Soviet sniper and a Hero of the Soviet Union Vasily Zaytsev (left), Stalingrad, 1942.

Between 10 November 1942 and 17 December 1942, during the Battle of Stalingrad, he killed 225 soldiers and officers of the Wehrmacht and other Axis armies, including 11 enemy snipers.

Zaytsev became one of the iconic figures of the Battle of Stalingrad but also the Soviet War effort itself after his feats on the Volga and beyond.

1942 as an incredibly difficult year for the Red Army, who was still leering from its staggering losses during the German invasion in 1941.

That spring, the Germans had resumed their offensives across the Eastern Front and seemed poised to repeat their successes in 1941. However, the Red Army of 1942 was different than the army that faced the Wehrmacht in 1941.

It had the benefit of experience, which it lacked the previous June, it had a seemingly endless supply of man and machine, and it’s new fighters were filled with a zeal and devotion to right the wrong that the Germans had done to the Motherland and her people.

Morale was still poor, conditions (although improving) were generally inadequate for the soldier. Stalingrad shifted the morale of the Soviet soldier and gave them optimism for the future. Zaytsev was one the de facto “poster boys” of this success and morale boost at Stalingrad.

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