Editing Sniper (section)

===World War I===
[[File:Periscope rifle Gallipoli 1915.jpg|thumb|An Australian sniper aims a periscope-equipped rifle at [[Gallipoli Campaign|Gallipoli]] in 1915. The spotter beside him is helping to find targets with his own periscope.]]
During [[World War I]], snipers appeared as deadly sharpshooters in the trenches. At the start of the war, only [[Imperial Germany]] had troops that were issued scoped sniper rifles. Although sharpshooters existed on all sides, the Germans specially equipped some of their soldiers with scoped rifles that could pick off enemy soldiers showing their heads out of their trench.<ref name="Senich 1982 p. "/>{{page needed|date=February 2018}} At first the French and British believed such hits to be coincidental hits, until the German scoped rifles were discovered.<ref name="Senich 1982 p. "/>{{page needed|date=February 2018}} During World War I, the German army received a reputation for the deadliness and efficiency of its snipers, partly because of the high-quality lenses that German industry could manufacture.<ref name="Senich 1982 p. "/>{{page needed|date=February 2018}}

During the First World War, the static movement of [[trench warfare]] and a need for protection from snipers created a requirement for [[Loophole (firearm)|loopholes]] both for discharging firearms and for observation.<ref name="One">{{Cite web|url=https://ww1revisited.com/2014/03/16/trench-loopholes-le-linge/|title=Trench Loopholes, Le Linge|date=16 March 2014}}</ref> Often a steel plate was used with a "key hole", which had a rotating piece to cover the loophole when not in use.<ref name="One" />
 
[[File:Spotting the Enemy Sniper.jpg|thumb|alt=A drawing shows three soldiers raising a dummy head on a stick above a trench parapet. A cigarette hangs from the dummy's mouth. One man holds a periscope at the ready.|left|upright|Soldiers raise a Papier-mâché dummy head to locate an enemy sniper]]

Soon the British army began to train their own snipers in specialized sniper schools. Major [[Hesketh Hesketh-Prichard]] was given formal permission to begin sniper training in 1915, and founded the [[First Army (United Kingdom)|First Army]] School of Sniping, Observation, and Scouting at [[Linghem]] in France in 1916.<ref name="Parker pp. 211-212">{{harvnb|Parker|1924|pp=211–212}}</ref> Starting with a first class of only six, in time he was able to lecture to large numbers of soldiers from different Allied nations, proudly proclaiming in a letter that his school was turning out snipers at three times the rate of any such other school in the world.<ref name="Parker_p211-212">{{cite book|last=Parker|first=Eric|title=Hesketh Prichard|page=212}}</ref>

He also devised a metal-armoured double loophole that would protect the sniper observer from enemy fire. The front loophole was fixed, but the rear was housed in a metal shutter sliding in grooves. Only when the two loopholes were lined up—a one-to-twenty chance—could an enemy shoot between them.<ref name="sniping_chap5">{{cite book|last=Hesketh-Prichard|first=H.V.|title=Sniping in France|year=1994|pages=Chapter 5|publisher=Leo Cooper |url=http://www.allworldwars.com/Sniping%20in%20France%20by%20Major%20Hesketh-Prichard.html|isbn=0-85052-426-1}}</ref> Another innovation was the use of a dummy head to find the location of an enemy sniper.<ref name="sniping_chap2">{{cite book|last=Hesketh-Prichard|first=H.V.|title=Sniping in France|year=1994|pages=Chapter 2|publisher=Leo Cooper |url=http://www.allworldwars.com/Sniping%20in%20France%20by%20Major%20Hesketh-Prichard.html|isbn=0-85052-426-1}}</ref> The [[papier-mâché]] figures were painted to resemble soldiers to draw sniper fire. Some were equipped with rubber surgical tubing so the dummy could "smoke" a cigarette and thus appear realistic. Holes punched in the dummy by enemy sniper bullets then could be used for triangulation purposes to determine the position of the enemy sniper, who could then be attacked with artillery fire. He developed many of the modern techniques in sniping, including the use of spotting scopes and working in pairs, and using [[Kim's Game]] to train observational skills.<ref name="Prichard-Vernon pp. 10,19">{{harvnb|Prichard|Vernon|2004| pp=10,19}}</ref>

In 1920, he wrote his account of his war time activities in his book ''[[wikisource:Sniping in France|Sniping in France]]'', to which reference is still made by modern authors regarding the subject.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://archive.org/details/cu31924027946619|title=Sniping in France : with notes on the scientific training of scouts, observers, and snipers|first=Hesketh Vernon Hesketh|last=Prichard|date=19 April 1920|publisher=New York : E.P. Dutton|via=Internet Archive}}</ref><ref name="Gilbert p. 45">{{Cite book|last=Gilbert|first=Adrian|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/34124115|title=Sniper : the skills, the weapons, and the experiences|date=1996|publisher=St. Martin's Paperbacks|isbn=0-312-95766-1|edition=St. Martin's|location=New York|pages=45|oclc=34124115}}</ref><ref name="Brookesmith p. 77">{{Cite book|last=Brookesmith|first=Peter|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/122381816|title=Sniper : training, techniques and weapons|date=2006|publisher=Thomas Dunne Books|isbn=0-312-36290-0|edition=2nd|location=New York|pages=77|oclc=122381816}}</ref>
[[File:Captured Turkish sniper.jpg|thumb|Photograph of a Turkish sniper captured during the Gallipoli campaign.]]
The main sniper rifles used during the First World War were the German Mauser [[Gewehr 98]]; the British [[Pattern 1914 Enfield]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.ultimatesniper.com/Docs/36.PDF|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111130202537/http://www.ultimatesniper.com/Docs/36.PDF|url-status=dead|title=Sniping in France by Major H. Hesketh-Prichard (1920) p. 239|archive-date=30 November 2011}}</ref> and [[Lee–Enfield]] SMLE Mk III, the Canadian [[Ross rifle]], the American [[M1903 Springfield]],<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.americanrifleman.org/articles/2016/9/29/doughboy-sniper-rifles/|title=Doughboy Sniper Rifles|website=www.americanrifleman.org}}</ref> the Italian M1891 [[Carcano]], and the Russian M1891 [[Mosin–Nagant]].

The [[Ottoman Empire]] initiated very effective sniper tactics against the British and ANZAC troops. The Allied forces on the [[Gallipoli Campaign]] come to believe that the Ottoman forces employed women snipers as well.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://greatwarproject.org/2015/06/09/turks-introduce-battlefied-innovation-sniping/ | title=Turks Introduce Battlefied Innovation – Sniping &#124; }}</ref>