While Vasily Zaitsev's skill was real, the legendary duel with a German master sniper named Major Erwin König is considered by historians like Antony Beevor to be a fabrication of Soviet propaganda, with no evidence found in German military archives. The state had a powerful incentive to create larger-than-life heroes to bolster morale. Zaitsev's confirmed toll of 225 enemy soldiers, including 11 rival snipers, was recorded during the intense period from November to December 1942. Beyond his own