Re: [OT] "Enemy At The Gates" Review

--- John Atkinson <johnmatkinson@yahoo.com> wrote:
> 
> --- clourenco <clourenco@snet.net> wrote:
>  
> > - Where'd Ed Harris' character get some of the
> > awards he is wearing if he
> > was a school commandant?
> > (Was he a great WW1 sniper?)
> > 
> > He was a sniper first and a higly decorated
> soldier
> > pulled off the front and
> > sent to the school. Koenig was the Kommadant of
> the
> > Sniper school, he was
> > the Masterschutze, the master sniper..head
> > instructor. Most nations will
> > pull their top snipers to become instrcutors and
> > even run thier own courses,
> > as Hathcock did for instance. Eventually they're
> > worth more to the war
> > effort there than at the front.
> 
> One of the comments made by the character with the
> teeth states that Koenig was running the sniper
> school
> pre-WWII, which would imply to me that he was a
> regular sniper in WWI.
>  
> > Oh and I was more than happy to see that girl's
> > ass....
> 
> Another night in the barracks.
> 
> John

I haven't seen the movie yet, but my understanding of
the whole Zaitsev vs. Koenig duel is that it did not
happen, in no small measure due to the fact the
Wehrmacht did not have a Major Koenig who ran a sniper
school. The whole story of an junior-ranking Russian
soldier taking out a German major with the
aristocratic-sounding name of "King" seems to have
been cooked up for morale-boosting reasons. The Red
Army in late '42 was in great need of morale-boosting
stories, and since real life was short of them, the
truth sometimes had to be stretched a little.

Having said that, how did the Wehrmacht run its sniper
programs in WW2?

Mike J.

=====
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http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Rampart/1966/

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