Vassili Zaitsev

"...await the right moment for one, and only one well-aimed shot"
Vassili Zaitsev

The story of Vassili Zaitsev has long been believed to be historical fact. However, there has not been any documented proof that the legendary sniper duel between Zaitsev and Konig ever took place. As a matter of fact, Beevor's account mentions Koning and other accounts mention a Thorwald. Some believe that the Soviet Command invented this story to inspire the beleaguered troops of Stalingrad in their darkest hours of fighting the German onslaught. Many duels occurred between the snipers of both sides. However, to believe that the German High Command went to the trouble to commit the chief instructor of their sniper school to finding and killing one Soviet sniper is a lot to accept. That being said the story goes like this...

The Sniper was key to harassing and demoralizing the attacking German forces. As the struggle for Stalingrad ensued, the snipers involved became Soviet heroes. One of them was Vassili Zaitsev. He became famous after the press had discovered that he accomplished nearly 40 kills in a ten day period. In total Zaitsev had 400 kills, 149 in Stalingrad which was 1 shy of his promised 150 kills. He was renown for taking out his targets using a single round. It was a skill he had learned while shooting deer in the forests around Elininski, his home in the Ural Mountain foothills. On September 20, 1942, Zaitsev went to Stalingrad with the 284th Rifles Division. As his accomplishments made him a national hero, and as his fame spread across no-man's-land, the Germans took an inordinate interest in him. Major Koning was dispatched to Stalingrad from Berlin for the express purpose of eliminating the top Soviet snipers. Vassili Zaitsev, was high on his list. The Soviets learned of Koning's mission through interrogating a prisoner. (http://www.russian-mosin-nagant.com/sniper.htm) Antony Beevor wrote, "Like Zaitsev, Koning first made a careful study of the terrain and of his victims before attempting a kill. When two Soviet snipers were killed by single rifle shots, Zaitsev began counter-stalking Koning himself. The duel lasted for several days. During this time Koning shot a political officer named Danilov who was "covering" the duel for Soviet propaganda (Danilov accompanied Zaitsev and stupidly gave away their position). Zaitsev finally got Koning by offering another sniper, his assistant Zulikov, as bait. Zulikov positioned himself and lifted his helmet over a wall, where Koning put a bullet through it. Kulikov cried out as if hit. Koning made the fatal mistake of exposing himself to confirm the kill, and Zaitsev shot him dead. The telescopic sight of his prey's rifle, allegedly Zaitsev's most treasured trophy, is still exhibited in the Moscow armed forces museum, but this dramatic story remains essentially unconvincing. It is worth noting that there is absolutely no mention of it in any reports." (Antony Beevor - Stalingrad, The fateful siege : 1942 - 1943.)

The story of Zaitsev was in fact real but the movie "Enemy at the Gates" embellished some parts to make the story have more impact. The relationship between Zaitsev and Danilov was greatly exaggerated. They were in fact not friends. Danilov was simply a military reporter that covered some of Zaitsev's encounters.

The duel between Major Koning and himself is consider fact by some and fiction by others. The ones that do believe it happened tell a different story as compared to the movie. In the movie, it is shown that Major Koning and Zaitsev run into each other while Koning is going to confirm his kill. The actually story is as stated above and differs highly from Hollywood's depiction.