I don't doubt it is doable, but there would be a fair amount of luck involved to hit a head sized target at that range. Even in perfect conditions with good ammo that shot would be as much luck as skill.
Keynes' Cruisers Volume 2
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I don't doubt it is doable, but there would be a fair amount of luck involved to hit a head sized target at that range. Even in perfect conditions with good ammo that shot would be as much luck as skill.
To my knowledge they didn't even do that. If I'm recalling correctly they just put scopes on any old 98. Leading to them requesting from Mauser a rifle post D-Day for a sniper rifle as good as No4 T and it could be in any calibre Mauser chose so long as it was a repeater.
SsgtC
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This is when you really need to ignore what Hollywood shows. In movies and TV, snipers always go for the head shot. That couldn't be farther from the truth. Snipers are trained to aim center mass. Specifically the thoracic cavity. The head moves too much for a reliable shot. A sniper will only take a head shot in exceptional circumstances. The scene described by Fester is not. She would have been aiming center mass.
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And even so, hitting center mass with a rifle caliber round does some nasty stuff to the body that would replace the immediate damage of a headshot, tear apart the lungs, heart, maybe the lowers if the guy was only slightly lucky...
I understand you can't show everything and this is an Allies-centric timeline from a narrative perspective (all the viewpoint characters are Allied/Soviet) but we haven't seen much in the way of Axis competence at a tactical level so far in this timeline. Given the OTL nature of the IJA coupled with the butterflies of the story I don't expect a ton of resistance from the Japanese in Asia at this point but I expect that the Soviets/Allies will find the German tiger still has his teeth - especially without the body blows of OTL Stalingrad and the Tunis surrender.
I slightly disagree --
The Germans did not stick their dick into the Stalingrad meatgrinder and launched a backhand blow out of a much better position in winter 1943 that stabilized the front well east of Rostov which allows the southern armies to still use the Black Sea as a primary logistical pathway.
She was aiming for center sternum as anything within a few inches of the aim point is an incapacitating wound at a minimum. Head shots are for the story books. Hell a sudden/instant death is logistically easier on the Germans than a long bleed as the wounded man needs to be taken to an aid station (removing a few combat effectives from the movement), be treated(eat up supplies) and either recover or die. That plus shooting for the center sternum at long range is an easier shot to make is the training calculus leading to most snipers preferring that instead of head shots.
And with the more clean pullout (no pun) from North Africa, despite a loss they didn't lose a chunk of men so that reserve is now getting sent to the Eastern front. It is looking likely that the Germans might be able to hold off the Soviets longer and I suspect the Allies may reach the Oder not the Elbe.
Story 2016
Constanta, Romania May 2, 1943
Two Romanian destroyers left the docks. They slowly made their way to the edge of the breakwater. A trio of coastal minesweepers past them as the small ships re-entered the port after re-clearing a corridor to the sea. It was their constant duty as both the Royal Air Force and the Red Air Force liked to warm up their less experienced crews with mine-laying missions off the Romanian coast.
An hour later, half a dozen coasters and three tugs pushing a pair of barges apiece joined their escort. Soon they assembled in three columns. One destroyer took the lead while the other roamed ahead of the convoy looking for Soviet submarines. Today was scheduled to be a milk run bringing oil, ammunition and thousands of tons of flour to the German armies on the southern flank of the entire theatre. Once they were past Sevastopol, the escort would be reinforced and the air cover would thicken, but now they had to plow forward.
Story 2017
Outside of Hamburg, May 3, 1943
Dawn was almost there. To the north, fires were lighting up the horizon. The RAF had hit the port city again. The airfield supporting a night fighter group was busy as the ground crews waited. Three fighters had already come down. One was damaged from a machine gun burst. Another had come down with engine problems. The third had landed with eleven bullets left and the claim for three kills. The hunters had almost no moon to work with tonight. Everyone honed in on their targets by the voice in the ears and then the little specks of light from engines and finally by finding the points of the sky that were too dark on an already dark night.
As the sun came up, the other five fighters that had risen in defense of the port city came back. One man was all smiles. The young pilot who had been with the squadron for only three months held two fingers up. He was now an ace and this simple fact meant he now had priority on maintenance and choice of patrol boxes. His skill was good and now the support meant his chance of living for another month increased dramatically.
It's not so much as the reserves are being sent to the Eastern Front but that the Eastern Front is not being stripped of formations to act as a fire brigade to the Southern fronts plus some units are being withdrawn for proper rest and reconstitution.
That too.
Honestly, the Germans will probably do better in the summer offensives in ATL 1943. Maybe not by much, but they will have successes.
Story 2018
Warsaw Ghetto, May 3, 1943
There was silence. There was smoke. There was destruction. There were no inhabitants of the ghetto any more.
Any one over the age of fifteen and under the age of fifty had been shot, burned, hung, or field tortured to death. Everyone else was being sent to the train yards where waiting cattle cars would take the young and the old to camps. Warsaw was quiet again.
Even as a train took thousands south along the Vistula to their final destination, another set of trains were coming through the city at high speed. Seven thousand German soldiers of the 17th Panzer Division along with the fifteen percent of their authorized tanks and artillery that needed depot or factory level maintenance were moving to the strategic reserve. The veterans would be given a month to see their homes or to get blind drunk before they were reconcentrated to rebuild the division with new recruits and factory fresh equipment. If all went well, the division would head back to the Eastern Front in six months, rested and far more powerful then compared to now.
There was silence. There was smoke. There was destruction. There were no inhabitants of the ghetto any more.
Any one over the age of fifteen and under the age of fifty had been shot, burned, hung, or field tortured to death. Everyone else was being sent to the train yards where waiting cattle cars would take the young and the old to camps. Warsaw was quiet again.
Even as a train took thousands south along the Vistula to their final destination, another set of trains were coming through the city at high speed. Seven thousand German soldiers of the 17th Panzer Division along with the fifteen percent of their authorized tanks and artillery that needed depot or factory level maintenance were moving to the strategic reserve. The veterans would be given a month to see their homes or to get blind drunk before they were reconcentrated to rebuild the division with new recruits and factory fresh equipment. If all went well, the division would head back to the Eastern Front in six months, rested and far more powerful then compared to now.
Make sure to add a /s to that... might be taken as serious.
But yeah.... I hope the Allies manage to end it before the worst of the Holocaust happens. Very slim though.
I liked only because of the excellent writing. Not on account of the topic. :-(
Story 2019
Rizal, Palawan, May 4, 1943
“Everyone back, everyone to cover"
The engineers were almost all under cover already. Heavy equipment was 1,000 feet behind them working on building the drainage system for the runway that was being quickly hacked out of the forest a few hundred yards inland from the South China Sea on the long island’s west coast. Nothing besides perhaps a Piper Cub flown by a quasi-suicidal butter bar could land yet, but progress was being made.
The platoon leader looked up and down. There was no one in the blast zone.
5..4...3….2...1…. "FIRE IN THE HOLE"
He pressed down on the plunger sending electrical impulses through the wires. The current split into a dozen different streams before splitting again and again. Another twenty yards of forest were cleared. Trees had been cut with composite B as close to the ground as possible. Labor gangs would soon start dragging the lumber away. The best material would be kept for the saw mill that was still under construction, the rest would be dragged to the side by bulldozers.
Even as the Seabees started to work clearing the last few hundred feet of the first fighter strip on the island, the air raid siren went off. Raiders had been seen crossing the 6,000 foot central spine of mountains and the radar crews expected to see the strikers soon. Men put down their tools. They all put on their helmets. Some went to the slit trenches, a few went to bunkers and more just double timed away from the airfield’s exposed fuel dump and truck park. They would find cover in the woods.
Seven minutes later, the first 37 millimeter gun started to bark. It was joined moments later by the rest of the dozen guns in the defensive batteries protecting the airfield. Half a dozen single engine fighters swooped down. They nosed up for a brief moment, flinging a single underbelly bomb apiece. Three landed harmlessly on the runway. Another knocked down some trees that were blocking a future apron. One destroyed half a dozen trucks while the last bomb demolished some of the recently assembled platform tents where the Seabees slept. The attackers slipped away. The anti-aircraft guns went silent, claiming no kills nor damage this afternoon.
Soon enough, the engineers were back at work. The faster they could complete the strip to minimal viability, the faster they would have fighter cover.
“Everyone back, everyone to cover"
The engineers were almost all under cover already. Heavy equipment was 1,000 feet behind them working on building the drainage system for the runway that was being quickly hacked out of the forest a few hundred yards inland from the South China Sea on the long island’s west coast. Nothing besides perhaps a Piper Cub flown by a quasi-suicidal butter bar could land yet, but progress was being made.
The platoon leader looked up and down. There was no one in the blast zone.
5..4...3….2...1…. "FIRE IN THE HOLE"
He pressed down on the plunger sending electrical impulses through the wires. The current split into a dozen different streams before splitting again and again. Another twenty yards of forest were cleared. Trees had been cut with composite B as close to the ground as possible. Labor gangs would soon start dragging the lumber away. The best material would be kept for the saw mill that was still under construction, the rest would be dragged to the side by bulldozers.
Even as the Seabees started to work clearing the last few hundred feet of the first fighter strip on the island, the air raid siren went off. Raiders had been seen crossing the 6,000 foot central spine of mountains and the radar crews expected to see the strikers soon. Men put down their tools. They all put on their helmets. Some went to the slit trenches, a few went to bunkers and more just double timed away from the airfield’s exposed fuel dump and truck park. They would find cover in the woods.
Seven minutes later, the first 37 millimeter gun started to bark. It was joined moments later by the rest of the dozen guns in the defensive batteries protecting the airfield. Half a dozen single engine fighters swooped down. They nosed up for a brief moment, flinging a single underbelly bomb apiece. Three landed harmlessly on the runway. Another knocked down some trees that were blocking a future apron. One destroyed half a dozen trucks while the last bomb demolished some of the recently assembled platform tents where the Seabees slept. The attackers slipped away. The anti-aircraft guns went silent, claiming no kills nor damage this afternoon.
Soon enough, the engineers were back at work. The faster they could complete the strip to minimal viability, the faster they would have fighter cover.
Damn. And to think they were still the nation that allegedly deployed snipers first in WW1.
No surprise that the Nazi plunder economy led to a lot of cost cutting later on in the war.
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