Female (enemy) Sniper At D-Day?

Discussion in 'NW Europe' started by At Home Dad (Returning), Aug 30, 2011.

Tags:
  1. At Home Dad (Returning)

    At Home Dad (Returning) Well-Known Member

    Hallo all

    Just watching They Were Not Divided and one character
    makes mention of fearing one of the soldiers had been
    killed "by that dreadful woman sniper" on the beaches.

    I had heard stories of female snipers at Gallipoli in
    Ww1, but not of anything like this regarding D-Day+

    Has anyone any details of this D-Day Sniper, if true?
     
  2. sapper

    sapper WW2 Veteran WW2 Veteran

    Certainly was true. On more than one occasion we found ourselves being fired at from our rear. I recall, that one female sniper with a German husband who was caught and dealt with..... Killed.

    Why do I recall so clearly? Well it was different world in those far off days, and the thought of shooting a women was thought to be a shocking thing to do. English men just did not shoot, or harm women!.

    Sadly there were other occasions when the same thing happened.

    It may come as a surprise to many here. But we were definitely not welcome in Normandy. The locals made their feelings plainly known. The farmers had done well selling their goods to the enemy.

    The best way to describe the attitude of the locals was "Mixed" some disliked us. some took a different view.
    sapper
     
  3. sapper

    sapper WW2 Veteran WW2 Veteran

    If I may, I will branch out on this subject. For Snipers were everywhere. I could never quite understand why a sniper that had stayed behind, and continued to kill our men was allowed to be captured....That is not on in my book... If you killed after the battle had moved on? Then there is no defence should you be captured.

    A dear old friend Captain Jack of the Recce, had a sniper up in the bell tower of a church. He and his Sergeant tossed a coin to see who would go get him. The Sergeant lost, and had to go up and kill the enemy. The late Captain Jack was a dear friend. I recall home with some fond memories. Specially as we upset the serious Vets at the NVA meetings.
    Sapper
     
  4. At Home Dad (Returning)

    At Home Dad (Returning) Well-Known Member

    Thanks very much, Sapper.

    I wasn't aware of the snipers, or to
    be truthful about the 'mixed' reaction
    from the French you mention.

    You taught me two things today!
     
  5. sapper

    sapper WW2 Veteran WW2 Veteran

    Cheers The troops loved Calvados Brandy.... It was a "glass House" offence to have your water bottle full of brandy. Some of it was bloody awful. A Frenchman told me "We brewed it for the Germans, Someone has to drink it"....
     
  6. canuck

    canuck Closed Account

    Sgt. Leo Gariepy


    "Meanwhile the 1st Hussars were losing tanks and crew commanders during some intense street fighting. Sgt. Leo Gariepy learned a sniper had killed three commanders and was narrowly missed by a shot ringing from an attic. He and his driver dismounted and ran up to the house where an elderly couple waved them inside. Gariepy rushed up the stairs to the attic to find the sniper was a 19-year-old girl holding a Mauser rifle. Without hesitation he shot her dead.
    Gariepy remarked later: "We learned from the old people that this girl's 'fiancé' had been shot by a Canadian tank that morning and she swore she would liquidate all crew commanders."
     
  7. At Home Dad (Returning)

    At Home Dad (Returning) Well-Known Member

    thanks Canuck. where did
    this happen, do you know?
     
  8. Goodygixxer

    Goodygixxer Senior Member

    Women...in charge of firearms! thats outragous..........they'll be allowed to drive cars next........doh!
     
  9. Dave55

    Dave55 Atlanta, USA

  10. canuck

    canuck Closed Account

    thanks Canuck. where did
    this happen, do you know?

    It was June 6th but no precise position was indicated. From the description it appears to have been closer to Reviers on the Reviers-Fontaine-Henry road.

    Here is the detailed excerpt:

    Juno Beach: Canada's D-Day Victory ... - Google Books
     
    Paul Bradford likes this.
  11. At Home Dad (Returning)

    At Home Dad (Returning) Well-Known Member

  12. izzy

    izzy Senior Member

    Liverpool Library has back copies of the Liverpool Echo and there was a couple of articles published after D-Day that mention a Female Sniper.
     
  13. Smudger Jnr

    Smudger Jnr Our Man in Berlin

    Extremely interesting and very eye opening posts.

    Regards
    Tom
     
  14. Verrieres

    Verrieres no longer a member

  15. Steve Mac

    Steve Mac Very Senior Member

    Just been researching a question about 50th (Northumbrian) Division on D-Day and came across this information about the 5th Bn East Yorkshire Regiment, 69th Infantry Brigade, who were in the first wave to land on Gold Beach.

    That's Private Roy Walker, 5th Bn East Yorkshire Regt. A driver of a Bren carrier, one of his mates had his thumb shot off as they hit the beach, so Walker drove along the beach to a Dressing Station, dropped off the wounded man and was making his way back to the carrier when he was 'snapped'.

    Apparently there were a lot of troops being mowed down by MG fire and picked off "left, right and centre" by snipers.

    The Beach Master bollocked him for drawing enemy artillery fire onto the beach where his carrier was situated.

    On his way back in his carrier he picked up a Canadian Officer - this is on Gold Beach not Juno where the Officer should have been. The Officer's ship had been sunk. Roy had his wounded mates Lee Enfield and handed it to the Officer, who said "That's great I'll use that - I can't wait to get at those bastards."

    Apparently two of the German snipers were in a church steeple and the Infantry couldn't winkle them out, so a tank was brought up and the top of the church tower was blown off. The two snipers were found to be women; this fits with another thread running currently and so I will cross reference...

    Apparently, the two women were taken to the rear, but Private Walker did not know what happened to them.

    Private interview with author B.S. Barnes 1992.

    Best,

    Steve.
     
  16. Drew5233

    Drew5233 #FuturePilot 1940 Obsessive

    Thanks very much, Sapper.

    I wasn't aware of the snipers, or to
    be truthful about the 'mixed' reaction
    from the French you mention.

    You taught me two things today!


    This was happening in France and Belgium in 1940 when the BEF was retreating. All that were captured that I've read about were either executed by British troops or the local Police.
     
  17. Tom Canning

    Tom Canning WW2 Veteran WW2 Veteran

    We were often called by the Infantry to deal with snipers - which was no surprise to us as a few Tank commanders were killed including our own Troop Commander - the snipers were usually in the local Church bell tower and our Gunner Harry Grey was fond of hitting the bell with his first AP shot- which must have punctured the eardrums of the sniper - but the second shot was always HE which finished off the tower- we had more than a few of them

    Cheers
     
  18. brithm

    brithm Senior Member

  19. Dave55

    Dave55 Atlanta, USA

    Certainly was true. On more than one occasion we found ourselves being fired at from our rear. I recall, that one female sniper with a German husband who was caught and dealt with..... Killed.

    Why do I recall so clearly? Well it was different world in those far off days, and the thought of shooting a women was thought to be a shocking thing to do. English men just did not shoot, or harm women!.

    Sadly there were other occasions when the same thing happened.

    It may come as a surprise to many here. But we were definitely not welcome in Normandy. The locals made their feelings plainly known. The farmers had done well selling their goods to the enemy.

    The best way to describe the attitude of the locals was "Mixed" some disliked us. some took a different view.
    sapper

    I recall reading about that. I think the account I read said that her husband had been killed earlier in the battle,
     
  20. mapshooter

    mapshooter Senior Member

    The Red Army was notably keen on women snipers. I believe they had a dedicated school for them. The big attraction was that women had better control of their breathing than most men, this made them better shots.
     
    PhilM likes this.

Share This Page