firing. And, of course, rewarding snipers who distinguished themselves in the course of hostilities. And not with marks of excellent students, but with military awards - the medal "For Courage" and the Order of the Red Star.
They also invited the legendary sniper of the war years, retired colonel Vladimir Pchelintsev, to that “front-line” sniper rally. He fought in the 11th separate rifle brigade of the Leningrad Front, where in 1942 the sniper movement in our Armed Forces was born. He destroyed 456 enemy soldiers and officers, including 14 snipers, from his sniper rifle, for which he earned the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. A veteran front-line soldier arrived, spoke several times in various formations in front of young snipers of the 40th Army. They took pictures with him, and then all the participants of the army and district sniper rallies were awarded with these photos with the Hero.
But then something did not work out with eminent athletes and shooting coaches from CSKA. For, unlike the front-line hero from Moscow, they did not appear at that sniper rally. Let this be a private fact, but for almost three decades military service the author was convinced that we have long been accustomed to preparing snipers without the help and advice of shooters and their educators from army sports clubs.
Of the students of the initiator of the revival of army and front-line rallies, Colonel-General Gennady Stefanovsky, today, perhaps, only the head of the Main Directorate of Educational Work, Major-General Yuri Dashkin, is in the ranks. I am sure he did not forget those good lessons of our direct boss and teacher. For even today such army or district sniper meetings, shooting conferences at ranges can become great holidays for well-aimed shooters, a powerful catalyst and incentive for improving the training of snipers. And not only for them.
Previously, our gunsmiths from Tula, Izhevsk, Kovrov and other centers for the development and production of small arms, ammunition, and devices were out of direct contact with practitioners from the troops at such events. Today, our defense industry has accumulated certain problems. Therefore, representatives from the developers and creators of sniper rifles, day and night sights, and sniper cartridges can be invited to sniper rallies in military districts. Because the troops have many questions for the creators of weapons and ammunition for well-aimed shooters.
For example, in an interview with a Krasnaya Zvezda correspondent, the 32-year-old commander of the sniper squad, contract service junior sergeant Alexei Mansurov, holder of the Order of Courage, who accounted for 68 confirmed “liquidations”, shared his comments on the quality of the SV-98 rifle with the Hyperon sight (who, according to him, is afraid of even light concussions and blows). And sniper cartridges from the Novosibirsk Cartridge Plant, which give a fairly large spread of trajectories.
It seems that many practitioners in the army have such comments and wishes - experienced snipers, true masters of their craft. It is useful to listen to representatives of our defense industry. And, of course, the participants of sniper rallies will be interested to hear the speeches of the creators of weapons, ammunition, sights and other devices for super-sharp shooters - compact ballistic computers, weather stations, as well as new means of communication and equipment.
Main sniper caliber
Almost all the snipers of the motorized rifle brigades of the PUrVO, with whom the author of these notes had to talk, are caring people who care about their work. Who do not care what they are armed with and how they look, for example, in comparison with snipers from NATO countries. Senior sergeant Andrey Degterev, junior sergeants Alexei Mansurov and junior sergeant Vitaly Donchenko, private Sergey Navolokov did not hide the dream of a new rifle capable of replacing the fast-firing, reliable, comfortable, light, but already obsolete SVD for half a century. Especially its four-time daytime optical sight PSO-1M2, which does not allow accurate fire at the maximum possible ranges and reliably hit standard targets.
- The real range of well-aimed fire for a Dragunov sniper rifle with a four-fold sight, even for full-length figures, is about 600 meters, - Aleksey Mansurov got excited. - At the same time, for US and British snipers today, the task of hitting a headshot at a distance of 900 meters is being carried out. Because the accuracy of their current rifles is several times higher, and their sights can give an increase of up to 32 times. In order to fulfill the requirement of the Deputy Minister of Defense “to conduct accurate fire at the maximum possible ranges,” I bought a fairly good foreign sight with my own money. And they require me to use a regular PSO ...
Probably, this “Lefty problem” will always arise in Russia. And new truth-seekers appear, for whom it is most important to convey to the very top that "the British do not clean their guns with bricks, otherwise they are not suitable for shooting." The former deputy head of the army’s combat training department and chief of staff of the Roshinsky motorized rifle brigade, Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Kurilovich, who at one time himself became the champion of the Far Eastern Military District in sniper rifle shooting, noted that the SVD was and remains a very successful battlefield tool.
- Criticized for "insufficient" accuracy and range, the SVD is the weapon of an infantry sniper, or in English designated marksman. She does her job well,” said the sniper officer. - Half a century ago, the SVD appeared to compensate for the insufficient range of fire combat between machine gunners and Kalashnikovs. And later, such "infantry snipers" appeared in Israel and the United States. Their task is to destroy important targets: machine gunners, grenade launchers, ATGM crews, signalmen. Our sniper pair motorized rifle platoon from the line of dismounting of the enemy company - 600 meters from our front line - to knock out, destroy three of its platoon commanders. No one will do it better than our "infantry snipers"! ..
So that our "infantry snipers" can adequately answer enemy snipers for 900 meters. It is proposed to introduce a kind of “main caliber” weapon as a group weapon in the sniper squads. Colonel Oleg Novak, head of the combat training department of the army, believes that for rifle squads snipers in motorized rifle companies, it is advisable to use 12.7-mm as group weapons sniper rifle- Tula OSV-96 or Kovrov large-caliber sniper rifle KSVK. Their main purpose is the fight against lightly armored and unarmored military equipment and heavy weapons at a distance of up to a kilometer, defeating enemy personnel behind shelters and in personal protective equipment at a distance of up to one and a half kilometers, anti-sniper combat. It is believed that the presence of such powerful weapon can significantly increase the capabilities of snipers in motorized rifle companies and give them confidence in the confrontation with enemy snipers.
Marksmanship Rewards
The Samara falerists prompted the author of these notes to pay attention to another point related to raising the prestige of the sniper service. Starting with the Russian Imperial Army in Russia, super-sharp shooters were awarded commemorative breastplates for excellent rifle shooting. There were such signs even with the imperial crown and the monogram of the Emperor of the Russian Empire Nicholas II. There were other worthy awards to the excellent shooters of the old Russian army.
During the Soviet era, millions of various badges were issued, designed to encourage the masters of well-aimed fire. Some associate with famous people. For example, the sign "Voroshilovsky shooter" was approved on October 29, 1932 by the Presidium of the Central Council of the Osoaviakhim of the USSR and the RSFSR at the suggestion of its chairman, commander Robert Eideman. This happened after one of the district newspapers described the case with the chairman of the Revolutionary Military Council of the USSR, Kliment Voroshilov, who, during the inspection, took the revolver of the commander who had fired on a clean “unsuccessful” and knocked out 59 points with seven shots. Returning the weapon, Voroshilov said to the commander who was at fault: "There are no bad weapons, there are bad arrows."
And the badge "Sniper of the Red Army" was established by order of the People's Commissar of Defense of the USSR Marshal of the Soviet Union Klim Voroshilov No. 2 dated January 10, 1937, at the initiative of the head of the Combat Training Department of the Red Army, Commander of the 2nd Rank Alexander Sedyakin. And the same People's Commissar Voroshilov in May 1939 approved the badge "For Excellent Shooting".
The new sign "Sniper" was introduced in the army by the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of May 21, 1942, signed by Mikhail Kalinin. Details of delivery and description were announced by the order of the People's Commissar of Defense of the USSR Joseph Stalin No. 166 of May 28, 1942 and the order of the People's Commissar of the Navy of the USSR Nikolai Kuznetsov No. 110 of May 25, 1942.
Thus, all these awards for well-aimed shooters were established by the first persons of the Russian and Soviet state, including the Supreme Commander. Apparently, they highly appreciated the art of marksmanship if they entrusted the manufacture of sniper badges to the mints of both capitals. Lieutenant Colonel Oleg Filev and other military falerists of Samara propose to use the existing experience to encourage well-aimed shooters and solemnly reward them during army and district sniper rallies.
And it is also proposed to increase the prestige of snipers to introduce, at first, an unofficial professional holiday for super-sharp shooters in Russia - the day of the sniper. And to coincide with it holding sniper rallies in the troops. A good time for such a professional holiday is called, for example, the date of approval by the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of the sign "Sniper" - May 21. It just falls at the time of the end of the training period and summing up. However, as well as October 29 - the date of approval of the famous sign "Voroshilovsky shooter".
On the revival of the sniper movement
Today in the troops of one of critical issues there was a reduction in the terms of mastering military specialties by conscript soldiers. And the specialty of a sniper is one of the first among the problematic ones. The current recommendations for the selection of sniper candidates conclude: “Experience shows that sniper candidates should be selected from among soldiers who have served in the Armed Forces Russian Federation at least 6 months." The recommendation is correct, especially for 1999, when there was a two-year conscription period. But even for selected sniper candidates with a service life of at least 6 months, a month of intensive training was provided at well-organized sniper training camps.
The former head of the Air Defense Department, Major General Viktor Kuznetsov, remarked to the Krasnaya Zvezda correspondent that only high-quality pre-conscription training. Of course, this is the concern of the military commissariats, DOSAAF organizations, which should make better use of the existing training base, the same pre-Saaf shooting ranges for training potential snipers and establishing their record. But this is not only a task in the same Samara region for major generals of the reserve military commissar Alexander Danshin or the chairman of the regional council of DOSAAF Vasily Plavchenko, but for all regional government bodies.
Before the Great Patriotic War and during the war, the entire state system of propaganda and agitation worked to educate future snipers and gave the Red Army almost 10 million Voroshilov shooters. And then they were then trained in sniper schools for three, six and even eight months.
The sniper movement on the fronts began in 1942 in the Red Army not just at the suggestion of a member of the military council of the Leningrad Front, but the secretary and member of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the party Andrei Zhdanov. Maybe even now a party that claims to be the leader and guide could have a hand in the revival of the sniper movement in the army and the country.
Marksmen in the army old Russia were the object of concern for emperors, including the last Russian monarch, Nicholas II. The Soviet general secretaries and members of the Politburo personally took care of them. And in new Russia care for the masters of excellent shooting should be a matter of state.