Editing Sniper (section)

==Military history==
Before the development of [[rifling]], firearms were [[smoothbore]] and inaccurate over long distance. Barrel rifling was invented at the end of the fifteenth century, but was only employed in large cannons. Over time, rifling, along with other gunnery advances, has increased the performance of modern firearms.

===1543-1600===

Long range [[marksman]]ship occurred as early as the mid-sixteenth century.

One example is the Ise-no-kami school of gunnery. It was founded by the Christian feudal lord of the Saiki Domain, Mori Takamasa (毛利高政 1559- 1628). Takamasa had aspired to become a marksman from a young age, and in his prime, he used up a 10-tan sailboat's worth of ammunition in just a few years, showing his considerable passion. He is said to have always told people, "You won't improve your skills unless you fire that much ammunition." During the battle of Ulsan Castle in Korea, he was a master of guns, firing at the enemy from a distance of seven cho ( about 770 meters ) with a 278&nbsp;cm long "焔魔王 - Flaming Demon King" O-zutsu (Matchlock Cannon) throwing the enemy camp into confusion with his accurate shots.<ref name="Anzai1965">{{cite book|author=Minoru Anzai|title=砲術 その秘伝と達人|publisher=雄山閣出版|location=Japan|page=51|asin=B000JACPJK }}</ref>

===1701–1800===

Later "sharpshooting" or "sniping" became implemented in shooting terminology.

For example: in the 1752 [[Appin Murder]], Colin Roy Campbell of Glenure was shot in the back near [[Duror]] by an unknown sniper, most likely from within [[Clan Stewart of Appin]], in retaliation for Campbell's role in an early version of the [[Highland Clearances]]; the mass eviction of Stewart clansmen and their replacement by members of [[Clan Campbell]].

Hunting terminology was quickly adapted to warfare by British soldiers. In a 1772 letter, a soldier described enemies firing very accurately:<ref name=JSAHR1925>{{cite journal |date=October–December 1925 | title=Sniping | journal=Journal of the Society for Army Historical Research | volume=4 | issue=18 | pages=213 | jstor=44227525 | url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/44227525 | author1=E. C. B. M. }}</ref>
{{Blockquote
|text=… in erecting our batteries, the people frequently play tricks, by putting a hat with a cockade in it on a spunge staff, which the enemy fire at and often hit, to the diversion of the soldiery, who humorously call it sniping, and watch the flash to return the fire.
}}

On 11 September 1777, during the [[Battle of Brandywine]], British Captain [[Patrick Ferguson]] had a tall, distinguished American officer in his rifle's iron sights. Ferguson did not take the shot, as he considered shooting anyone in the back dishonourable. Only later, did Ferguson learn that [[George Washington]] had been on the battlefield that day.<ref name="Leckie2010">{{cite book|author=Robert Leckie|title=George Washington's War: The Saga of the American Revolution|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eGqMbfTl3MQC&pg=PA513|access-date=12 July 2013|date=24 August 2010|publisher=HarperCollins|location=New York|isbn=978-0-06-201536-5|page=513}}</ref>

At the [[Battles of Saratoga]], [[Morgan's Riflemen]] hid in the trees and used early model rifles to shoot senior British officers. Most notably, [[Timothy Murphy (sniper)|Timothy Murphy]] shot and killed General [[Simon Fraser of Balnain]] on 7 October 1777 at a distance of about 400 yards.<ref name="MastHalberstadt2007">{{cite book|author1=Gregory Mast|author2=Hans Halberstadt|title=To Be a Military Sniper|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=A64US-2Em2YC&pg=PA18|access-date=12 July 2013|date=January 2007|publisher=Zenith Imprint|isbn=978-0-7603-3002-9|page=18}}</ref><ref name="Rose2008">{{cite book|author=Alexander Rose|title=American Rifle: A Biography|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bWaAiSScrRcC&pg=PT46|access-date=12 July 2013|date=21 October 2008|publisher=Random House Publishing Group|location=New York|isbn=978-0-440-33809-3|page=46}}</ref><ref name="Dougan2006">{{cite book|author=Andy Dougan|title=Through the Crosshairs: A History of Snipers|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CpJ7fH7I0gkC&pg=PA47|access-date=12 July 2013|date=1 June 2006|publisher=Da Capo Press, Incorporated|isbn=978-0-7867-1773-6|page=47}}</ref>

In early 1800, Colonel [[Coote Manningham]] and Lieutenant-Colonel the Hon. [[William Stewart (British Army officer, born 1774)|William Stewart]] of the British Army proposed using what they had learned while leading light infantry to establish a special unit of marksmen. Subsequently raised as the "[[Rifle Brigade (The Prince Consort's Own)|Experimental Corps of Riflemen]]", they were armed with the formidable [[Baker rifle]] rather than the inaccurate smoothbore muskets used by most troops at that time.<ref name=forming>{{cite web|url=http://www.greenjackets-net.org.uk/rb/forming.htm|title=1800 The Forming of the Regiment|publisher=Green Jackets|access-date=18 June 2016|archive-date=9 April 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160409202929/http://www.greenjackets-net.org.uk/rb/forming.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref> Through the combination of a leather wad and tight grooves on the inside of the barrel (rifling), this weapon was far more accurate, though slower to load. On 25 August 1800, three companies, under the command of Stewart, spearheaded an amphibious landing at [[Ferrol, Spain]].

===1801–1900===
The term, "sharp shooter" was in use in British newspapers as early as 1801. In the ''Edinburgh Advertiser'', 23 June 1801, can be found the following quote in a piece about the North British Militia; "This Regiment has several Field Pieces, and two companies of Sharp Shooters, which are very necessary in the modern Stile of War". The term appears even earlier, around 1781, in Continental Europe, translated from the German Scharfschütze.
[[Military of the Ashanti Empire#Organization|Scouts]] in the [[Military of the Ashanti Empire|Ashanti army]] were made up of professional hunters who used their skill as [[marksmen]] to snipe at advancing enemy forces in response to detection by the enemy. They executed this often from a perch high in trees.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Tkm5UZJz8z0C&q=marksmen+to+snipe|last=Edgerton |first=Robert B. |year=2010 |title=The Fall of the Asante Empire: The Hundred-Year War For Africa's Gold Coast |page=54|publisher=Simon and Schuster |isbn=9781451603736 }}</ref>
The Whitworth rifle was arguably the first long-range sniper rifle in the world.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.americancivilwarstory.com/whitworth-rifle.html|title=Whitworth Rifle|website=American Civil War Stories}}</ref> A [[muzzleloader]] designed by Sir [[Joseph Whitworth]], a prominent British engineer, it used [[polygonal rifling]] instead, which meant that the projectile did not have to bite into grooves as was done with conventional rifling. The Whitworth rifle was far more accurate than the [[Pattern 1853 Enfield]], which had shown some weaknesses during the recent [[Crimean War]]. At trials in 1857 which tested the accuracy and range of both weapons, Whitworth's design outperformed the Enfield at a rate of about three to one. The Whitworth rifle was capable of hitting the target at a range of 2,000 yards, whereas the Enfield could only manage it at 1,400 yards.<ref>"Minutes of proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers, Volume 19" By Institution of Civil Engineers (Great Britain)</ref>

During the Crimean War, the first optical sights were designed to fit onto rifles. Much of this pioneering work was the brainchild of Colonel D. Davidson, using optical sights produced by [[Chance Brothers]] of [[Birmingham]]. This allowed a marksman to observe and target objects more accurately at a greater distance than ever before.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=COCIaPM2_ksC&q=Battle+of+Freeman%27s+Farm+sniping|title=Out of Nowhere: A history of the military sniper, from the Sharpshooter to Afghanistan|author=Pegler, Martin|year=2011|publisher=Osprey Publishing|isbn=9781849088756|access-date=18 November 2013}}{{Dead link|date=February 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> The telescopic sight, or scope, was originally fixed and could not be adjusted, which therefore limited its range.

Despite its success at the trials, the rifle was not adopted by the British Army. However, the [[Armstrong Whitworth|Whitworth Rifle Company]] was able to sell the weapon to the [[French army]], and also to the [[Confederate States Army|Confederacy]] during the American Civil War,<ref>"Minutes of proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers". Institution of Civil Engineers (Great Britain), 1860, p.12</ref> where both the Union and Confederate armies employed sharpshooters. The most notable incident was during the [[Battle of Spotsylvania Court House]], where on 9 May 1864, Union General [[John Sedgwick]] was killed by a Confederate Whitworth sharpshooter at a range of about {{convert|1000|yd|m|abbr=off|sp=us}} after saying the enemy "couldn't hit an elephant at this distance".<ref>{{cite book|last=Rhea|first=Gordon C.|title=The Battles for Spotsylvania Court House and the Road to Yellow Tavern, May 7–12, 1864|url=https://archive.org/details/battlesforspotsy00rhea|url-access=registration|access-date=12 July 2013|year=1997|publisher=Louisiana State University Press|location=Louisiana|isbn=978-0-8071-2136-8|page=[https://archive.org/details/battlesforspotsy00rhea/page/94 94]}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=David Eicher|title=Civil War Battlefields: A Touring Guide|url=https://archive.org/details/civilwarbattlefi00davi|url-access=registration|access-date=12 July 2013|date=14 March 2005|publisher=Taylor Trade Publications|isbn=978-1-58979-181-7|pages=[https://archive.org/details/civilwarbattlefi00davi/page/73 73]–75}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=John F. Cummings III|title=Spotsylvania County|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1RlftiHYFgIC&pg=PA36|access-date=12 July 2013|date=June 2011|publisher=Arcadia Publishing|isbn=978-0-7385-8246-7|page=36}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Gallagher|first=Gary|title=Spotsylvania Campaign|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bqBcwt_axSUC&pg=PT297|access-date=12 July 2013|date=1 February 2010|publisher=UNC Press Books|location=North Carolina|isbn=978-0-8078-9837-6|page=297}}</ref>

===Second Boer War===
[[File:Burnham in africa close up.jpg|thumb|left|[[Frederick Russell Burnham]] in Africa]] 
During the [[Boer War]] the latest [[breech-loading weapon|breech-loading]] rifled guns with [[Magazine (firearms)|magazine]]s and [[smokeless powder]] were used by both sides. The British were equipped with the [[Lee–Metford]] rifle, while the Boers had received the latest [[Mauser]] rifles from Germany. In the open terrain of South Africa the marksmen were a crucial component to the outcome of the battle.

The first British sniper unit began life as the [[Lovat Scouts]], a Scottish Highland regiment formed in 1899, that earned high praise during the [[Second Boer War]] (1899–1902).<ref name="Plaster 1993 p. "/>{{page needed|date=February 2018}} The unit was formed by [[Simon Fraser, 14th Lord Lovat|Lord Lovat]] and reported to an American, Major [[Frederick Russell Burnham]], the British Army Chief of Scouts under [[Frederick Roberts, 1st Earl Roberts|Lord Roberts]]. Burnham fittingly described these scouts as "half wolf and half jackrabbit.".<ref name="Plaster p. 5">{{harvnb|Plaster|2007|p=5}}</ref> Just like their Boer scout opponents, these scouts were well practised in the arts of marksmanship, [[field craft]], map reading, observation, and military tactics.<ref name="cooper1994">{{cite journal| date=July 1994| title=Cooper's Scout rifle a gun for all reasons: whether it be for hunting or individual combat, this concept may just be the ultimate dual-purpose rifle | last=Copper | first= Jeff| journal=[[Guns & Ammo]]| volume=38| issue=7| issn=0017-5684| page=74}}</ref> They were skilled [[woodsmen]] and practitioners of discretion: "He who shoots and runs away, lives to shoot another day." They were also the first known military unit to wear a [[ghillie suit]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=WARD |first=Thomas |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=C4B0XNX3CDAC&dq=first+ghillie+suit&pg=PA58 |title=Incomplete Works of an Incomplete Soul |date=2010-08-09 |publisher=THOMAS WARD |isbn=978-0-557-51127-3 |pages=58 |language=en}}</ref> 
[[Hesketh Hesketh-Prichard]] said of them that "keener men never lived",<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.snipercentral.com/lovat.phtml|title=Lovat Scouts, Sharpshooters – United Kingdom|date=20 March 2020 }}</ref> and that "Burnham was the greatest scout of our time."<ref name="sniping_chap11">{{cite book|last=Hesketh-Prichard|first=H.V.|title=Sniping in France|year=1994|pages=Chapter XI|publisher=Leo Cooper |url=http://www.allworldwars.com/Sniping%20in%20France%20by%20Major%20Hesketh-Prichard.html|isbn=0-85052-426-1}}</ref> Burnham distinguished himself in wars in South Africa, Rhodesia, and in Arizona fighting the Apaches, and his definitive work, ''Scouting on Two Continents,'' provides a dramatic and enlightening picture of what a sniper was at the time and how he operated.<ref name="cooper1994"/>

After the war, this regiment went on to formally become the first official sniper unit, then better known as ''sharpshooters''.<ref name="Plaster p. 5"/>

===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>

===World War II===
[[File:Pav-Stamp.jpg|right|thumb|Soviet sniper [[Lyudmila Pavlichenko]] on a 1943 stamp]]

During the [[interbellum]], most nations dropped their specialized sniper units, notably the Germans. Effectiveness and dangers of snipers once again came to the fore during the [[Spanish Civil War]]. The only nation that had specially trained sniper units during the 1930s was the [[Soviet Union]]. Soviet snipers were trained in their skills as marksmen, in using the terrain to hide themselves from the enemy and the ability to work alongside regular forces. This made the Soviet sniper training focus more on "normal" combat situations than those of other nations.

Snipers reappeared as important factors on the battlefield from the [[Invasion of Poland|first campaign of World War II]]. During Germany's [[Battle of France|1940 campaigns]], lone, well-hidden French and British snipers were able to halt the German advance for a considerable amount of time. For example, during the pursuit to [[Dunkirk]], British snipers were able to significantly delay the German infantry's advance. This prompted the British once again to increase training of specialized sniper units. Apart from marksmanship, British snipers were trained to blend in with the environment, often by using special camouflage clothing for concealment. However, because the British Army offered sniper training exclusively to officers and [[non-commissioned officer]]s, the resulting small number of trained snipers in combat units considerably reduced their overall effectiveness.<ref name="Shore p. 316"/>

During the [[Winter War]], Finnish snipers took a heavy toll of the invading [[Red Army]]. [[Simo Häyhä]] is credited with 505 confirmed kills,<ref name="snipercentral.com">{{cite web|url=http://www.snipercentral.com/snipers.htm#WWII |title=The Sniper Log Book—World War II |publisher=Snipercentral.com |access-date=1 June 2011}}</ref><ref name="Telegraph">{{cite news | author=Rayment, Sean | title=The long view | work=[[The Daily Telegraph]] | url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1517044/The-long-view.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220111/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1517044/The-long-view.html |archive-date=11 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live | access-date=30 March 2009 | location=London | date=30 April 2006}}{{cbignore}}</ref> most with the Finnish version of the [[iron sights|iron-sighted]] bolt-action Mosin–Nagant. The most successful German sniper was [[Matthäus Hetzenauer]] with 345 confirmed kills. In Germany, kills are only confirmed in the presence of an officer, so Hetzenauer's estimated kills are many times higher. His longest confirmed kill was reported at {{convert|1100|m|yds|abbr=off|sp=us}}.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Yee |first=Gary |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MtBkEAAAQBAJ&dq=Matth%C3%A4us+Hetzenauer+1100+meters&pg=PA112 |title=World War II Snipers: The Men, Their Guns, Their Stories |date=2022-05-04 |publisher=Casemate |isbn=978-1-63624-099-2 |pages=112 |language=en}}</ref> Hetzenauer received the [[Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross]] on 17 April 1945.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Scherzer |first=Veit |title=Die Ritterkreuzträger: die Inhaber des Ritterkreuzes des Eisernen Kreuzes 1939 von Heer, Luftwaffe, Kriegsmarine, Waffen-SS, Volkssturm sowie mit Deutschland verbündeter Streitkräfte nach den Unterlagen des Bundesarchivs |date=2007 |publisher=Scherzers Militaer-Verl |isbn=978-3-938845-17-2 |edition=2. Aufl. mit Berichtigungen, Erg. und Neueinträgen |location=Ranis/Jena |pages=388}}</ref>

[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 169-0526, Russland, Scharfschütze in Stellung.jpg|thumb|left|German sniper in [[Battle of Stalingrad|Stalingrad]], [[Soviet Union]] (1942)]]

One of the best known battles involving snipers, and the battle that made the Germans reinstate their specialized sniper training, was the [[Battle of Stalingrad]]. Their defensive position inside a city filled with rubble meant that Soviet snipers were able to inflict significant casualties on the Wehrmacht troops. Because of the nature of fighting in city rubble, snipers were very hard to spot and seriously dented the [[morale]] of the German attackers. The best known of these snipers was probably [[Vasily Zaitsev (sniper)|Vasily Zaytsev]], featured in the novel ''[[War of the Rats]]'' and the subsequent film ''[[Enemy at the Gates]]''.

German ''Scharfschützen'' were prepared before the war, equipped with [[Karabiner 98]] and later [[Gewehr 43]] rifles, but there were often not enough of these weapons available, and as such some were armed with captured scoped Mosin–Nagant 1891/30, SVT, Czech Mauser rifles or scoped Gewehr 98 from WW1. The Wehrmacht re-established its sniper training in 1942, drastically increasing the number of snipers per unit with the creation of an additional 31 sniper training companies by 1944. German snipers were at the time the only snipers in the world issued with purpose-manufactured sniping ammunition, known as the 'effect-firing' sS round.<ref>Peter R. Senich: German Sniper 1914–45, Page 91</ref> The 'effect-firing' sS round featured an extra carefully measured propellant charge and seated a heavy 12.8&nbsp;gram (198 gr) full-metal-jacketed boat-tail projectile of match-grade build quality, lacking usual features such as a seating ring to improve the already high ballistic coefficient of .584 (G1) further.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://home.scarlet.be/p.colmant/polte.htg/p41.jpg |title=Geschoß s.S. Beschuß |access-date=6 February 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120219092531/http://home.scarlet.be/p.colmant/polte.htg/p41.jpg |archive-date=19 February 2012 |url-status=dead}}</ref> For aiming optics German snipers used the [[Carl Zeiss AG|Zeiss]] Zielvier 4x (ZF39) [[telescopic sight]] which had [[bullet drop compensation]] in 50 m increments for ranges from 100 m up to 800 m or in some variations from 100 m up to 1000 m or 1200 m. There were ZF42, Zielfernrohr 43 (ZF 4), Zeiss Zielsechs 6x, Zeiss Zielacht 8x and other telescopic sights by various manufacturers like the Ajack 4x, Hensoldt Dialytan 4x and Kahles Heliavier 4x with similar features employed on German sniper rifles. Several different [[Telescopic sight#Mounting|mountings]] produced by various manufacturers were used for mounting aiming optics to the rifles. In February 1945 the [[Zielgerät 1229]] active infrared aiming device was issued for night sniping with the [[StG 44]] assault rifle.

A total of 428,335 individuals received Red Army sniper training, including Soviet and non-Soviet partisans, with 9,534 receiving the sniping 'higher qualification'. During World War ІІ, two six-month training courses for women alone trained nearly 55,000 snipers, of which more than two thousand later served in the army.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.shotgun.com.ua/class/sniping/snip_hist_12.html |title=Снайперское движение в РККА &#124; История снайперского искусства |publisher=Shotgun.com.ua |access-date=1 June 2011 |archive-date=24 March 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120324034337/http://www.shotgun.com.ua/class/sniping/snip_hist_12.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>{{Verify source|date=January 2011}} On average there was at least one sniper in an infantry platoon and one in every reconnaissance platoon, including in tank and even artillery units.{{Verify source|date=January 2011}} Some used the [[PTRD]] [[anti-tank rifle]] with an adapted scope as an early example of an anti-materiel rifle.

[[File:A sniper from "C" Company, 5th Battalion, The Black Watch, 51st (Highland) Division, in position in the loft space of a ruined building in Gennep, Holland, 14 February 1945. B14628.jpg|thumb|left|A British sniper in [[Gennep]], Holland, 14 February 1945]]

In the United States Armed Forces, sniper training was only very elementary and was mainly concerned with being able to hit targets over long distances. Snipers were required to be able to hit a body over 400 meters away, and a head over 200 meters away. There was almost no instruction in blending into the environment. Sniper training varied from place to place, resulting in wide variation in the qualities of snipers. The main reason the US did not extend sniper training beyond long-range shooting was the limited deployment of US soldiers until the [[Normandy Invasion]]. During the campaigns in [[Operation Torch|North Africa]] and [[Italian Campaign (World War II)|Italy]], most fighting occurred in [[arid]] and mountainous regions where the potential for concealment was limited, in contrast to Western and Central Europe.{{citation needed|date=July 2020}}

[[File:Pte. L. V. Hughes, Canadian Military, WW2.jpg|thumb|upright|Canadian Sniper during [[World War II]]]]
The U.S. Army's lack of familiarity with sniping tactics proved disastrous in Normandy and the campaign in Western Europe where they encountered well trained German snipers.<ref name="Senich 1982 p. "/>{{page needed|date=February 2018}} In Normandy, German snipers could remain hidden in the dense vegetation and were able to encircle American units, firing at them from all sides. The American and British forces were surprised by how near the German snipers could approach in safety and attack them, as well as by their ability to hit targets at up to 1,000m. A notable mistake made by inexperienced American soldiers was to lie down and wait when targeted by German snipers, allowing the snipers to pick them off one after another.<ref name="Senich 1982 p. "/>{{page needed|date=February 2018}} German snipers often infiltrated Allied lines, and when the front-lines moved, they would sometimes continue fighting from their sniping positions, refusing to surrender until their rations and munitions were exhausted.

Those tactics were also a consequence of changes in German enlistment. After several years of war and heavy losses on the Eastern Front, the German army was forced to rely more heavily on enlisting teenage soldiers. Due to lack of training in more complex group tactics, and thanks to rifle training provided by the [[Hitlerjugend]], those soldiers were often used as autonomous left-behind snipers. While an experienced sniper would take a few lethal shots and retreat to a safer position, those young boys, due both to a disregard for their own safety and to lack of tactical experience would frequently remain in a concealed position and fight until they ran out of ammunition or were killed or wounded. While this tactic generally ended in the demise of the sniper, giving rise to the nickname "Suicide Boys" that was given to those soldiers, this irrational behavior proved quite disruptive to the Allied forces' progress. After World War II, many elements of German sniper training and doctrine were copied by other countries.<ref name="Senich 1982 p. "/>

In the [[Pacific War]], the [[Empire of Japan]] also trained snipers. In the jungles of Asia and the Pacific Islands, snipers posed a serious threat to U.S., British, and [[British Commonwealth|Commonwealth]] troops. Japanese snipers were specially trained to use the environment to conceal themselves, using foliage on their uniforms and digging well-concealed hide-outs that often connected to small trenches. There was no need for long range accuracy because most combat in the jungle took place within a few hundred meters. Japanese snipers were known for their patience and ability to remain hidden for long periods, almost never leaving their carefully camouflaged sniping spots. This meant that whenever a sniper was in the area, the location of the sniper could sometimes only be determined after the sniper had fired a few shots. The Allies also used their own snipers in the Pacific, notably the U.S. Marines, who used [[M1903 Springfield rifle]]s.

Common sniper rifles used during the [[Second World War]] include: the Soviet M1891/30 Mosin–Nagant and, to a lesser extent, the [[SVT-40]]; the German Mauser [[Karabiner 98k]] and Gewehr 43; the British [[Lee–Enfield No. 4]] and Pattern 1914 Enfield; the Japanese [[Type 97 Sniper Rifle|Arisaka 97]]; the American [[M1903 Springfield rifle#Variants|M1903A4 Springfield]] and [[M1 Garand#Sniper models|M1C Garand]]. The Italians trained few snipers and supplied them with a scoped Carcano Model 1891.