Stepan Vasilievich Petrenko was prominent among world’s best trained marksmen that USSR had developed. The confirmed 422 kills bear testimony to his precise skills in sharpshooting. He was awarded HSU (Hero of the Soviet Union), the highest distinction in the Soviet Union for heroic feats in services to USSR, on March 24, 1945.

During the WWII, 261 sharpshooters of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) were awarded the ‘distinguished sniper’ title. With 422 confirmed kills, Vasilij Ivanovich Golosov was also honored with this title. He was also among the 70 snipers shot dead in the war. Golosov was awarded the HSU posthumously on October 26, 1943.

The ‘sharpshooters’ movement’ began in Soviet Union in 1932 under the supervision of top ranked Soviet politician and military officer Kliment Voroshilov. To take the long ranged advantages, to eliminate enemy leaders and other important targets of opportunity, the Soviet military strategists resorted to train hundreds of thousands of sharpshooters during WWII. Fyodor Trofimovich Dyachenko was one of those trainees who became a master of sharpshooting. The Ukrainian hero with 425 confirmed kills, received the Distinguished Service Cross for outstanding heroism in military operations against armed enemy. Dyachenko was awarded HSU on February 21, 1944.

Fyodor Matveyevich Okhlopkov was a revered Soviet sniper with 429 WWII kills. He was an ethnic Yakut, born in the Krest-Khaldzhay village in the Sakha Republic in Far Eastern Soviet Union. It is said that, Fyodor and his brother were both enlisted in the Soviet Red Army together. His brother was killed in a combat. An infuriated Fyodor swore to avenge his brother’s death and went on to achieve 429 kills as a sniper and more with a machine gun. His commander would often sent him out alone with automatic weapons to repulse enemy attacks and the Yakut eliminated the Germans like a farmer cutting the grass with a scythe. Okhlopkov achieved well over 1,000 enemy kills in total using any type of weapon. On June 23, 1944, Sergeant Okhlopkov was hit in the chest while participating in an assault at Vitebsk in Belarus and was almost killed. This was his twelfth major wound during combat and made him spend months in hospital recovering from it. It ended his career and he was discharged from the military at the end of the war.

Initially Okhlopkov was being ignored to be considered for the highest Soviet honor despite being a top sniper in the Red army and there were claims that this was due to his ethnicity. However, Okhlopkov was decorated as HSU on June 5, 1965. He was also given the Order of Lenin and in 1974, a cargo ship was named after him.

Snipers were such an important part of the Soviet army during WWII that, typically in any infantry or reconnaissance platoon, at least one sniper could be found. Budenkov was a successful sniper with 437 kills. He also killed many enemy soldiers using machine guns. He was awarded HSU on March 24, 1945 for his valiant efforts as a Soviet sniper.

Vladimir Nikolaevich Pchelintsev was among the skilled and savvy snipers of Soviet Union who achieved 456 kills. He was not an HSU. As it was difficult to verify a kill with versatile operations tactics carried out by different snipers. The kills were generally confirmed by the spotter of the sniper during a combat. Generally, two men work in a sniper team- spotter and sniper. They take turns to avoid eye fatigue. Those top snipers who were not decorated as HSU might be due to not having a spotter with them to confirm total number of enemy kills during the war.

Soviet sniper Ivan Nikolayevich Kulbertinov was another less celebrated individual like Vladimir Nikolaevich Pchelintsev. Kulbertinov also was not decorated as an HSU. With 489 kills, he makes into the list of top 10 most lethal snipers of WWII.

Though a movie has never been made about deadly marksman Sergeant Major Nikolay Yakovlevich Ilyin, his 494 kills made him equally important in Red Army. Ilyin was a sniper in the 50th Guards Rifle Division and fought at Stalingrad. He was a locksmith before the war. He achieved 216 kills at Stalingrad and received the title HSU on February 8, 1943. This great sharpshooter died in action on August 4, 1943.

Soviet Union’s top sniper Ivan Mikhailovich Sidorenko was born into a peasant family on September 12, 1919 in Smolensk Oblast in Russia. He dropped out of school after 10th grade and then studied at an Art College. Later, he dropped out of the college too and was conscripted into the Soviet Army. As a Junior Lieutenant, he participated at the Battle of Moscow in 1941. He taught himself to snipe and bagged many enemy soldiers. Sidorenko’s commanders made him train fellow soldiers to snipe due to his efficiency on the battle field.

He fought on the 1st Baltic Front and planned the movements of the snipers. He achieved around 500 kills from 1941 until 1944. He also burned three tractors and a tank using incendiary bullets. Sidorenko was wounded three times and the third occasion in Estonia in 1944 was severe.

During his recovery period, he was awarded HSU on June 4, 1944. He retired as a Major and after the war became a foreman of a coalmine.

During Zaytsev's career as a sniper, he would conceal himself in various locations – for example, on high ground, under rubble, or in water pipes. After a few kills, he would change his position. Together with his partner Nikolai Kulikov, Zaytsev would exercise his hide and sting tactics. One of Zaytsev’s common tactics was to cover one large area from three positions, with two men at each point – a sniper and a scout. This tactic, known as the “sixes”, is still in use today and was implemented during the war in Chechnya.[4]

Zaytsev took part in the Battle of Stalingrad until January 1943, when a mortar attack injured his eyes. He was attended to by Vladimir Filatov, who is credited with restoring Zaytsev's sight. On 22 February 1943, Zaytsev was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union. He then returned to the front and finished the war at the Battle of the Seelow Heights in Germany, with the military rank of captain. He became a member of the Communist Party in 1943.