IVAN SIDORENKO

ALLEGIANCE: Soviet Union LENGTH OF SERVICE: 1939-45 KILLS: 500

Hitler wasn’t the only art school dropout of World War II. Sidorenko left his studies at Penza Art College in 1939 to enlist in the Red Army. By 1941 he was sneaking away from his artillery unit to kill Germans as a self-taught sniper. Sidorenko’s voluntary missions soon caught the eye of his superiors, and he was tasked with passing on his expertise to others, eventually teaching more than 250 recruits on the Baltic Front. He even allowed novice snipers to shadow him on the front line – on-the-job training had never been so dangerous.

Snipers didn’t just target people. When Sidorenko spotted a German motor convoy during the Battle of Moscow, he quickly loaded his rifle with incendiary bullets. After a few precise shots the Germans fled, minus a destroyed tank and three tractors. One man had single-handedly sent dozens of Wehrmacht soldiers scurrying for their lives.

In three years Sidorenko reportedly killed 500 enemy combatants, making him the Soviet Union’s deadliest sniper. His tally only stopped rising after a wound suffered in Estonia left him hospitalised and his superiors decided that Sidorenko’s value as a teacher was greater than his kills on the front line.