![]() ![]() The German Army retained sniping as a specialization between the wars but showed little enthusiasm for its pursuit. In these conditions, the WWII sniper could adapt these previously invaluable skills to produce an effective weapon. When World War II began, a new style of warfare was introduced it was capable of swift and extensive movement and created very different battlefield conditions in a variety of theaters worldwide. Although there was ad hoc sniping on both sides during the Spanish Civil War, it was Soviet advisers to the Republican side who chose to consider it further when they returned to the Soviet Union and introduced programs to the Red Army to augment existing civilian rifle shooting schemes. During the interwar period, little development took place. The British in particular, having taken a long time to recognize the potential for organized sniping, had been among its best practitioners by 1918 but were nevertheless swift to forget all they had learned. But as is so often the case, immediately after World War I ended most of the protagonists discarded the skills and wisdom they had so painstakingly acquired, considering them no more than adjuncts of a type of warfare in the trenches that they dearly wished to forget. However, it was during World War I that sniping progressed from simply a good marksman picking choice targets to the systematic use of selected men, trained and equipped with highly accurate rifles, telescopic sights, and high-grade ammunition, who engage high-value targets with single shots, usually at long range. During the 19th century, the steadily improving technology of the rifle led to the use of sharpshooters during the American Civil War and the Boer War. The art of sniping developed from the sharpshooting practiced during earlier conflicts.
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