Bruno Sutkus

Who was Bruno Sutkus?

Bruno Sutkus was a Lithuanian-German sniper in the 68th Infantry Division of the German Army, on the Eastern Front of World War II, and was credited with 209 kills. Every kill was recorded in an individual "sniper's book" and had to be confirmed by at least one observer and authenticated by the battalion commander. Facsimile copies of various diary pages are reproduced in Sutkus' memoir. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Sutkus held lectures for Lithuanian soldiers and presented his wartime records to Lithuanian officers.

Sutkus was born in Tannenwalde, then a suburb of Königsberg, East Prussia. His father was Lithuanian, which meant that Sutkus was not automatically German, German nationality had to be applied for. Since no application was made he remained officially Stateless until 1941 when he became a naturalized German. He joined the Hitler Youth in 1938, achieving the rank of a Scharführer. When he was 18 years old he became a member of the SA, where his shooting skills were acknowledged, and he was given a rifle to take home and practise marksmanship.

Sutkus trained as a sniper from August 1943 through the end of December 1943 at the Sniper School Vilnius, before being assigned to the 196th Grenadier Regiment of the 68th Infantry Division. In January 1945 while recovering from a wound he was promoted and informed that he had been appointed as an instructor at a sniper school.