Evening Republican, Volume 19, Number 273, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 17 November 1915 — SNIPER’S GRIM WORK [ARTICLE]

SNIPER’S GRIM WORK

Sharpshooter’s Bullet Has Spex cial Formidableness. For Hours the Sniper Patiently Waits for the Opening of a Loophole or the Sight of a Cap. British Headquarters. —It would be Interesting, if such a calculation were possible, to classify the agencies to which the total daily casualties are due. Whatever the statistics might prove, the most formidaale agency is still the sniper’s bullet. It is possible, perhaps even probar ble, that the majority of British casualties would be found to be attributed to shell fire. It might be found that along a particular line of trench the bulk of the men are knocked out by hand grenades. But the sharpshooter’s bullet has a special formidableness of its own such as is enjoyed by no other weapon. . The shell, the rifle grenade, the trench mortar at least give some warning to the ear; the bomb and the aerial torpedo are visible as they come through the air in daytime, and may frequently be dodged. The "listeners” are generally able to give some warning as to the operations and progress of hostile miners. The bullet alone is absolutely unobtrusive, instantaneous, and unceasing. One may take a certain amount of liberties, as it were, with shell fire. A single man, or even two men, provided that they are not obviously people of importance, may risk a walk along a stretch of ground in view of the enemy’s guns, simply because it is not worth a gunner’s while to shoot at every individual enemy he sees. No such familiarity is safe with a sniper. He is always on the lookout for unconsidered trifles, and all the more ready to fire that bls ammunition is so cheap and plentiful. This static trench warfare has largely curtailed the activities of the old type of sniper—of the sniper, that is to say, who concealed himself in some neat piece of cover and thence, with the aid of telescopic sights, picked oft individuals at a long range. And this, for two reasons. In the first place, as soon as the two armies realized that trench warfare was likely to last for months, they set to work very naturally to elaborate their defenses, and have largely defeated the sniper proper by the very elaboration and multiplicity of their communication trenches. And, secondly, the immobility of the front has meant that very many of the sniper’s haunts have gradually become found out and are so carefully watched as to be almost untenable. The old sniper has thus been forced more and more into the background, and finds it increasingly difficult to get anything like a good day’s bag. The other afternoon I. was with two snipers when they at last spotted a German sunning himself in a field. The distance was made out to be Just over 2,000 yards. Each of my companions was a well-known big game shot, and they each fired a couple of rounds at the enemy. The bullets must have gone uncomfortably near the mark, for, after each shot the man stared about him a puzzled movement, but he stalked off unhit. This was, of course, an extreme range, but the marksmen were exceptionally good, and their failure to find anything but so unpromising a target shows clearly enough that the only possible marks are frequently set at virtually impossible ranges. But, with the temporary extinction of the sniper proper, there has grown up a host of trench snipers, men who

are constantly firing at from 20 to 300 yards or whatever may be the ridiculously small distance separating the opposing lines. One of the bewildering features of the war is the daily publication of long lists at a time when there is nothing sufficiently important to Justify a British communique. Behind the rows of sandbags which face one another with such apparent purposefulness, there are the snipers who will spend hours waiting for the opening of a loophole, the sight of a cap or a hand incautiously raised above the parapet, the hoisting of a periscope, a shovel —anything which may betoken the least undue activity. There is a constant pitting of patient vigilance against ignorance, carelessness, or the sheer recklessness born of physical fatigue. The strain of being under shell fire may be more acute while it lasts, but, in the long run, it is the unintermittent crack of the bullet which Jars the nervous system most permanently. A man, whom I will call “A,” was admittedly one of the first half dozen rifle shots in Groat Britain. In the early days of the war his special value as a rapid flrer during the German attacks in masses was great. “A" was later put in a machine-gun section, and was finally killed while going to fetch water for the gun. That, surely, was a job which might have been detailed to a less valuable man. It would seem to be only common prudence that first-class shots should be carefully husbanded.