Soviet Sniper Describes Hunting Enemy on Eastern Front (1941) // Memoir of Yevgeni Nikolaev

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Extracts taken from:
"Red Army Sniper A Memoir of the Eastern Front in World War II"
By Yevgeni Nikolaev, translated by David Foreman
30th Nov 2017, Published by Greenhill Books
www.amazon.com/Red-Army-Sniper-Eastern-Greenhill-ebook/dp/B09K4Q3RW9/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=
Thumbnail art by Alex Stoica: bananaartstudio.com/
Music from Epidemic Sound and Artlist
Stock footage from Videoblocks and Artgrid
Footage taken from the film "Sniper" (1931)
Image Credits:
Leningrad Front By RIA Novosti archive, image 58228 / Vsevolod Tarasevich / CC-BY-SA 3.0, CC BY-SA 3.0, commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=15579350
Soviet Soldiers:
By RIA Novosti archive, image 308 / Boris Kudoyarov / CC-BY-SA 3.0, CC BY-SA 3.0, commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=18134125
By RIA Novosti archive, image 662767 / Anatoliy Garanin / CC-BY-SA 3.0, CC BY-SA 3.0, commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=15579493
By RIA Novosti archive, image 594949 / Anatoliy Garanin / CC-BY-SA 3.0, CC BY-SA 3.0, commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=15579499
By RIA Novosti archive, image 660791 / Anatoliy Garanin / CC-BY-SA 3.0, CC BY-SA 3.0, commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=15579536
By RIA Novosti archive, image 2675 / B. Vdovenko / CC-BY-SA 3.0, CC BY-SA 3.0, commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=15579597
By RIA Novosti archive, image 602161 / Zelma / CC-BY-SA 3.0, CC BY-SA 3.0, commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=15579657
By RIA Novosti archive, image 61150 / Alpert / CC-BY-SA 3.0, CC BY-SA 3.0, commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=15579747
By RIA Novosti archive, image 62126 / Boris Kudoyarov / CC-BY-SA 3.0, CC BY-SA 3.0, commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=15579756
By RIA Novosti archive, image 44732 / Zelma / CC-BY-SA 3.0, CC BY-SA 3.0, commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=15579770
By RIA Novosti archive, image 633408 / Anatoliy Garanin / CC-BY-SA 3.0, CC BY-SA 3.0, commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=15579774
German snipers:
By Bundesarchiv, Bild 101I-216-0417-19 / Dieck / CC-BY-SA 3.0, CC BY-SA 3.0 de, commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=5410420
German motorcyle By User:Stefan Kühn - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=279154

[@VoicesofthePast]

Extracts taken from: "Red Army Sniper A Memoir of the Eastern Front in World War II" By Yevgeni Nikolaev, translated by David Foreman 30th Nov 2017, Published by Greenhill Books www.amazon.com/Red-Army-Sniper-Eastern-Greenhill-ebook/dp/B09K4Q3RW9/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=

[@ajithsidhu7183]

Sikh empire please

[@mattclements1348]

Yes ty for this, more of these

[@eeach]

Ooh, I'll have to check this out. "War of the Rats" is supposed to be, more or less, based on direct accounts from Vasily Zaitsev, but I'm not sure how much of that was just marketing hype.

[@mikistjep]

I have to say it... This primara source sounds alot like braging snd fiction. Memoires are notorious for that. There is just no way that some of the things happened the way he described it.

[@RhodokTribesman]

@@mikistjep Definitely. This is the issue with ALL primary sources. I read a memoir of a wehrmacht sniper on the Eastern Front and yeah, its a little fantastical in its description

[@crencottrell7849]

I wish Hollywood would make more movies about interesting figures like these instead of reboots and remakes that never surpass the originals.

[@Argacyan]

there are films like "Duell - Enemy at the Gates". What happened when Hollywood did make a film like this is that people who were actually there, ww2 veterans, on being shown the film demanded it to be banned over the film's incredibly bad & Americanized depiction of Stalingrad, the events, characters invented for the film story and the depiction of the Red Army by american media.

[@MsZeeZed]

@@Argacyan The film Enemy at the Gates is a fiction. Zaitsev’s own story of how he arrived in Stalingrad and became a sniper was very different. The film take a bunch of half-truths and supposition about the Red Army and blends it into a fictional drama. Now that’s not to say the Red Army had a plan when they retreated across the Steppe and into the city, but they certain knew what they were doing when they went on the offensive and pinned a German Army inside it.

[@calc1657]

One can watch a film from the country of interest, instead of hoping Hollywood does this that or the other thing. Also, Enemy at the Gates was a fictionalized treatment of Stalingrad. There was no need for anyone to start crying over it's 'inaccuracies'.

[@SiriProject]

You have "The Battle for Sebastopol" about Liudmila Pavlichenko. I know that it is a Russian film and not a Hollywood one, but why eating crap when there's cakes around?

[@calc1657]

I've watched Russian war films. Some are great. Many are complete garbage, worse than any Hollywood film. Come and See(Soviet Era) was incredible.

[@jedimindtrix2142]

The story of the field mouse was pure gold. It shows the humanity shining through in what was a really shitty situation. The human desire for happiness and the want for laughter and friendship is a hard thing to destroy. I actually did laugh at that one.

[@1_atg_4]

It’s just called humor.

[@tannerdunn7142]

@@1_atg_4 what an idiotic comment

[@mekhiingram85]

@@1_atg_4no it isn’t. humor is your personal sense of what you find funny

[@inoshikachokonoyarobakayar2493]

😂💯...and the way their superior called them halfwits. Gold indeed. 😄

[@InnerDness]

Curious daredevil

[@stevedunn5546]

That was brilliant thank you. The fieldmouse was unexpected and very amusing. Something i have never heard of before lol. A very informative look at life as a sniper in a sub zero landscape.

[@djolivierastro]

I wonder however how the mouse moved on after this and went back to his Minnie Mouse with some unbelievable tales

[@BEANSNOHELPME]

Blown away, as usual, by the quality of this truly unrecoverable content. What a thing to note, the articulate and sometimes matter-of-fact manner in which Yevgeni describes his actions doesn't do them justice. Most people alive today couldn't bear to lie in a ditch for an hour staring down the sights of a rifle, let alone the months of a Russian winter. Thank you for covering this journal, it was so fascinating.

[@Matt_from_Florida]

That's what makes snipers different from most people. Carlos Hathcock spoke of only moving when the wind blew the grass so he wouldn't be the only object in motion, and of the 3 days it once took him to crawl across a field.

[@BEANSNOHELPME]

@@Matt_from_Florida The sheer discipline and willpower it would take to pull that off is uncanny. Huge respect for the guy behind the scope.

[@williambenefiel6646]

To be fair most of them couldn't back then, either. Most people are not suited to being snipers, and that's not even taking the shooting ability into account.

[@williambenefiel6646]

But yea, neat vidya, innit?

[@PeoplesScience]

18:22 is such a touchingly human part, my favorite in the video. “I’ll do everything scientifically tomorrow!…Be a friend!” Brilliant

[@jakethomason5495]

a russian would refer to cold as 'noticeable.'

[@krakendragonslayer1909]

More accurate translation would be "feelable".

[@Mohawks_and_Tomahawks]

A Canadian as well. We just broke a month-long -40℃ spell. It happens every year here. Just a Normal January

[@wungabunga]

and still I imagined myself weeping at the cold.

[@sidtreesin904]

So would a Canadian

[@sartainja]

"The Guy Was An Interior Decorator. He Killed 16 Czechoslovakians."

[@castelodeossos3947]

Interesting how, in spite of the loathing he must feel for the invaders, he speaks of his opponents with respect for being effective and competent soldiers. That is the voice of the professional soldier, who doesn't underestimate his opponents merely because they are his enemies.

[@billallen4793]

During combat it's very common to learn to respect your enemy! No matter what your personal feelings about the enemy, finding common ground is kinda normal in warfare!..from Wyoming USA 🇺🇸👋🤠

[@danfromtheburgh]

loving these longer videos. This is my favourite channel

[@brokeneyes6615]

“ have you two turned into a couple halfwits or what?!” “No sir! Enemy field mouse stumbled upon our concealment and engaged Ivan in hand to whisker combat, gained the advantage and submitted Ivan, forcing him to cry out and alerting the enemy mouses fellows to our location and thus our retreat. Ivan however was successful in capturing the mouse as a prisoner of war.”

[@JBGARINGAN]

Thank god it wasn't a feld Maus

[@RasPutintheGreat]

@@JBGARINGAN haha

[@KAMiKAZE-T.V.]

Lololololol

[@dontrump9769]

It was not enemy field mouse. Mouse 🐀 was Russian field mouse, but a traitor that opposed socialism. Therefore, it was sent to Gulag forced labor camp where it perished.

[@dennisyoung4631]

*”Mousie? M-Mousie…”* The Visitor then swallowed the rodent whole….

[@rring44]

If anyone should be thanked for their service, it is this guy

[@subterfusion4005]

I was given a 91/30 sniper rifle by my brother. One of the first group of them imported to the U.S. as "hunting carbines" by the Molot Concern. The scope and mount were matched to the rifle's serial number. One day i had some spare time so i decided to attach the scope and sight it in. I slipped the mount on and tightened the large thumbscrew securely. I took aim at a tree stump about 200 yards away and fired 3 shots. In the scopes view i felt that they may have landed close to my aiming point. Walking up to the tree, i saw a small cluster of 3 bullet holes about 2 inches over my point of aim. That always stuck with me.

[@fetidcreeper]

Bullshit.

[@yousuck785why]

Marvelous

[@dovydasgedvilas9165]

@@fetidcreeper bullshit how? The mosins, especially the sniper varients are very accurate rifles. The only reason they have a bad reputation is because in America you're getting barrels that have had 10s of thousands or sometimes hundreds of thousands of rounds through it, basically removing the rifling.

[@fetidcreeper]

@@dovydasgedvilas9165 because the optics were made in a different factory with different serial numbers. 2-4 MOA accuracy isn't anything special.

[@dylanlandry3463]

@@dovydasgedvilas9165 this guy said he go it from one of those shipments...

[@jacrispyjones5845]

"sniping the enemy is like hunting any other animal, fire at the wrong moment and your chance will be forever lost"

[@MrStrocube]

Amazingly eloquent writer. Very compelling piece you produced. Nicely done.

[@TsarOfRuss]

The letter he wrote to his mother is emotional

[@nidhal4]

This is one of my favorite KZbin channels, I check it everyday to see if there new videos (as I have watched much of the old ones), so I hope that you guys would produce more videos in shorter times. Keep up the good work! ♥

[@Death-By-Design]

Your a gift, thank you so much for your superb vocal work! I'm always excited to listen to another story, even if it's about things I wasn't interested in at first. You make them engaging, and easy to understand. Keep up the good work! Lookin forward to the next one :)

[@mjc11a]

Combat history doesn't get any better (or personal) than this. Thanks very much for posting and be safe 🙏

[@bkmalone864]

These videos are incredibly interesting. The minor details the individual can connect with make the time well spent.

[@erichusayn]

Hands down your best video yet.

[@_thomas1031]

Honestly my favorite retelling episode, would be awesome to see more modern retellings like this one around the world wars🙌

[@matthewboyle2641]

I always thought it was ridiculous in games like hitman that you could snipe someone who was close to somebody else and the other person wouldn't notice. But apparently according to this guy you can shoot several people with an unsilenced sniper before people fully comprehend what's going on. Interesting

[@Thehappyfire7]

They’re in the middle of a war probably gunshots a regular occasion

[@scotttaylor7146]

Shock is a weird drug

[@dantecaputo2629]

@alex rocket2 Soviet propaganda is very characteristic on how over the top it is, nothing about that story was over the top, it was grounded. (Also a relatively dry written historical account of a sniper talking about the mundanity of mice and lack of food would be a strange form of propaganda). The first story was perfectly believable. Granted I’ve never been in active combat, but from what I’ve read of accounts of routine in the trenches, if one was to duck and cover for every rifle shot that went off you would hardly get anything done. The story of soldiers not realizing there under sniper fire is very similar to accounts in both the First World War and Spanish Civil War, especially with unexperienced troops.

[@357-swagnumultramagax9]

@@scotttaylor7146 most definitely.

[@user-di5rm9ee1p]

I saw much more stranger things in war...

[@mrwaxwave]

This was one of the best ones yet. Do more WW2 ones!

[@user-jk9sm1tb6u]

As a Literature Major, I love your channel. For it is both languages and accent teaching, and history showing.

[@beccaboo3040]

Hi dude you've got yourself a new subscriber. Been binge watching for 2 days now. Excellent content 👍🙏😁

[@a.soraparu773]

This was amazing to listen to. thank you for the content.

[@ganbajar]

Stars on the rifle mentioned at the end, 3 large, 2 medium and 4 small stars stands for 324 kills.

[@cw4608]

This is just wonderful. An excellent production. What an experience.

[@Philip_Taylor]

Always love your work, it never fails to enrich my day and set me in a good mood. Thank you.

[@HABLA_GUIRRRI]

a person can give up hope on hearing some excellent well mixed music on a YT vid. So bravo to you you did great

[@MattttG3]

That is an amazing story. It really is so gripping and I can imagine every single second of it so vividly. Really great stuff

[@Isgonesomewhere]

Phenomenal channel. All the best to you.

[@nateconley6432]

Excellent video love your content plz keep doing videos like this

[@SummerYeti]

Everything you produce is great, keep it up!

[@JuanCKaun]

Amazing episode. Thanks for sharing

[@alexf9381]

This is captivating. The sacrifices that the Russians, Ukrainians, Belarussians (the Soviet people in general) made during world war two is beyond adequate words to describe. Nobody lost more lives fighting and stopping the Nazis.

[@-RXB-]

Too bad the Soviets turned out to be just as bad as the Nazis.

[@elite1361]

@RXB Well they didnt industrialise the systematic murder of ethnics groups like the nazis did but you are right. The Soviets were not the good guys either

[@factsdontcareaboutyourfeel7204]

Most killed by Stalin himself

[@henriashurst-pitkanen8735]

@@factsdontcareaboutyourfeel7204 Satire account?

[@factsdontcareaboutyourfeel7204]

@@henriashurst-pitkanen8735 factual account

[@kenkloiber2989]

Very well put together with fresh video sequences & pictures.

[@stevebrownrocks6376]

Man, this is a GREAT video! 👏🏼😎

[@thomasdavison7184]

Man I truly love your channel

[@Celtopia]

Absolutely riveting ,thank you.

[@mohammedsaysrashid3587]

A wonderful record showing how much Snipping is Difficult , full of Dangerous attitudes & Request Bravery Manner

[@mandyb8675]

Soviet soldier: For the Fatherland! Every western media depicting Russia: [Visible Confusion]

[@sheepdog1102]

Enjoyed the video!

[@718Insomniac]

This was so good!

[@gcflowers86]

What an amazing narration!

[@fifthofascalante7311]

Absolutely fascinating!

[@chocolatefrenzieya]

This made me feel so chilly, I had to pause it and go make some hot tea!

[@357-swagnumultramagax9]

I’m eating ice cream as I listen to this lol

[@mightypingas2108]

This is a great channel

[@MSculls19]

Really enjoyed this

[@Artur_M.]

Great timing, as the WW2 channel recently uploaded two specials about snipers on the eastern front.

[@jtgd]

Saw that too. Very interesting

[@saigoneze4465]

This channel is amazing idk why I haven’t found it earlier.Can you do an episode on Carlos Hathcock -Vietnam era sniper

[@garysparks7960]

This vid was amazing thankkkkkky ou

[@thebiggestoneyouveverhad]

Very interesting. Keep it up.

[@gankt]

This guy had a pretty good KDR

[@bentucker2301]

This was amazing

[@AmazingPhilippines1]

Just found and subbed to your channel. Much appreciated.

[@patrickwinecoff7139]

Thanks!

[@africanelectron751]

I wonder how many people his age could do what he did, sounds like a ordinary high intelligence individual with friends and family he loved.

[@Ailasher]

Arkady Gaidar. At the age of 16 he commanded a regiment (approximately 1000 soldiers) in the Russian Civil War on the side of the Bolsheviks. After the war, he became a famous writer of children's books. I also came across archival references to a 15-year-old member of the "Epid CheKa" Sanitary Extraordinary Commission, which deal the horrendous epidemics of cholera, typhoid and Spanish flu during the same Civil War, as authorized operative. Which means that he carried out independent operations to evacuate, accommodate and organize the treatment of the infected. And the members of this Commission had more powers than the usual "CheKa" who fought against the Bolshevik opposition and became the future state secret police. This means that he had the power to impose and execute death sentences in case of interference with his activities in the aftermath of outbreaks of infection. A lot of 14-17 year old boys fought in that war on the side of the Bolsheviks. And not in the role of what can be called "cabin boys" in the Navy, privates, etc.

[@joeyyc8515]

That’s why I’m so blown away by war. You’re fighting not just fighting armies, but people.

[@myopicthunder]

this brings back so many memories of the war journals I used to read that belonged to my father mostly of Americans, titles like "If you survive" and "Curahee!" many also form the Pacific theater, not until I was older did I realize the scale and brutality of the Eastern front. My patience for reading has withered in this internet age so these audio versions are a real blessing.

[@LEllis-ui3lx]

Aren't they like national treasures then? Real letters of real stuff going on

[@loochnikon-oc5dj]

I also read those books when I was younger. Still have them actually.

[@Theearthtraveler]

Wow!! This is good!

[@kenfox22]

Most excellent 👌 video

[@historydocumentary]

Fantastic.

[@edwardcarrington3531]

Thanks for this video

[@hvyduty1220]

Very good loved it.

[@bigsarge2085]

Incredible history, especially that third chapter!

[@RealAmericanStar]

Great video

[@marcuslegion3654]

My grandfather was a sniper in the USSR during WWII ... He was 23.

[@ThePhoenix109]

What is your point?

[@marcuslegion3654]

@@ThePhoenix109 he was a sniper in ww2 is my point 🤭

[@ThePhoenix109]

@@marcuslegion3654 good for him

[@skyhappy]

@@marcuslegion3654 does he got any stories

[@marcuslegion3654]

@@skyhappy yeah a lot when I was a kid he would tell me them ... Scary stuff.

[@AliBaba-mb1pu]

Well done.

[@philipinchina]

Superb.

[@matthewboyle2641]

I have a recommendation if you pay attention to KZbin comments. James McCarthy wrote a detailed account of his time in Siam/Laos during the Haw Wars that could be a good read. It's a practically unknown conflict of the late 19th century that saw Chinese rebels from Yunnan prey on Lao, Thai and Vietnamese populations. It would be a pretty melancholy read.

[@floydmayweatherisafemaledo2011]

This is slowly becoming my favorite youtube channel

[@billgreen576]

Very good. Very Ken Burns. Wel done.

[@Overthought7]

I wish this channel were a podcast :D

[@ethantaylor9613]

My unit included many good men such as Ivan, Ivan, Boris, Vlad, Ivan, and Boris.

[@Diwana71]

Very engrossing. 🙏 Historical accounts.

[@BigPaPaRu]

Absolutely fantastic. Was some of this memoir used for Enemy at the Gates film?

[@ComboMuster]

What a captivating narrative I was so deep in it almost like I was in there... outstanding stuff. A war like WW2 will never happen, that was the culmination of all wars. Outstanding.

[@remedy-1879]

Let’s hope not. WW3 would make WW2 look like a small battle.

[@ComboMuster]

@@remedy-1879 Nah, it will be quick and fought with drones and missiles.

[@snapdragon86]

Visual poetry, with such strange frivolity in men like Yevgeni Nikolaev, who put themselves through so much.

[@carsten9168]

Imagine the sniper in a hot summer or cold, lonely wintry foxhole and camouflaged in a bush, grassfield or swamp for hours or days at length, patiently waiting for the Nazi to appear and shoot. Eating, urinating or defecating, body prone with his eyes stuck to a scope all the time knowing the fear of death or the enemy sniper stalking him/her. Even a silent war is hell !

[@rooftopvoter3015]

Brings to mind Carlos Hathcock

[@Daniel-ll2cl]

Can you imagine a epic war war 2 sniper movie with one lone sniper with minimal dialogue and extremely tense moments? Would be a interesting movie

[@HenryMulligan]

@@rooftopvoter3015 to be fair, the Soviets were facing the highly skilled German snipers in areas with very little cover. While in Vietnam, the natural environment favored sniping. Also, despite the North Vietnamese being skilled and natural soldiers, it isn't quite the same as a German sniper who may have been specifically trained for years, and may have been participating in shooting competitions since childhood.

[@suem6004]

I interviewed an old woman who was a young woman at that time how she and others were posted on roofs to gather and put out burning embers. She wore thick mitts, would collect the ember and put into a bit pail of water. She and many others did their part to save the city.

[@adamstannard7934]

The part about the 3 nazis being shot and the 3rd nazi shouting at the 2nd nazi to get up thinking he has tripped over i think means so much more. It seems to me that these people became SO normalised to people dying that it diddnt resonate with the man what had happened. I imagine if it was your first 10 minuets in a theatre of war and the man behind you falls, i imagine youd sure as hell hit the deck in fear. For him to turn around and stand over his shouting to me is crazy. It must have become so normal to these men

[@sqeeye3102]

I disagree. When shooting something at either long enough range for the bullet to slow down to subsonic or if the environment is enough to mask it, all you hear is a meaty "thwack" sound. This could easily be mistaken for a fall or other noise. No one expects to die while they're "safe" so I can imagine the confusion plus human reaction time is about 1.5 seconds without warning. I've shot plenty of deer to hear the sound and know a hit from a miss (target shooting, never missed a live target, and it sounds hollow and echoey). He also mentioned something else interesting; he didn't even hear his first shot from adrenaline, and that's true. Happened to me a lot on hunts focusing intently on a single organ. TL;DR first 10 minutes in theatre or not, if you don't hear anything then Occam's razor said your buddy fell. Maybe with modern silencers (yes, correct term) that might be different but that's a different subject.

[@Cardan011]

This was mesmerizing to listen to….

[@donnydonnybrook8131]

The Book RED ROAD FROM STALINGRAD is a Amazing read or listen.

[@More_Row]

Amazing subject, I'm hoping for something from Stalingrad as well. Well read !

[@tinycockjock1967]

glory to Arstotska

[@codybailey855]

YESSSS! Another one!

[@Axle-F]

As a very ticklish person I fear any over-familiar field mouse greater than a Nazi sniper.

[@circassian3771]

I love your work, always watching! I'd love to suggest the story about a man who witnessed the Circassian genocide committed by Russian empire in 1864, the book called The Last of The Departed by Bagrat Shinkuba. It would be so amazing to put the story in video by you. Thank you so much

[@yearofthegarden]

Growing up, I was committed to being a sniper, it wasn't until highschool when a man who was paid to renovate my parent's house explained to me that he was a sniper in Vietnam, he explained to me some of the fun he had in training exercises upon my inquiry how he was selected by the army to become a sharp shooter, but when I told him that I wanted to become a sniper, his tone turned angry for a brief moment, and then avoided talking to me from then on. I'm honestly glad I never joined the army, while there is a romanticism we are indoctrinated in society, to kill for the purpose of protecting, it's a far different reality for those who manage to survive through it.

[@dda40x1]

LOL, I love that, the next time my wife doesn't feel like rubbing my feet I'll use the, just rub them, make an effort, be a friend.

[@dariusmoore2254]

This is my best one yet another one or point me in the direction of where to find one

[@kdfulton3152]

You struck gold with memoirs of the Great Patriotic War. Please do more. Esp memories from Stalingrad would be really interesting. 💟☮️

[@Grandizer8989]

*Sevastopol. Fixed it for you

[@thomasball5287]

@@Grandizer8989 Sevastopol wasn't renamed - you're thinking of Tsaritsyn -> Stalingrad -> Volgograd.

[@Grandizer8989]

@@thomasball5287 I meant Sevastopol because we’ve had Stalingrad games for decades, but nobody has touched Sevastopol. Which is a shame, because it had massive land battles, huge bunkers, naval battles, etc.

[@hhhhhhhfjjrjrjrjrirh148]

My dad who's a pentecostal pastor....and nut job was In the US marine corp in his youth and he whole heartedly believes the end of days will be any day now I grew up with my mother canning massive amounts of food and my father building shelters and teaching me to hunt, fish and other survival skills I remember him teaching my sister how to do combat medicine and bought her books on the subject and taught my brother indepth close combat and infantry tactics I grew up some and I remember the day I recall it like it was yesterday because the story my father taking me to the woods into the thickest part with me holding my hunting rifle he left me there in the swampy Mississippi territory he told me I would be hunting snipe and that I need to be extremely precise with my shot it was a long and cold night I crawled back to the trailer that we lived in around 4 o clock expecting punishment as I wasted alot of bullets and never kills said "snipe" I had killed bats and ducks in the dark night as I was a scared young boy in the cold I was ready for everything and thatday was the first and only time my father said he was proud of me 😅 from that day on he trained me to be a sniper and prepared the rest of my family for various jobs for the end of days... that's a long time ago now he's an old man I'm a marine scout sniper although soon the marines plan to get rid of snipers completely

[@danieljoseph6686]

why are they getting rid of snipers? do you think our military is combat ready if god forbid it became necessary?

[@hhhhhhhfjjrjrjrjrirh148]

@@danieljoseph6686 well it's because the army is the one with snipers who actually kill people marine snipers are mostly recon based and with the inavtion of drones they're not really needed

[@loganpollock1689]

I remember shooting the M91/30 rifle with the bent bolt handle and the PU scope. As I recall the scope was only 3.2 power and the mount placed the eyepiece too high so I couldn't hold my cheek to the stock properly. It was a difficult combination to use in the best of conditions.

[@mercs2547]

Just a few minutes in and I’m blown away already

[@Discotekh_Dynasty]

Heroes, every man and woman 🚩

[@salty6pence672]

Great story, I always enjoyed Vasily Zaytsev’s story also.

[@lmyrski8385]

It would have been good if the reader was provided with context in advance. This account does not originate in 2017 with the publication of this English version. This book is repackaged Soviet propaganda with falsehoods and of course inflated claims. His actual "memoir" is not a neutral, apolitical account-far from it. Nikolaev asserts, for example, that Finland attacked Russia. As a member of the NKVD, it is not surprising that his memoir is full of historical misinterpretation and justification of the agency's actions. In vivid, arresting recollections he laughably paints his actions in a saintly, heroic light. His victory claims should also be taken with a grain of salt as the Soviets were world leaders when it came to gross exaggeration, as should all books generated or based on those of the Soviet regime.....which, for example, claimed in its official history of the war to have sank more German U-boats in the Baltic than were ever produced. Zaytsev for example admitted that he probably killed less than half of those he was credited with. As a result, many in the English speaking world believe that Soviet snipers were much more effective than they were. In fact official losses recorded by internal unit logs show otherwise. This book, like most Soviet sources from the era is not an honest account and is likely more fiction than reality.

[@charlieshaw1500]

@@lmyrski8385 according to Finnish people I know, Finland did attack the USSR.

[@lmyrski8385]

@@charlieshaw1500 In 1941 to regain their territory, not in 1940 when the Soviets attacked them and seized Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania too. Get a clue, open a book. You must know the most ignorant Finns in the world, or they are hardboiled Commies.

[@henriashurst-pitkanen8735]

@@lmyrski8385 You literally just copied half of that from the AdLibris book summary online. You sound more blinded by propaganda than the author.

[@charlieshaw1500]

@@lmyrski8385 I'm not talking about 1941 you ignorant prat. Mass graves of Soviet army and civilians were found not far from the location of a former Finnish base on the boarder with the USSR. Just like you those Finn's were Nazi sympathisers.

[@skate_health7319]

The mouse story is amazing

[@robertalaverdov8147]

The year is 2022, 1941 is as far away from our time as the Crimean and US Civil wars were to the people who suffered through ww2. Will people in 2103 find our stories as compelling or consider them mundane or mediocre?

[@epstone]

Nice food for thought! But im sure we have lots of stories to tell, both from the last few decades as well as coming ones.... Not that thats in itself a good thing...i always think of this chinese "curse" in which you tell a person you despise "may you live in interesting times!"

[@A0111.]

Just no more wars, please.

[@finished6267]

There will be no internet or repository of history available to the residue of mankind still surviving in 2103.

[@datsunlambchops4624]

They will look to North Americans with sympathy and disgust. Similar to how we to to Rome before the goth invasions.

[@ryanfritts1574]

If they finally figure out the definition of racism and the difference between a man and a woman we might be okay >greetings from ca

[@Und3rgroundMan]

The sheer absurdity of laughing hysterically because you were getting tickled by a field mouse and narrowly escaping German fire made me laugh hard.

[@debdas9414]

It's really very difficult to even imagine how they fought the war in the arctic cold (almost) situation. A sheer negligence to human beings 😢