Profiles of Famous Snipers

Originally published in hardcover nearly a decade ago, The Sniper Anthology opens with an introduction which is followed by ten chapters by recognized specialists in the history of sniping, some of whom also practiced the trade.

Eight chapters cover particularly notable snipers, such as Finland’s Simo Ha¨yha¨, perhaps the highest scoring sniper in history, or Russia’s Lyudmila Pavlichenko, the Red Army’s deadliest “girl” sniper, and Vassili Zaitsev of Stalingrad fame, as well as British, American, and Canadian snipers. There is also a chapter on Britain’s efforts to get a sniper to kill Hitler and one on Japanese snipers, a very neglected group.

Each sniper’s story is rather different, given their personalities, the uniqueness of each one’s combat environment, training, and equipment. But each story also yields some interesting insights in the selection, training, and equipping of snipers, and also their methodology and operations.

The Sniper Anthology is a good read about one of the more arcane aspects of modern warfare.

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Note: The Sniper Anthology is also available in several e-editions.

StrategyPage reviews are published in cooperation with The New York Military Affairs Symposium