St. Joan of Arc & the Truth about Snipers & Why Tyrants like Hitler Always Hate Them

Maid of Heaven Foundation ^ | 1-26-15 | Ben D. Kennedy

[poetbdk]

St. Joan of Arc & the Truth about Snipers & Why Tyrants like Hitler Always Hate Them

In recent days I have been amazed and sickened by some of the vicious comments I have heard directed at Chris Kyle, the soldier portrayed in the new movie American Sniper, and I felt I could help people better understand the truth about snipers and why they are so feared and hated by the kind of people making the negative comments.  In St. Joan of Arc’s army soldiers that functioned as snipers were as important to her military success as they are today to the success of modern military operations.  One man in particular in St. Joan’s army known as Master John the Culveriner became legendary precisely because he was so deadly at long range with a weapon called the hand culverin which was the medieval forerunner to a long range rifle.  In the famous Journal of the Siege of Orleans he is recorded as being particularly hated by the English for picking off so many of them with his weapon.  There were also many men in St. Joan’s army that carried crossbows which was of course the weapon that William Tell became famous for using as a sniper. Considering that St. Joan of Arc has been hailed by military historians as the very flower of chivalry if St. Joan had felt that the function of a sniper was in any way illegal, unethical or contrary to honorable warfare then she would have put an end to the practice immediately since she had no tolerance for evil down to the point of even forbidding swearing among her men.  Obviously St. Joan considered snipers to be an honorable part of warfare that aided and protected her own men and ultimately helped to defeat the enemy and put an end to warfare as soon as possible which was always her greatest goal in war.

“Why did Schiller have to immortalize
that Swiss sniper [William Tell]!”- Adolf Hitler

If snipers were considered a proper part of warfare by someone as pure of heart and close to God as St. Joan of Arc then let us consider exactly who it is and why it is that certain people hate snipers so much and go to such lengths to denigrate them.  The most famous portrayal of a sniper in all of history is of course that of the Swiss sniper William Tell.  Of the many versions of the story that have been written the one by the Poet of Freedom Friedrich Schiller is particularly inspiring because it shows how one patriotic individual can effectively fight back against a tyrant and win.  This message is extremely disturbing to tyrants like Adolf Hitler who, despite his great desire to want to use the intellectual legacy of Schiller to legitimize his Nazi regime, had Schiller’s play about William Tell banned in 1938.  Today’s tyrants and their agents are no different than Hitler and will do anything and everything they can to try to keep people from learning the truth about snipers exactly because they are such a lethal threat to their maintaining control.  Ultimately in condemning brave soldiers like Chris Kyle the haters are really revealing their true colors and what they really stand for which is the suppression of freedom.  It is too bad that these kind of people can not learn the lesson from Hitler’s failed attempt to control the world because despite all their efforts they will never defeat freedom loving people precisely because there will always be heroic snipers like William Tell and Chris Kyle to prove dramatically to the world that one individual can effectively fight back and win.

As an addendum let me explain to all the loyal readers of this blog that this article is a prime example of why the Maid of Heaven Foundation was begun which I introduced to everyone earlier this month on St. Joan’s birthday.   In keeping with our mission to inspire people to Love God and Live Free like St. Joan of Arc this article is a lot more than just a history lesson.  I will of course continue to write articles specifically about Joan of Arc’s history but I feel that the greatest way that I can ever honor St. Joan and every soldier like her that has ever fought for freedom is to do everything I can to make sure that the world we live in is as free as possible.  RIP Chris Kyle!

[poetbdk]

A stinging rebuke by author Ben D. Kennedy to all of the haters criticizing American Sniper Chris Kyle and other snipers in the military

[WayneS]

Hitler did not hate snipers, per se.

Hitler hated people whom he could not control.

[left that other site]

Snipers perform the “surgical strikes” so beloved of pacifists.

The alternative is “Kill ‘em all and let allah sort ‘em out”.

Would they prefer carpet bombing with napalm?

[miss marmelstein]

In medieval England, snipers were called “Men of Keen Sight.” They were the ones who identified Henry VII at Bosworth for Richard the Third.

My mother’s first husband was killed by a sniper in WWII. She has never, ever spoken out against snipers. But then she’s a mature woman of 90 who understands the nature of war.

[miss marmelstein]

St. Joan is my favorite saint. A brilliant warrior, a woman touched by God who died with the word “Jesus” on her lips. Who can forget the poor English soldier who screamed “We have burned a saint!” and had to be taken to a tavern to calm his nerves.

[poetbdk]

Even though St. Joan was a warrior she was ultimately a peacemaker as she ended a terrible war that had been going on for almost 100 years. As Churchill said: “Joan was a being so uplifted from the ordinary run of mankind that she finds no equal in a thousand years.”

[miss marmelstein]

I, personally, believe Joan was a war-lover in the same way Robert E. Lee and others were war-lovers. That is as far from a knock as I can come up with. She was ordained by God to throw the English out of France although I also love the English side and try to see both sides. A great woman, a great saint, and a great soldier.

[poetbdk]

I guess it depends of your meaning of the word but I would certainly not call St. Joan or REL or any other true soldier of God a war-lover. I believe what Gen Douglas MacArthur said in his famous speech Duty, Honor, Country: “This does not mean that you are warmongers. On the contrary, the soldier above all other people prays for peace, for he must suffer and bear the deepest wounds and scars of war. But always in our ears ring the ominous words of Plato, that wisest of all philosophers: “Only the dead have seen the end of war.”

[miss marmelstein]

I said she was a war lover not a war monger. She cried over the casualties and once tried to push the intestines of an English soldier back into his body. But no one with her strategic and tactical genius could not enjoy the planning and execution of war. La Hire and the Bastard listened to everything she had to say and they knew their stuff.

[poetbdk]

Understand and agree, there is always a sense of satisfaction of doing a job well and St. Joan certainly did the job God called her to do very well.

[lostboy61]

One well trained man. One well built rifle. History can change at 2800 FPS.

[ansel12]

Why is God for the French instead of the British?

[Hugin]

I don't remember the left getting incensed over the sniper in Saving Private Ryan.

[poetbdk]

Amen!!

[dfwgator]

Or Vasili Zaitsev in Enemy at the Gates, but of course he was a fellow Commie, so he’s a “good” sniper.

[AbnSarge]

After all, it’s so much ballsier to tap someone with a Predator from half a world away.

[x]

Most wrong-headed article in quite a while. Hitler may have hated snipers when he was in the trenches (as other soldiers did), but his army certainly made use of them. Total war means making use of whatever tactics commanders think will win (or hurt the other side).

Was William Tell really a sniper? Hitler is supposed to have exclaimed in 1942: "Why did Schiller have to immortalize that Swiss sniper!" But his plans for last ditch resistance in 1945 included heavy reliance on snipers. He certainly didn't have a principled opposition to that tactic or any other that served his purpose.

[poetbdk]

You completely missed the point. Hitler hated snipers that were aiming at him which is why he hid in a bunker for most of the war. Why else do you think he banned Schiller's play about William Tell? He was afraid someone would be inspired to shoot him like the hero of the story.

[x]

Everybody who has power takes security measures to prevent assassination. They also use snipers and whatever else they can to win their wars.

This is the Sniper's Badge (Third Class) that Hitler established in 1944:

Soldiers were told to remove it if they were at risk of being taken prisoner as the Russians would shoot men wearing the badge. Stalin, like Hitler, was afraid of assassins but not opposed to having snipers in his army.

[poetbdk]

Again you are missing the point which is that all tyrants hate anyone that can oppose them with lethal force and a sniper can do so as one man with one shot. If this is not clear to you then I can do not better in explaining.