Royal Marine snipers from 3 Commando
Posted on 04/02/2003 3:48:18 PM PST by MadIvan
British snipers have begun operating inside Basra in a series of "harass and destroy" missions against Iraqi paramilitaries defending the city.
Royal Marine snipers from 3 Commando |
Dozens more Iraqis are thought to have been killed by artillery fire and bombs directed by the snipers, who are also acting as forward observers for coalition forces.
Major Ben Farrell, the commanding officer of 2 company of 1st Bn Irish Guards, which has a nine-man team of snipers working inside Basra, said the use of snipers, who could strike without warning, was designed to shatter the morale of the Fedayeen paramilitaries and other troops.
"Our snipers are working in pairs, infiltrating the enemy's territory, to give us very good observation of what is going on inside Basra and to shoot the enemy as well when the opportunity arises," he said.
"They don't kill huge numbers, but the psychological effect and the denial of freedom of movement of the enemy is vast. Our snipers have done really well. What they do is very brave."
The snipers enter Basra in Warrior armoured personnel carriers, jumping out at the back and running for cover while colleagues from the Irish Guards drive forward, delivering distracting fire during "in and out" raids into the margins of the city which British forces have carried out in recent days.
Sgt Eddie Waring, 34, one of the Irish Guards sniper team, described how he and his colleagues worked, and recounted two "kills".
"Sometimes it's a bit hairy when we are getting to our position when there are rounds and mortars coming down around us.
"It's also a bit scary going into the buildings because they haven't been cleared and we don't know if they have left any booby traps for us. But once we are here they don't know where we are and it feels OK. We can report back on what's going on - to call in air strikes or direct artillery - and if they are within range of our rifles we will shoot them.
"I've killed two people for definite. When I got the first guy they brought up a second, and when I shot him they didn't send any more.
"I shot somebody else, but he went over a wall so I couldn't see what had happened to him."
Sgt Waring said everyone was scared of a sniper because they did not know where he was - one sniper could hold back a whole regiment. "The only thing that can beat a sniper is another sniper," he said. The weapon they use is a British-made L96A1 rifle, which has a "first round kill" range of 900 yards. It can deliver "harassing" fire, but is powerful enough to scatter an enemy but not to kill over a further 200 yards. Each rifle is covered in tape painted in camouflage colours to minimise the chances of detection.
Lance Sergeant Ralph Irwin, another Irish Guards sniper, who is known as "the Bull" by his colleagues, said he was unfazed by either the danger, or the clinical nature of his work. "People might think we are a bit crazy, but we just think of it as our job," he said.
"There are mortars and rounds coming in, but other than that, it's just like an exercise.
"It's the first time I have been at war, but we've got a good weapon with a very accurate sight, so it's fine."
Amid the trauma and anxiety of combat, there is, however, time for humour. Outside the bombed-out room on the banks of the Shatt al-Basra waterway in which the snipers are based between missions into the city, is a sign put up after one operation was cancelled. "Guns for sale. Hardly ever used. One careful owner. See the snipers. Closing down special."
While the irony inevitably causes laughter among the snipers' Irish Guards colleagues, the reality of their work does sometimes hit home, as Major Farrell, the men's commander confirms.
"Most of them have never been in this situation before and in some cases the reality of what they are doing is quite shocking," he said.
"They don't take lightly the requirements for them to kill the enemy, but they do their job extremely well."
The weight and muzzle blast of the .50 would be a disadvantage in an urban environment.
I presume you're aware of the Afghan sniper operating against the Russians through the 1980s who caused some 80 casualties with his iron-sighted *sniper rifle*, a single-shot English Martini-Henry rifle in .577/.450, a relic of previous invaders to that inhospitable place. To add insult to injury, one of his kills was a Mil-8 helicopter which he hit in the tail rotor, the soft 480-grain lead slug squashing on the rotorblade tip, throwing it out of balance, causing a forced landing in a mountain pass. Though passengers and crew were rescued by an armoured vehicle convoy, the hulk of the exposed aircraft made a dandy target for rifle practice from the nearby hillside some 1500 meters distant. Though beyond an RPG-7s 900-meter maximum range, the wounded chopper was hit repeatedly often enough by rifle fire over the next few days that it became economically unfeasable to even try to recover it, and besides, that old guy with the Martini might have had another cartridge or two.
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Kicks like a mule, but seems pretty accurate.
If you mean one of the Finnish M-39 Mosin-Nagant reworked rifles, you've likely got another real keeper there, and you may find it'll kick a bit less and still deliver very acceptable accuracy if you use the lighter-loaded Russian ammunition meant for the Russian SVD *Dragonuv* sniper's rifle, which has a stamped receiver better suited to a load less punishing to rifle as well as shooter.
My own preference is for the veteran Finnish M28-30 rifles of the 1939 *Winter War* period, supurbly accurate and very reliable, but whose .3082 bores require ammunition loaded with a .308 diameter bullet, a chore better suited to someone at least inclined to performing a few chores at the loading bench.
For someone new at it, it sounds like you've made a couple of careful and well-informed decisions about acquisitions, and I hope equally interesting and impressive examples come your way in the future too. And who knows, perhaps this war will result in a few goodies coming back from that part of the world.
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Report of secret US 2-mile cartridge development *here*. Top Secret!
A sniper pair cover Royal Engineers working on putting out an oil fire near Basrah
Yep. Doesn't make the rifle shot a bit better, but it IS a nice touch. But that policy is being bent just a little here and there, like at Saddam's Palace in Basrah on 07 April 2003.
And the Irish Guard snipers are at it there as well:
Reminds me of the part in "Time to Hunt" where Bob Lee tore up a N. Viet company.
Thanks for the Ping to this thread and the scope info on the L96 A1.
Glad to. I've been paying particular attention to the L96A1 for the last several years, having replaced four of my own M700/M40A1 rifles with a British L42A1 Enfield in 7,62 NATO. But it may be time to do as the Brits did and drag myself kicking and screaming into the Twenty-first Century, by giving in and going to an L96A1 myself. Well, we shall see.
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