The facts about Erwin König Sent to Stalingrad to Take on The Very Effective Soviet Sniper Vasily Zaytsev

 

Figure1.Major Erwin König

Vasily Zaytsev was one of the most successful snipers in the Soviet army. According to documents from the time, he was so prolific that the Wehrmacht sent their own super sniper, Erwin König, to take him out. This allegedly resulted in a sniper duel which ended with Zaytsev killing König during the Battle of Stalingrad.

Figure2. Vasily Zaytsev

 
This is a story that sparks the imagination and resulted in the film Enemy at the Gates. However, there is very little historical evidence to confirm this. There is no official information about who Erwin König was and whether he was ever sent out to kill Zaytsev.

The only sources about the duel between Zaytsev and König come from the Soviet army and Zaytsev himself. In his memoirs, Zaytsev refers to König as Herr Koning and identifies him as the head of the German sniper school in Berlin. This was according to documents taken from the body after the duel in Stalingrad.