Josef 'Sepp' Allerberger was a German sniper in the II Battalion of the 144th Gebirgsj�ger Regiment of the 3rd Mountain Division on the Eastern Front, and was credited with 257 kills. He was born in the vicinity of Steiermark, Austria, on 24 December 1924, the son of a local carpenter. Sent to the Eastern Front in June 1943 as a machine gunner, Allerberger was lightly wounded at Stavropol and experimented with a captured Soviet Mosin Nagant 91/30 rifle with a 3.5x PU telescopic sight whilst recuperating. Eventually he made 27 kills before being sent for sniper training at Seetaleralpe, and being assigned a Karabiner 98k sniper variant with 4x telescopic sight. At the end of the War he would often use a Gewehr 43 with ZF4 4x telescopic sight and an MP40 submachine gun. During combat, Allerberger was noted for using the Wehrmacht-taught technique of an umbrella with the cloth removed and foliage woven into the arms which he held to his front in order to camouflage himself. This camouflage was quickly assembled and lightweight and adaptable to many circumstances. 

December 24th, 1924 in Styria  /  Died:   Mar 2nd, 2010