List of snipers

A sniper is a trained marksman who operates alone, in a pair, or with a sniper team to maintain close visual contact with a target and engage the targets from concealed positions or distances exceeding the detection capabilities of enemy personnel.

Military snipers

Some notable military snipers include:

Name	Life	Years active	Confirmed kills	Country of origin	Comments
Hiram Berdan	1824–1893	1861–1864	N/A	United States	Commanded 1st and 2nd US Sharpshooters during the American Civil War.[1]
Mikhail Budenkov	1919–	1941–1945	437	Soviet Union
Herman Davis	1888–1923	1918	60	United States
Fedir Dyachenko	1917–1995	1932–1945	425	Soviet Union
Rob Furlong	1976–	1996–2003	1+	Canada	A Canadian Army sniper who held the record for the kill from the greatest distance.[2]
Leysters Greener	d. 1917	1914–1917	54	Canada
Vasilij Golosov	1911–1943	1941–1943	422	Soviet Union
Gary Gordon	1960–1993	1978–1993	N/A	United States	Delta Force sniper who posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for protecting the injured crew of a downed helicopter during the Battle of Mogadishu.[3]
Craig Harrison	1975–	1990–	1+	United Kingdom	British Army sniper who achieved the longest confirmed kill shot in history (2,475m) using the Accuracy International L115A3 Long Range Rifle.[4]
Unnamed Royal Marine corporal			173	United Kingdom	Reputedly the deadliest sniper alive as of 2015 with 173 confirmed kills mostly with the L115A3 on one tour of Afghanistan in 2006–7, including over 90 Taliban in one day.[5]
Carlos Hathcock	1942–1999	1959–1979	93	United States	Renowned United States Marine Corps sniper with 93 confirmed kills.[6][7]
Simo Häyhä	1905–2002	1925–1940	505	Finland	A Finnish sniper, infamously known as "The White Death", who holds the record for highest number of confirmed sniper kills. Häyhä was credited with 505 confirmed sniper kills of Soviet soldiers accomplished in fewer than 100 days during the Winter War.[8][9]
Matthäus Hetzenauer	1924–2004	1943–1945	452	Nazi Germany	Infamous German sniper on the Eastern Front during World War II who was credited with 345 kills between 1943 and 1945.[10]
Abukhadzhi Idrisov	1918–1983	1939–1944	349+	Soviet Union	A Soviet Chechen sniper with an alleged 349 plus kills during World War II.
Nikolay Yakovlevich Ilyin	1925–1943	1941–1943	469	Soviet Union
Nicholas Irving		2004–2010	33	United States	A sniper with the 3rd Ranger Battalion deployed in Afghanistan in 2009 with 33 confirmed kills.[11]
Tatang Koswara	1947–2015	1975–1976	41	Indonesia	A sniper credited with at least 41 confirmed kills during the Indonesian invasion of East Timor in the 1970s.[12]
Ivan Kulbertinov		1941–1945	489	Soviet Union
Chris Kyle	1974–2013	1999–2009	160	United States	A former US Navy SEAL credited with 160 confirmed kills.[13]
Marie Ljalková	1920–2011	1942–1953	30	Czechoslovakia	A Czech sniper fighting within the Soviet Army during the second world war with at least 30 confirmed kills.
Ranjith Premasiri Madalana	1969–2009		180	Sri Lanka	Sniper in the Sri Lanka Army during the country's civil war, who is alleged to have killed over 180 Tamil Tigers.[14]
Chuck Mawhinney	1949–	1967–1970	103	United States	A United States Marine Corps sniper who holds the record for most confirmed kills by a US Marine (103).[15]
Herbert W. McBride	1873–1933	1914–1918	100+	United States	US citizen and captain in the 21st Battalion, Canadian Expeditionary Force, during the First World War.[16]
Philip McDonald	1886–1916	1914–1916	70	Canada	8th Battalion (90th Winnipeg Rifles), CEF, 70 confirmed kills during the First World War. Killed in action 3 January 1916.
Neville Methven		1916–1918	100	South Africa	Big game hunter and target shooter who served as an officer with Sir Abe Bailey's South African Sharpshooters on the Western Front.
Timothy Murphy	1751–1818	1775–1780	1+	United States	An American Revolutionary War sniper who killed British General Simon Fraser during the Battle of Saratoga.[1]
Semyon Nomokonov	1900–1973	1941–1945	367	Soviet Union	A Soviet World War II sniper with 367 logged kills.[17]
Henry Norwest	1884–1918	1915–1918	115	Canada	A sniper in the 50th Canadian Infantry Battalion during the First World War. He had 115 confirmed kills and was killed by a German sniper on August 18, 1918.[18]
Fyodor Okhlopkov	1908–1968	1941–1945	423	Soviet Union	One of the most effective Soviet snipers, credited with 423 confirmed kills during World War II.[19]
Johnson Paudash	1875–1959	1914–1918	88	Canada	21st Battalion (Eastern Ontario), CEF during World War One. 88 confirmed kills.[20]
Lyudmila Pavlichenko	1916–1974	1941–1953	309	Soviet Union	Was the most successful female sniper during World War II. She served the Soviet army and has 309 confirmed kills.[19]
Vladimir Pchelintsev	1920–	1941–1945	456	Soviet Union
Stepan Petrenko	1922–1984	1941–1945	422	Soviet Union
Francis Pegahmagabow	1891–1952	1914–1919	378	Canada	An Indigenous North American sniper in World War I who is credited with 378 kills, and an unknown number of unconfirmed kills.[21]
Friedrich Pein	1915–1975	1943–1945	200+	Austria	Austrian fighting in the German Army credited with over 200 kills on the Eastern Front between 1943 and 1945 during the Second World War.
Arron Perry	1972–	1999–2005	1+	Canada	A Canadian Army sniper who briefly held the record for the longest-ever recorded and confirmed sniper kill in 2002.[2]
Graham Ragsdale	1969–		N/A	Canada	A former Canadian Army sniper who fought in Afghanistan in 2003.[2]
Patrick Riel	1876–1916	1914–1916	30	Canada	Métis Canadian attached to the 8th Battalion (90th Winnipeg Rifles), CEF during the First World War with 30 confirmed kills. KIA January 14, 1916 by shell fire.[22]
Ben Roberts-Smith	1978–	1996–	N/A	Australia	Served as a sniper with the Australian Special Air Service Regiment. He was awarded the Medal of Gallantry for his actions in 2006 during Operation Perth in the Chora Valley of Oruzgan Province, Afghanistan.[23]
Ian Robertson	1927–2014	1945–1953	30+	Australia	Served as a sniper with Australia's 3RAR post World War 2. He became one of the most effective snipers during the Korean War. In one morning he killed 30 enemy soldiers.[24]
Roza Shanina	1924–1945	1943–1945	59	Soviet Union	A Soviet sniper during the Second World War, credited with 59 confirmed kills, including 12 soldiers during the Battle of Vilnius.
Randy Shughart	1958–1993	1976–1993	N/A	United States	Delta Force sniper who posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for protecting the injured crew of a downed helicopter during the Battle of Mogadishu.[3]
Ivan Sidorenko	1919–1994	1939–1945	500	Soviet Union	A Soviet sniper credited with over 500 kills during the Second World War.
Billy Sing	1886–1943	1914–1918	150+	Australia	An Australian soldier in WW1 was credited with over 150 confirmed kills.[25]
Bruno Sutkus	1924–2003	1944–1945	209	Lithuania	Lithuanian fighting in the German Army. Credited with 209 kills on the Eastern Front between 1944 and 1945 during the Second World War.
Zhang Taofang	1931–2007	1951–1953	214	China	A Chinese sniper who fought in the Korean War with 214 confirmed kills in 32 days.[26]
Adelbert Waldron	1933–1995	1968–1970	109	United States	A United States Army sniper who formerly held the record for the most confirmed kills by a US military sniper (109).[27]
Alvin C. York	1887–1964	1917–1918	28	United States	82nd Infantry Division, an expert sharpshooter using an M1917 Enfield rifle during the Meuse-Argonne offensive near Chatel-Chéhéry, France, 1918 in World War I. Medal of Honor recipient.
Vasily Zaytsev	1915–1991	1937–1945	242	Soviet Union	A Soviet sniper who fought at the Battle of Stalingrad. Zaytsev is credited with 242 kills (including 11 snipers).[19]

Non-military snipers

Not all snipers are highly trained professional soldiers. The term is sometimes used to describe criminals firing from cover at long range with a rifle and police sharpshooters. Some notable non-military snipers include:

• William "Billy" Dixon (1850 – 1913), defended the Adobe Walls settlement against Indian attack with his legendary buffalo rifle, and was one of eight civilians in the history of the U.S. to receive the Medal of Honor.
• Frank Carter (1881 – 1927) was a notorious murderer in Omaha, Nebraska, who claimed to have murdered 43 victims.^[28]
• Michael Andrew Clark (1949 – 1965), teenage sniper who killed three and wounded six in Highway 101 shooting spree on April 25, 1965.^[29]
• Jack Hinson (1807 – 1874) was a farmer who engaged Union troops at long range during the American Civil War and recorded 36 "kills" on his custom-made .50 caliber Kentucky long rifle with iron sights.^[30]
• Lon Horiuchi (born 1954), a Federal Bureau of Investigation sniper who shot Randy Weaver and shot and killed Vicki Weaver at Ruby Ridge.^[31]
• Thomas "Tom" Horn, Jr. (1860 – 1903) an American Old West lawman, scout, and hired gunman, known for shooting cattle rustlers and sheepherders at long range with a Sharps rifle.^[32]
• John Allen Muhammad (1960 – 2009) and Lee Boyd Malvo (born 1975), perpetrators of the Beltway sniper attacks, a series of coordinated shootings that took place over three weeks in October 2002 in Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, D.C. Ten people were killed and three other victims were critically injured in several locations throughout the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area and along Interstate 95 in Virginia.
• Lee Harvey Oswald (1939 – 1963) ex-US Marine, assassinated President of the United States John F. Kennedy and shot Gov. John Connally in Dallas, Texas on November 22, 1963, and shot at Gen. Edwin Walker on April 10, 1963.^[33]
• Charles Whitman (1941 – 1966), student and ex-US Marine who fired from a clock tower on the University of Texas Austin campus, killing 14 and wounding 32 in August 1966.^[34]

See also

• List of books, articles and documentaries about snipers
• Sniper (disambiguation)
• List of sniper rifles
• Counter-sniper tactics
• Snipers of the Soviet Union
• Longest recorded sniper kills

References

1. Senich, Peter R. (1988). The Complete Book of U.S. Sniping. Boulder: Paladin Press. pp. 50–57. ISBN 978-0-87364-460-0.
2. Friscolanti,, Michael (15 May 2006), We were abandoned, Rogers Publishing, pp. 18–25
3. Durant, Michael J.; Hartov, Steve (2003). In The Company of Heroes: A True Story. Putnam Publishing Group. ISBN 0-399-15060-9.
4. "British sniper Craig Harrison (The Silent Assassin) breaks record, kills target from 1.5 miles away". New York Daily News'. 3 May 2010.
5. "British Royal Marine is world's deadliest sniper". The Telegraph. 2 February 2015.
6. Sasser, Charles; Roberts, Craig (1990). One Shot, One Kill (1990 ed.). Pocket Books. ISBN 978-0-671-68219-4.
7. Kennedy, Harold (March 2003). "Marine Corps Sets Sights on More Precise Shooting". National Defense Magazine. Archived from the original on 30 January 2007. Retrieved 30 March 2007. Founded in 1977, the school’s first staff NCOIC was the famed sniper, Gunnery Sgt. Carlos Hathcock II, who was credited with 93 confirmed kills in Vietnam.
8. Stirling, Robert (20 December 2012). Special Forces Sniper Skills. Osprey Publishing. pp. 79–80. ISBN 978-1-78096-003-6.
9. http://controversialtimes.com/military/10-deadliest-snipers-in-history-1-is-absolutely-crazy/
10. Scherzer, Veit (2007). Die Ritterkreuzträger 1939–1945 Die Inhaber des Ritterkreuzes des Eisernen Kreuzes 1939 von Heer, Luftwaffe, Kriegsmarine, Waffen-SS, Volkssturm sowie mit Deutschland verbündeter Streitkräfte nach den Unterlagen des Bundesarchives [The Knight's Cross Bearers 1939–1945 The Holders of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross 1939 by Army, Air Force, Navy, Waffen-SS, Volkssturm and Allied Forces with Germany According to the Documents of the Federal Archives] (in German). Jena, Germany: Scherzers Miltaer-Verlag. ISBN 978-3-938845-17-2.
11. Connelly, Sherryl (24 January 2015). "'The Reaper' is gripping autobiography of sniper who killed record 33 Taliban in Afghanistan deployment". Daily News. Retrieved 8 February 2015.
12. ""Indonesian Sniper" Tatang Koswara passes away at 68". Coconuts Media. Retrieved 4 March 2015.
13. Buiso, Gary (1 January 2012). "Meet the big shot". Retrieved 2 February 2015.
14. Infolanka. How the LTTE was 'military' defeated: A Soldier’s view - Part Seven. infolanka.asia. Infolanka. Retrieved 28 March 2015. It is ‘Juba’ the sniper who causes havoc in Iraq and it was Corporal W.I. Ranjith Premasiri alias ‘Nero’ of SLA who was responsible for the deaths of more than 180 Tiger cadres, before his demise on 28 April 2009.
15. Perry, Tony (22 January 2000). "A Sniper at Peace With His Duties". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 16 April 2011.
16. "Herbert W. McBride (1873–1933)". TeeJawa. Retrieved 20 May 2015.
17. Номоконов - вновь на коне (in Russian). Zabmedia. 13 January 2010. Retrieved 5 August 2014.
18. "Sharpshooter: Henry Louis Norwest". Government of Canada. Retrieved 21 January 2015.
19. Haskew, Michael (1 November 2005). The Sniper at War: From the American Revolutionary War to the Present Day. St. Martin's Press. pp. 65, 73–74. ISBN 978-0-312-33651-6.
20. "Johnson Paudash MM". http://21stbattalion.ca/. Retrieved 29 January 2015. External link in |publisher= (help)
21. Brownlie, Robin (2003). A Fatherly Eye: Indian Agents, Government Power, and Aboriginal Resistance in Ontario, 1918–1939. University of Toronto Press. p. 63. ISBN 978-0-19-541784-5.
22. "Private Patrick Riel". Canadian Great War Project. Retrieved 23 November 2015.
23. Nicholson, Brendan (23 April 2011). "You think I'm brave? Meet my mates: Ben Roberts-Smith". theaustralian.com.au. The Australian. Retrieved 11 February 2012.
24. "A sniper's tale". The Sydney Morning Herald. 26 April 2004.
25. Hamilton, J. C. M. (2008). Gallipoli Sniper: The life of Billy Sing. Sydney: Pan Macmillan Australia. p. 6. ISBN 978-1-4050-3865-2.
26. Stronge, Charles (25 January 2011). Kill Shot: The 15 Deadliest Snipers of All Time. Ulysses Press. p. 91. ISBN 978-1-56975-862-5.
27. Kirchner, Paul (2009). More of the Deadliest Men Who Ever Lived. Boulder: Paladin Press. ISBN 978-1-58160-690-4.
28. "Sniper Shoots Council Bluffs Detective; Terror of People Hits Omaha's Business". The New York Times. 20 February 1926.
29. Demaris, Ovid (1971). America the Violent. Penguin Books. p. 344.
30. McKenney, Tom (23 September 2010). Jack Hinson's One-man War: A civil war sniper. Pelican Publishing. p. 79. ISBN 978-1-4556-0646-7.
31. Witkin, Gordon (11 September 1995). "The nightmare of Idaho's Ruby Ridge". US News & World Report.
32. Anderson, Dan & Laurence J. Yadon (2007), 100 Oklahoma Outlaws, Gangsters, and Lawmen: 1839–1939, Pelican Publishing Company, p. 231, ISBN 978-1-58980-384-8
33. Bugliosi, Vincent (2007). Reclaiming History: The Assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Norton. ISBN 0-393-04525-0.
34. Cawthorne, Nigel (2007). Serial Killers And Mass Murderers: Profiles of the World's Most Barbaric Criminals. Ulysses Press. ISBN 1-569-75578-7.