Keynes' Cruisers Volume 2

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Story 2184
Southeast of Leningrad, August 13, 1943

The spotter adjusted her weight on her hips. A root had been digging into her left thigh for the past forty five minutes. The soon to be crepuscular light had begun to cast shadows on her and her partner. They would be able to move out soon.

Tatianna made one more scan of the environment. This was their third patrol against the fascist lines. Infantry companies had also been patrolling aggressively. Those hundred man columns were looking for fights, they were looking to force the pigs' artillery to fire, they were looking to force reinforcements to respond. And as she and her partner hid for a day and a night seven hundred meters from the front lines, those patrols were often quite successful in drawing a reaction. A few had been slaughered, more had been bloodied as what started as company battles became battalion and regimental fights. During all of this chaos, Tatianna and other snipers watched. They took notes and then brought back what they had seen. Now, the distant scouting part of the battle was ending.

She could now take a shot. Her spotter had seen an experienced sergeant in the German position. He ducked, he wove, he seldom appeared above the ground line. It was obvious that he was the backbone of that company hard point. The captain was an overeager twenty three year old; a combat veteran, but still young. The platoon leaders were even younger and more naive. That Germany company was held together by the sergeants and corporals. He was a worthy target. She waited, as a seven hundred meter shot in poor light was a difficult shot that needed deliberation and discipline.

Suddenly, she saw movement. Officers, an orders group given how they moved. She adjusted her rifle and saw that some of the men were swaying back and forth while a few were too concentrated on the map in front of them. She checked for wind, she checked for distance and then once she settled herself, her rifle barked. Before her finger relaxed off the trigger, she was already moving towards new cover. Eight hundred and forty seven meters away, a battalion commander was on the ground with a ruined shoulder.
 
Story 2185
Alexandria, Egypt August 14, 1943

Josh looked over the side of the USS Wasp. The carrier and her escorts were heading back to Norfolk. A short overnight refueling opportunity was scheduled for Gibraltar and then a high speed run across the Atlantic. The surviving Marine pilots would fly back to Corpus Christi to rebuild the squadron and integrate eighteen new nuggets. They had fought hard and they had inflicted far more losses than they had taken, but eleven Marines weren't coming back to the States. Four had been killed in landing accidents, five had died due to German and Italian defenses and two were known to be prisoners. Half a dozen men were still on light duty, including Josh as they recovered from injuries. He could fly and had spent a few glorious hours over the Sinai desert earlier in the week for his first stick time since he had been shot down. Two men would never fly solo again and a third would be relegated to instructor duty.

As the carrier left the pilot boat behind, her engines pushed her forward and she soon took station alongside USS Ranger. Two cruisers and eight destroyers were also on their way back to the states. Josh looked to the north and saw a cruiser being towed back to port. Some big bomb launched from a German medium bomber ripped through the ship just yards in front of the forward most turret. The explosion ripped off the bow of HMS Manchester. The shipfitters and engineers at the British naval base that they had just departed would be busy as they assessed whether the ship was worth saving.
 
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Tatiana strikes again. She's got "Video Game Set On Easy Mode" levels of accuracy with that rifle. Certainly plausible but her feats are starting to veer into the realm of legend. But even setting that aside, where are the German counter-snipers? By now she and her friends have to have attracted the attention of similarly skilled German shooters, right?
 
Tatiana strikes again. She's got "Video Game Set On Easy Mode" levels of accuracy with that rifle. Certainly plausible but her feats are starting to veer into the realm of legend. But even setting that aside, where are the German counter-snipers? By now she and her friends have to have attracted the attention of similarly skilled German shooters, right?
Note that I'm choosing to highlight some edge cases (Jaroshek will be in the running for leading US kill count for instance). There are plenty of counter snipers out there and that is one of the reasons why in the multiple patrols/stalks she had not taken a shot and instead had "merely" been watching and writing. Now that the observation phase of the patrol/recon battle is over, she (along with dozens of similar scouts) could take a single shot if a good opportunity presented itself.
 
Alexandria, Egypt August 14, 1943

Josh looked over the side of the USS Wasp. The carrier and her escorts were heading back to Norfolk. A short overnight refueling opportunity was scheduled for Gibraltar and then a high speed run across the Atlantic. The surviving Marine pilots would fly back to Corpus Christi to rebuild the squadron and integrate eighteen new nuggets. They had fought hard and they had inflicted far more losses than they had taken, but eleven Marines weren't coming back to the States. Four had been killed in landing accidents, five had died due to German and Italian defenses and two were known to be prisoners. Half a dozen men were still on light duty, including Josh as they recovered from injuries. He could fly and had spent a few glorious hours over the Sinai desert earlier in the week for his first stick time since he had been shot down. Two men would never fly solo again and a third would be relegated to instructor duty.

As the carrier left the pilot boat behind, her engines pushed her forward and she soon took station alongside USS Ranger. Two cruisers and eight destroyers were also on their way back to the states. Josh looked to the north and saw a cruiser being towed back to port. Some big bomb launched from a German medium bomber ripped through the ship just yards in front of the forward most turret. The explosion ripped off the bow of HMS Manchester. The shipfitters and engineers at the British naval base that they had just departed would be busy as they assessed whether the ship was worth saving.
Guided Glide bomb?
 
Where'd you get that print? That's a keeper! I just put it into one of my folders. I had some buddies, shipmates, who served on BB's, either when they were in the USN or via an exchange program. Every Gunnersmates dream, to be part of a big gun shoot, at least I got some time in on the 5"38 and others....

Late reply but that print is by artist Wayne Scapaci. He used to be a member over on Warship Projects 3.0 before it was hacked and destroyed. He used to have a website, artbywayne.com or something, but I think he's moved over to facebook now. His site can still be viewed on webarchive:


You might have to copy/paste that into your browser.

He's done a number of ships, including never-weres...

Regards,
 
Tatiana strikes again. She's got "Video Game Set On Easy Mode" levels of accuracy with that rifle. Certainly plausible but her feats are starting to veer into the realm of legend. But even setting that aside, where are the German counter-snipers? By now she and her friends have to have attracted the attention of similarly skilled German shooters, right?
Tatiana was taking a shot (probably) at the centre of a group. Fair chance of a hit, even at that range, with a wind.
 
Tatiana was taking a shot (probably) at the centre of a group. Fair chance of a hit, even at that range, with a wind.

847 meters and she hit exactly who she was aiming for (the battalion commander) more or less center mass? This isn't the first time she's made incredible shots either. She's been sniping for what, 18 months? And in that time there's no mention til now of any German counter-snipers or anyone who can do anything to stop her? Hell, seemingly every time we read about her she's being perfect at her job with no consequences or failure.

Again, far from implausible but it is starting to get a bit incredible is all. The Germans in this timeline are more effective than they were OTL at this time due to taking significantly less losses. Yet here she is, still causing havoc and getting away with shots that people on a range in peacetime have trouble with.
 

Driftless

Donor
^^^ I don't know the answer to this question..... Is it more difficult to hit a distant target in very cold dry air (0*F/-18*C), or hot humid air(99*F/37*C) - if all other conditions are equal?
 
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McPherson

Banned
Cold dry air is more resistant (denser). I expect more bullet fall over distance fly-out. OTOH, tropics might also mean less crosswind. Just hard to generalize.
 
847 meters and she hit exactly who she was aiming for (the battalion commander) more or less center mass? This isn't the first time she's made incredible shots either. She's been sniping for what, 18 months? And in that time there's no mention til now of any German counter-snipers or anyone who can do anything to stop her? Hell, seemingly every time we read about her she's being perfect at her job with no consequences or failure.

Again, far from implausible but it is starting to get a bit incredible is all. The Germans in this timeline are more effective than they were OTL at this time due to taking significantly less losses. Yet here she is, still causing havoc and getting away with shots that people on a range in peacetime have trouble with.
I know plenty of folks who can make that shot on a consistent basis, hitting at that range with a scope and good rifle is easy. Remember she is a survivor at this point and has learned all the tricks of the trade in order to live this long. Hitting center mass is easy, hitting a head shot is not. You are not talking about people who are green as grass, they have had time to perfect their tactics and the way they work and change the way they work when it doesn't.
 
847 meters and she hit exactly who she was aiming for (the battalion commander) more or less center mass? This isn't the first time she's made incredible shots either. She's been sniping for what, 18 months? And in that time there's no mention til now of any German counter-snipers or anyone who can do anything to stop her? Hell, seemingly every time we read about her she's being perfect at her job with no consequences or failure.

Again, far from implausible but it is starting to get a bit incredible is all. The Germans in this timeline are more effective than they were OTL at this time due to taking significantly less losses. Yet here she is, still causing havoc and getting away with shots that people on a range in peacetime have trouble with.
She did not hit center mass. Center mass would have been a kill shot. The battalion commander's shoulder is wrecked but, assuming the aid station is at all competent, he will be able to serve on staff duty in several months.
 

SsgtC

Banned
847 meters and she hit exactly who she was aiming for (the battalion commander) more or less center mass? This isn't the first time she's made incredible shots either. She's been sniping for what, 18 months? And in that time there's no mention til now of any German counter-snipers or anyone who can do anything to stop her? Hell, seemingly every time we read about her she's being perfect at her job with no consequences or failure.

Again, far from implausible but it is starting to get a bit incredible is all. The Germans in this timeline are more effective than they were OTL at this time due to taking significantly less losses. Yet here she is, still causing havoc and getting away with shots that people on a range in peacetime have trouble with.
Keep in mind, we're only seeing snapshots of each Character in the story. So we may not have seen her failures or near misses from getting nailed by a counter-sniper team
 
You are not talking about people who are green as grass, they have had time to perfect their tactics and the way they work and change the way they work when it doesn't.

Can't you say that exact same sentence about the Germans though too? We've established that they are better ITTL than OTL yet they're powerless to stop or even slow down Tatiana. They just line up like cows to the slaughter despite the fact that they should know clearly know better by now.
 
Can't you say that exact same sentence about the Germans though too? We've established that they are better ITTL than OTL yet they're powerless to stop or even slow down Tatiana. They just line up like cows to the slaughter despite the fact that they should know clearly know better by now.

We're only seeing Tatiana. We aren't seeing all the other Soviet snipers who are also extremely skilled, but got counter-sniped ... because then we couldn't keep following their story. We've also seen very little from the POV of the German military.
 
Can't you say that exact same sentence about the Germans though too? We've established that they are better ITTL than OTL yet they're powerless to stop or even slow down Tatiana. They just line up like cows to the slaughter despite the fact that they should know clearly know better by now.
If you're frustrated because "the Germans didn't kill all snipers and it's unrealistic," then I hope you don't open a history book or even a Wiki page on snipers.

What do you want the Germans to do, exactly? Snipers are hard to counter even in modern times with all the thermal optics, unmanned drones, and other fancy tech. You can be improbably good and stop 90% of snipers, but the rest like Tatiana get lucky and survive until they aren't lucky and are hit. The Germans are likely doing what they can, which might be a lot but historically was rarely enough.
 
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