German snipers and sharpshooters

[Niwre]

The photos of him unfortunately have a black line through his face,but a
very good book.

In the last version, there are no "black lines" or pseudonyms:

Albrecht Wacker: Im Auge des Jägers, Der Wehrmachts-Scharfschütze Josef Allerberger.
ISBN: 3-932077-27-X

PS.: Great book .

[Sidewinder]

There was also a german sniper named Bruno Sutkus , he is 84 years old and still alive .
he has 209 confirmed kills and aslo a lot of unconfirmed. He was awarded with th golden Sniperbatch.
You can read this all in his famos book "Im Fadenkreuz" writen by himself.
Great book with copys from his Schiesbuch and all what he received beyond the war with a lot of photos.
1997 he retourned to his homeland Germany from Russia
He served in Stab Gren.Rgt 196

Mathias

[George Lerner]

Excellent interview, learned a lot. It would have been nice if they talked a little more about sniper to sniper warfare.

[JamesL]

I think the premier German sniper book in the USA is "German Sniper : 1914-1945" by Peter R. Senich, Paladin Press, Boulder, Colorado March, 1982. Mr. Senich was a US Army sniper and probably has a special insight into sniping.


There is also an old German Luftwaffe training film dealing with snipers. It is (was?) available from Belle & Blade Co., Dover, New Jersey. It is in German with English subtitles or English speakover. Details include

Das Oberkommando der Luftwaffe
Filmgruppe des Gen. d. Fl. Ausb. zeigh
Scharfschutze in der Gelandeausbildung
Meister der Tarnung und Tauschung.

The English title is "Snipers: The Invisible Enemy."

[Edward L. Hsiao]

Dear Sir,

I think you mean that Bruno Sutkus had became a prisoner of war in the Soviet Union and had not returned to Germany in 1947. I hope I'm correct. He may have been awarded the Ritterkreuz late in the War for 200+ kills against the Soviets.

Sincerely,

Edward

[Xavier]

@JamesL
the Senich book focuses more on the hardware than on the snipers, if you are a rifle/sights nut, its a good book, if you want detailed interviews, is a bad book. it only has a small section with first person impressions. also, in no part of the book does he speak about his personal experiences. I have it

regards

Xavier
Instandsetzungtruppfuhrer

[Daniel L]

Sutkus passed away for a couple of years ago.

Best regards/ Daniel

[George Lerner]

I believe the latest reprint of "Im Auge des Jaegers" indicates that Franz Karner is a pseudonym for Josef Sepp Allerberger (note spelling of his surname). The purpose of the ruse was primarily to protect Allerberger's identity and origins should anybody want to seek him or his family out for reprisal. Therefore in the book he was represented as a German from Mittenwald whereas he is a native of Salzburg. Allerberger fought alongside Franz Roth, who was also 3.Geb.Div. Both these snipers were awarded the Knights Cross by FM Schoerner as an unusual alternative to the German Cross in Gold.

Does anyone know how many people he KIAed?

[Edward L. Hsiao]

Gentlemen,

German snipers once they become POWs of the Soviets, were definately labled as "war criminals" and were sentenced to long prison terms. Bruno Sutkus couldn't have survived living in Russia until 1997. That's why I think Sutkus fortunately returned to Germany maybe in 1947.
Sincerely,

Edward

[Latimer]

I remember reading about a German sniper in who wore a black top hat like a funeral director he shot some Russian puppy - who was this guy? I can look up and get a reference if need be. Got a funny feeling its from one of Beevors book

[krichter33]

In Allerberger's memoirs he states that kills made in direct action or defense were not counted, and that the confirmed kills had to be signed by an officer, nco, or two soldiers. He also states that all the previous kills made prior to Sept. 1944 were wiped clean, when the Sniper's badge was introduced. That means Hetzenauer's 345 conf. kills, and Allerberger's 257 were from Sept. 1944 until the end of the war. There is no doubt that their totals were much higher, probably double, taking into account kills not confirmed as well as those before Sept. 1944. My main question is the following: I have read about sniper's such as Haya (sp) of Finland with over 500 kills, and Russian sniper's such as Zaitsev with over 400. I wanted to know how the Russians and the Finns confirmed their kills. Did they have a strict procedure like the Germans, where a large number of kills, such as those taken in direct action or defense, and those not seen, were not confirmed. Or was it a more lax system. Maybe they needed only one witness, and all sniper kills in combat counted. So what type of confirmation system did they use???

[Arminiusder Cherusker1]

BTW, there is a very interesting book about the snipers in the Waffen-SS, a dokumentation, called
"Scharfschützen in der Waffen-SS" by Bernhard Jocher
Munin-Verlag GmbH
D-54421 Reinsfeld
ISBN 3-9807215-9-0
The book has 480 pages,161 fotos and 277 documents and is available for 39,80 €.
Rudi

[FRANCY RITTER]

Hello!!

Two Snipers.. with Russian camo.

Sorry I dont remember source..

[Dubar1]

Were snipers that numerous in the German forces? The reason I ask is that everytime there's a show on the History Channel when they mention someone got shot, it seems like it was always a "sniper". Or is it more like the tank thing where ever tank the G.I.s came across was a Tiger?

From reading the posts it does sound like most companies/divisions had a sniper group, but were there offical numbers of snipers listed?

[ohrdruf]

An authorised English translation of Albrecht Wacker's book on ALLERBERGER based on IM AUGE DES JAEGERS was published in November 2005 by Pen & Sword Books, Barnsley, UK. I believe it is also available in US.