Snipers are one of the most crucial units on a military force during wars and situations that threaten national security. With their skill to shoot a single enemy unit from an extraordinary distance, they are the best assassins to kill the opposing army’s vital soldier. Although snipers always lurk in the dark of the shadows invisible to their targets and witnesses, some of these deadly soldiers became famous snipers of all time. Their notorieties became the talk on different nations and the nightmare of their adversaries.

1. Thomas Plunkett

Thomas Plunkett was part of the British 95th rifles. He is the Irish sniper who managed to kill General Auguste-Marie-François Colbert of the French army. It was at the battle of Cacabelos in 1809 that Plunkett killed the French general with the use of a Baker Rifle. He took the shot that killed the general at a distance around 600 meters. Although he already impressed his comrades by shooting his target from an unbelievable range, Plunkett decided to show off his badass marksmanship by firing another target at the same distance.

2. Henry Louis Norwest

Lance Corporal Henry Louis Norwest was the famous sniper from the Canadian army during the days of World War I. His impressive record of 115 kills within his three years in 50th Canadian Infantry Battalion made him remarkably famous sniper in history. Although Henry was originally a rodeo performer, his destiny on being an effective marksman urged him to enter Northwest Mounted Police. After a brief period of serving this department, he joined the Canadian army in September 1915. He was famous for his stealth and camouflage techniques, which made him a notorious sniper during the war.

3. Charles ‘Chuck’ Mawhinney

Charles Mawhinney, also known as Chuck Mawhinney, is a famous sniper in the US Marine Corps during the Vietnam War. He was the one who managed to create the record of highest confirmed kills for a Marine sniper. Aside from his record for confirmed kills, his skills of firing at great distances also made this deadly marine a famous sniper. Documentations confirmed that Mawhinney killed many Vietnamese from a range of about 1,000 yards. Although he was able to surpass the records of confirmed kills by the renowned sniper Carlos Hathcock, the military awarded Mawhinney highly classified assignments making him anonymous in the pages of Vietnam War history.

4. Erwin König

Heinz Thorvald, popularly known by the name Erwin König, was a remarkable Werrmacht marksman that made his name on the pages of world history. His greatest and most memorable target was another well-known sniper Vasily Zaytsev. In the midst of the Battle of Stalingrad, Zaytsev was able to kill König during their battle at the ruins. König was one of Zaytsev’s greatest rivals during the war and was even present in Zaytsev’s journal ‘Notes of a Sniper’. Even the famous book of William Craig ‘Enemy at the Gates’ mentioned both of these world-acclaimed sharpshooters.

5. Rob Furlong

Rob Furlong, a former Canadian Forces corporal, holds the 2002 World Record for the farthest confirmed sniper kill. This famous sniper managed to hit an enemy target during the Operation Anaconda in March of the aforementioned year of his World record. He managed to hit one of the Al-Qaeda’s weapons team soldier at an unbelievable distance of 2.43 kilometers. He shot the man in the chest, which instantly killed the said militant. He was using a 50-caliber McMillan Brothers Tac-50 Rifle loaded with A-MAX drag bullets. However, another British sniper surpassed Furlong’s record in 2009.

6. Vasily Grigorevich Zaytsev

Vasily Zaytsev was a soldier from the Soviet Union back at the time of World War II. This famous sniper from Yeleninskoye, Russia became unforgettable in the history books due to his notable participation in the Battle of Stalingrad. From November 10 to December 17 1942, just more than a month, Zaytsev was able to kill 225 men from the Axis army. This number of confirmed kills includes 11 other veteran snipers of the opposing Wehrmacht and other Axis forces. Another great contribution of Zaytsev was his sniper school in Metiz factory, which initiated the sniper movement back in those days.

7. Lyudmila Mikhailivna  Pavlichenko

Lyudmila Pavlichenko was another famous sniper in history of Soviet Union during the Second World War. Regarded as most triumphant female sniper of all time, this lady sniper cannot be underestimated by her adversaries. She managed to kill 309 German soldiers. She learned how to shoot while she was still young after she joined a shooting club at the age of 14 years old. During the battle of Odessa, Lyudmila killed more than 150 enemy soldiers. She managed to execute 250 more during the rest of the world war. These casualties include 36 other snipers who were also notorious because of their marksmanship (most of them killed more than 400 people).

8. Carlos Norman Hathcock II

Carlos Hathcock II, popularly known by his alias White Feather, was a Sergeant Sniper from the US Marine Corps Gunnery in 1959. Along with his record of 93 kills, Hathcock became a famous sniper in history of Marine Corps due to the difficulty of missions he received during his time. Although his life being a soldier was a huge success, his personal family life did not work alike. His parents got divorced when he was still young. Furthermore, he had gone through depression after the war, which also affected his marriage life. Fortunately, he found a hobby that helped him surpass his sadness, shark fishing.

9. Ivan Mikhaylovich Sidorenko

Ivan Sidorenko is one of the finest Soviet snipers that served his country well during the Second World War. He was an ex-Red Army officer with more than 500 confirmed kills in service history. Equipped with Mosin-Nagant rifle, Ivan slowly eliminated Soviet’s German foes.

With his amazing skills as a sniper, Ivan’s superiors ordered him to train other soldiers in their army to help him carry out important missions. However, his notoriety also forced the German army to put a focus fire on him.

10. Simo Häyhä

Simo Häyhä, also known as White Death, is perhaps the most famous sniper of all time. This Finish sniper is a record holder in terms of confirmed kill number. Häyhä was able to kill 542 men in World War II making him the most ferocious sniper in the history of mankind.

Although these 10 famous snipers of all time killed thousands of people, we cannot conclude that these men and women took pleasure in killing people. Most of them were only under the chain of command that is why they were forced to shoot other people. The greatest lesson we could learn from these famous snipers is that, there is no good thing that can be gained from war.