The most recent was called Enemy at the Gates
Posted on 03/13/2011 4:46:25 PM PDT by bimboeruption
Operating from a remote patrol base in Helmand, two British snipers were responsible for killing 75 Taliban fighters in just 40 days. In one remarkable feat of marksmanship, two insurgents were dispatched with a single bullet.
The arrival at the newly-established Patrol Base Shamal Storrai (Pashto for “North Star”) in late August 2009 of Serjeant Tom Potter and Rifleman Mark Osmond marked the start of an astonishing episode in the history of British Army sniping.
Within 40 days, the two marksmen from 4 Rifles, part of the Welsh Guards Battle group, had achieved 75 confirmed kills with 31 attributed to Potter and 44 to Osmond. Each kill was chalked up as a little stick man on the beam above the firing position in their camouflaged sangar beside the base gate – a stick man with no head denoting a target eliminated with a shot to the skull.
Osmond, 25, was an engaging, fast-talking enthusiast, eager to display his encyclopedic knowledge of every specification and capability of his equipment. He had stubbornly remained a rifleman because he feared that being promoted might lead to his being taken away from sniping, a job he loved and lived for. Potter, 30, was more laid back, projecting a calm professionalism and quiet confidence in the value of what he did.
Potter had notched up seven confirmed kills in Bara in 2007 and 2008 while Osmond’s total was 23. Both were members of the Green Jackets team that won the 2006 British Army Sniper Championships.
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
The most recent was called Enemy at the Gates
Yes, it does make you proud such men are on our side.
I appreciate snipers, they are trained people with pure focused intent and ability. Like fighter pilots without the jet thing going for them.
It is rare to find true incidents of a confrontation between two of them.
It is rarer yet to find a person that can repetitively kill with justified purpose and yet retain their focus and dignity.
I believe I read that in Robert Leckie's book "George Washington's War"-great, great book.
I too heard that story but on TV. The reason he didn’t shoot was because he just couldn’t shoot him in cold blood.
The reason the American Backwoodsmen gave Major Ferguson an honorable funeral while leaving all the others to rot was that Ferguson was shot 11 times and got his foot caught in the stirrup and was dragged a long way. Even then he tried as he was dying, to get to his pistol to fire one more time.
I guess the Americans appreciated anyone with that much toughness and courage so they gave him his funeral.
Research the waffen shhutzffel suicide rates.
Ferguson was one tough dude. I’ll pull out my Leckie book and see if I can find it. I also loved the story about Colonel William Washington crossing swords with Bloody Ben Tarleton at Cowpens. IIRC, there’s a painting of that encounter.
bttt (and for later)
And a movie
Interviews with the snipers was very informative and they also were asked how they felt about killing,....Not long ago, there was a news reporter who asked this of a Marine sniper. “What do you feel when you kill another human?” The corporal said “Recoil”.
Must you people convert even the most serious theological issues into occasions of VRWC mirth? How can there ever be meaningful dialogue between the Religion of Peace and the Infidels with this distressing attitude?
Just remember, it was not I who started the rumour that the 7.62X51 bullets issued to the Infidel force are lubricated with pork fat. It is also most unfair that the Infidel snipers also aim toward Mecca before picking out targets at prayer time.
Why, my own grandfather shot a moose with his 38-55 at a measured 2,852 yds, 2' 6" (a surveyor was with the group). Unfortunately for him, it was across a 5-mile long pond, no canoe was available, and by the time he hiked round to the kill through a sudden blizzard, it had been stolen by a band of hungry Passamaquoddy braves.
This, and stories of even longer shots are quite common around 1:30 AM at the VFW, and Odd Fellows Bar.
I’ve always admired great marksmanship!
Not to their faces.
I have heard the Abrams tankers bore sight their main guns by hitting fence posts at a mile. For real. Or something close to it.
O heck Trav, I hit one with my MGA and it took me no more than a few yards!
He invented a drop-down screw breech, so his rifles could be loaded without standing up to use the ramrod. The Jaegers (it does mean "Hunter") were special Hessian troops, recruited from among ducal gamekeepers, who were armed with rifles rather than smooth-bore muskets. I don't think Major Ferguson had much to with them. His invention was great for the time, but went nowhere after his death.
So many of Washington's men were German-speakers that they were able to get a number of Hessians to desert and change sides. It was these same Pennsylvania Germans who brought the Jaeger rifle tradition to the US, where it became known as the "Kentucky" rifle. It was small-bore, and slower to load than a smooth bore musket, so the troops who used them needed extra back-up and were sometimes quickly withdrawn after picking off their targets at sometimes over 250-300 yards, because they couldn't shoot fast enough to turn a determined charge.
Thanks for that information, it was actually very interesting.
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