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hello my comrades, all right? here is the ghillie and welcome to another video! today with another episode of war stories. we will talk a litte bit about wwi snipers as the channel has a more focused theme to the subject of the snipers, i thought, why not take the vibe of the battlefield 1 and the first world war theme since several videos with this subject appeared on the youtube after the game was announced. and talk a little with you about how the snipers were active at the time of the great war. what were their techniques, equipment, guns, etc. and there is no game better than verdun to comment on it. so sit back, feel very relaxed, because the video is longer, but the subject is very interesting and i recommend that you stay until the end
when it comes to sniper, the first thing that comes in our mind is that classic image of a sniper with a ghilliesuit, all camouflaged in the middle of the grass, or positioned on top of a building, on the top of a tower, equipped with a powerful rifle, killing the enemies at long range. the fact is that the scenario was not always like this. the technology was not always present. before the first world war, the resources and the progress of the war industry were limited to the point of rifles do not have as far-reaching and snipers hardly have an importance in the wars and conflicts. the first reported what we can call snipers evidenced in history, dating back to the year 1775 during the revolutionary war when militiamen in the region, equipped with kentucky rifles, it was a rifle with a barrel slightly larger than
the english, and also for having a good extensive experience with hunting. they were able to eliminate enemy soldiers over long distances. is good to remember that between and before that time, it was a little hard of long-distance shooters have a more active presence during the wars and conflicts, because the main part of the weapons were the percussion and flintlock muskets. and the ammunition used was the bullet of lead spherical, tamped with gunpowder. the technology was not so great and the maximum distance a shot covered was approximately 100m. with technological advances scenario would improve more and more, and in 1848 would emerge a new type of ammunition, the miniã© ammunition, designed by claude-etienne minnie. unlike spherical ammunition, the miniã© had a head cone shape, which allowed the projectile cut the air
more easily and thus would cover larger distances. during the north american civil war or secession war 1861 the situation was already very tense in the setting of long-distance shooters. there are reports that a confederate sniper managed to silence a cannon for two days, simply by not leaving any enemy soldier get close to it to be able to use it it was during this war that the first platoons and squads shooters started to appear. and perhaps the most famous among them were the berdan sharpshooters new weapons and new technologies always arose, and around the year 1860 many technological advances in the war industry took place, such as; the cartridges, the first backfired weapons, the first repeating rifles and the first rayed barrels, the barrels no longer be smooth and would become rayed. in 1860 the projectiles already covered a distance
10 times greater than at the time of the american revolutionary war. so it was notable that the snipers could make a difference and possessed a very important role in conflicts. it was during the civil war that the lists of priorities began to emerge, the sniper not simply eliminated anyone, but right now his priority was always the senior soldiers, sergeants, captains, etc. and also critical positions as the cannons, the mortars and the artilleries it was also during the civil war that the first duels between snipers began to be evident. in 1868 the black powder would cease to exist and would emerge to smokeless powder, therefore the fire power, range and accuracy would increase considerably not mention that now the snipers could fire over canceled positions, with less risk of being detected
due to the low amount of smoke that was expelled with the new powder and last event of our timeline where the role of the shooters and their doctrines were already practically widespread it was during the boer war which lasted from 1899 to 1902. during that war almost any soldier knew what was a sniper, and already feared it. and finally in 1914, at the beginning of world war i, the sniper word and the function of it had become commonplace. when the war began, the british had prepared for a faster and more concentrated war, they did not realize that the war would last by four years, but with the frequent use of the most famous invention of the twentieth century, the machine gun it forced the two fronts to protect themselves, creating kilometers and kilometers of trenches and at the end of 1914 the conflict had taken a new turn, would cease to be a war of movement and would be a more stagnant war,
being known as trench warfare, perfect setting for snipers before the war have begun to germany he had already prepared and have used snipers on company level. a portion of a typical german battalion contained 24 gunmen equipped with one of the most accurate and reliable rifles of the war, the gewehr 98. the gewehr 98 was perhaps one of, if not the best rifle of the first world war. produced by mauser, the rifle had the most advanced bolt system of the time his bolt was so robust, effective and reliable that came to be plagiarized by several other rifles and companies that generation. the bolt was designed in a way that his extraction from the main rifle body were very fast and simple. the soldier rarely had hardly problems with handling and mechanism rarely jam. anyways, the rifle was very good and more than 15,000 sniper units were created in 1915.
a sniper version had a telescope produced by the gortz company and their lenses were perhaps the best lenses of the time, zeiss lenses, produced by german inventor carl zeiss that combination gave to the telescopic an 3x magnification and his reticle had the iconic (t) shape so it did not take long for the germans take the lead in the wwi sniper setting and dominate the scene of the snipers for at least the first two years in the thench warfare. the germans used to work in pairs, observer and sniper and then used to rotate the roles. on a typical day of the war the german shooters were able to eliminate an average of 18 enemy soldiers per battalion. the situation was so tense about that, put your head out of the trench was practically a death sentence. this situation was even worse in the british side since their trenches were very well defined and were mostly covered
with wood and the parapet, which is where the soldiers supported his arms in order to shoot, it was completely leveled, facilitating the lives of german snipers in time to find a head out of the trench. only after heavy casualties that the british decided to adopt the german trench system and began to clutter debris, wood, barbed wire and many other things in front of the trenches. and the intention was clear, hinder the recognition. the trenches were normally positioned between 200m to 300m away from each other and most of the time telescopic sights had 3x to 5x magnification. what was perfect, since with this magnification was possible to recognize the details of a head perfectly at that distance. and usually the scopes were positioned on the left side rifle body so as not to obstruct the reload ammunition which was most often done by a clip, as most rifles time had internal magazine.
not only that, but also, during the first war, often unexpected attacks took place into the trenches territory. it was where took place the most part of melee combats. so it was very important that the shooter also possess a clear vision of your iron sights if any enemy soldier appears very near to his line of fire a curiosity is that most scopes already had adjustment system for the shoot, the famous zero-ing the big difference was that, unlike the current times where the reticle always remains in the same place, always at the center, which makes the shot compensation is an entire system inside the telescope body. in other words, the reticle and the body of the telescope don't move. in the first war, so that compensation existed, what moved often was the reticle, or even the telescope body. anyways, because of these technologies in this deadly scenario began to emerge
various techniques and mechanisms to circumvent the enemy. the fear of exposure was so big that the british began to use false heads made of papier-mã¢chã©, which were fixed on the end of a wooden stick, or on the bayonet of a rifle. the soldiers basically raised these heads out of the trenches to reveal the enemy's position. the enemy fired by mistake in the false head and gave this order to his position. these heads were very well modeled in order to deceive the opponent, some were so sophisticated that in the eye hole had a periscope to perfectly observe the enemy's position and from where they make their shots. by the way it was during the first war that the periscope became an artifact of great importance shooters because shooters could observe your enemy without exposing yourself
and in may 1915, during the gallipoli campaign, after numerous casualties to the german snipers, the british would put in place perhaps one of the most bizarre inventions of war, which was based on the periscope concept to observe without being exposed the invention was known as periscope rifle. designed by australian soldier william beech, the periscope rifle was nothing less than a rifle mounted on a wooden base and at the back, the rifle stock had a mounted periscope that allowed the soldiers could observe and shoot over the trenches without exposing themselves, without raising their heads over the parapet of the trench. the invention was simple and the rifle trigger was activated by a wire.
one thing we can not deny is that its design is very strange, but the gun was very functional and simple construction and does not take long to become popular and used by virtually most armies during the war as the war was increasingly concentrated, both fronts began making reconnaissance missions outside of the trenches, in the night time, which was a very dangerous mission. and the shooters began firing canceled positions, as behind shrubs, up trees, crevice, etc. even carcasses of animals like dead horses were used as a firing position. they began to emerge the first camouflage elements and the germans would be the firsts at this environment the great camouflage mechanism that the germans would use in response to the periscope rifle was also another bizarre invention of the war. the fake trees. yes, you guys don't listen wrong, fake trees! the fake trees were used as elevated firing positions and observation of the enemy.
they had a forged steel body and iron, which provided a considered protection. its exterior was made with bits of real tree bark, to make the simulation even more convincing. and these pieces were fixed on a frame in the metal body of the fake tree the false trunk had small holes in which the soldiers could observe and shoot. his interior was small and usually held only two soldiers. the base, which in the case was the guard position and the top that was the place for the shooter or observer. the base most often it was accessed by a tunnel emptied into the bottom of the trunck and not the trunk wall itself. the reason was not to compromise the simulation the fewer factors on it that could deliver this was a fake tree, the better will be. and a small door was something that compromised so much the simulation.
and the top was accessed via an internal ladder. and even had a wooden padded bench to the observer sit, and be able to make their shots. but overall the fake tree interior was very uncomfortable and claustrophobic. and it is not over, here comes the most bizarre of all, the fake trees were usually installed in the night period into the no man's land, name as it was known the empty space lying between the trenches. now imagine this, the fact of think a fake tree it's already bizarre. how much the fact of think it could emerge from night to day the fighting almost did not stop, the only time that the soldiers had a rest was during the night, not because they are sleepiness, but because the visibility decreased considerably imagine being a soldier, wake up with the sun rising and decides to inspect the no man's land and realizes a tree that was not in the same place at the previous night, the most bizarre is to think that this same tree could kill you
it's bizarre. can't imaginate such a situation the germans were even further and developed sniper helmets and metal plates that had observation holes and a space to put the barrel of the rifle out and manage to shoot. the british response to this was to use rifles with ammunition to kill elephant to penetrate the plates and helmets of german soldiers the germans fix this by strengthening the method placing earth between now, two metal plates. as i said at the beginning of the video, the german army, dominated the first two years of the war the scene of the snipers, were only in the last two years of the war that the game would start to turn to the side of the british and french, when finally the british implemented squads made exclusively of snipers and the most famous were the lovats scouts the lovats scouts were basically a scottish regiment specializing in military techniques of observation
that had its first participation in the second boer war, in which i have mentioned in this video. the group was created in 1900, formed by 14th british lord, lord lovat joseph simon fraser and the unit was commanded by the us major frederick russell burnham when the boer war ended, the scouts lovats had separated, but a year later they would be restored, but this time in two regiments. during this period of time, lovats scouts were not only recognized only as great observers, but would start employing the snipers in their units. the two regiments had a very active participation during the first world war the first school of the british army snipers was only formed in october 1915 and it was only in 1916 that the first unit composed exclusively of sharpshooters would be formed.
it was the lovat scouts who developed the first models of ghillie-suit and the first camouflage techniques which allowed that the british fought on equal terms in the clashes of snipers against the germans. it was only in late 1917 that the game turned again. when the united states entered the war bringing their snipers equipped with springfield rifles model 1903. rifle which it is very well represented in the 1999 movie. save the private ryan it's good to remember that the model shown in the scene is the world war ii model 1903 a4 with the iconic unertl 8x maginification telescopic. this version did not have iron sights, it was standardized to already be a sniper rifle. during the first world war the springfield rifle model that soldiers used was 1903 common model, this model was the standard rifle of the entire north american expeditionary force
thus, this version was not produced in a standardized manner so as to already be a sniper rifle basically what the soldiers did, was put in the rifle the american telescope most common at the time. the musket sight, produced by warner n' swasey 5.2x magnification, transforming a common rifle of infantry troops in a sniper rifle. remember that in the first world war, basically most of the infantry weapons were the bolt action rifles and there were several models, from different countries and manufactures. so basically any of them, since that is plugged with a telescope, it can be used as a sniper rifle. but after all, there were those who stood out during the conflict with an act as such the british used the rifle lee enfield in its reduced version, known as smle no1 mkiii (short magazine lee-enfield) at the beginning the soldiers use the rifle with an aldis 3x magnification telescope, produced by aldis brothers
until the sniper version be standardized. the sniper version had a telescope known as pattern 1918 3x magnification produced by periscopic prism company and also a heavy barrel. this version when leaving the factory was called smle no1 mkiii * ht, whose acronym ht was the name for heavy barrel telescopic it's good to remember that the ht version only began to be produced at the end of the first world war, approximately 1612 units were produced and the sniper version would only be actually used in 1939 during world war ii the lee-enfield was very well received by the british during the first world war because he had a detachable magazine that had capacity for 10 cartridges positioned in double row. not only that but as well your trigger, which was very close to the bolt handle, which meant that the shooter had an impressive agility. these features meant that the rifle owned one of the highly fire-rate of the war
the rifle could fire 20 to 30 times per minute in the hands of an experienced shooter. anyway guys, there were also other rifles which were widely used as a sniper in the war, such as: the french berthier lebel model 1907 and model 1886, the british pattern p14, the italian carcano model 1891, among many others. and i will not go too much into details, for the video does not get too longer i'm thinking of doing a series, that i will comment each of them in a specific video. but it will be for the future! well guys, that's it. and to close, the latest information on the end of war in relation to snipers was that, after the war ended only the russians kept their sniper schools. the germans, british and americans would close their schools and would only re-open them at the beginning of world war ii, anyway, this is subject to the next video, who knows the next episode of war stories. and who knows it will be about the wwii snipers
here stay the suggestion! but for now this is it, i hope you've enjoyed. and as i always say. if you can rate, comment or share the video, i will be very thankful because helps a lot to i know if you guys like it, if you have enjoyed or not. and also because it helps a lot to spread the video out!so that's it, i will stoping here, a hug from ghillie and until next time!
