Sniping in France
Author | : H. Hesketh-Prichard |
Publisher | : Tales End Press |
Total Pages | : 226 |
Release | : 2012-07 |
ISBN-10 | : 9781623580537 |
ISBN-13 | : 1623580536 |
Rating | : 4/5 (37 Downloads) |
Download or read book Sniping in France written by H. Hesketh-Prichard and published by Tales End Press. This book was released on 2012-07 with total page 226 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Major Hesketh Vernon Hesketh-Prichard was an explorer and adventurer who revolutionized the training of British Army snipers during the First World War. In this richly-detailed book, he explains his constant efforts to improve sniping standards, which finally resulted in the First Army School of Scouting, Observation and Sniping. Drawing on his experience as a big-game hunter and marksman, he emphasized the importance of camouflage, careful observation, the ability to shoot quickly and accurately, and above all the necessity of out-thinking the opponent – for as he noted, sniping in the trenches was “really neither more nor less than a very high-class form of big game shooting, in which the quarry shot back.” The book includes many anecdotes of his times on the front lines, the various ruses and counter-ruses employed by the snipers on both sides, and his musings on the responsibilities of the sniper in future wars – in which he accurately predicts the role of the scout-sniper teams of today. Detailed appendices reproduce the early curriculum of his sniper school. A contemporary estimated that Hesketh-Prichard’s training saved the lives of over 3,500 Allied soldiers: this book explains how he did it.