Vasily Zaytsev

Vasily Grigoryevich Zaytsev (Russian: Васи́лий Григо́рьевич За́йцев, IPA: [vɐˈsʲilʲɪj ɡrʲɪˈɡorʲjɪvʲɪtɕ ˈzajtsɨf]; 23 March 1915 – 15 December 1991) was a Soviet sniper and a Hero of the Soviet Union during World War II. Prior to 10 November 1942, he killed 32 Axis Soldiers with a standard-issue rifle. Between 10 November 1942 and 17 December 1942, during the Battle of Stalingrad, he killed 225 enemy Soldiers, including 11 snipers.

He graduated from seven classes of junior high school. In 1930 he graduated from a construction college in the city of Magnitogorsk, where he received the specialty of a fitter. Then he graduated from accounting courses.

From 1937 he served in the Pacific Fleet, where he was enlisted as clerk of the artillery department. After studying at the Military School, he was appointed head of the financial part of the Pacific Fleet, in Transfiguration Bay. In this post he was caught by the Great Patriotic War.

Zaytsev served in the Soviet Navy as a clerk in Vladivostok. When Germany invaded the Soviet Union, Zaytsev, like many of his comrades, volunteered to be transferred to the front line. He was a chief petty officer in the Navy and was assigned the rank of senior warrant officer upon transfer to the army. He was eventually assigned to the 1047th Rifle Regiment of the 284th "Tomsk" Rifle Division, which became part of the 62nd Army at Stalingrad on 17 September 1942.

Zaytsev fought in the Battle of Stalingrad until January 1943, when a mortar attack injured his eyes. He was attended to by Vladimir Filatov, who is credited with having restored Zaytsev's sight. On 22 February 1943, Zaytsev was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union. He then returned to the front and finished the war at the Battle of the Seelow Heights in Germany, with the military rank of captain. He became a member of the Communist Party in 1943.

After the war, Zaytsev settled in Kiev, where he studied at a textile university before obtaining employment as an Engineer. He rose to become the Director of a textile factory in Kiev and remained in that city until he died on 15 December 1991 at the age of 76, just ten days before the final dissolution of the Soviet Union. He was initially buried in Kiev despite his final request to be buried at Volgograd.

A feature-length film, Enemy at the Gates (2001), starring Jude Law as Zaytsev, was based on part of william Craig's non-fiction book Enemy at the Gates: The Battle for Stalingrad (1973), which includes a "snipers' duel" between Zaytsev and a Wehrmacht sniper school Director, Major Erwin König.

On 31 January 2006, Vasily Zaytsev was reburied on Mamayev Hill in Volgograd with full military honors. Zaytsev's dying wish was to be buried at the monument to the defenders of Stalingrad. His coffin was carried next to a monument where his famous quote is written: "For us there was no land beyond the Volga".

During Zaytsev's career as a sniper, he concealed himself in various locations – for Example, on high ground, under rubble, or in water pipes. After a few kills, he changed his position. Together with his partner Nikolai Kulikov, Zaytsev exercised his hide and sting tactics. One of Zaytsev’s Common tactics was to cover one large area from three positions, with two men at each point – a sniper and a scout. This tactic, known as the “sixes”, is still in use today and was implemented during the war in Chechnya.