The fighting nations of World War Two produced some of the toughest soldiers in human history.
Some of these men — and women — gained legendary status through their finely honed skills,
incredible courage, and force of will. In this video,
we're going to shed some light on the soldiers with the highest number of confirmed
kills from eight fighting nations, which, we should warn you, are mostly snipers.
Ivan Sidorenko rose from humble beginnings in the USSR. Initially conscripted into a mortar company
during the Battle of Moscow, Sidorenko would swiftly discover he had another, unique skill.
When he wasn't raining high explosive shells on German soldiers,
Sidorenko would carry out his *own* missions. Arming himself with the standard Mosin-Nagant
rifle, Sidorenko would strike out alone into the outskirts of Moscow.
There, he would camouflage himself in the rubble of the scarred city,
sniping the enemy from great distances. A natural predator fighting on his home turf, Sidorenko
began to rack up an impressive number of kills as well as vehicles destroyed. On one mission,
he destroyed four enemy vehicles — one after another — with four shots aimed at the fuel tanks.
His commanders recognised the deadly potential of this part-time sniper both as a killer
and valuable propaganda piece. Sidorenko was given a sniper variant of the Mosin-Nagant and recruits
to train. Their training was tough, and recruits had to learn to live by Sidorenko’s ethos:
“One shot, One kill.”
Soviet snipers like Sidorenko were hugely influential in the chaotic street-to-street
fighting in Russia’s bombed-out cities. Their ability to deliver
"death from afar" spread fear through the German ranks. And rightly so, as by the end of the war,
Sidorenko — the USSR’s top sniper and top soldier — boasted 500 confirmed kills.
While Soviet snipers were crawling through the rubble to line up the perfect shot, US infantryman
Audie Murphy was leading his platoon from the front with courage so extreme that the US military
ran out of medals to give him. His coolness under fire became legendary among US forces.
During the Normandy campaign Murphy killed upwards of 50 enemy soldiers in one devastating attack;
as per his Medal of Honor citation:
“... Murphy ... was attacked by six tanks and [several] waves of infantry…
[Ordering his men back to take cover, he] climbed on [a] burning tank destroyer ... and
[fired] its ... machine gun [at] the enemy. He was alone and exposed to German fire from three sides,
but his deadly fire killed dozens of Germans and caused their infantry attack to waver ...”
This was just one of many firefights that justly earned Murphy his deadly reputation.
Some sources credit him with around 240 confirmed kills — but this is difficult to check,
as the figure included kills from artillery strikes Murphy called in. For us though,
the conspicuous bravery of Audie Murphy and his skill under fire earns him a place in this video.
Born to a long line of hunters from the Austrian Alps, Matthaus Hetzenauer was conscripted into the
German army immediately after his 17th birthday. Having grown up hunting in the mountains,
the young Austrian was sent to an elite alpine unit which made use of his special
skills. He was later selected for specialised sniper training, which he completed in 1944.
The German army of 1944 was in dire need of men and equipment. The Eastern Front had
ravaged the once-powerful *Wehrmacht,* and a seemingly
inexhaustible torrent of Soviet soldiers was crashing into the German lines.
Hetzenauer’s unit was deployed to the Hungarian and Slovakian regions
of the Carpathian mountains, a range that runs through several countries in central Europe.
The young sniper excelled in this environment — applying the techniques of hunting deer
to hunting Soviet machine-gunners and commanders. Sometimes, Hetzenauer would
kill every soldier in an enemy squad just to *clear the path* to a field commander.
In the 10 months Hetzenauer spent fighting the Soviets, he scored 345 confirmed kills,
the highest among any German soldier — but like many other snipers in this video,
his own estimate is far higher: around 500
While terrifying, Wehrmacht snipers were not unkillable. British soldier Harry Furness was
well aware of this fact, making it his mission to kill as many Wehrmacht snipers as he could.
As the British soldier with the highest number of confirmed kills, you could say he was successful.
Furness did most of his deadly work in rural France in 1944. He was first and foremost a recon
specialist, building concealed positions at night close to the German lines to observe them by day.
On more than one occasion, Furness was trapped — completely undetected — in a
position behind German lines when they advanced unexpectedly. He waited for days without moving,
until the Germans retreated. Furness returned to HQ that night with the most detailed report of
a German unit his commanders had ever seen. He had also been gone so long he was reported MIA.
On other occasions, Furness used his supreme concealment skills to stalk German snipers
through the countryside for days. He always searched their positions after firing his
shot and ending their lives, taking their scopes as souvenirs. By the end of the war
Furness had filled a crate with German scopes, and his total confirmed kill count reached 117
We've all heard of Finnish sniper Simo Haya, but this video would be incomplete without
him.. The last thing an unlucky enemy soldier never **saw, Hayha earned the nickname "White
Death" during the Second World War and became a Finnish national hero.
Fighting the 105-day Winter War between Finland and the USSR was gruelling work.
In the sub-zero temperatures and waist-deep snow of Eastern Finland,
equipment and vehicles quickly broke down. Soldiers spent
weeks in the wilderness, fighting hypothermia as ferociously as they fought their enemy.
In the white-washed landscape, Hayha hunted Soviet soldiers like the woodsman he was.
He had scattered numerous sniper "nests" through the forests of Eastern Finland, waiting hours
in these positions for an unfortunate Soviet to enter his sights. His technique was devastatingly
successful: on the 21st of December 1939, Hayha killed at least 25 enemy soldiers in a single day.
Despite his immense skill and growing fame, Hayha felt he had simply done his duty to Finland.
Reports on his kill count vary, but it’s possible it could be as high as 542 confirmed kills.
This incredible feat makes Hayha the top-ranked sniper of the war
and one of the best snipers to have ever lived.
Czechoslovakian medic and sniper Marie Ljalkova is a truly unique case not just
because she was a woman but because she was proficient with both taking *and* saving lives.
Ljalkova volunteered with the First Czechoslovak Independent Field Battalion when it was founded in
1942. This unit was thrown together to stand with the Soviet Red Army in defence of central Europe.
Among its ranks were hardened veterans of the Czechoslovak Legion, Slovak prisoners-of-war,
defectors from Nazi-occupied lands, and Czech-speaking volunteers. At the personal
request of Stalin, this cobbled-together unit was launched into combat at the Battle of Sokolovo.
Here, the freshly trained sniper Ljalkova would make her first
mark. Fighting alongside the battered soldiers of the Soviet Red Army,
Ljalkova shot seven German soldiers dead, making her a sniper ace.
As the wider battle for Eastern Europe, between Fascists and Communists, dragged on, Ljalkova
distinguished herself on several occasions. In 1944, Stalin demanded women be removed from combat
roles, and Ljalkova was sent to a Tank unit as its chief medic. By the end of the war, she had
30 kills to her name, but countless more tankers were alive because of her medical expertise.
This next infantryman has the honour of not only the most confirmed kills for his country but also
achieved this feat in a single engagement. Nepalese Gurkha Rifleman Lachhiman Gurung
fought the Japanese while serving the Indian Army, under the broader command of the British Empire,
earning his place in history — and a Victoria Cross — in a single firefight.
Gurung was manning the forwardmost trench with two comrades, with the rest of his
platoon to his rear. On the night of the 12th of May 1945, at least 200 Japanese soldiers
attacked his position head-on. The attack began with a barrage of hand grenades, the majority
of which Gurung threw back — *except one*, which killed his comrades and blew off his right hand.
When lesser men would have accepted their fate,
Gurung loaded and fired his rifle left-handed for four hours, buying his unit time to regroup. He
is credited with single-handedly inspiring other soldiers to defend their position to the last man.
When morning came, 31 dead Japanese soldiers lay sprawled directly in front of Gurung’s trench.
Another 57 lay around the immediate area, and it's likely Gurung killed the majority of these men
too. His bravery was so inspiring and critical to his platoon’s defence of their position
that all 87 dead Japanese were attributed to him
Of all the soldiers in this video, this next sniper was undoubtedly the most dedicated to
his cause. Born and raised in East Prussia, a German enclave located directly north of Poland,
Bruno Sutkus was a *true believer* in German Nationalism. He joined the Hitler Youth as a
teenager and progressed through its ranks before joining the SA “Brownshirts” at the age of 18.
The Brownshirts were the first paramilitary wing of the Nazi Party.
They were the initial Nazi muscle, starting street fights, intimidating politicians,
threatening journalists, and smashing up Jewish-owned businesses.
They also organised military training, and this was where young Sutkus learned to shoot.
Sutkus enthusiastically joined the German Army as a sniper and fought on the Eastern Front.
Brutally meticulous when it came to killing the enemies of Nazism,
he insisted on keeping a book detailing every kill he made, and he also went as far to
have each kill in this "diary of death” confirmed by at least one other soldier
and checked off by his commander. Sutkus’s count on the final page of his book? 209 confirmed kills
These were just eight soldiers with the most confirmed kills from eight
fighting nations You KNOW there's going to be a second part to this video, but which World
War II soldiers do YOU think we'll include? Please share your thoughts in the comments.