Sniping in France: How the British Army Won the Sniping War in the Trenches

by H. Hesketh-Prichard

Overview

Available for the first time in years, this is a new edition of the classic account by the adventurer and big game hunter who developed and ran the British Army sniping programme in the First World War. When the war started in 1914, Germany's edge in the sniping duel on the Western Front cost thousands of British casualties. Sniping in France explains the methods Hesketh-Prichard used to reverse the situation and help win the sniping war. A glossary of terms and a photograph of the author have been added.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781473818354
Publisher:	Pen & Sword Books Limited
Publication date:	01/31/2020
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	224
Sales rank:	700,481
File size:	3 MB

About the Author

Major Hesketh Vernon Hesketh-Prichard, DSO, MC, FRGS, FZS (17 November 1876 – 14 June 1922) was an explorer, adventurer, big-game hunter and marksman who made a significant contribution to sniping practice within the British Army during the First World War. Concerned not only with improving the quality of marksmanship, the measures he introduced to counter the threat of German snipers were credited by a contemporary with saving the lives of over 3,500 Allied soldiers.
During his lifetime, he also explored territory never seen before by white man, played cricket at first-class level, including on overseas tours, wrote short stories and novels (one of which was turned into a Douglas Fairbanks film) and was a successful newspaper correspondent and travel writer. His many activities brought him into the highest social and professional circles. Like other turn of the century hunters such as Teddy Roosevelt, he was an active campaigner for animal welfare and succeeded in seeing legal measures introduced for their protection.

Table of Contents

Foreword i

1 The Genesis of Sniping 1

2 The Sniper in the Trenches 13

3 Early Days with the XI. Corps and First Army 36

4 The First Army School of Scouting, Observation and Sniping 49

5 Some Sniping Memories 71

6 An Observer's Memories 88

7 The Curriculum and Work at First Army School of S.O.S. 113

8 Wilibald the Hun 133

9 The Cat 142

10 The Training of the Portuguese 148

11 The Modern Scout 153

Appendices

Appendix A Programme for Training Observers 166

Appendix B General Course at First Army School of S.O.S. 169

Appendix C I. Care of Arms, Grouping and Range Practices 175

II Patrolling and Scouting 183

III The Stalking Telescope 188

IV Front Line Observation and Reports 192

V Some Uses of Scouts, Observers and Snipers in Attack and Defence and Open Warfare 198

VI The Enfield 1914 Pattern "Sniper's Rifle" 202