FAQ

Like all World War II films; it is dramatised fiction inspired by real events. As such, the events depicted should be viewed as entertainment and not a history lesson.

That said, multiple reasons exist to doubt the veracity of the story as told by Vasily Zaitsev. Much of what will follow is sourced from the article Sorry, But The Legendary Sniper Battle Of Stalingrad Never Happened, by Michael Peck.

In the first citation he makes of Frank Ellis' 2013 book The Stalingrad Cauldron, it appears that König never existed, and there was no such thing as a sniper school in Berlin in 1942 or 1943.

Zaitsev usually provides specific dates for the events in his own book. Ellis points out that no specific date is given for when he killed König. No Soviet account of the duel gives a specific date for what is the most important date of it.

Zaitsev mentions in his book that he killed König in the afternoon, after light reflected from König's scope. But for this to happen, König would need to be facing West into the setting sun. The German lines were facing East. It would not be unusual for a German sniper in Russian territory to face West, but Zaitsev claimed that König's sniper hole was in the No Man's Land in front of German lines, suggesting that König faced East.

Worth noting, too, is that unlike the normal image we have of snipers picking off people at distances of half a kilometre or more, most of the sniper duels in Russia took place at distances of a hundred metres or less. The snipers' training was more about keeping calm under fire, an essential skill when trying to carefully line up a shot. Allowing the enemy to pass over one's position in order to shoot them in the back was also a popular tactic in Stalingrad.

The Finnish also engaged Soviet troops at very close ranges within their dense forests, so close range sniper battles would make more sense in a dense, bombed-out urban landscape.

The Soviets who fought the Nazis suffered more deaths than any other country in World War II (China comes within a few million, and it is a sharp dropoff from there). It is understandable that they needed heroes for propaganda purposes. But that is all Vasily Zaitsev was compared to the published stories.

Whilst long-distance shots and battles did take place, the majority of sniper kills took place at distances of up to a hundred metres. A popular tactic was to hide in pits or under pieces of the ruins and wait for another soldier or sniper to pass before shooting them in the back.

The Medal that Major König wore when he arrived and through most of the first part of the movie is the Knights Cross of The Iron Cross with Oak Leaves. There were two grades of the ordinary Iron Cross, then the Knights Cross of The Iron Cross, which was worn around the neck and which the General Paulus appeared to be wearing. Above this were the Knights Cross with Oak Leaves, then Oak Leaves and Swords, then Oak Leaves, Swords and Diamonds and finally Golden Oak Leaves, Swords and Diamonds. This highest award was only given to one recipient throughout the entire war. The other medal that the major wore was is the Knights Cross of the War Merit Cross with Swords, the highest award in its class. There were versions awarded to civilians that didn't have the swords behind the cross. This medal had been awarded posthumously to his son who had fallen in the first attacks on Stalingrad. As well as it being common practice for highly decorated soldiers to wear lower grades of medals than they had been awarded while in combat, to prevent the more valuable awards being lost if they fell, he probably wore his son's medal into battle to honour him.