Tsyrendashi Dorzhiev

Tsyrendashi Rinchinovich Dorzhiev (; 1912 3 January 1943) was a Soviet sniper during World War II credited with killing up to 297 Nazi soldiers as well as shooting down a Nazi plane. A skilled marksman prior to his military service, Dorzhiev volunteered for service with the Red Army and reached the rank of sergeant before being mortally wounded and dying of his wounds in early 1943.

Early life Dorzhiev was born in 1912 to an impoverished Buryat family in the village of Barai Adag, located within present-day Buryatia. He began hunting on the taiga with his father's rifle at the age of 14 and became a skilled tracker and hunter as an adolescent.

World War II Upon volunteering for the Red Army in 1941 shortly after the German invasion of the Soviet Union, Dorzhiev was initially assigned to delivering food on a horse, much to his disappointment about not being able to use his marksmanship skills on the front. However, he was soon allowed to transfer to a rifle company after explaining to his commanding officer that he wanted to become a sniper because of his previous experience as a marksman. After practicing with a sniper rifle for a day in November 1941 he was given sniper duties, tasked with shooting at German soldiers leaving a dugout. During the intense battle for Simanovo village he was he was credited with killing 48 enemy soldiers and shooting down a Bf 109 on 3 May 1942; later that month he was nominated for an Order of Lenin for having accumulated a tally of 174 kills.

Awards Order of Lenin (16 June 1942) Medal "For Courage" (27 September 1942)