In 1942, Vassili Zaitsev, a soldier in the Red Army, finds himself on the front lines of the Battle of Stalingrad. Sent on basically a death charge against the invading Germans, he uses marksmanship taught to him by his grandfather from a young age to save himself and commissar Danilov. Nikita Khrushchev arrives in Stalingrad to strengthen the city's defenses and demands ideas to improve morale. Danilov, now a Senior Lieutenant, suggests that the people need figures, or heroes, to idolize, and writes tales of Vassili's missions in the army's newspaper that paint him as a national hero. Vassili is transferred to the sniper division, and he and Danilov become friends.
With the Soviet snipers taking an increasing toll on the German forces, German Major Erwin König is
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His job was This was not kept secret for long. Konings was researching Zaitsev's style and tactics, while Zaitsev knew only that Konings had been the head of his German sniper training program. And meanwhile, the news spread quickly through both armies.A virtually gladitorial match would be taking place, as the Russian hero would be facing the German in duel to the death.
So surprisingly the both armies, hundreds and hundreds of soldiers, settled down to wait on opposite sides of Stalingrad, giving the two lone combatants free run of the destroyed city.
Konings announced the beginning of the duel, issuing the challenge by killing two Russian snipers. Zaitsev -- who was, in fact, not alone, but accompanied by his spotter, Nikolai Kulikov. Their arena consisted of destroyed buildings, piles of rubble, twisted metal... an infinite number of places to hide, and wait.
To an outside observer, it would have seemed that nothing at all happened for the first whole day. But actually, both Zaitsev and Konings were slowly, carefully moving and watching. Each knew their opponent was an expert, and one mistake would finish the