What exactly is the function, important duties and features of snipers?

In general, the main function of snipers in modern warfare is to provide detailed surveillance from a hidden location and, if necessary, to reduce the enemy’s war determination by neutralizing high-value targets (especially officers and other key personnel).

The tasks of common and typically snipers today are to provide intelligence for air support or artillery attack, rather than loss, killing key people and even the destruction of important ammunition / supplies in the hands of the enemy.

Military teachings of Soviet and Russian origin trained snipers at a staffed level. Snipers were found to be particularly useful by the US and British forces in the Iraq war, which recently included military literature with city and street collisions, as a support for the infantry movement, especially in urban areas.

Contrary to popular belief, snipers often do not work alone. Snipers in countries that adopt NATO military doctrines are placed in two-person sniper teams, typically a shooter and a scout. In these teams of scouts and marksmen, the scout uses shorter range classic infantry rifles and special binoculars, while being armed with light or heavy sniper rifles / assassination weapons according to the sniper preference.

In the modern war, however, snipers work in teams of two, while in the second world war snipers work only in the German doctrine, which attaches importance to psychological impact rather than accurate shots and more efficiency. Although the accuracy rate of the two-man squads is higher, one of the biggest handicaps for a sniper is stealth. The Germans would have paid attention to that, in the Prussian / German doctrine, snipers work alone.

What a sniper needs to be effective and survive

Weapons and equipment selection is very important. This is also a bit of style work, depending on the task or teaching, the gunner can choose a light-assassination weapon such as dragunov or an animal-powered assassination gun like m82 barret, as well as heavier or lighter bullets. For example, a sniper rifle like the m82 barrett is a very bad choice for a gunner who will be constantly on the move and change position.

Privacy is important. Should not be re-shot from the shooting location, if possible. Snipers are very important targets. For example, Billy Sing, who killed more than 300 Turkish soldiers during the Çanakkale ground wars, put the gun, which was thought to have a sniper for a single man, with a howitzer on the Turkish side, as a result of constantly hitting his targets from fixed places. Billy Sing survived the artillery assault by chance. technical changes to be made in rifles, silencer etc. Using such equipment reduces this risk.

Goal 3 is important. A sniper, if using his mind, should not hit the target best suited for his arrival. Because often the most appropriate goal is usually the most important goal. Think about it, you are a sniper, your targets or targets are now unaware that you have fixed the sight to their heads. Just about 500 meters away, an enemy team is resting after a long transfer. For a sniper who uses his mind, the main goal is not to neutralize the target precisely, but to inflict the enemy with maximum loss. In this case, the target selection should be made considering these. The gunner should detect and shoot the most important than an insignificant soldier, but if the target is not alone (imagine that you have a team as we exemplify), he should take enemy troops jealously. Therefore, the target to be chosen should not be the primary goal, for example, killing a team commander or a high-ranking crew, sometimes injuring these high-ranking individuals in a horrible psychological situation and offering dozens of corpses on the gold tray to the sniper. So, shoot the shepherd, you built the sheep, that is, it will go into your mouth.

However, accuracy is also important. In standard army training, most soldiers are trained to hit the target in half of their fires at a distance of 200 to 300 meters. But a sniper is trained to hit the target every shot from 800-900 meters away. The Canadian special forces sniper, who hit the target with a full hit from 3700 meters as a record, Chris Kyle, the veteran of the sniper school such as guardian zaitsev, simo hayha, lyudmila pavlichenko, of course, have shot accurately from 900+ meters as we wrote, but as we wrote the ideal distance for the sniper 800-900 meter. Being able to hit the target from longer distances is considered an exception.

Tactics to protect from a sniper

The emergence of the sniper war led to the evolution of many of the sniper tactics in modern military strategies. These aim to reduce the damage done to an army by a sniper.

We have talked about the importance of targets to be selected for snipers. German officers, who were tired of Russian snipers in the battle of Stalingrad, started to travel by removing or hiding their ranks. An officer or petty officer is the shepherd of a military unit. If you shoot the shepherd, the sheep will either scatter or panic. However, snipers target officers to damage the chain of command. In this context, it is a countermeasure to hide all kinds of phrases indicating rank and seniority against marksmen.

So in summary, armies avoid saluting officers on the field against snipers and can eliminate ranks and marks on their uniforms.

Friendly snipers can be used to hunt enemy snipers.

However, mirrors to locate the sniper, or sniper baits can now be used as a very cheap trick sniper bait, also known as “cold Charlie” because it was used by the Finns against the Russians. For example, cap, helmet, etc. on the end of a stick in a position where you avoid yourself. when inserting and slowly lifting up from the position, the sniper fires if he thinks a person is wearing the helmet at the end of the stick (which is usually done by novices). Meanwhile, the friendly sniper shows his place and the sniper can be neutralized.

If the location of the 4th sniper cannot be detected or if it is not known from the ghillie suit, that is, because of its camouflage, it is possible to use thermal cameras and special binoculars to enable us to distinguish the sniper from the field.

Other tactics include directing fire supports such as artillery fire, air assault to suspicious sniper positions, which is a considerable economic burden for a man to count the artillery shells into the hills.

Booby traps, land mines can be placed in suspicious sniper positions. Interestingly, however, the very sensitive sniffing sensations of dogs or similar animals are very effective in finding snipers.

Source: eksisozluk.com