00:00His patience led him to being credited with 378 kills.
00:04Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting down our picks for some of the world's deadliest sharpshooters in written history.
00:09That fateful night during the Battle of Moscow, Sidorenko grabbed his rifle and slipped away from camp.
00:16Number 10, Adalbert Waldron.
00:18During the Vietnam War, Staff Sergeant Adalbert Francis Burt Waldron III and the Mobile Riverine Force
00:23were patrolling the waters of the Mekong Delta where they were constantly on the lookout for hostile targets.
00:28During his Navy years, Waldron learned precision, patience, and the value of preparation.
00:34Equipped with a semi-automatic M.2-1 sniper rifle fitted with a Starlight Scope,
00:39Waldron amassed an impressive 109 confirmed kills in his eight months on the battlefields of Vietnam,
00:44several of them being executed while on a moving boat platform in the dead of night,
00:48and at a distance of up to 900 meters away.
00:50Waldron received numerous honors for his efforts, including two distinguished service crosses.
00:54His 109 confirmed kills were more than just numbers.
00:57Number 9, Chris Kyle.
00:59Known by the name of the legend by his teammates, the Ramadi Devil, by his enemies,
01:03and the American sniper in Hollywood, Chris Kyle holds the title of the deadliest sniper in American history.
01:08Can you tell me what, explain what it is to have a confirmed sniper kill?
01:12Uh, well, while you're on your sniper rifle, you take a shot and the guy goes down,
01:17and you have to have witnesses verify that he is dead.
01:20Serving four tours in Iraq, the Navy SEAL boasts a staggering 160 confirmed kills
01:25out of an estimated 255 total.
01:27After retiring from the Special Forces in 2009,
01:30Kyle became a firearms instructor under a non-profit company he created.
01:34I saw him come from that guy that was struggling with what is my path
01:39to realizing that this mission was as equally as vital as any mission he'd ever been on.
01:45In 2013, his life came to an end when the famed sniper and his friend, Chad Littlefield,
01:49were shot and killed by a disturbed student they were instructing.
01:52Chris Kyle's legacy includes illuminating for millions an aspect of military life they might
01:57have never known.
01:57Number 8. Vasily Zaitsev
01:59During the Second World War, Vasily Zaitsev was serving as a clerk in the Soviet Navy when
02:03the Motherland was invaded by the German army.
02:06Did you notice you?
02:09A little.
02:10Zaitsev, along with many others, volunteered to fight on the front lines to defend their country
02:14against its Nazi invaders.
02:16According to official numbers, in the Battle of Stalingrad alone,
02:18the Soviet marksman racked up 225 confirmed kills.
02:21Come on.
02:23Come on.
02:24Come on.
02:26Some sources even claim the sniper had over 400.
02:29The legendary sharpshooter continued to fight in the war until an explosion injured his eyes.
02:34Zaitsev was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union and was even featured in the film Enemy
02:38at the Gates, further cementing his name in military history.
02:41I can't carry that weight anymore.
02:42I want to fight.
02:43Number 7.
02:44Zhang Taofeng
02:45The best way to describe one of China's top snipers in history is a diamond created
02:49by pressure.
02:50Zhang Taofeng was serving in the People's Volunteer Army for a little under two years
02:54when he was deployed to Triangle Hill during the Korean War.
02:57The volunteer soldier was originally an awful shot, but Taofeng went from missing a target
03:0112 times and almost getting killed by the counterfire to hitting seven targets with just nine bullets.
03:06Not long after, Taofeng would be credited with 214 confirmed kills, without a scope.
03:11It's also been suggested that he made those confirmed kills with only 442 bullets, working
03:17out to around two bullets a kill.
03:19A true marksman with a natural eye attuned for lethality.
03:22Number 6.
03:23Lyudmila Pavlichenko
03:24Not just the deadliest woman sniper in history, but one of the deadliest snipers in history,
03:28period.
03:29Lyudmila Pavlichenko, or Lady Death, served as one of the 2,000 woman snipers in the Red Army.
03:34She was raised in a world where people had a zealous enthusiasm for communism, and women
03:39were beginning to enjoy the benefits of the feminist ideals that came along with it.
03:43Fighting in both the Siege of Odessa and the Siege of Savistopol, the Lady Death would
03:48rack up a devastating 309 confirmed kills, 36 of them being enemy snipers.
03:52Eventually, Pavlichenko was badly injured by mortar shrapnel.
03:55Instead of being sent back on the front line of the war, the Red Army icon became a propaganda
03:59piece for the nation's military.
04:01In 1943, she was honored by being featured on a Russian postage stamp.
04:05She even went to allied nations as not only a symbol of incredible marksmanship, but also
04:09an empowering figure for women worldwide.
04:12Lyudmila Pavlichenko passed away in 1974 when she was 58 years old.
04:16But the story of her bravery has lived on.
04:19Number 5.
04:19Francis Pegamagabo
04:20Fighting through hell on earth during the First World War, Francis Peggy Pegamagabo saw
04:25his way through many famous battles.
04:27It's not easy to find the final resting spot of one of the most decorated indigenous soldiers
04:31in Canadian history.
04:32Whether it was fighting through toxic gas or running through no man's land to gather
04:36ammo to fight the enemy, the Canadian sniper was known to be absolutely fearless.
04:40On the battlefields of the Great War, Peggy would eliminate a mind-boggling 378 German soldiers
04:45and capture 300 more.
04:47After serving just about the entire length of the war, Francis would return home to become
04:50chief of the Wasauksing First Nation.
04:53Today, the name Francis Pegamagabo is revered in both Ojibwe and English.
04:57He was one of 39 Canadian soldiers awarded the Military Medal and two bars for bravery.
05:04But it took until 2016 before he was immortalized in bronze, strong and defiant, on the shores
05:10of Georgian Bay.
05:11A hero given his due.
05:13Number 4.
05:14Matthäus Hetzenauer
05:15After taking over just about all of Europe, Nazi Germany turned its eye to the east, the
05:19USSR.
05:20Fighting in theaters like the Carpathian Mountains, Hungary, and Slovakia.
05:24Hetzenauer, an Austrian serving under the Third Reich, would become the Wehrmacht's most
05:29decorated sniper and the best sniper in German history.
05:31Preferring to aim for machine gunners and commanding officers in particular, the Nazi
05:35sniper would work his way through an entire enemy line just to get to them.
05:39In just 10 months, Matthäus Hetzenauer accumulated 345 confirmed kills.
05:43In May of 1945, Hetzenauer was captured by Soviet forces, who held him prisoner for over
05:48five years.
05:49Number 3.
05:50Fyodor Akhlapkov
05:51Fyodor Akhlapkov, a Yakut native, worked as a hunter and miner before the Second World
05:56War, making him an ideal soldier for the Red Army.
05:58Even though he was injured four times, he went back to the front line and quickly increased
06:03his kill count, earning a series of medals for his achievements.
06:06While serving, he would go from a commander of a machine gunner squad to a stone-cold sniper.
06:10His style consisted of long duels with enemy snipers, waiting patiently for them to abandon
06:14their position before firing, actually managing to be more efficient with a bolt-action rifle
06:19than he was with a fully automatic machine gun.
06:21The marksman would be credited with an astounding 429 confirmed kills, making him one of the
06:26most accurate snipers the world has ever seen.
06:29And that doesn't even count the 32 machine gun kills.
06:31Akhlapkov would eventually be awarded the title Hero of the Union for his military prowess.
06:36He passed away a few years later, on May 28, 1968.
06:40Number 2.
06:40Ivan Sidorenko
06:41During the Battle of Moscow, serving as a member of a Red Army mortar unit, Ivan Sidorenko
06:46took it upon himself to learn how to become an elite sniper.
06:48He moved stealthily through the dark until he found a spot with good cover and a clear
06:53view of the enemy, and he laid down to hide and wait.
06:56When his unit had days off, on his own free time, Sidorenko would go out hunting for Nazi
07:00soldiers as a lone gunman.
07:02He quickly saw a jump in his kill count as the hero of the Soviet Union would be confirmed
07:05to have over 500 kills.
07:07He had received no formal training for this dangerous role.
07:10And was using the same Russian-made Mosin-Nagant rifle, with a five-round magazine holding
07:15the same .62x54R rounds used by infantrymen on the front lines.
07:20The only improvement was the addition of a telescopic sight that improved the rifle's
07:24accuracy from 550 yards to 875 yards.
07:28The major would get so good at sniping that his commanders assigned him to train more than
07:31250 Red Army snipers.
07:33Ivan Sidorenko lived by the one-shot, one-kill ethos, making him a deadly killing machine, and
07:39an invaluable part of the Soviet war effort during World War II.
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07:58Number 1.
07:59Simo Heiha
08:00Burying himself in the snow and remaining completely unseen by the enemy laid the White Death.
08:05Simo Heiha, a Finnish sniper, dominated the battlefield of the Winter War during the Second
08:09World War.
08:10He doesn't use a modern telescopic sight the way many of his fellow scouts do.
08:13Sure, the fancy glass is nice for really long-range shots, but it also glints in the sunlight.
08:18In less than 100 days, the White Death would reportedly eliminate around 500 Soviet soldiers.
08:23The Soviets took the threat of Simo seriously and deployed counter-snipers and artillery strikes
08:28to try to take him out.
08:30Eventually, Heiha's military career would come to a halt after being shot in the face by an
08:33enemy soldier, shattering the lower left half of his jaw.
08:36The legendary sniper was thought to be dead when he was found in a pile of corpses.
08:40Simo was able to move his leg to signal for help and was immediately evacuated, living
08:44until age 96.
08:45He was decorated with numerous awards and promoted from corporal straight to second lieutenant.
08:51Are there any legendary sharpshooters that we missed?
08:53Let us know in the comments.
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