Sniping in France, 1914-18

By Hesketh Vernon Hesketh-Prichard

Subjects: Military Shooting, Great Britain. Army. First Army School of Scouting, Observation and Sniping, First army school of scouting, observation and sniping, World war, 1914-1918, campaigns, World War, 1914-1918, Sniping (Military science), British Personal narratives, Trench warfare, Shooting, military, trench warfare, Military art and science, history, World war, 1914-1918, great britain, Great britain, army, First Army School of Scouting, Observation, and Sniping (Great Britain), Personal narratives, British, British Army, Great Britain, Western Front, Army, World War I

Description: Major Hesketh Vernon Hesketh-Prichard was an explorer and adventurer who revolutionized the training of British Army snipers during the First World War. In this richly-detailed book, he explains his constant efforts to improve sniping standards, which finally resulted in the First Army School of Scouting, Observation and Sniping. Drawing on his experience as a big-game hunter and marksman, he emphasized the importance of camouflage, careful observation, the ability to shoot quickly and accurately, and above all the necessity of out-thinking the opponent – for as he noted, sniping in the trenches was “really neither more nor less than a very high-class form of big game shooting, in which the quarry shot back.” The book includes many anecdotes of his times on the front lines, the various ruses and counter-ruses employed by the snipers on both sides, and his musings on the responsibilities of the sniper in future wars – in which he accurately predicts the role of the scout-sniper teams of today. Detailed appendices reproduce the early curriculum of his sniper school. A contemporary estimated that Hesketh-Prichard’s training saved the lives of over 3,500 Allied soldiers: this book explains how he did it.