SNIPER ELITE

10. 1. Before the 20th century

• Ninja or Shinobi (16th century Japan) - supposedly trained to cover retreating armies, targeting officers from concealed positions with poisoned blow guns.^{[citation needed]} One of Japan's most notable warlords, Takeda Shingen, was possibly fatally wounded by a sniper. ^[42]
• Lord Brooke, who represented the Parliamentarians in the English Civil War, was the first recorded British sniper victim.^{[citation needed]}
• Timothy Murphy (American Revolutionary War) - killed British General Simon Fraser during the pivotal Battle of Saratoga, hampering the British advance and causing them to lose the battle. ^[7]
• Patrick Ferguson (American Revolutionary War) - developer of the world's first breech-loaded military rifle (which advanced sniping and sharpshooting tactics), fought with his Corps of Riflemen (recruited from the 6th and 14th Foot) at the Battle of Brandywine, where he may have passed up a chance to shoot George Washington. ^[43]
• Napoleonic Wars - Use of Marine sharpshooters in the mast tops was common usage in navies of the period, and Admiral Nelson's death at Trafalgar is attributed to the actions of French Sharpshooters. The British Army developed the concept of directed fire (as opposed to massive unaimed volleys) and formed Rifle regiments, notably the 95th and the 60th who wore green jackets instead of the usual redcoats.^{[citation needed]} Fighting as Skirmishers, usually in pairs and trusted to choose their own targets, they wrought havoc amongst the French during the peninsular war against Napoleon's Forces.
• British Rifleman Thomas Plunkett (Peninsular war) - shot French General Colbert and one of his aides at a range of between 200 metres (219 yd) and 600 metres (656 yd) using a Baker rifle. ^[44]
• Colonel Hiram Berdan (American Civil War) - commanded 1st and 2nd US Sharpshooters, who were trained and equipped Union marksmen with the .52 caliber Sharps Rifle. It has been claimed that Berdan's units killed more enemies than any other in the Union Army. ^[7]
• Sgt. Ben Powell (American Civil War) - sniped Major General John Sedgwick at the then incredible distance of 730 metres (798 yd)^{[citation needed]} during the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House, with a British Whitworth target rifle causing administrative delays in the Union's attack, leading to Confederate victory. Sedgwick ignored advice to take cover, his last words according to urban legend being, "They couldn't hit an elephant at this dist-" upon which he was shot. In reality, he was shot a few minutes later. ^[7]
• Major Frederick Russell Burnham - assassinated Mlimo, the Ndebele religious leader, in his cave in Matobo Hills, Rhodesia, effectively ending the Second Matabele War (1896). ^[45] Burnham started as a cowboy and Indian tracker in the American Old West, but he left the United States to scout in Africa and went on to command the British Army Scouts in the Second Boer War. For his ability to track, even at night, the Africans dubbed him, He-who-sees-in-the-dark, ^[46] but in the press he became more widely known as England's American Scout. ^[47]

10. 2. 20th century

• Finnish Lance Corporal Simo Häyhä, aka "Valkoinen Kuolema" (White Death) was a sniper during the Winter War and is regarded by many as the most effective sniper in the history of warfare, being credited with killing up to 542 Soviet soldiers (an average of 5 a day) using a SAKO m/28-30 (Pystykorva) and iron sights. Besides his sniper kills, Häyhä was also credited with over two hundred kills with a Suomi KP/-31 submachine gun, ^[48] thus bringing his credited kills to at least 705.
• Lieutenant Lyudmila Pavlichenko (World War II) - female Soviet sniper with 309 confirmed kills, making her the most successful female sniper in history. ^[49]
• Billy Sing (World War I) - Australian sniper with at least 150 confirmed kills during the Gallipoli Campaign; he may have had close to 300 kills in total at Gallipoli, ^[50] and went on to fight at the Western Front.
• Francis Pegahmagabow (World War I) - Native Canadian sniper credited with 378 kills.
• Junior Lieutenant Vasily Zaytsev (World War II) - credited with killing 225 German soldiers during the Battle of Stalingrad, ^[51] he is portrayed in the film Enemy at the Gates and in the book War of the Rats; both however are fictionalized accounts.
• Mihail Surkov has been said to have killed 702 enemy troops. However this hasn't been confirmed, and a post-war analysis regarded the score exaggerated for the Soviet propaganda. ^[52]
• Semen Nomokonov killed sniper-only 367 persons, including a general. ^[52]
• Gefreiter (Private) Matthäus Hetzenauer (World War II) - Austrian sniper who was credited with 345 kills on the Eastern Front, the most successful in the Wehrmacht.
• Obergefreiter (Private First Class) Josef 'Sepp' Allerberger (World War II) - Austrian sniper credited with 257 kills on the Eastern Front.
• Zhang Taofang (Chinese: 张桃芳; Traditional Chinese: 張桃芳; Wade-Giles: Zhang Tao-fang) was a Chinese soldier during the Korean War, and is one of the most effective snipers in history. He is credited with 214 confirmed kills in 32 days without using a sniper magnifying scope. ^[53]
• Alfred Hulme was a New Zealand recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces. He is credited with stalking and killing 33 German snipers in the Battle of Crete.
• Gunnery Sergeant Carlos Hathcock (Vietnam war) - achieved 93 confirmed kills but believed to also have over 200 unconfirmed kills. He held the record of longest confirmed kill at a distance of 2,286 m (2,500 yd) (made with a scoped M2 Browning machine gun) for 35 years until 2002. ^{[54] [55] [56]}
• Chuck Mawhinney (Vietnam war) - 103 confirmed and 216 probable kills.
• Adelbert F . Waldron (Vietnam war) - achieved 109 confirmed kills.
• Master Sgt. Gary Gordon and Sgt. First Class Randy Shughart - Operation Gothic Serpent - Delta Force snipers awarded the Medal of Honor for their actions protecting the injured crew of a downed helicopter during the Battle of Mogadishu. Dramatized in the film Black Hawk Down.

10. 3. 21st century

• British Army CoH Craig Harrison of the Household Cavalry successfully engaged two Taliban machine gunners south of Musa Qala in Helmand Province in Afghanistan in November 2009 at a range of 2,475 m (2,707 yd), using a L115A3 Long Range Rifle rifle chambered in .338 Lapua Magnum. These are the longest recorded and confirmed sniper kills in history. ^{[19] [20] [21] [22]}
• Canadian Corporal Rob Furlong, formerly of the PPCLI (Operation Anaconda, Afghanistan) - achieved a recorded and confirmed sniper kill at 2,430 m (2,657 yd) in 2002 using a .50 caliber (12.7 mm) McMillan TAC-50 rifle. ^[57]
• Canadian Master Corporal Arron Perry, formerly of the PPCLI (Operation Anaconda, Afghanistan) - briefly held the record for the longest-ever recorded and confirmed sniper kill at 2,310 m (2,526 yd) in 2002 after eclipsing US Marine Gunnery Sergeant Carlos Hathcock's previous record established in 1967. Perry used a .50 caliber (12.7 mm) McMillan TAC-50 rifle. ^[57]
• U.S. Army Staff Sergeant Timothy L. Kellner - regarded as one of the top snipers still active in the U.S. Army with 78 confirmed kills during Operation Iraqi Freedom and 3 in Haiti. ^[58]
• U.S. Army Staff Sergeant Jim Gilliland - Holds the record for the longest recorded confirmed kill with a 7.62mm rifle at 1,250 m (1,367 yd), while engaging an Iraqi insurgent sniper in Ramadi, Iraq on September 27, 2005. Gilliland used an M24 7.62mm rifle.
• U.S. Marine Corps Staff Sergeant Steve Reichert - Killed an entire Iraqi insurgent machine gun crew of three behind a brick wall, with a single shot from 1 mile in Lutayfiyah, Iraq on April 9, 2004. Reichert was using a Barrett M82A3 .50BMG rifle loaded with the Mk 211 Raufoss high explosive rounds.
• Sri Lankan Army Sniper, Corporal I.R. Premasiri alias ‘Nero’, of the 5th Battalion in the Gajaba Regiment was responsible for the deaths of 180 L.T.T.E. cadres. ^[59]
• Iraqi insurgent Juba, a sniper who features in several propaganda videos. Juba has allegedly shot 37 American soldiers, although whether Juba is a real individual is unknown. He may be a constructed composite of a number of insurgent snipers. ^[60]
• British Army Corporal Christopher Reynolds of the 3d. battalion the Royal Regiment of Scotland, the Black Watch, shot and killed a Taliban commander at a range of 1,853 m (2,026 yd) using a .338 Lapua Magnum (8.6 mm) L115A3 rifle. ^[61]