Siberian shaman who became one of the best snipers of the Second World War

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

How an illiterate Tungus became one of the best snipers during the Great Patriotic War.

Siberian hunter Semyon Nomokonov first took up a rifle at the age of 7. And until 40, he could not imagine that he would use his marksmanship skills during military operations. When he got to the front, no one took him seriously, they said that in Russian he only understood the command "for lunch!" and is incapable of performing combat missions. As a result, he became one of the most effective snipers of the Second World War, whom the Nazis nicknamed the "Siberian shaman" for his ability to get out unscathed from all sniper duels.

The Tunguska boy was engaged in hunting from an early age - like all other inhabitants of those places. At the age of 19, he already started a family, his wife gave birth to six children. However, five of them, and after them the wife, died of scarlet fever. At 32, Semyon married a second time, and only then, together with his youngest son, he first took up a textbook and began to learn to read and write. She and her family settled in the taiga Lower Stan, where Semyon worked as a carpenter.

The same age as the century, Nomokonov went to the front at the age of 41. His military service did not work out right away - the illiterate tungus was not taken seriously. Co-workers said that he only understood in Russian the command “for lunch!”. He was a bread slicer in a field kitchen, an assistant to the head of a clothing warehouse, a member of a funeral team, a sapper - and everywhere he received scolding for his sluggishness and for sleeping on the go.

Nomokonov became a sniper by pure chance. When in September 1941 he was sent to evacuate the wounded, he noticed the Nazis, grabbed the rifle of the wounded soldier and shot the enemy down with a well-aimed shot. After this incident, he was finally noticed in the command and enlisted in a sniper platoon. In December 1941, the newspaper wrote about him for the first time as a rifleman who killed 76 fascists.

At first, Nomokonov had to go on combat missions with a rifle that did not even have an optical sight. But the shooter was so accurate that he was soon nicknamed "Siberian shaman". His outfit caused talk of evil spirits: he took ropes, laces, shards of mirrors with him, and put on wandering shoes on his feet - shoes woven from horsehair. But there was no mysticism in these actions: the wanderers made a noiseless step, with mirrors he lured out the enemy's shot, the ropes were needed in order to set in motion the helmets put on the sticks. He made his own camouflage suits and invented his own camouflage techniques.

Enemies also drew attention to the extraordinary abilities of the Soviet sniper. “The Germans tried to kill him at first. Either "two" snipers will be sent, then three in general. When all the sent German snipers were found dead, a female sniper was sent to destroy the Siberian, who was also found a little later with a hole in her head,”says S. Sergeev, Candidate of Historical Sciences. An artillery hunt was organized on the elusive "Siberian shaman", they tried to bribe him and entice him to the enemy side - nothing worked. Nomokonov was wounded 9 times and received several concussions, but survived.

Semyon Nomokonov declared a "dain-tulugui" - a merciless war to the fascists. After each confirmed case of defeat of the enemy, the sniper put on his pipe for tobacco, from which he never parted, marks: with dots he marked the number of killed soldiers, crosses - officers. By the end of the war, according to the documents of the 695th Rifle Regiment, 367 killed Nazis were on his account. The self-taught Siberian became one of the most effective snipers of the Second World War. His son followed in his father's footsteps: in 1944 he was mobilized and also became a sniper, destroying 56 Nazis.

After the war, Semyon Nomokonov again worked as a carpenter, all his sons devoted their lives to military service. "Siberian Shaman" died at the age of 72, and the fame of his skill is still alive.