British snipers?

infantry units used ghillie suits, airborne not so much, paratroopers have to travel light, a ghille suit while not heavy takes up a lot of room. mostly they just used the scrim scarfe over there head and shoulders.

cool, I thought it would have been something like that, I was just wondering because after OP Market Garden the Airborne troops were fielded as line infantry for some time afterwards untill the crossing of the Rhiene

theres a huge thread on this somewhere with pictures thats not that old.

i dont think i put that very well, ,,,,,,, yes the airborne snipers did use gillie suits, just not as much or as often as line infantry. there thats clearer . no probs for bulge game, not really for arnhem.

gadge did a great job at grange farm with just a scrim scarfe and a no4 enfield, racked up a batch of kills, see the pics.( although we wernt airborne , we were columbian drug dealers )

I've only used mine once so far, I tend to just move alot and take my shots when I know I'll get a hit, For an Arnhem I would'nt have dreamed of useing it as they went in there light and were only ment to be there two days, I'll bring it but doubt I'll use it as I'll be on the move alot.

As nige says, the scrim scarf was designed to break up the head and shoulders and concela the face.

Excellent account of a british sniper here:

http://www.onesixthwarriors.com/forum/s ... p?p=727649

Me in action at GF... and at phoenix

cool pics by the way, I can see now where I got confused, the middle pic has a cam net in and I thought that it was attatched to your rig, but it's over the object infront

Thats just vehicle cam net over some terrain.

I nearly always only cover my head and shoulders, if you're moving tactically thats all the enemy should see anyway.

As said i do have pics of some 6th airborne snipers in full ghillies but it was normal british doctrine just to do the head and shoulders and site yourself well.

Wriath, If you want to see some period training material try to get hold of a DVd called "Kill or be Killed" published by www.ddhe.co.uk . It's sub-titled as "had to hand fighting techniques of Ww2" but IMO the best bit is an early 1940s training film which portrays a sniper duel between a Brit and a German. Little special equipment is used with the chap spending most of the time in shirtsleeves (it being summer) but heavily reliant on the scrim veil for head and neck cammo, in exactly the way that Gadge describes.

Cool,I'll have to check it out, I may just use it for the open day on the Saturday and just move fast on the sunday

am i right in saying that british snipers would of used an enfield with a scope on? or was there a purpose built rifle for them?

other than that, their kit would have been the same as the rest of their unit im guessing!? or did they go the whole nine yards and deploy seperately? anyway enough of that1

Snipers were integral to the battalion and used as much for recce and observation as for actually sniping.

They normally worked in pairs either ahead of the battalion as recce/OP/harassing fire or as a rear guard in wihdrawal (one good sniper can pin a whole company down). Some (as in the link) chose to work alone.

Kit was as per the regular soldier but considerable leeway was given for self manufactured/aquired/or stolen axis kit.

They were also more likely to get issued camouflage kit if it was in short supply or not on general issue (denison in inf battlions, windproofs pre winter of 44 etc...)

Rifle was pretty much always the no4 (T) in NWE after D-Day

Read said link, pretty much everything you need to know.

One thing of note is that a lot of line lads were quite jealous of them as they pretty much did whatever they wanted and got away with a lot more than your average tommy.

read the book an armoures perspective (the No 4 T sniper rifle) by peter laidler

this will tell you what you want to know on sniper kit issued

also i shot a 3.5in group at 500 yds using ww2 303 cordite ammo with my Long Branch No 4 T , wish i never sold it !!

http://www.bdlltd.com/An_Armours_Perspe ... ler-HC.jpg

Andy in 22nd part of NWW2A has an original No.4T fully complete and with drop bag too-lovely piece of kit it is-very expensive too there was one for sale recently at over 2 grand....(mind you bear in mind every No.4 had been rebuilt by Holland and Holland and their shotguns go for crazy money). You can also use sandbags to break up your profile-every chap should have a couple in his pack.

Not necessarily. The early ones could be some of the worst, as the people making them were on the learning curve. Any gun made at any time could be a gem or a stummer.

I have done my phase one, its as boring as hell!

I passed as "sniper marksman" and then passed the Master Sniper course as well, with a distinction and I f***ing loved every minute of it, no trace of boredom whatsoever! No idea why you'd find it boring? It's not all that "one shot, one kill" bollocks, most of it is observing and reporting. Shooting just gives your position away! Once you've got that in your head, it makes more sense.

Unfortunately, airsoft "sniping" is totally different! (and a bit pointless frankly, given the limitations of the weapons).

I don't know, at autumn mist I managed to snipe the German mortar crew whilst the rest of the allies just milled around and chatted!

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There's a difference between shooting someone with a rifle at range and sniping. People always seem to refer to K98 users as "snipers" too, quite incorrectly.