Best Imperial Sniper?

[Bill Alexander]

Fort Saskatchewan to honour famous First World War sniper

By Andrew Thomson

The Fort Record Staff Writer March 23, 2004.

Fort Saskatchewan Record — When Henry Norwest fell to a German sniper on August 18, 1918, Canadian Major-General Arthur Currie ordered every available artillery gun to fire on enemy positions as a tribute to one of the British Empire’s top sharpshooters.

More than eight decades later Norwest will finally be recognized in the town of his birth.

According to Veteran’s Affairs Canada, Henry Louis Norwest was born in Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta, of French-Cree ancestry. In his nearly three years of service with the 50th Canadian Infantry Battalion, the lance-corporal achieved a sniping record of 115 fatal shots.

Norwest was awarded the Military Medal (MM) in 1917, for his actions during the battle of Vimy Ridge.

The following year, he was awarded a bar to his Military Medal making him one of roughly 830 members of the Canadian Expeditionary Forces to be awarded this double honour.

Despite his record, Norwest’s name doesn’t appear on Fort Saskatchewan’s Cenotaph listing local soldiers killed in th e First World War.

However the Fort Legion plans to change that and grant Norwest the recognition he deserves.

Legion President Ruth Moodie said the local Branch learned of Norwest from an article in the Ottawa Sun.

In addition to adding his name to the Cenotaph the Legion plans to name Field of Honour at the Fort Saskatchewan Cemetery after him, said Moodie. They ‘ll also place a marker on each side of the field with Norwest’s name and history.

Norwest was born in 1884 and worked as a ranch-hand and rodeo performer. He was also married and had three children.

He first enlisted in January 1915 under the name Henry Louie, but was discharged after three months for drunkenness.

In September 1915 he signed up again with the 50th Battalion in Calgary, under the name Henry Norwest.

In his 1980 book No man’s land fellow soldier Victor Wheeler said Norwest, nicknamed “Ducky”, was well liked and well regarded by his fellow soldiers.

Wheeler wrote that Norwest was “known and respected by the greatest snipers in the British Empire Forces - and according to German POWs intensely feared by the foe”

According to Wheeler Norwest had extraordinary patience often sitting for hours or days in a camouflaged blind in no mans land (the land between the trenches) waiting for a target. Norwest was accompanied by Private Oliver Payne, his official observer who confirmed enemy kills.

“Our famous sniper no doubt understood better than most of us the cost of life and the price of death. Henry Norwest carried out his terrible duty superbly because he believed his special skill gave him no choice but to fulfill his indispensible mission. Our 50th sniper went about his work with passionate dedication and showed complete detachment from everything while he was on the line,” Wheeler wrote.

In August of 1918, three months before the war ended, Norwest himself fell to a sniper’s bullet.

“A pall of sorrow spread among the regiment as it soon became known that our Cree Indian sniper would never return from the hunt,” wrote Wheeler.

Wheeler’s book is available at the Fort Saskatchewan Public Library.

Norwest was buried near the village of Warvillers in France.

Sources: No Man’s Land by Victor Wheeler and Veteran’s Affairs Canada

Who was the best British / Imperial sniper?

[Broznitsky]

Bill, Francis "Peggy" Pegahmagabow (an Ojibwa from Ontario), 1st Btn CEF had a reported 368 or 378 fatal shots. Many of these kills were made with no observer present. Do you know if Norwest's kills were all confirmed?

[Bill Alexander]

Francis Pegahamahbow (or Pegahmagahbow) came from near Parry Sound and may have served with the 23rd Northern Pioneers prior to WW1. He was a sniper pentultimate, and was awarded the MM three times. Probably a greater sniper than Norwest. (Arguably a more distinguished career than Charlie Prince.) Interesting, how many "scouts" and snipers were First Nation?

[mordac]

Many of these kills were made with no observer present.  Do you know if Norwest's kills were all confirmed?

Hi Broz:

Henry 'Ducky' Norwest's (MM and bar) longtime observer was 160717 Oliver 'Shorty' Payne. All of Norwest's 115 fatal shots were confirmed. It should be noted that 115 confirmed fatal shots was highest total recorded in the CEF. He used three Ross rifles as his weapons of choice.

Garth

Henry___Ducky

[Broznitsky]

Interesting, how many "scouts" and snipers were First Nation?

To quote Mordac:

From the 2nd Battalion, Johnson Paudash (a Mississauga from Ontario) was officially credited with 88 fatal shots.

From the 8th Battalion, Philip McDonald (an Iroquois from Ontario) [KIA 03-JAN-16] and Patrick Riel (a Métis from Manitoba) [KIA 14-JAN-16] were unofficially credited with more than 100 fatal shots between them. One of Patrick Riel's ancestors was Louis Riel, of the 1885 Northwest Rebellion fame. Both men are buried at the Berks Cemetery Extension in Belgium.

[Ken Lees]

It would be interesting to know how 'kills' were confirmed. If an enemy soldier showed his head above the parapet for just a second or so, long enough for the sniper to loose off a round, how on earth would he, or anyone else, know whether he had hit his target? If it was a kill, the dead soldier would fall and if it were a near miss, the soldier would drop behind the parapet and not be too keen to raise his head again.

Ken

[Annette Burgoyne]

Does kill mean killed or is the term used just to mean hit because how would an observer know that a man some distance away in or behind the German line is dead or badly wounded. Plus did British snipers keep a count like the CEF, I have never come across any mention by the units I have looked into keeping records,

Annette

[mordac]

It would be interesting to know how 'kills' were confirmed. If an enemy soldier showed his head above the parapet for just a second or so, long enough for the sniper to loose off a round, how on earth would he, or anyone else, know whether he had hit his target? If it was a kill, the dead soldier would fall and if it were a near miss, the soldier would drop behind the parapet and not be too keen to raise his head again.

Hi Ken:

If the body couldn't be seen the shoot wasn't confirmed.

Here's a quote from the 2nd Canadian Mounted Rifles history: "Our snipers worked in pairs, in two-hour reliefs, from dawn to dusk, independently of companies, using telescopic Lee Enfields and Ross rifles with woodwork trimmed down, the latter for long-range shooting. When a target was discovered one man fired while the other observed results with powerful field glasses, and no sniper was credited with a "kill" unless his partner reported seeing the body after deliberate observation. This was a very good check system, as each man did turn-about with rifle and glasses, and it is interesting to note from the end of October until we left this sector in February our snipers killed sixty-four Huns, in addition to nearly twice that number of suspected hits (bodies which could not be seen after falling,), while during the same period our casualties from all causes were seventeen killed and sixty-nine wounded."

It should be noted that some battalions had teams were one man was always the sniper and the other always his observer. Most teams, like Norwest and Payne, were inseparable.

All confirmed fatal shots were recorded by the battalion and the information, including the time and location, were reported to the Brigade Intelligence Officer. The brigade reports would be summarized and sent to the Division Intelligence Officer.

Garth

[Ken Lees]

Thanks Garth.

I didn't realise that they worked in pairs. I had the image in my mind of a man lying alone in no-man's land, for hours on end, heavily camouflaged. I take it then, that most snipers operated from their own front line?

Ken

[mordac]

I didn't realise that they worked in pairs. I had the image in my mind of a man lying alone in no-man's land, for hours on end, heavily camouflaged. I take it then, that most snipers operated from their own front line?

Hi Ken:

You correct on both counts. They worked heavily camouflaged in No Man's Land and the trenches. For the most part the teams operated well away form the men in the line. I've read a couple of reports were patrols working in No Man's Land accidentally stumbled across sniper teams because they were camouflaged so well. Apparently one of their favourite haunts was using a fake hollow tree (created for the purpose) in No Man's Land as an OP or sniper's position. I'll try and dig a reference for this device up.

I've managed to find a good example of sniper reporting in battalion and brigade Intelligence Summaries. It's from the 46th Battalion and the 10th Brigade on February 12/13, 1918 from 6:00 AM to 6:00 AM. They were in the Lens sector at the time.

The 46th Battalion report lists numerous items, one of them sniping:

SNIPING.

Ours.

Three hits claimed:—

1.15 p.m., one hit claimed at N.20.a.25.85.

2.45 p.m., one hit claimed at N.20.a.37.98.

3.15 p.m., one hit claimed at N.14.c.40.40.

Hostile.

Nil.

The 10th Brigade lists the same items including sniping:

SNIPING.

Ours.

Sniper ........... 47th Bn. claims hit at N.20.a.43.52, at 10.20 a.m. German was moving behind houses, and although wounded managed to crawl away.

Three hits claimed from the 46th Bn :—

1.15 p.m., one hit claimed at N.20.a.25.85.

2.45 p.m., one hit claimed at N.20.a.37.98.

3.15 p.m., one hit claimed at N.14.c.40.40.

Hostile.

Few shots fired, without effect.

Garth

Edited 29 March , 2004 by mordac