Zhang Taofang

[Cyrano]

Originally Posted by ArkansasHunter

Excuse my stupidness But why would they snipe U.N. troops ?

For reasons of morale, AH - specifically, lowering the morale of the UN troops. Men do not enjoy being hunted like wild animals. The knowledge that there is a sniper in the area, as witnessed from the fact your buddy's head just exploded and you didn't hear the "Bang!" until a couple of seconds after your buddy fell down dead, lowers unit effectiveness as well as morale. No one is going to want to be out in the open doing some military task if there is a real possibility you're going to be sniped by an enemy sniper.

We aren't talking about an incompetent boob that couldn't hit the broad side of a barn, like the one in the episode of M*A*S*H where Hawkeye persuaded an armor commander to park a Sherman at the 4077th for a couple of days to scare the sniper off (where Frank Burns subsequently started up the tank, wrecked half the camp, and flattened Colonel Potter's jeep). That kind of "sniper" is a nuisance, not a threat. We're talking about someone in the same class as Simo Hayho, Vasili Zaitsev, or Carlos Hathcock, that can drop a man at 400 to 1,000 meters, dead before he hits the ground.

A real sniper in the days before air support and accurate ground-attack airplanes could hold up an entire unit at the cost of just a few rounds, then fade away before the infantry could find him. Then he could pick a different spot and do it again. Even now, from what I have read the hajis don't like the fact the Americans are using snipers and distinguished marksmen in Iraq to good effect. It's done wonders for battering their self-esteem. If a sniper gets on an insurgent unit's case on Monday, on Tuesday there are going to be Muslim funerals, and it's that simple. And they have no means of stopping the aimed fire. It's a frightfully effective technique - though not a politically correct one by American media standards.

That is why you snipe at enemy troops when you have someone who is that good, AH.

[SwedeSteve]

Very interesting time in history for sure.

[marinevet1010]

Originally Posted by genwinters

go check simo hayha. over 700 total kills during WWII in 100 days 500 with a none-scoped mosin the other 200 with a PPSH

Don't mean to burst your bubble but his submachine gun was actually a Suomi M-31 SMG, but I can see where you would say it was a PPSH because a few parts of it were copied off the PPSH.

[SwedeSteve]

K-31 it is MV !!