Vasily Zaitsev | |
|---|---|
 Zaitsev, left, in Stalingrad, December 1942 | |
| Native name | Василий Григорьевич Зайцев |
| Born | (1915-03-23)23 March 1915 Yeleninskoye,Orenburg Governorate, Russian Empire |
| Died | 15 December 1991(1991-12-15) (aged 76) Kiev,Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union |
| Buried | Mamayev Kurgan,Volgograd, Russia (from 2006) |
| Allegiance |  Soviet Union |
| Branch | |
| Service years | 1937–1945 |
| Rank | Captain |
| Conflicts | |
| Awards | See list |
 | You can helpexpand this article with text translated fromthe corresponding article in Russian.Click [show] for important translation instructions.
|
Vasily Grigoryevich Zaitsev (Russian:Васи́лий Григо́рьевич За́йцев,IPA:[vɐˈsʲilʲɪjɡrʲɪˈɡorʲjɪvʲɪdʑˈzajtsɨf]; 23 March 1915 – 15 December 1991) was aSoviet sniper who served inWorld War II.
Between 22 September 1942 and 19 October 1942, he killed 40 enemy soldiers.[1] Between 10 October 1942 and 17 December 1942, during theBattle of Stalingrad, he killed 225 enemy soldiers.[2]
Zaitsev became a celebrated figure during the war and later aHero of the Soviet Union, and he remains lauded for his skills as a sniper. His life and military career have been the subject of several books and films: his exploits, as detailed in William Craig's 1973 bookEnemy at the Gates: The Battle for Stalingrad, served as the story for the 2001 filmEnemy at the Gates, withJude Law portraying Zaitsev. He is also featured inDavid L. Robbins's 1999 historical novelWar of the Rats.
Zaitsev was born inYeleninskoye,Orenburg Governorate in aRussian peasant family and grew up in theUral Mountains, where he learned marksmanship by hunting deer and wolves with his grandfather and older brother.[3][4] He brought home his first trophy at the age of 12, a wolf that he killed with a single shot from his first gun (given to him by his grandfather), a single-shot 20-gauge shotgun.
In 1930, Zaitsev graduated from construction college in the city ofMagnitogorsk, where he received the speciality of fitter. He also studied accounting.
From 1937, Zaitsev served in the Pacific Fleet, where he was clerk of the artillery department. After studying at military school, he was appointed head of the finance department of the Pacific Fleet in Transfiguration Bay.
Zaitsev was serving in theSoviet Navy as a clerk inVladivostok when Germany invaded the Soviet Union inOperation Barbarossa. Like many of his comrades, he volunteered for transfer to the front line. He had attained the rank of chief petty officer in the Navy and was assigned the rank of senior warrant officer upon transfer to the army. He was assigned to the 1047th Rifle Regiment of the284th "Tomsk" Rifle Division, which became part of the62nd Army atStalingrad on 17 September 1942.[5]
Zaitsev's accuracy with a rifle led to him becoming a sniper. Zaitsev 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 or relocate. Together with his partner, Nikolai Kulikov, Zaitsev perfected his hide and sting tactics. One method was to cover a 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 by Russian forces and was implemented during theChechen wars.[6]
Zaitsev fought at theBattle of Stalingrad until January 1943, when amortar attack injured his eyes. Some conflicting stories state it was a landmine, but the doctor who treated Zaitsev and eventually restored his eyesight was ophthalmologistVladimir Filatov, founder of theFilatov Institute of Eye Diseases and Tissue Therapy inOdessa, and a pioneer incorneal transplantation. Had Zaitsev been injured by a landmine, an ophthalmologist would not have treated him.[citation needed] According to Soviet sources, before his injury he had killed 225 people in theBattle of Stalingrad alone.
On 22 February 1943, Zaitsev was awarded the titleHero of the Soviet Union. Zaitsev recruited and trained other marksmen during his service in Stalingrad.[7] He returned to thefront, and finished the war at theBattle of the Seelow Heights in Germany, with the rank ofcaptain. He became a member of theAll-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) in 1943.
After the war, Zaitsev settled inKiev (now Kyiv), where he studied at a textile university before obtaining employment as an engineer. He rose to become the director of a textile factory, where he remained until his death on 15 December 1991 in Kiev, at the age of 76, just 11 days before thedissolution of the Soviet Union. He was buried in Kiev, although he wished to be buried in the Stalingrad that he had defended.[8]
On 31 January 2006, Vasily Zaitsev was reburied with fullmilitary honors at the Stalingrad memorial atMamayev Kurgan inVolgograd, Russia.[1]
A feature-length film,Enemy at the Gates (2001), starringJude Law as Zaitsev, was based on part ofWilliam Craig's bookEnemy at the Gates: The Battle for Stalingrad (1973), which includes a "snipers' duel" between Zaitsev and aWehrmacht sniper school director, MajorErwin König. Zaitsev indicates in his own memoirs that a three-day duel did indeed occur and that the sniper he killed was the head of a sniper school nearBerlin; however, historian SirAntony Beevor states that theRussian Ministry of Defence archives contradict this and that the duel had been created by the Soviet propaganda.[9] Russian researcher Oleg Kaminsky suggests that the duel could have been between Zaitsev and the German corporal Hermann Stoff of the295th Infantry Division, who was responsible for 103 killed Red Army soldiers and commanders and who died in Stalingrad at this time.[10]
David L. Robbins's historical novelWar of the Rats (1991) includes a sniper duel in Stalingrad, but between Zaitsev and a German adversary named Colonel Heinz Thorvald, identified in the author's introduction as an actual combatant.[11] Ramón Rosanas wrote a comic about the conflict between Zaitsev and König.[12]
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link)
