Not to dismiss any of the work that Hathcock, or any of the more "modern day" snipers have done, but they pretty much pale in comparison to what the German and Russian snipers did in WW2, and the conditions under which they had to fight. Same way with the Finn, Simo Hayha, who just might have been the best of the lot.
How is that?
As Americans, we like to think that "our" side is always the best at whatever we're discussing. If you take it by the numbers, no one comes to close to the kills made by the WW2 Soviet snipers, and the Finn. Although war is Hell no matter where it's fought, WW2 was fought under much harsher conditions that most wars, and the equipment used was much inferior to modern day weapons.
I'm not taking anything away from any American sniper, they did very good work, and deserve a lot of credit. But, my vote goes to other soldiers who did even greater work.
