Osprey Elite 68 : The Military Sniper since 1914

It was only in World War I that the combination of high quality service rifles and new telescopic sights brought the true 'sniper' to the battlefield as a distinct specialist. By 1918 the scout-sniper's value as an observer and gatherer of intelligence was as important as his lethal skills, but these were disregarded in the interwar years. In 1939-45 most armies had to train and equip snipers from scratch, but they were to play a major role in all theatres of war. Famously, on the Russian Front it was a role in which women excelled. Firearms specialist Martin Pegler puts the sniper vividly in the context of the battlefield, from Flanders to the Gulf, as he.recounts the development of weapons, sights, tactics and clothing in all major armies, illustrated by some 50 photographs; and 12 colour plates by Ramiro Bujeiro

Contents

• Introduction
• Historic Background
• World War I
• World War II
• Snipers Since 1945
• Commentary on the Colour Artwork
• Index