Inside the Crosshairs (38 page)

B. Organization. Snipers are grouped into independent training units in North Vietnam. The only known sniper units are the 700th Battalion and C.100 Sniper Company, both trained by the 32nd Regiment. The 700th Battalion is composed of five companies, each consisting of a headquarters element and three platoons. The platoons are composed of three squads each containing three cells. Once each unit reached its final destination in South Vietnam it was broken down into cells, which operated independently of each other. Ideally, one sniper platoon would support about five battalions.

C. Employment:

1. Although snipers are deployed to support main force units, they operate within an area and do not maneuver with main force units. In the course of their missions, snipers employ guerrillas as guides and
reconnaissance agents. Most of these trained snipers are encountered when entering strategic VC areas. Their mission is to wear down Allied morale and limit troop activity in these areas.

2. The snipers operate in three-man cells or five-man squads and use mines and booby traps. The mines and booby traps are used to channel friendly troop movements, to increase the number of casualties, and to allow the snipers time to withdraw. Allied troops advancing on snipers have encountered mines between them and the snipers. By the time they cleared the area the snipers have withdrawn to another position.

3. Although snipers are taught to take advantage of all existing nonprominent terrain features, they usually restrict their operations to trench networks and trees that are found in VC base areas. Other favorite positions are both sides of jungle clearings and roads. The positions are chosen to give maximum range and fields of fire plus mutual support of cell members. The positioning of the cell and its plans of attack and withdrawal are determined by the cell leader. He plans positions along his enemy’s probable route of advance. The cell’s withdrawal route coincides with the enemy’s route of advance.

4. Engagement is usually initiated at ranges from 50 to 500 meters, depending on the terrain. The lead element is engaged first by a sniper. This fire slows the enemy’s forward advance and draws the unit toward the sniper cell. The remaining members of the cell fire at the column from the flanks and rear. The snipers on the flanks and rear aim primarily for the unit commander, radio operator, and heavy weapons men. They expend no more than five rounds each, with a kill resulting on the first or second shot. Once the snipers are in contact with the opposing force, they continue to follow its movement while proceeding
along their withdrawal route and shooting from predetermined positions.

5. A large portion of fire reported by Allied troops has been erroneously labeled sniper fire. It would be more accurate to call this “harassing” fire rather than “sniper” fire. Harassing fire can be distinguished from true sniper fire because it is less accurate and is characterized by a larger ammunition expenditure. Harassing fire is usually directed by an individual local force guerrilla, who is given a sector of responsibility. This man operates as an individual rather than as a member of a cell.

*
Prepared by the MACV Combined Intelligence Center with a cover letter signed by Brigadier General J. A. McChristian, U.S. Army, Assistant Chief of Staff, J2. Information is based on documents and reports from the MACV Combined Military Intelligence Center, MACV Combined Documents Exploitation Center, I Corps Advisory Group, 196th Light Infantry Brigade, 25th Infantry Division, the Coa Xa and Ben Soi Special Forces Camps, and the Republic of South Vietnam. Original report included annexes with pictures of the K44 (Soviet 7.62-mm Mosin-Nagant M1891/30) sniper rifle, the 3.5 power telescope, and an organizational diagram of the NVA Sniper Battalion.

†
This is either an error or a misprint in the original study; 800 meters is more correct.

Armstrong, N. A.
Fieldcraft, Sniping, and Intelligence
. Aldershot, England: Gale & Polden, 1943. An overview of British sniper activities.

Askins, Charles.
Unrepentant Sinner: The Autobiography of Charles Askins, U.S. Army Colonel
. San Antonio, Tex.: Tejano Publications, 1985. Includes a section on the author’s experience as an unofficial sniper in the European Theater in World War II.

Bishop, Chris, and Ian Drury, eds.
The Encyclopedia of World Military Weapons: The World’s Armies and Their Equipment
. New York: Crescent Books, 1989. Includes a chapter that illustrates and describes the sniper weapons of the world’s leading military forces.

Brophy, William S.
The Springfield 1903 Rifles
. Harrisburg, Pa.: Stackpole Books, 1991. Includes sections on the use of the ’03 Springfield in World Wars I and II.

Butler, David F.
United States Firearms, the First Century, 1776–1875
. New York: Winchester, 1971. Details the advancement of firearms in the United States in the stated period.

Chandler, Roy F., and N. A. Chandler.
Death From Afar
. Volumes I–IV. St. Mary’s City, Md.: Iron Brigade Press, 1992–1997. Magazine format published as books; includes sniper history, mostly USMC, from Vietnam to present.

Culbertson, John J.
Operation Tuscaloosa
. New York: Ivy Books, 1997. Includes description of VC/NVA snipers.

Dupuy, Trevor N.
The Evolution of Weapons and Warfare
. New York: Bobbs-Merrill Company, 1980. Includes advances in guns and ammunition from their invention to the modern era.

Ewell, Julian J., and Ira A. Hunt Jr.
Sharpening the Combat Edge: The Use of Analysis to Reinforce Military Judgment
. Washington, D.C.: Department of the Army, 1974. Contains several sections on Ewell’s establishment of the 9th Infantry Division Sniper School and some of its results.

Ezell, Edward C.
Personal Firepower: The Vietnam War
. New York: Bantam Books, 1988. Includes two chapters on sniper weapons and equipment of both sides in Vietnam.

Gilbert, Adrian.
Sniper
. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1995. A history of snipers around the world; includes a chapter on the Vietnam War.

Greener, W. W.
Sharpshooting for Sport and War
. London: Everett & Company, 1900. A gun maker and marksman’s early account of precision shooting in peace and war.

George, John B.
Shots Fired in Anger
. Washington, D. C.: National Rifle Association, 1981. (Originally privately published in 1947.) Discusses American and Japanese snipers and their equipment in the Pacific Theater during World War II.

Grossman, Dave.
On Killing: The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill in War and Society
. New York: Little, Brown, and Company, 1995. Brief mention of snipers in Vietnam and their reactions to long-range killing.

Hackworth, David H., and Julie Sherman.
About Face
. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1989. Contains several pages on the development of sniper operations in the 9th Infantry Division.

Hasket-Prichard, H.
Sniping in France
. Mount Ida, Ark.: Lancer Militaria, 1993. (Originally published by Hutchinson & Company in London in 1920.) A British officer’s classic account of sniping in World War I.

Hay, John H., Jr.
Tactical and Material Innovations
. Washington, D.C.: Department of the Army, 1975. Contains a brief analysis of the effectiveness of army snipers in Vietnam.

Held, Robert.
The Age of Firearms
. New York: Harper Brothers, 1957. A pictorial history of firearms from their beginnings to the end of the nineteenth century.

Henderson, Charles.
Marine Sniper: 93 Confirmed Kills
. New York: Berkley Books, 1988. (Originally published in Briarcliff Manor. New York, by Stein and Day in 1986.) The story of Carlos Hathcock, one of the most successful snipers in USMC history.

Hunter, Stephen.
Black Light
. New York: Doubleday, 1996. Novel about a Vietnam Marine sniper veteran’s fight against current enemies at home.

—–.
The Master Hunter
. New York: William Morrow, 1980. Novel about a World War II German sniper.

—–.
Point of Impact
. New York: Bantam Books, 1993. Fiction adventures of a Vietnam Marine sniper two decades after the war.

Kugler, Ed.
A Dozen Things I Learned About Life as a Marine Sniper in Vietnam
. Spring, Tex.: Dozen Group, 1996. A former 4th Marine Regiment sniper’s advice on learning, health, and happiness based on his Vietnam experiences.

Larsen, Stanley R., and James Lawton Collins Jr.
Allied Participation in Vietnam
. Washington, D.C.: Department of the Army, 1975. Includes information on weapons used by the allies of the South Vietnamese and United States.

Law, Richard D.
Backbone of the Wehrmacht: The German K98k Rifle, 1934–1945
. Ontario, Canada: Cobourg, 1993. Information on the use of K98k as a sniper rifle by the Germans in World War II.

Long, Duncan.
Modern Sniper Rifles
. Boulder, Colo.: Paladin Press, 1988. Photos and descriptions of long-range rifles.

McBride, Herbert W.
A Rifleman Went to War
. Mount Ida, Ark.: Lancer Militaria, 1987. (Originally published in 1935 by Samworth Books of Plantersville, South Carolina.) A Canadian army veteran’s account of sniping in World War I.

Melville, Michael Leslie.
The Story of the Lovat Scouts
. Edinburgh, Scotland: Saint Andrews Press, 1981. The story of the regiment that originated Great Britain’s sniper training.

Nolan, Keith William.
The Magnificent Bastards
. Novato, Calif.: Presidio Press, 1994. Includes information on actions of Marine sniper James L. O’Neill during the 1968 defense of Dong Ha.

Page, Warren.
The Accurate Rifle
. South Hackensack, N.J.: Stoeger Publishing Company, 1978. Mostly about bench-rest shooting but contains information on adjusting rifle systems to increase accuracy.

Plaster, John L.
The Ultimate Sniper
. Boulder, Colo.: Paladin Press, 1993. Contains training guidance for military and police marksmen.

Rosser-Owen, David.
Vietnam Weapons Handbook
. Wellingborough, England: Patrick Stephens Limited, 1986. Includes a chapter on rifles and carbines with a brief mention of sniper weapons.

Sasser, Charles W., and Craig Roberts.
One Shot—One Kill
. New York: Pocket Books, 1990. Personal narratives of American combat snipers in World War II, Korea, Vietnam and Beirut.

Senich, Peter R.
Limited War Sniping
. Boulder, Colo.: Paladin Press, 1977. Includes information on sniping in Korea and Vietnam.

—–.
The Complete Book of U.S. Sniping
. Boulder, Colo.: Paladin Press, 1988. U.S. military snipers from the Civil War to the present—extensive illustrations of weapons.

—–.
The German Sniper 1914–1945
. Boulder, Colo.: Paladin Press, 1982. History, especially of weapons, of German snipers in World Wars I and II.

—–.
The Long-Range War: Sniping in Vietnam
. Boulder, Colo.: Paladin Press, 1994. History, including exceptional pictures, of army and Marine snipers in Vietnam.

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The One-Round War: USMC Scout-Snipers in Vietnam
. Boulder, Colo.: Paladin Press, 1996. History, including exceptional pictures, of Marine snipers in Vietnam.

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The Pictorial History of U.S. Sniping
. Boulder, Colo.: Paladin Press, 1980. Covers long-range shooters throughout U.S. history by illustrations.

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U.S. Marine Corps Scout-Sniper: World War II and Korea
. Boulder, Colo.: Paladin Press, 1993. Excellent pictures and some documents on Marine snipers in the two major wars preceding Vietnam.

—–, and Howard Kyle.
The German Sniper: The Man and His Weapons
. Wickenburg, Ariz.: Normount Technical Publications, 1974. German snipers and their rifles in World War II.

Shore, C.
With British Snipers to the Reich
. Mount Ida, Ark.: Lancer Militaria, 1988. (Originally published by Small Arms Publishing Company of
Georgetown, South Carolina, in 1948.) Classic study of British and German World War II snipers by a British army sniper instructor.

Shulimson, Jack, and Charles M. Johnson.
U.S. Marine Corps in Vietnam: The Landing and the Buildup, 1965
. Washington, D.C.: History and Museums Division, USMC, 1978. Includes a brief mention of early Marine sniper operations.

Skennerton, Ian D.
The British Sniper and Commonwealth Sniping and Equipment
. Margate, Australia: Ian D. Skennerton, 1984. Covers British Commonwealth sniping from 1915 through 1983.

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The Lee-Enfield Story
. London: Greenhill Books, 1993. Contains information on the use of various models of Lee-Enfield rifles during World Wars I and II.

Sleath, Frederick.
Sniper Jackson
. London: Herbert Jenkins, 1919. The fictionalized version of a British officer’s sniping adventures in World War I.

Stanton, Shelby L.
Vietnam Order of Battle
. New York: Galahad Books, 1986. (Originally published in Washington, D.C., by
U.S. News & World Report
, Inc., in 1981.) A complete reference of U.S. Army and Allied ground forces in Vietnam; also includes two pictures and brief descriptions of the XM21 sniper rifle system.

Tantum, William H., IV.
Sniper Rifles of Two World Wars
. Ottawa, Ontario: Museum Restoration Service, 1967. A pictorial history of sniper rifles used in World Wars I and II.

Taylor, F. A. J.
The Bottom of the Barrel
. London: Regency Press, 1978. The story of a enlisted British sniper in World War I.

Telfer, Gary L., Lane Rogers, and V. Keith Fleming Jr.
U.S. Marine Corps in Vietnam: Fighting the North Vietnamese, 1967
. Washington, D.C.: History and Museums Division, USMC, 1984. Includes a paragraph about snipers in the 3rd Marine Regiment.

Trench, Charles C.
A History of Marksmanship
. Chicago: Follett Publishing Company, 1972. A history of marksmanship in both war and peace from earliest recorded history to the modern era.

Truby, J. David.
Silencers, Snipers, and Assassins
. Boulder, Colo.: Paladin Press, 1972. The use of silencers from World War I through Vietnam.

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Silencers in the 1980s: Great Designs, Great Designers
. Boulder, Colo.: Paladin Press, 1983. Includes sections on modern silencer technology for snipers.

Ward, Joseph T.
Dear Mom: A Sniper’s Vietnam
. New York: Ivy Books, 1991. Personal narrative of Ward’s experiences as a 1st Marine Division sniper in Vietnam during 1969 and 1970.

Whelen, Townsend.
Telescopic Rifle Sights
. Onslow County, N.C.: Small-Arms Technical Publishing Co., 1936. Early general study of available rifle telescopes.

—–.
Telescopic Rifle Sights
. Plantersville, S.C.: Samworth Books, 1944. A revised and updated version of the 1936 edition; includes World War II sniper scopes.

—–.
Fundamentals of Scope Sights
. Washington, D.C.: National Rifle Association, 1952. Contains information on more advancements in telescopes.

Wilber, Martin.
The History of the Crossbow
. Seattle: Shorey Book Store, 1982. Reprint of a 1936 Smithsonian Institution report on the invention and evolution of the crossbow.

Wynne, Barry.
The Sniper
. London: Macdonald & Company, 1968. The story of a British enlisted sniper in Europe during World War II.

Young, Darryl.
The Element of Surprise
. New York: Ivy Books, 1990. A navy SEAL’s narrative of his Vietnam tour.