Most Notorious Snipers That Have Ever Lived (Number One Would Blow Your Mind)

The history is contoured by bloody wars. Some useful, others completely shapeless. The handiness and gross stupidity of some the battles which claimed valuable lives is quite appalling but that is a story for another day. Today we would be looking at the art of the war itself.

War is not just about throwing deadly darts at the opponent but also involves intelligence, tactics and skills. One of the most valuable tactics used by great war-heads all through time has been snipers. By snipers, I mean that lone guy that is so good and accurate at shooting that he can take out a battalion of 50 men with exactly 50 shots from a jaw-breaking distance comfortably and without blinking. Yes! There have been and are still men and even women like that…….

Some of them are so good that  missions and bounties are even organised to capture them. I mean a single soldier can be more dangerous than a whole army. Today we would be looking at the top 14 most deadly snipers that has ever lived.

Thomas Plunkett, 2 kills, Britain

What other way do we start our list than by paying tribute to an Irishman who did the unthinkable. Plunkett is not on this list because of the number of kills to his hat. He’s here because he did something relatively unheard of in his day. In 1809, using a Baker rifle which the British Army trained its soldiers to shoot at a range of 50 metres, Plunkett killed a French General at a range of 600 metres!!!

 Given the horrible accuracy of the rifles of the time, it was an incredible achievement. After shooting the General, Plunkett, not wanting his comrades to think he was plain lucky, decided to make another shot again before returning to his line. So he reloaded his gun and took aim once again, this time at a major who had come to the General’s aid. The major dropped dead.

If not Jaw-breaking, what would you call that? 

Carlos Norman Hathcock, 93 kills, USA

One of the most feared American snipers in the Vietnam War, the North Vietnamese even put a bounty of $30,000 on his head. In fact, they were so scared of him that they sent out missions just to hunt him down. He once attached a scope to an M2 browning machine gun, and recorded the longest confirmed kill in history (2,500 yards), a record that stood until 2002.

He also once scoped an area of operation for days, keeping track of the enemy’s movement before taking out the North Vietnamese army general there. He was a fearless soldier too, pulling out seven soldiers off of a burning track after being hit by an anti-tank mine. He was seriously injured while doing this

Adelbert Waldron, 109 kills, USA

One of the most accurate and shots America has ever had.

This man was a sniper at heart. As a boy, he would stalk up rabbits for evening supper for his family. This obsession grew to be stalking for men as he would go out to scout for enemy soldiers and eliminate them just for fun even to the extent of going after other snipers. In fact, his commanders often sent solders to look for him after he was out killing for too long. Waldron had the highest number of kills in the Vietnam War.

It is said that once he and his fellow soldiers, while riding along the Mekong river, were attacked by an enemy sniper from the shore 900 metres away. While the rest of the soldiers looked hard to spot the sniper, Waldron picked up his rifle and killed the perpetrator sitting on top of a coconut tree with a single shot. That this was done from a moving platform is an incredible feat in itself.

By the end of the war, he had amassed some 109 confirmed kills.

He finally retired to a life of shark-fishing (for the fun, never for the food).  He died in 1999

Corporal in British Royal Marines, 173 kills, British

The British Royal Marines won’t release the name of the most prolific of snipers who is said to have notched up 173 confirmed kills in Afghanistan. It is said that the actual number of kills may actually be higher. One of the most mind boggling stats is 90 kills in a single day!

And the dude is still alive!

….and yes, very much in active service!!!!!!

Ranjith Premasiri Madalana, 180 kills, Sri Lanka

Not much is known about this Sri Lankan soldier, except that he had 180 confirmed kills against LTTE. He would later be killed by an enemy sniper in 2009.

Zhang Taofang, 214 kills, China

He served in the Chinese Army for only two years during the Korean War and managed to kill no less than 214 enemy soldiers in a span of 32 days! Yes, I mean just 32 twenty four-hour days!!

What’s more incredible is the fact that he started his career with no sniper training at all. He once fired 12 shots and missed every single one of them attracting enemy attention. He learnt quickly though and averaged a massive 6.7 kills per day.

Approximately 7 human lives a day!!

Vasily Zaytsev, 242 kills, Soviet Union

People only learnt of the guy form the movie “Enemy at the gates”. Before notching up enemy kills in the Battle of Stalingrad, Vasily was a humble clerk in the Soviet Navy. After reading about the fighting in the city, he volunteered to be on the front lines, serving with the 1047th Rifle Regiment. Between October and January 1943 he had made 242 confirmed kills. Unbelievable right? But yes, he was human! 

A counter sniper operation from the German side was immediately set up. However, in his memoirs, Zaytsev claims that he killed a German sniper, with whom his duel went on for three days, and claimed his scope as most valued trophy.

You can agree with me that for a man as good as Zaytsev to value the counter-sniper to that extent. Imagine how razor-sharp the counter sniper would have been!

Chris Kyle, 255 kills, USA

This is one of the most successful American snipers. “The devil of Ramadi” as he was nicknamed ran riot through insurgents in Afghanistan. Yes! This dude can shoot off a needle from a rabbits mouth without injuring the rabbit. His most legendary shot came outside the Sadr City in Afghanistan in 2008 when he spotted an insurgent with a rocket launcher near an Army convoy - 2,100 yards away. That’s more than 2 kms far. He let just one loose from his .338 Lapua Magnum rifle to knock the guy dead. Such was his reputation that when the enemy nicknamed him 'Al-Shaitan Ramad', they were every bit very right. Kyle died in 2013 in a shooting range incident along with his friend Chad Littlefield.

  

Lyudmila Pavlichenko, 309 kills, Soviet Union

One of the most prolific female snipers in history. Quiet and gentle looking, this lady was one the world most lethal silver snakes.

Lyudmila had a torrid time the first time she faced the enemy. She just couldn’t bring herself to kill the German soldiers in her sights. It was only when a young soldier next to her was killed that she went lost. According to her, “…I never looked back”. She killed two enemy soldiers that day.

She would later add 307 more to the tally. She also killed 36 enemy snipers including one of whom already amassed 500 kills. After the war ended, she was retired and became a historian and an ammunition legend. 

Francis Pegahmagabow, 378 kills, Canada

A Canadian soldier of native American origin and a German nightmare. He was the First Nations most highly decorated soldier and one of the most effective snipers of world war 1. 

This man was solely responsible for the death of almost 400 Germans the capture of 300 enemy soldiers. He was unfortunately though, seriously wounded twice while fighting the Germans but  that’s not all. This guy also ran through enemy fire to get more ammo when his unit was running low at a time when his commanding officer was also awarded medals for running messages through very heavy enemy fire. 

 Fyodor Okhlopkov, 429 kills, Soviet Union

This was another Soviet sniper who fought in World War 2. He first started out as a machine-gunner, then became a sub-machine gun group commander, and in 1942 became a sniper.

Since the contributions of indigenous population were not recognised in these days, his 429 kills were only acknowledged 20 years after the war was over. A newspaper in Russia wrote this about him, “He has the keen eye of a hunter, the hard hand of a miner, and a big, warm heart.”

Yes, a big warm heart…….for blood. 

 .

Ivan Sidorenko, 500 plus kills, Soviet Union

Ivan was a school dropout and very bored young man who enrolled in the army to while away his time.

 As a young officer, Sidorenko fought in the Battle of Moscow. The mortar team he was assigned to didn’t seem exciting enough, so he taught himself to snipe. This was the worst thing he could ever do to the Germans.

One by one he hunted the German soldiers from his Mosin-Nagant rifle. In retaliation, the Germans too posted their snipers in Sidorenko’s area, but failed to kill him. The young man’s aim was so accurate and clinical that his superiors called him to train more snipers. The result was a complete annihilation of the German troops at the 1st Baltic Front. 

Simo Hayha, 505 kills, Finland

A hero among heroes. Unarguably the most deadly killing machine the world has ever seen. This man was a simply death walking.

Simo Hayha was never a trouble maker. He was quietly leading a very peaceful life in rural Finland after having completed his compulsory training in the Finnish Army when he was called up to serve the nation during The Soviet Union 1939 invasion of  Finland.

 ‘The White Death’ as he was nicknamed racked up 505 confirmed kills using his M/28-30 rifle. When the Soviets initially found out that their soldiers were being killed, they thought that since it was war, casualties must abound. But the casualties kept increasing mysteriously. In time, they got wind of The White Death and immediately sent a counter sniper. The dude was killed by Hayha.

In return, the Soviets sent in more snipers; none returned! Next, they sent in a whole battalion; this still were sized-down by the magical machine. The soviets finally sent in the artillery to bomb him to death, but to no avail.

Hayha was so successful at hunting down the enemy because of a white camouflage that he usually wore and hid in the snow with, despite the terrible winters. So dedicated was he that he stayed in position without moving with snow in his mouth so that his breath didn’t condense and give away his position. He also preferred to use a smaller weapon to suit his compact frame and used the iron sights on his gun rather than a scope so that he couldn’t be spotted.

Towards the end of the war, he was hit in the jaw by a stray bullet and was later picked up by a fellow soldier. He didn’t die, but regained consciousness only on the 13th day. By then, peace had been declared and his tally remained at 505.

The most unbelievable comebacks in football history

The best soccer leagues in the world are mostly worth their salt because of excitement in their matches. Surprises are the eclipse of excitements. This has always been a trademark in European cups.
Just a fortnight ago, Barcelona shocked the world by producing one of the greatest comebacks in history. This has not only sparked arguments and excitements but it has also reminded us of such glorious nights in European Soccer History. Today, we would be looking at the most shocking European comebacks of all time……

LIVERPOOL 3 – 3 AC Millan

What other way can we start the roll-call of comebacks than  with the six goal thriller game that has been regarded as the most exciting champion league finals ever in the European Cup.
Milan came into the finals of the 2005 Champions League as the hot favorites and did not disappoint as they immediately ran into a 3-0 halftime lead.
It was an incredible performance but far-short of what was to happen in the other half of the encounter.
Liverpool headed by Stephen Gerrard ran out an unbelievable resurgent in the second period in which the Reds scored three goals and took the game to penalties.
There, it was left for Jerzy Dudek to finish the job.

BARCELONA 5-6 METZ

Barcelona have always been the giants of football. But on this night, some terrible defensive play and sparkling French brilliance put them in second place or even far from that.
In 1984, during the European Cup finals, the French side lost the home leg 4-2 to the catalian giants. The loss was so convincing that the Barcelona players even started boosting and congratulating themselves in Newspapers. Even the French national TV station didn’t even bother to air the match. Little did they know that a sharp bend was about to occur.
Not saying much, Metz came from behind to to win 4-2 on aggregate to the trophy while the Spaniards where left with all the questions.

PARTIZAN BELGRADE 4-0 QUEEN PARK RANGERS

Once upon a time, Queen Park Rangers where confronted with a very tough task of tackling one of Europe’s finest teams in the European Cup. They gave everybody the shock of their lives by walloping Partizan 5 – 2 at home religiously sealing the contest
Well, there were more shocks waiting at the other side of the draw.
Unknown to them, the Serbian giants had other ideas as they pounded the Hoops 4-0 to claim the tie on away goals.

BAYERN UERDINGEN 7-5 DYNAMO DRESDEN

This miracle happened in 1986 when Bayern Uerdingen were drawn in a quarter final tie with Dynamo Dresden.

As if a first leg 2-0 first leg loss was not bad enough, Bayer saw themselves trailing by 3-1 in the second leg. Surely that should be enough.

But bang! Bayern were awarded a penalty.

Wolfang Funkel immediately converted the spot kick to kick-start an unbelievable comeback which ended with Bayern snatching a miraculous 7-5 aggregate win.

Barcelona 6-5 PSG

It was shocking. It was jaw-breaking. It was simply UNBELIEVABLE.

Some may say that it was an official-inspired win but that does not take any shine from the spook. No single predicator, no single bookmaker saw that coming…

Barcelona earlier gave the world a shocker by crashing to a 4-0 loss at Paris. The loss was so humiliating that it even caused their coach to promise resignation after the season. But no, there were other onions cooking. Very purple onions.

Even though Barcelona opened scoring early, their chances were technically demolished when Cavani picked up an away goal for the French giants. But no! The witch doctor was still cooking.

It took a few late referee manipulations, defender callousness and pure Magic to turn the tables. It ended 6-1 in favor of the Spanish giants.

Nelly Bly - The bravest woman to tour the world without a plane

She gave life. She is a wife.

She is a mother and she is a friend.

She is a sister a survivor to the end.

-anonymous

Women are the pillars of live. They have been actively involved in the shaping of the world both in terms of history, sports as well as politics. Even though less credit is given to them because of mostly moral and religious reasons, their contribution in some cases are so extraordinary that their fame crosses all hiccups.

 On this international day of Women, we would be looking at one of the greatest female explorers of time.

Early Life

Nellie Bly was conceived Elizabeth Jane Cochran (she later included an "e" to her surname) on May 5, 1864, in Cochran's Mills, Pennsylvania. The town was founded by her father, Michael Cochran, who amply

provided for his family his family by filling in as a judge and landowner. Her granddad had moved to America from Ireland in the

1790s. Bly's mom was Michael Cochran's second spouse, Mary Jane Cochran; their marriage created five kids, the third was Bly.

Bly endured a disastrous misfortune in 1870, at the age of 6, when her dad passed on all of a sudden.

Michael Cochran's demise displayed a grave financial hindrance to his family, as he died without a will, and, hence, no lawful claim to his home.

Journalistic Career

With an end goal to bolster her now-single mother, Bly enlisted at the Indiana Normal School, a little school in Indiana, Pennsylvania, where she contemplated to turn into an instructor.

 In any case, not long after starting her courses there, monetary constrained Bly's zeal for advanced education.

 In the wake of leaving the school, she moved with her mom to the adjacent city of Pittsburgh, where, together, they ran a hostel.

Bly's future at last started to look brighter in the mid 1880s, when, at 18 years old, she presented a shocking reaction to a publication piece that had been distributed in The Pittsburgh Dispatch.

In the piece, author Erasmus Wilson (known to Dispatch perusers as the "Quiet Observer," or Q.O.) asserted that ladies were best served in the home, leading local obligations for example, bringing up youngsters, cooking and cleaning, and called the working lady "a hulk."

Aghast by Wilson's sexist assertions, it didn't take long for Bly to make her red hot reply. Bly's letter caught the attention of the paper's overseeing supervisor, George Madden, who, thusly, offered her a position.

Filling in as a correspondent (start in 1885) for The Pittsburgh Dispatch at a rate of $5 and taking on the pen-name by which she's best known, after the Stephen Foster song "Nelly Bly" [sic]—Bly expanded upon the negative consequences of sexist ideologies and emphasized the importance of women's rights issues. She also became renowned for her investigative and undercover reporting, including acting like a sweatshop specialist to uncover poor working conditions confronted by ladies.

Nonetheless, Bly turned out to be progressively constrained in her work at The Pittsburgh Dispatch after her editors moved her to the paper's ladies' page, furthermore, sought to locate a more important role.

In 1887, Bly moved to New York City, where she started working for the daily paper New York World, the distribution that would later turn out to be broadly known for initiating "yellow news coverage."

Breakthrough

One of Bly's earliest assignments at the paper was to author a piece detailing the experiences endured by patients of the infamous mental institution on Blackwell's Island (now Roosevelt Island) in New York City. In an effort to most accurately expose the conditions at the asylum, she pretended to be a mental patient in order to be committed to the facility, where she lived for 10 days.

Bly's report, published to the World soon after her arrival to the truth, was an enormous victory. The piece shed light on a number of aggravating conditions at the institution, counting disregard and physical manhandle, and eventually prodded a vast scale examination of the establishment and also genuine and necessary upgrades in medicinal services.

Later in 1887, Bly's arrangement was later reproduced as a book - Ten Days in a Mad-House, distributed in New York City by Ian L. Munro.

Driven by New York Assistant District Attorney Vernon M. Davis, with Bly helping, the shelter examination brought about a number of changes in New York City's Department of Public Charities and Corrections (later part into isolated offices, the Bureau of Correction and the Bureau of Public Charities), extra doctor arrangements for more grounded supervision of attendants and other human services specialists, and directions to counteract packing and fire dangers at the city's therapeutic offices.

Bly took after her Blackwell's report with comparable investigative work, including publications itemizing the ill-advised treatment of people in New York correctional facilites and production lines, debasement in the state lawmaking body and other direct records of misbehavior.

She additionally met and composed pieces on a few noticeable figures of the time, including any semblance of Emma Goldman and Susan B . Anthony .

International Acclaim

Bly went ahead to acquire fame in 1889, when she went the world over in an endeavor to break the artificial record of Phileas Fogg, the anecdotal title character of Jules Verne 's 1873 novel Around the World in Eighty Days, who as the story goes, cruised the world over in 80 days.

Given the green light to attempt the deed by the New York World, Bly left on her voyage from Hoboken, New Jersey in November 1889, voyaging first by ship however later through stallion, rickshaw, sampan, burro and different vehicles. She finished the excursion in 72 days, 6 hours, 11 minutes and 14 seconds—setting a real record, in spite of her anecdotal motivation. (Bly's record was beaten a couple of months later in 1890, by George Francis Train, who completed the journey in 67 days.)

Reinforced by constant scope in the World, Bly earned global fame for her months-long trick, and her popularity kept on developing after she securely returned to her local state and her record-setting accomplishment was announced. Bly later

published a book about the experience:

Around the globe in 72 Days (1890).

Marriage and Later Years

In 1895, at 30 years old, Bly wedded tycoon industrialist Robert Seaman, who was 40 years her senior, and consequently turned out to be lawfully known as Elizabeth Jane Cochrane Seaman (in full).

Also around this time, she retired from journalism, and by all accounts the couple enjoyed a happy marriage. Upon her

husband’s death, she took the helm of his Iron Clad Manufacturing Co. During her

time there, she obtained a patent for a 55-gallon oil drum, which evolved into the

standard used today. While in charge of the company, Bly put her social reforms into action and Iron Clad employees enjoyed several perks unheard of at the time:

Eventually, the expenses of these advantages started to mount and deplete her wallet.

Confronted with such lessening accounts, Bly thusly reentered the daily paper industry. She started working for the New York Journal in 1920 and covered various stories, including ones about the growing women's suffrage movement.

Only two years in the wake of resuscitating her journalism career, on January 27, 1922, Nellie Bly lost her life to pneumonia in New York City. She was 57 years of age.

EPILOGUE

Nelly bly was not such a noisy achiever but in a world where woman play second fiddle to men, she was definitely one of a kind.