Most people agree that it was Russian propaganda. There are just too many inconsistincies, and fallacies.

Anyone see thie irony in Communist Russian propaganda, being made into a Capitalist American film? I do.

------------------
34th SS-Freiwilligen-Grenadier-Division Landstorm Nederland

"Meine Ehre heißt Treue"

hey obergrenadier, theres no FACT that he was "the best" im sure that there was maybe a private! of any army, that could have had better skills then him, just not any stories of him.... so dont be so sure

------------------
http://3rd.homestead.com/files/rieben.jpg

i saw it on the history channel, it was like the best german sniper, he was like a major i think, against the best russian sniper there was....

the german guy, fell for a trick, the russian dude took his hat, put it on a stick, and helt it above the stone wall he was behind, the german guy shot at it, and had a hunch of where the german was, (behind a piece of sheet metal), so he moved his pos. and shot the piece of metal, the russian shot the german right in the head, dead.....

------------------
http://3rd.homestead.com/files/rieben.jpg

yea, the movie enemy at the gates is based on that epic battle. http://www.alliedassault.com/ubb/smile.gif

------------------
http://3rd.homestead.com/files/darkangel.jpg

there is no real solid evidence that the particular battle actually took place. we know that Major Königs was killed in Stalingrad, but we dont know if it was even in a sniper battle! he was the best, so i doubt that. some historians go as far as to say that Vasilli Zaitsev was a hero made up by the Russians to feed their propaganda machine. i like that explanation the best.

------------------
http://www.xs4all.nl/~rhorta/grabstelle.jpg
Will mir die Hand noch reichen,
Derweil ich eben lad'.
Kann dir die Hand nicht geben,
Bleib du im ew'gen Leben
Mein guter Kamerad!
Mein guter Kamerad!

Actually major koenig is supposed to be the sniper that didn't exist. The story was he was sent to stalingrad with the mission to take out the russian sniper.

Problem was it was never documented in german records that a sniper was sent to to that paticular thing.

Even in the movie enemy at the gates the german officer takes his dog tags from him saying if he were killed it would boost russian propoganda. Thats a way of covering up for the fact that if there were a sniper shot he was never identified as being koenig.

------------------
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/gerald....HUcaptured.jpg

ONCE MORE UNTO THE BEACH :)

You might want to have a look at this link, http://users.pandora.be/stalingrad/snipers.html , it took me quite some time to find this right after I saw the movie (I REALLY wanted more information on that russian sniper).

Again, http://users.pandora.be/stalingrad/snipers.html

Enjoy

------------------
http://3rdInfantry.homestead.com/files/solidus.jpg

thx... http://www.alliedassault.com/ubb/smile.gif

------------------
http://www.thewarpage.com/ww2/gafter/after2.jpg

thx that was a coll site

I agree with Reiben, the Russians thought their sniper was the best, the Germans thought otherwise.(But when it comes down to it, America will always be the best http://www.alliedassault.com/ubb/smile.gif)

------------------
http://www.pnwhg.org/1stid/images/gallery/photo01.jpg
"NO MISSION TOO DIFFICULT,
NO SACRIFICE TOO GREAT,
DUTY FIRST, SIR, DUTY FIRST!"

Actually both men did exist ive read the first hand account of the guy who killed him. It was nothing like the film ending. He said that the german guy was the headmaster of the sniper school in germany. They knew he was coming. Two of his mate were shot one was killed and the other wounded. So he knew this german was good cus his mates were so good. what happend was they would stake out an area for days and see if anything had changed. He noticed a pile for rubble and a sheet of corrigated iron on top of it. He scanned the area and noticed he was under it. He could see his helmet outline and he fired and the rest is history.

Zaitsev was a real sniper, that much is not disputed.

There was, however, no such German sniper found in any German records after the war. The sniper school mentioned in the story also didn't exist. That's why it is said to be false, or just Russian propaganda.

------------------
34th SS-Freiwilligen-Grenadier-Division Landstorm Nederland

"Meine Ehre heißt Treue"