Soviet snipers
World War II snipers of the USSR
Snipers of the Soviet Union played an important role mainly on the Eastern Front of World War II, apart from other preceding and subsequent conflicts. In World War II, Soviet snipers used the 7.62×54mmR rifle cartridge with light, heavy, armour-piercing (B-30), armour-piercing-incendiary (B-32), zeroing-and-incendiary (P3), and tracer bullets. Most Soviet World War II snipers carried a combat load of 120 rifle cartridges in the field.
During World War II, 428,335 individuals, including partisans, are believed to have received sniper training from the Red Army, and of those 9,534 obtained higher-level qualifications. Unlike the militaries of other states, these snipers could be men or women. Between 1941 and 1945, a total of 2,484 Soviet female snipers were functioning in this role, of whom about 500 survived the war.
History
In 1932, the "sharpshooters' movement" started under the supervision of Kliment Voroshilov. In 1938, Red Army snipers took part in the Battle of Lake Khasan against troops of the Imperial Japanese Army. The most successful Soviet use of snipers during the Second World War was during their defensive stages (1941–1943), after which the advantage of defense shifted to the German side and German snipers became a real danger to the advancing Soviet forces.
Doctrine
Soviet and Soviet-derived military doctrines include squad-level snipers, which may be called "sharpshooters" or "designated marksmen" in other doctrines (see the "Sniper" article).
“Soviet snipers” enters the record as world War II snipers of the USSR. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Soviet, snipers and World can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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The record creator and administrative purpose are central evidence, because official documentation reflects both action and institutional priorities. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 10, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q920248. The first chronological checks are 1941, 1945, 1932 and 1938.
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This entry incorporates text from “Soviet snipers” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.