Sniper on the Eastern Front: The Memoirs of Sepp Allerberger, Knights Cross

A biography of Josef "Sepp" Allerberger, the second most successful sniper of the German Wehrmacht and one of the few private soldiers to receive the Knights Cross award. An Austrian conscript trained as a Wehrmacht machine gunner, Allerberger was drafted to the southern sector of the Russian Front in July 1942. After being wounded at Voroshilovsk, he experimented with a Russian sniper rifle during recovery and demonstrated such proficiency that his superiors assigned him to return to the front as his regiment's only sniper specialist. The account details the fieldcraft, discipline, and routine demanded of sniper work. It documents conditions on the Russian Front, including the use of explosive bullets by Russian snipers from 1941 onward and Hitler's authorization of their issue to German forces in 1944. The narrative covers Allerberger's weapons, techniques, and the employment of German snipers during this period of the war.