By the end of the second world war the place of the sniper in modern warfare had been firmly established. Sniper fire produced more fear and confusion amongst soldiers on the ground than any other type of fire, such fear was well founded. The snipers rifle could kill more men, more selectively with less ammunition and less risk of detection than any other weapon and yet the importance of sniping was not generally recognized at the start of the war. In 1939 the use of snipers was not a new idea, as far back as the American War of Independence the british had hired German marksmen to strengthen their arm but it was technological development in the late 19th century that enabled the marksmen to become the sniper.