Martin Pegler was born in 1954 and educated at Hampton School. He has a BA Hons in Medieval and Modern History and an MA in Museum Studies, both from University College, London, and he was Senior Curator of Firearms at the Royal Armouries Museum, Leeds, for a number of years. Martin enjoys shooting historic firearms, and has participated in many shooting competitions. He is the author of a number of books including The Military Sniper since 1914 (Osprey, 2001); and Firearms in the American West 1700-1900 (The Crowood Press, 2002), and he has also contributed to a number of magazines. In the 1980s he had the privilege of interviewing many World War I veterans about their wartime experiences, and the recordings are now part of the sound archives of the Imperial War Museum, London. The author lives in Northern France.

Illustrated throughout with colour and black and white photographs, this chronological study of snipers details their evolution, training, weaponry and tactics. It features contributions from the men and women whose skills and extraordinary courage have made them some of the most greatly feared specialists in warfare.

INTERESTING FACT

"An American study revealed that in the First World War it tyook about 7000 rounds of small arms ammunition to kill a single enemy soldier. By the time of the Vietnam War, this had risen to around 25000 rounds. The average sniper required 1.3 rounds." - Gen. J. H. Hay, Jr, Vietnam Studies: Tactical and Material Innovation.

A terrible and chilling fact.