Sniper Records. Kills, Conflict, Service, Country.

[MEGR]

List from Crosshairs on the Kill Zone by Craig Roberts and Charles W. Sasser

ARRGGHHHH. It was much neater on my Microsoft Word. Sorry for the mess, but you can prob figure it out.


Name Conflict Service Confirmed Kills
Simo Haya WWII Finland 500+
Nikolay Yakovlrvich WWII Russia 496
Suko Kolkka WWII Finland 400+
Ilyin Vassili Zaitsev WWII Russia 400
Matthias Hetzenauer WWII Germany 345
Ludmilla Pavlichenko WWII Russia 309
Sepp Allerberger WWII Germany 257
Billy Sing WWII AIF 150
Aldelbert Waldron III Vietnam US Army 109
Chuck Mawhinney Vietnam US Marines 103
Neville Methven WWI South Africa 100+
Eric R. England Vietnam US Marines 98
Carlos N. Hathcock Vietnam US Marines 93
Thomas R. Leonard Vietnam US Marines 74
Helmut Wirnsberger WWII Germany 64
Joseph T. Ward Vietnam US Marines 63
Herbert W. McBride WWI US with Canada 60+
George Filyaw Vietnam US Marines 56
Gary Reiter Vietnam US Marines 50+
Raymond W. Westphal Vietnam US Marines 49
James C. Peters Vietnam US Marines 43
T.B. Graves Vietnam US Marines 43
Lynn Bushnell Vietnam US Marines 43
Daniel L. Greene Vietnam US Marines 42
Joe York Vietnam US Marines 42
K. Tanang Vietnam North Vietnam & 41
East Timor
Tom Ferran Vietnam US Marines 41
James Gularte Vietnam US Marines 40
R.D. Bundy Vietnam US Marines 40
Michael E. Duncan Vietnam US Army 40
William Lucas Vietnam& US Marines/ 38
Panama US Army
John M. Perry Vietnam US Marines 37
Dennis Oscier Vietnam US Marines 36
Bill E. Nation Vietnam US Marines 35
Riel WWI Canada 30
Clifford L. Wallace Vietnam US Marines 27
Craig McGary Vietnam US Navy 26
Jim O’ Neil Vietnam US Marines 25+
Lloyd Crow Vietnam US Marines 23
Jim Lever Vietnam US Marines 20+
Bobby J. Lee Vietnam US Marines 18
Craig Roberts Vietnam US Marines 18+
Ed Kugler Vietnam US Marines 17
Joshua Hamblin Iraq US Marines 17
Gary J. Brown Vietnam US Navy 17
Karl H. Grosshans Vietnam US Marines 16
Owen Mulder Iraq US Marines 15
Greg Kraljev Vietnam US Marines 15
Frank Grieci Iraq US Marines 15
Timothy Dunn Vietnam US Marines 14
Joseph McElheny Iraq US Marines 13
Thomas R. Cohenour Vietnam US Army 13
Ron Szpond Vietnam US Marines 12
William B. Martin Vietnam US Marines 12
Ray Lafon Vietnam US Marines 5+
Gabriel J. Gradney Vietnam US Marines 4
Tom Rutter Beirut US Marines 4
Dan Barker Vietnam US Marines 3+
Chuck Kramer Beirut US Marines 3+
Alan Bruce Hartung Vietnam US Marines 3
Dave Dayter Iraq US Marines 3
Colin McGee Vietnam US Marines 3
Frank Roberts Beirut US Marines 2+
Robert Miles Vietnam US Army 2
Jonathan Crumley Beirut US Marines 2
Eric L. Haney Beirut US Army 1
David Baldree Beirut US Marines 1
Earl Schooley Panama US Marines 1
Andres Benevides Beirut US Army 1
Jacob Heal Iraq US Marines 1

[mack pl]

Finns seems to be the best ;)

regards

[Falco]

Finns seems to be the best ;)

regards

they just had lots of targets

[fantassin]

You can add four unknown sharpshooters from the 126th Infantry regiment, 3rd Mech Bgde, French army, who did a synchronized shot on two albanian gunmen in Mitrovica last February....that's 0,5 kill per head !

[Ahriman]

Be aware that some of those body counts are seriously inflated by propaganda.

[MEGR]

Be aware that some of those body counts are seriously inflated by propaganda.

Like which one?

[mack pl]

Finns seems to be the best ;)

regards

they just had lots of targets
yeah, but anyway they are good ;)

regards

[Vance]

Joshua Hamblin Iraq US Marines 17
Dayum.

[FDF_Hemppis]

Nice post, Devgru77, althought those numbers have already appeared in a number of topics. ;)

And now I'll enable my nitpick mode:

"Simo Haya" should be "Simo Häyhä (or Hayha w/o scandic letters)"

"Suko Kolkka" should be Sulo Kolkka


Regards

[khukuri]

this is interesting figures...
But this is figures from few wars... either ww2 or wars with western countries...

For example during iran-iraq war there was an alone sniper who was caught after he killed 24 soilders from another platoon in my brothers company.
he did the kills during 1-2 days.

[MEGR]

You're right. The book was made by Americans, and is all about the American Snipers they interviewed... Your right, this isn't the complete list of all snipers , that would be a long list and alot of typing for me if it was. There are many unconfirmed reports of Sniper successes. The one you said could be one of them. According to Michael Durant, Randy Shugart killed around 20 somalis while defending the down chopper.. Now no one could confirm that for sure, he got his sources from Somalis, not US military. Plus both the snipers died, and durant was captured unfortunately, so there is no way they could've reported any kills :(

[khukuri]

Well thats the way war works.

I have one interesting story which occured
when iraqis fighting for the iranian side siezed a place were there were a couple of houses near the iranian border.

In the houses iraqi command staff were hiding. One of the bigger officers were missing they though he fled.

Later in the day they heard one of the guys guarding screaming. He got shot and killed. They couldnt decide where the shots came from. During a 2 day period same thing happend to 4-5 guys. Even thou they were sending patrols out they didn find jack and the soilders were scared of snipers. The 6:th time the bastard tried he were able to shoot and injure one guy until they found him.

He was hiding in the watertank with a silenced gun. And managed to hit lonley soilders that came close to the watertank.

When they got him out he was still arrogant and defiant, unlike his comrades. He had the highest grade amongst them. Didnt cooperate at all and thus was executed on the place.
I dont remember rank, or name but i think he was colonel... in the "swamps" unit.

[Ahriman]

Be aware that some of those body counts are seriously inflated by propaganda.

Like which one?


Most of the top snipers, especially the Russian snipers had their kills exaggerated by Soviet propaganda. For example Zaitsev was credited with 142-242 kills in Stalingrad. That is a large margin. The same is probably true with the Finnish snipers.

[MEGR]

Any proof? I didn't make this list, but people can't just be making claims like that without any proof.. Although it could be possible. The Finish guy Simo Haya has fought in numerous conflicts, with numerous countries; it's very possible that he could rack alot of confirmed kills.

[FDF_Hemppis]

Any proof? I didn't make this list, but people can't just be making claims like that without any proof.. Although it could be possible. The Finish guy Simo Haya has fought in numerous conflicts, with numerous countries; it's very possible that he could rack alot of confirmed kills.

Wha...What??

Simo Häyhä never fought outside Finland.

The unofficial Finnish frontline figure from the battle field of Kollaa places the number of Häyhä's sniper kills at 542. A daily account of the kills at Kollaa was conducted for the Finnish snipers. Häyhä used a Mosin-Nagant M28 rifle because it suited his small frame (5 ft). He preferred to use iron sights rather than telescopic sights to present less of a target (sun reflecting from lenses gave the position away, and you have to raise your head higher with telescopic sights).

Besides his sniper kills, Simo Häyhä is known to have made well over two hundred kills with a machine gun*, a toy which he was very fond of. All Häyhä's kills were accomplished within three months**, prior to his injuries caused by an enemy bullet. Other snipers who have come even close to Häyhä´s record have accumulated their kills over much longer time frame.

*AFAIK, these kills are not included in the "500+"

**It's to be noted that Hayha had been sniping for weeks before starting to keep count on kills. His commanders also took note of this extraordinarily successful sniper, and kept a close eye on his actions. Therefore, I believe that there's little chance of "cheating"

[Ahriman]

Any proof? I didn't make this list, but people can't just be making claims like that without any proof.. Although it could be possible.

I can't actually produce "proof" of a nature that would conclusively show that kills were exaggerated. To do that I would have to trawl through AAR's and witness accounts etc. That is hard to do. The best I can do is point to the fact that the body counts are always varied by a huge amount. Nobody actually knows how many kills many WWII snipers made. I would be skeptical of such large numbers.

It's different with the Vietnam, those body counts are generally thoroughly varified.

[Beowulf]

Any proof? I didn't make this list, but people can't just be making claims like that without any proof.. Although it could be possible. The Finish guy Simo Haya has fought in numerous conflicts, with numerous countries; it's very possible that he could rack alot of confirmed kills.

Wha...What??

Simo Häyhä never fought outside Finland.

The unofficial Finnish frontline figure from the battle field of Kollaa places the number of Häyhä's sniper kills at 542. A daily account of the kills at Kollaa was conducted for the Finnish snipers. Häyhä used a Mosin-Nagant M28 rifle because it suited his small frame (5 ft). He preferred to use iron sights rather than telescopic sights to present less of a target (sun reflecting from lenses gave the position away, and you have to raise your head higher with telescopic sights).

Besides his sniper kills, Simo Häyhä is known to have made well over two hundred kills with a machine gun*, a toy which he was very fond of. All Häyhä's kills were accomplished within three months**, prior to his injuries caused by an enemy bullet. Other snipers who have come even close to Häyhä´s record have accumulated their kills over much longer time frame.

*AFAIK, these kills are not included in the "500+"

**It's to be noted that Hayha had been sniping for weeks before starting to keep count on kills. His commanders also took note of this extraordinarily successful sniper, and kept a close eye on his actions. Therefore, I believe that there's little chance of "cheating"

Let me get this straight..the guy killed over 700 enemy "within three months" so that is almost seven kills a day, with iron sights?

So a company is about 150 guys, 3 co's in a battalion...this guy took out a whole battalion plus a company or so by himself, with iron sights, in less than three months?

[MEGR]

Any proof? I didn't make this list, but people can't just be making claims like that without any proof.. Although it could be possible.

I can't actually produce "proof" of a nature that would conclusively show that kills were exaggerated. To do that I would have to trawl through AAR's and witness accounts etc. That is hard to do. The best I can do is point to the fact that the body counts are always varied by a huge amount. Nobody actually knows how many kills many WWII snipers made. I would be skeptical of such large numbers.

It's different with the Vietnam, those body counts are generally thoroughly varified.

Ok. I just thought you had like an internet article or something, that's all.

[MEGR]

Simo Häyhä. Finland. 1939 - 1940.

A member of the 34th Infantry Regiment and a farmer by trade, Simo Häyhä became a most feared sniper during the 1939-40 (30 November 1939 14 March 1940) Winter invasion of Finland by the Soviet Union. Using nothing more than an iron sighted Mosin-Nagant Model 28, Simo is credited with killing 505 Russians during a nine month period - a feat still unmatched today by any sniper in any conflict. The impact of Simo and men like him forced the Soviets to pay dearly for their transgressions. While Finland lost the Winter war, it cost the Soviets 1,000,000 men killed out of the 1,500,000 man invading force*. The Finns lost a total of 25,000 men in that conflict. A testament to their bravery and determination in the face of amazing odds.

He passed away on April 1st 2002 at the age of 96

You're right. I must of been thinking of someone else. I just thought I heard something else about this guy.. My bad.

[Russian Texan]

While Finland lost the Winter war, it cost the Soviets 1,000,000 men killed out of the 1,500,000 man invading force*. The Finns lost a total of 25,000 men in that conflict.

1,000 000 men, what??? Where you got that number from?


http://www.winterwar.com/War%27sEnd/casualti.htm#soviet

Finnish soldiers killed 26.662
Soviet soldiers killed 126.875(that number includes 39369 soldiers "lost without a trace" - simply lost in Finlands forests and swamps)

Source:The G.F.Krivosheev "The Secret stamp has removed: casualties of the Soviet Armed Forces in wars and military conflicts", Moscow, 1993

[MEGR]

I got it from a website.. http://www.snipercountry.com/sniphistory.htm

I don't know if it's true or not, I'm not well versed in Russian, or Finnish military history. I just post what I find, and this seemed like a good source.

[memphiz]

-There was a German machine gunner in WW2 on Omaha that killed 900+ Americans, RIP. I didnt say that to flame Im say it on the histiry channel during the 60th anaversery week

-A couple US servicemen in Iraq have said they have 12+ kills there, I saw on this site

-

[FDF_Hemppis]

Let me get this straight..the guy killed over 700 enemy "within three months" so that is almost seven kills a day, with iron sights?

So a company is about 150 guys, 3 co's in a battalion...this guy took out a whole battalion plus a company or so by himself, with iron sights, in less than three months?

Hmm...As I said "AFAIK, those ~200 kills with SMG were not included in the 500+"

It appears that my knowledge is incorrect. Official FDF winter war history says:



80. day of the winter war, 17.2.1940

With his pystykorva-rifle (M/28) Häyhä has shot 219 enemy soldiers and about the same amount with SMG and LMG. Record for a single day: 25 confirmed kills.


To give you some scale how good this guy was:

Winter war started November 30 1939.

By December 22nd, Häyhä had 138 confirmed kills.
His company commander "The Horror of Morocco", Captain Aarne Juutilainen, had assigned an official observer to keep record of Häyhä's kills. And that, according to Juutilainen, was after Häyhä’s daily count went beyond 10…

[Dalleer]

Wow, they're talking about our snipers again..

[FDF_Hemppis]

Wow, they're talking about our snipers again..

Yeah :lol:

I haven't been here too long, and this must be something like the 5th time I see topic about the same subject...

But I guess this is the one subject which is always nice reading for us Finns :D

[Kitsune]

Devgru77 wrote:
While Finland lost the Winter war, it cost the Soviets 1,000,000 men killed out of the 1,500,000 man invading force*.

1000.000 soviet soldiers killed during the winter war is definitely much too high a number. I crossread the literature I have available, and a good approximastion seem to be losses around 200.000 to 220.000 soldiers for the Red Army.

[iflu]

i think a chinese sniper could also be listed.
Sniper Zhang Taofang, CCF Sniper
Allegedly scored 214 hits on UN troops in 32 days

[Royal]

-There was a German machine gunner in WW2 on Omaha that killed 900+ Americans, RIP. I didnt say that to flame Im say it on the histiry channel during the 60th anaversery week

-A couple US servicemen in Iraq have said they have 12+ kills there, I saw on this site

-

The US Army/US Navy lost 2400* KIA on Omaha beach on the 6th of June 1944.

I seriously doubt that one gunner was responisble for 26% of all US casualties...

Kill ratios/body counts are propaganda bull**** unless the corpses are recovered and id'd/autopsied. We can't even decide on casualties in Kosovo and Iraq - how the hell can we verify figures from 50+ years ago...

* according to Britannica - other figures are rather lower.

[memphiz]

-There was a German machine gunner in WW2 on Omaha that killed 900+ Americans, RIP. I didnt say that to flame Im say it on the histiry channel during the 60th anaversery week

-A couple US servicemen in Iraq have said they have 12+ kills there, I saw on this site

-

The US Army/US Navy lost 2400* KIA on Omaha beach on the 6th of June 1944.

I seriously doubt that one gunner was responisble for 26% of all US casualties...

Kill ratios/body counts are propaganda bull**** unless the corpses are recovered and id'd/autopsied. We can't even decide on casualties in Kosovo and Iraq - how the hell can we verify figures from 50+ years ago...

* according to Britannica - other figures are rather lower.
Yeah I thought it was odd to, but that what they said on the show.

[Kitsune]

How long did the attack on Omaha last? 8 hours? 900 kills...that means a killing spree of 2 kills every minute, going on for the whole 8 hours.
Hardly. :lol:

Around 50 kills should have been possible for a German MG shooter at Omaha, I think. But what does that prove? Next to nothing. We are talking here about high killing scores as a kind of testimony for skill or something, aren't we?. If the enemy soldiers have to run over an open beach, devoid of any cover, any dumbass can kill lots of them, if he is sitting in his bunker and has an MG42 and enough ammo at his disposal.