These six legendary Soviet and Russian snipers not only aided the Soviet's army but also changed the way militaries utilized long distance attacks.
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In the 1930s, when other countries were cutting sniper teams, the Soviet Union began training some of the most talented snipers of not only the World War II era, but of history.
These sharpshooters, able to the snuff out high-ranking, difficult-to-replace officers on the opposing side, were able to wreak havoc on their enemy’s chain of command and morale and quickly became some of the most important soldiers to fight in the war.
Here are the stories of six of the deadliest Soviet snipers of World War II:
Soviet Snipers: Klavdiya Kalugina
Wikimedia CommonsKlavdiya Kalugina
Unlike many militaries at the time, the Soviet Union made use of women as snipers. In 1943, there were more than 2,000 female Soviet snipers in the Red Army. Females made great long-range shooters because of their flexibility, cunning, and patience.
The youngest student at the Komsomol sniper school, 17-year-old Russian Klavdiya Kalugina wasn’t a great shot at first. She had keen eyesight, but her talent emerged as her squad leader gave her personal instruction.
Kalugina is credited with 257 German kills, but taking her first human life was not an easy task for the young sniper. Partnered with her best friend Marusia Chikhvintseva on the front line, they didn’t even take a single shot on their first night.
“We just couldn’t pull the trigger, it was hard … Cowards! Cowards! Why did we come to the front?” Kalugina told an interviewer. But the next day, she gathered her courage. ” … a German was clearing (a) machine gun emplacement. I fired. He fell, and was pulled back by his feet. It was my first German.”
Marusia did not fare as well. Kalugina’s partner was shot by a German sniper while on defensive watch. “Oh, how I cried!” Kalugina remembers. “I screamed so loud it could be heard all over the trenches, soldiers ran out: “Quiet, quiet, or they’ll open mortar fire!” But how could I be quiet? She was my best friend … I live for her now”.
There is no account of Kalugina’s life after the war and apparently no account of her death either. Might she still be alive?
Vasily Zaytsev
Wikimedia CommonsVasily Zaytsev
In the Ural Mountains of Russia, a young Vasily Zaytsev honed his skill as a marksman by shooting at deer and wolves. His prowess as a sniper first revealed itself at age 12 with an impressive feat: a wolf dead by a single rifle shot.
After attending construction school and some accounting classes, Zaytsev served in the Soviet Navy as chief petty officer. When the Germans invaded, he transferred to the Army as senior warrant officer and volunteered to go to the front lines.
Zaytsev’s tactic of covering one vast area from three points, with a sniper and a scout at each outpost, is still in use today. During the Battle of Stalingrad, he killed 225 German soldiers and 11 enemy snipers.
He won at least 16 medals or honors for his service in the war, and the rifle he used in Stalingrad is in the Volgograd Museum of Defense.
Zaytsev died on December 15, 1991, ten days before the dissolution of the Soviet Union. He lives on in pop culture, however. Actor Jude Law portrayed Zaytsev in the 2001 film Enemy at the Gates, and the video game Destiny pays tribute to Zaytsev and his Soviet-era rifle.
Lyudmila Pavlichenko
Sovfoto/UIG via Getty ImagesLyudmila Pavlichenko
Known as “Lady Death,” Lyudmila Pavlichenko was such an effective sniper that the Nazis tried to bribe her into switching sides. Fortunately for the Soviets, it would take more than promises of chocolate and being made an officer to sway her.
Pavlichenko was a history major at Kiev University when Germany began their occupation. The 24-year-old made her way into the first round of volunteers to defend her homeland.
Told she should be on the nursing team rather than on the front lines, Pavlichenko nevertheless persisted and passed her rifle audition by picking off two remote enemies. This scored her a spot in the 25th Chapayev Rifle Division.
During her defense of Sevastopol, Pavlichenko became a woman with a reputation of deadly accuracy and sustained counter-sniping missions. She scored a total of 309 confirmed kills, making her one of the most successful snipers during World War II, and the top female sniper in history.
In the Soviet Union, citizens viewed her as a respected soldier, but in her visits to the United States to rally support, Americans treated Pavlichenko like a sideshow act.
Fed up with the questions about makeup and fashion on the battlefield, she snarkily replied, “Gentlemen, I am 25 years old and I have killed 309 fascist occupants by now. Don’t you think, gentlemen, that you have been hiding behind my back for too long?”
Ivan Sidorenko
Wikimedia CommonsIvan Sidorenko
Trading art college for infantry school, Ivan Sidorenko went on to be a self-taught sniper and earn a coveted Hero of the Soviet Union medal. With 500 confirmed kills, diligent training of 250 other snipers, and a rank of major by the end of the war, Sidorenko was the most accomplished of the Soviet snipers of World War II.
Sidorenko, as assistant commander of the 1122nd Rifle Regiment, fought and taught on the 1st Baltic Front. On one of his more famed excursions, he exploded three tractors and a tank with incendiary ammunition. He employed a Russian Mosin–Nagant rifle with a telescopic sight.
This brave soldier turned sniper saw many wounds during his tour, with the most severe occurring in Estonia in 1944. This one took him out of action for the remainder of the war.
After healing, Sidorenko moved to the Ural Mountains, (home of Vasily Zaytsev) where he found work as the foreman of a coal mine. He died in February of 1974.
Roza Shanina
Wikimedia CommonsRoza Shanina
Roza Shanina displayed her badassery from a young age. Determined to receive an education past elementary school, for grades five-seven, she trekked to the nearest village. It was an eight-mile walk. At the age of 14, Shanina ran away (120 miles away) to attend college in Arkhangelsk.
Working at a kindergarten by day, she graduated in 1942 when Arkhangelsk was hit by German bombs. Shanina held voluntary vigils on rooftops to protect the kindergarten.
Word then came that her 19-year-old brother had perished in the Siege of Leningrad. Shanina, now age 17, requested admittance into the military but was denied. Instead, she enrolled in the Central Female Sniper Academy in 1943 for preparation.
She excelled there, enough to earn a job offer of instructor, but declined it in favor of moving to the front lines. By this time, she’d lost two more brothers to war. After her deployment to the Eastern Front, however, Shanina found that women were routinely kept from the front line. She snuck out there anyway, disobeying orders.
Credited with 59 confirmed kills during her relatively short career, Shanina was dubbed the “unseen terror of East Prussia.” Her precision was legendary, and she made doublets (hitting two targets in quick succession) with ease.
She was the first female Soviet sniper to be awarded the Order of Glory. But on January 27, 1945, while shielding a wounded officer, she sustained a grave injury. Two soldiers found her disemboweled, chest opened by a shell fragment.
One of her last diary entries stated her wish to return home after the war to start a family, but also says, “If it turns necessary to die for the common happiness, then I’m braced to.”
Vasilij Kvachantiradze
Wikimedia CommonsVasilij Kvachantiradze
Born into peasant life, Vasilij Kvachantiradze worked on his parents’ small farm and dreamt of starting his own business in Moscow. But the onset of the war drove him to join the Red Army instead in 1941.
Proving himself an excellent marksman, he joined the Soviet snipers of the 259th Infantry Regiment. They paired him with another deadly sniper, Fyodor Okhlopkov.
Together, they became a highly-feared sniper team, with a total of 644 kills between them. In his four years as a sniper, Kvachantiradze was personally responsible for 534 kills.
His specialty was creating traps and ambushes, which prevented his capture and confused the enemy. During the Soviet offensive at Vitebsk, these tactics proved successful in holding back the enemy.
The German infantry failed to capture the village of Shumilino, which was deemed important in creating their defensive line. The Soviets defeated the Germans here by breaking their encirclement.
Kvachantiradze’s numerous medals and accolades include Hero of the Soviet Union, Order of Lenin gold star medal, Order of the Red Banner, Order of the Patriotic War, and the Order of the Red Star.
After his retirement, he worked within the Soviet government as a chairman for the Kolkhoz, a collective farming association. In 1950, he died at the young age of 43.
Enjoy this article on Soviet snipers of World War II? Check out these classic Soviet propaganda posters. Then read about the fall of the Soviet Union.
