Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1919-01-24

They were particularly fond of con-
centrating on a small sector of our
front and using a converging fire.
When one of our snipers thought he
had spotted Fritz and fired at his
loophole, bullets Immediately crashed
into his position from several differ
ent directions, maybe three or four
hundred yards on either flank. Such
shots were very hard to trace.
These are some of the tricks and
schemes used by Allied and Hun snip
ers. They were very valuable in our
work. Yet there is one quality which
every sniper must possess, without
which these devices would be useless.
That quality is patience. There are
days and days when snipers must keep
their ceaseless watch without getting
a good shot at their enemy. Some
times a sniper will fix his eyes on a
likely spot for hours without seeing
anything at which to shoot. When his
chance finally comes, however, he gets
his man.
One morning, just about dawn, ]
kept MY sights lined on faint wisp
of smoke floating from the Hun para
pet for more than a half-hour before
got my shot. 1t was great strain
on my eyes and at moments / felt like
giving it up for more promising field
of observation. Suspecting, however,
that this smoke came from the bowl
of a sentry's pipe, and hoping that be-
fore he went off duty he would take
a last look over the parapet, 1 kept
my gun trained and my eyes on that
spot. Sure enough. at last he put up
his head, and got him.
Lack Of patience in a sniper may
result in his own death. When he en-
gagged in a duel with a Hun sniper
both of them were likely to cease
firing after a while, each waiting for
the other to make some move. The
contest then became one of patience
and the one who had the most pat
ience could usually get shot at the
one with the least, for the impatient
man, unable to await the other, would
make some movement which would
show a part of his body for a second
or two, and the other one would get
him.
/ Patience is doubly necessary for the
reason that a sniper rarely gets more
than one shot at the same place. See
ing a low spot in the enemy's trench,
the sniper figured that he might be
able to get Hun who failed to stoop
low when passing along the trench
and he kept his gun trained to that
spot. If he got his man, he succeeded.
But If he only kicked up dust, or shot
a bullet past Fritz's ear, he ruined his
chance of another shot; for Fritz, be-
ing no fool, put up a sign warning the
men to keep their heads down when
passing that particular spot.
In picking or training snipers, we
test their patience carefully. One way
we do it is by having target, usually
a dummy head, behind brick wall.
The candidate for sniper's job then
takes his position two or three hun
.drsd-yards away sRpdsYaits for the tar.
get to appear. We may hold 1t back
for fifteen minutes or two hours. When
it does appear, we watch the man to
see what he does. If he is patient, cool
and possesses nerves Of iron, he waits
until he can get a good shot at the
target. If he is Of the other type, eX-
citable, nervous and impatient, ne
blazes away the second he sees the
head, and probably misses 1t.
We also test a mans patience and
powers of observation by asking him to
report the things which happen at the
front or in the enemy's trench for the
period of an hour. If he is patient, he
turns in full, detailed report If i'm
patient, his report for the first few
minutes is good, but the rest of 1T is
scattered and lacking, showing his in
ability to concentrate for any lengthy
period.
1t is not, however, only Of patience
and of scheming that the sniper is con-
stantly thinking; there is the rife, his
dearest possession. On it and on its
deadly telescope sight the sniper Law
ishes as much care as mother on her
first born. No one may touch it or use
it under pain Of fearful abuse and ter
rible retribution. He is always clean
ing, polishing and oiling it. Some sni-
pers, believe, even sleep with their
rifles and call them by pet names.
Snipers always work in pairs one
man using the telescope and observ-
ing, the other doing the shooting. They
are, Of course, equally good marksmen
and they alternate in their duties in
order to avoid eye and nerve strain.
AS they eat, sleep, and fight together
they naturally become the closest OF
pals. And yet this friendship is never
evident in their language to each 9th
er. A stranger in fact, would need no
excuse for taking them to be mortal
enemies, for their affection takes the
form of horribly vituperative language.
A soldier hates to display emotion of
any kind before his pals, but his feel
ings must have some outlet, so, rather
than make a fuss over a comrades
narrow escape, his partner, who may
have been quite Jared at the incident,
falls back on abuse.
My partner must have been terribly
cut up once, judging from the depth
and wealth of his subsequent language.
We had located a sniper who was fir
ing from behind a steel plate, and had
not made much of an impression upon
him. In fact, all we had done was to
reveal our own position, as we discov-
cred when one of his shots hit the bay
onet boss of my rifle, peppering my
face with tiny fragments of the bullet
I was not hurt, but a quarter of an
inch one way or the other would have
done for me. My partner, thinking l
had gone west" treated me to beau
tiful yolley of abuse when he diScoV-