Picture of the day

Finland.

mIaGK-sRkBU.jpg
 
bearhunter said:
He was taken to a rifle range to see how well he could shoot. He admitted he didn't like shooting. Being a tall, for the time, man, over 6 feet, he had a real aversion to recoil. He did like firearms though.

He couldn't hit a man size target to save his life. One thing though, he could see where his shots were landing before the observer could see them in his binos.

His second job was as a sniper's observer. He told me that when he became a "spotter" he started to feel the first real fear in his life. He had been frightened a few times before but this was different. It settled in his mind and he couldn't shake it. His sniper had a similar experience.

He told me they had several plates set up to shoot from and observe from. All of them were targeted by enemy troops and snipers several times a day, whether they were shooting from the position or not.

He always felt a bit of guilt when he spotted a target for his sniper. Funny thing, he never carried a rifle while he was with his sniper. He carried a pistol. Mostly because he had so much else to carry.

He also told me that the other troopies wouldn't associate with them. Understandable I guess. Snipers became one of the banes on the minds of troops in the trenches, inflicted on them every day and no place to go. Pretty gloomy.
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Why wouldn't his sniper select a 'hide' that was not a targeted position? Like from inside a building or ..... ?

There is a book written by an American who served with the Canadian Army "A Rifleman Goes To War" (???). He would select a 'hide' well inside a building or some such other location to avoid detection. It limited his field of fire, but he dominated what he could see.

I recently read a book by a Syrian Peshmerga sniper who did the same thing, often shooting through openings in TWO buildings for the same reason. He survived.
 
Not a lot of buildings left on the western front at the time

Great grandpa was a sniper then, and he had a lot of issues with ear infections and appendix trouble from laying in the mud for long periods. They finally took his appendix out when he got shot in the leg and had to go to hospital anyway.
 
You're right. The guy I was talking about did his sniping earlier in the war when there still structures standing.

Later he was with the "Emma-Gees" - the MG Battalion.
 
I knew there had to be a use for that lanyard loop on the 1911 mainspring housing! Besides digging a hole in the palm of your hand when seating a magazine, that is.

When I was serving in Germany, there was a report in the "Stars & Stripes" paper about a Sgt. who got busted for having an AD with his 1911 while on Guard Duty. He locked backed the slide without removing the mag, opened a bottle of Coke in the ejection port, hit the slide stop and pulled the trigger - "Boom!".

Instant Corporal.
 
Sharps '74 said:
Why wouldn't his sniper select a 'hide' that was not a targeted position? Like from inside a building or ..... ?

There is a book written by an American who served with the Canadian Army "A Rifleman Goes To War" (???). He would select a 'hide' well inside a building or some such other location to avoid detection. It limited his field of fire, but he dominated what he could see.

I recently read a book by a Syrian Peshmerga sniper who did the same thing, often shooting through openings in TWO buildings for the same reason. He survived.
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Sharps, maybe you missed the point that these folks were in front line trenches???? They didn't have any formal sniper training, other than they were good marksmen??

It was his story and he never deviated from it. He was always an honest fellow. There likely weren't many "farm houses" left in no man's land during WWI
 
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My MNR fire crew caught a ride on a Canso water bomber flight from Timmins to Geralton sometime in mid 80's. A/C owned and operated by Georgian Bay Airways. One of their Canso's supposedly was credited with a U Boat kill.

I worked numerous fires in my career where we had air tanker support from Canso A/C. Aircraft was surprising quiet when approaching low level. Radio comms with Birddog officer were not as good as they must be now. Received more than one Canso shower . Crew Leader I knew in Red Lake suffered a broken collar bone when a CL215 either broke the top off a tree or knocked it over on a bombing run.

Good old days!
 
bearhunter said:
Back when I was around 12 years old, there was an old neighbor that had come to Canada after WWI, because he got a grant for 160 acres. Of course, back then the land was timbered wilderness. Perry Cox was his name. He was on the long side of 70 years old at the time and still strong as a bull. He had good genes. He stayed strong/active/healthy into his early 90s and one night, died in his sleep. He had two jobs during WWI. The first was driving a wagon, pulled by a team of mules that he dearly loved. Every morning, before the sun came up he would deliver supplies to the troops in the trenches and take away their dead on the return trip. He was a teamster in civilian life, so he just carried on with the trade in the Army, after being drafted. His mules got killed, during a bombardment from the German big guns and by then, they were mostly using trucks for the hauling chores. He was out of work and had only gone through basic training, before being selected as wagon driver. In the two years as a wagon driver, he had only fired his rifle a half dozen times, at RATS. When he went back to Depot, he thought he would be reassigned to a motor company. No such luck. He had exceptional eyesight and was in very good physical condition. They were looking for men that had been in theater long enough to be familiar with goings on and a relatively good knowledge of the terrain and area. He was taken to a rifle range to see how well he could shoot. He admitted he didn't like shooting. Being a tall, for the time, man, over 6 feet, he had a real aversion to recoil. He did like firearms though. He couldn't hit a man size target to save his life. One thing though, he could see where his shots were landing before the observer could see them in his binos. His second job was as a sniper's observer. This was getting late in the war. Scoped rifles were available but "his" sniper preferred iron sights. Seems that a lot of snipers at the time were the best shot available in the trench. He told me that when he became a "spotter" he started to feel the first real fear in his life. He had been frightened a few times before but this was different. It settled in his mind and he couldn't shake it. His sniper had a similar experience. He told me they had several plates set up to shoot from and observe from. All of them were targeted by enemy troops and snipers several times a day, whether they were shooting from the position or not. He always felt a bit of guilt when he spotted a target for his sniper. Funny thing, he never carried a rifle while he was with his sniper. He carried a pistol. Mostly because he had so much else to carry. He also told me that the other troopies wouldn't associate with them. Understandable I guess. Snipers became one of the bains on the minds of troops in the trenches, inflicted on them every day and no place to go. Pretty gloomy. Even worse for him was the filth. When I knew Perry, he was fastidious about cleanliness. Even his work clothes were washed and cleaned every day by his wife. He would smile a lot and was quite willing to tell stories, which we loved. We helped him out on his dairy farm and in return, he would give us raw milk to drink. Heavy with cream and still warm. MMMMMM.
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Thanks for sharing that. You hear a lot about the well-known snipers, but much less about their spotters. Sometimes their 'success' or 'fame' reversed after the war was over. Gallipoli sniper Billy Sing comes to mind, who came to a sad end, while his spotter Ion 'Jack' Idriess went on to become a rather prolific writer.
 
bearhunter said:
Sharps, maybe you missed the point that these folks were in front line trenches???? They didn't have any formal sniper training, other than they were good marksmen??

It was his story and he never deviated from it. He was always an honest fellow. There likely weren't many "farm houses" left in no man's land during WWI
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No, I didn't miss anything. Early in the war, there were structures still standing behind the lines on both sides. So let's refer to these guys for what they were - "marksmen", not "snipers". "Snipers" shoot from hides.
 
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Sharps '74 said:
No, I didn't miss anything. Early in the war, there were structures still standing behind the lines on both sides. So let's refer to these guys for what they were - "marksmen", not "snipers". "Snipers" shoot from hides.
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I wouldn't get too hung up on the etymology. A 'sniper' will operate from whatever environment he is forced to work within. The term certainly pre-dates WWI.
 
CV32 said:
I wouldn't get too hung up on the etymology. A 'sniper' will operate from whatever environment he is forced to work within. The term certainly pre-dates WWI.
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The term was very broadly used by ww2. A sniper was anybody who shot at you and not part of major engagement.
 
Sharps '74 said:
No, I didn't miss anything. Early in the war, there were structures still standing behind the lines on both sides. So let's refer to these guys for what they were - "marksmen", not "snipers". "Snipers" shoot from hides.
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Really, maybe you haven't heard of designated marksmen within squads???? I would assume that's basically what they were for.

My old friend was stuck in a trench as an observer/spotter for a soldier he labeled a "sniper"

They shot through steel shields, simply because there was no other safe place to shoot from.
 
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