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Counting Your Shots; Super Riflemen Bombers Rupture Kraut Oil Industry A Motley Bunch of Doughboys, But Surprise: It’s a Yankee ‘Secret’ WeaponSaturday, March 24, 1945,v..AV»■ * - •IfpiP .....•wv‘v,v,x,“I ■ « . ♦♦^:*£%nvX:^:-vV'A.1. .V. . .'.V. ./V.ViXnnggagDBum^v-V. . . - . lt;*V*v /. ■ !V*y !r^V'V^t'v/lvSNIPER'S pet is 'scope-mounted ’03—World’s finest precision rifle.where to nut 'em, it's a sure killer.U.S. Army Signal Corps PhotoFor a soldier who knows•■ *i/r •,vfr.-.•* t.Arsr •Hind's School for Snipersi.* - ^,lt;■ ,•/ •JCol. Sidney Hinds graduated from West Point in 1940. He has been in overseas combat with the Second Arfoored since Tunisia. He won the all-around national championship at Camp Perry in 1926, firing all Weapons except the shotgun. He fired 13 matches with 11 different rifles, including the standard 03, a heavy-barreled rifle with iron sights, a heavy-barreled rifle with telescopic sights, a 22 cal. with both iron and tele-f^opic sights, a 38 cal. revolver and a 45 cal. pistol, also a 22 cal. pistol. He presently holds the Pan-Ameri-■can Individual championship won at Lima, Peru, with an 03 rifle firing over a 300-meter course, 150 shots slow ffire. In 1924 he fired with the U.S. International Olympic team, also the Dewar and Pan-American match teams. t/«1928 he fired with the International team at The Hague, in Holland, and in 1930 coached the U.S. national S^orld-championship team at Antwerp.!■. ■. *. -»♦v lt;. •*T was the Kraut who got it in the end!. When lt;?ol. Sidney Hinds, commanding officer of the 41st Armd. Inf. Regt., sidled his “sniper gun” out of the peep, took a beautiful Kentucky windage on an estimated 900-yard range and permanently ruined die crawling Jerry’s rear echelon.This sort of stuff is everyday business for Sniper Hinds, who, despite tiis manifold responsibilities as CO, arrays manages to find a little d for,/‘possibles” on Heinie targets.is his first love.® fMck in the States at Fort BenningIti i $|me years ago, the infantry brass ■: didn’t have to look j far for the; officer toisupervise the extra-special “sniper i? training” course fpr embryo Dan’l | Boones.|.; Col. Hinds, who had spent the ^greater part of his life up to that time Slsnipirig away at jail existing rifle records—and hitting them—was the _choice. i sMethods Tried Okayed, methods were tried, found okay | vj-^nd when the 41st Regt planted ' feet on Adolf s aching back in j:; Tunisia in 1942—sniper training be-/ I* ',1. _ ___came:u.If!?'■m.-rpi;'v Thie ideal sniper is ft combination of ea^e-eyes, Job-like patience, Indian st, Solomon-wise judgment and 5rabbit-jumping agility. In addition to !|l4#2iis i he is .a damn good soldier Ji vWfcpiolls his weight'with the indivi-lp|ll: rifle squad to which he is!: a«tvsniper is a super-rifleman,” Col. ., ^ j explained. “And his function ^^-Comparatively simple. Equipped an 03 and telescopic sights, his is to destroy specific targets, targets are enemy officers and fuiro-coms as well as counter-sniping figiiiinst Jerry ‘potshotters.’ ”an added attraction,” the said, “he is sometimes sent the flanks to pick off Jerry nests which are causing trouble.Once in a while we use snipers to discourage civilian or military lunkheads who ’cause trouble in rear areas.”“During the recent fighting in Belgium,” CoL Hinds related, “we had reports that sympathizers were tampering with pur telephone wires. We notified the higher officials that we were going to, post snipers and that touching the lines-would be a ‘kiss of death.’ The next day, a devotee of the ‘better life’ came along with wire cutters. He lifted one of the wires. A shot split the slight ground haze. There was no. more wire tampering in that sector.”1Jow Snipers re SelectedThere are six snipers to an average rifle company. They are selected on the basis of the best shots in the company and then given an added five weeks of training. In addition to that, selected officers and non-coms of theregiment are^also given sniper training so that they may become familiar with what a sniper can and cannot do.“The first phase of the training,” explained Col. Hinds, “consists of shooting at known distances using the telescopic sight. After the first familiarization firing, the secondhand most important—phase g;ets under way. The men begin using Kentucky windage on ranges from 200 to 600 yards. They learn to estimate ranges to hair-like accuracy.“During this jjhase,” Col. Hinds went on, “the sniper estimates and estimates and estimates until he feels like a building contractor. He must have a good picture of the bullet’s trajectory and memorize the height of the trajectory at each range up to 900 yards. By doing this the would-be sniper knows the amount he has to hold above or below the target at various ranges,” the colonel said.After a few weeks of field training, the sniper trainee with passing grades in “sniping Kraut,” can hit a man at 600 yards with the first shot.But his training is only beginning. The sniper’s future is extremely limited if he is spotted by enemy slit-eyes. He must learn—and he does—the value of patience.During his field training, he sometimes sits up in a tree for periods ranging from a half-hour to four hours, just sweating out a moving target. He never knows when the silhouette or any part of it will pop . up. But he’s got to be ready for it when it does. A few weeks of this and “waiting” becomes second nature. It pays off, too.Col. Hinds related the story of Sniper Ray M. Register, Newton, Ga., of Able Company—who holds his master’s degree from the sniper school.“During the recent unpleasantness in the Ardennes,” he said, “it was our job to hold the line in a certain sector. We were having the hell torn out of us by Jerry snipers. Life was pretty unpleasant.“One of our observers finally went out and came back with the report that he thought he knew where one particularly bothersome sniper was hiding out., But he wasn’t sure. The platoon leader sent Register to register, if possible. He watched the wood where the sniper was possibly hiding for about six hours. Not a peep out of Jerry. But just about dusk he spotted the Kraut—well camouflaged in a tree about 400 yards away. He got off one shot. Register reported back and his comment is a, definite part of regimental history.Right Between, the Eyes“I got him right between the eyes,” he proudly said, “I thir*k his vision is permanently obscufed.”The last phase of the sniper train-• * '» •- -ing is specialized cover and; concealment.Before he can get his diploma, the sniper must be able to move into a firing position unseen. To .accomplish this, he spends about a week crawling through bushes and woods and hedgerows and rubble;Although he is completely camouflaged, he has; to watch his derriere.(Continued on page iv)How to Kill With First ShotBy Joe WestonWarweek Staff Writer■WITH THE 41st ARMORED INFANTRY REGT. OF THE 2nd ARMORED DIV.—The woods near Samree, Belgium, stank of dead Krauts*as a rifle squad of Easy Company prowled through the wilderness looking for fresh meat.Before long the squad ran across 15 Jerries with pronounced anti-Ameri-can tendencies, but with a fair amount of discretion nevertheless. The Hitler heilers took off through the trees.Easy Company opened up-^-stand-ing and blazing away with their Mis. The whole trouble was that, they didn’t hit much except trees.The squad leader, who had been around the front lines for quite a while and .had learned long ago that an Ml properly used was a one-man army, took a kneeling position: He sighted—and squeezed off three beauties.The 12 remaining Krauts stopped running and became very good “democrats.” :The wild shooting came from the new men who had just come into the outfit the night before. It came from men who thought the non-coms and officers who drilled position and sighting and squeeze into them ever since they passed .through the induction center werg only kidding.The straight “on the target” firing of the squad leader came from a soldier who had confidence in his weapon. He knew what his M1 could do—and what it could not do.Practice-—Preaches—T eachesWhat Easy Company’s squad leader knew and practiced, and what the new men would learn later, Col. Sidney Hinds, Commanding Officer of the 41st Armored Infantry Regiment and a combat-wise veteran of three campaigns also knows—and practices—and preaches—and teaches. For the good colonel, whose background as a rifle authority includes the all-around shooting championship of Jthe United States some years ago, a job coaching the American team which won the championship of the world at The Hague in 1930—and a roomful of shooting trophies for various other activities is sold on the Mi rifle and equally sold on the WELL-TRAINED American rifleman.‘This is essentially a rifleman’s war,” the colonel said. “Although other services such as the tanks, the artillery and the air, all help the 'doggie’ take an objective. But once the point is taken it is up to the infantryman to hold it. His principal means of holding the objective is by accurate, well-directed volume of small-arms fire.“The bulk of the infantry is armed with the M1—the best basic infantry weapon of any army in the world,” Col. Hinds continued, “and with that he can lay down an accurate unequalled fire power at individual enemy infantrymen. When a ‘doggie’picks a Kraut in his sights, he gets him —if he knows his Ml and how to use it.”From his own combat experiences as well as those men in his outfit who owe their lives to proper understanding and mastery of the Ml, Col. Hinds developed a rifle training program which is now in effect in the regiment—-and which has made the 41st Armored Infantry as “crack-shot” an outfit as there is in the Army. The program is a combat enlargement of an original plan developed by Col. Hinds at Fort Benning, Ga., carried over to Tidworth, United Kingdom—now to France, Belgium and the Reich.“The purpose of the whole rifle program is simple,” the colonel explained. “We want every rifleman to have enough confidence in his Ml to be fully aware that with it used correctly—he can hold off any reasonable number of Jerries coming his way.“The best way to do this is a combination of three things^. He must learn to shoot on a target range—not on the front lines. He must understand that the basic fundamentals— position—squeezing and aiming—are just as effective on the front lines as they are on the range at Ft. Benning. The ‘bolo’ there is the casualty here,“The next thing is to develop confidence in the weapon by showing the soldier both the capabilities of the weapon and the limintations. Although the Ml is the finest rifle designed for the purpose to which it is put it still has very definite limitations.“If the individual soldier understands these things, he understands his weapon. It then becomes unnecessary for the non-coms to order men to clean their rifles. You don’t have to tell men ‘to stay alive,’ ” Col. Hindssaid.Accuracy of An MlIn discussing the things an Ml can dc if properly handled, Col. Hinds pointed out that the rifle is as accurate as the ’03 up to about 400 yards, but loses accuracy slightly over that range. However, he added,fthe automatic firepower of the weapon and its ease of firing more than makes up for this slight deficiency. Illustrating his point about the Ml’s firepower and accuracy at comparatively short ranges, the colonel cited an incident which won a Silver Star for a jifleman of Charley Company during the hec-(Continued on page iv)Hunters team vita! areas of animals from sketches like one of bear reproduced from an outdoor magazine.Black areas indicate spots where bullet causes immediate death. Wounds in shaded spaces art fatal—but not instantaneous.(I) Placing rifle shot correctly is the difference between a thrown or a dropped grenade.(2) In t|nder the shoulder or through the head is about all you can dohere.(3) Old time gun-fighters said “shoot ’emIn the 1 middle wheretheyVe biggest*”
Newspaper Details
London Stars and Stripes
London, Middlesex, GB
Sat, Mar 24, 1945
Page 3
Full Page
Clipped by
Gary Y.
CO, USA 02 Dec 2019
Other Publications Near London, Middlesex
Bingleys Journal
Arminian Magazine
London Daily Mail
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