What does it mean to shoot in Macedonian. Shooting “Macedonian style”: what films lie about it. SMERSH combat instructions for SOBR, OMON and military counterintelligence officers

A Bulgarian revolutionary of Macedonian origin, commissioned by Croatian nationalists with the blessing of the German intelligence services, kills the Yugoslav king and the French foreign minister, and then it turns out that this was also a step towards war in Russia...

"Long live the king!"

With these words, on October 9, 1934, in Marseille, a strong black-haired man with a huge bouquet broke through the police cordon and ran to an open limousine in which King Alexander of Yugoslavia, French Foreign Minister Jean-Louis Barthou and General Alphonse Georges were sitting. The car could barely crawl (4 km per hour) - after all, the jubilant Marseilles should see and greet the guests of honor! The man jumped onto the step of the limousine and... As it turned out, the bouquet contained a Mauser, and a Walter was in the pocket. The terrorist shot quickly, accurately, with both hands at once. Shooting in Macedonian style – that’s how it’s been called since then (see our information). Alexander - on the spot. Georges tried to grab the shooter - four bullets. Bartu is wounded (as it turns out, mortally).

In Macedonian - because the identity of the killer (he was also killed right there - he was hacked to death by an escort cavalryman) was quickly revealed. There was a tattoo on his arm - the emblem of the VMRO (Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization), one of the most formidable Balkan terrorist organizations of that time. The murdered man, accordingly, turned out to be her long-wanted militant nicknamed Vlado the Driver. He is also Vlado Chernozemsky. Real name: Velichko Dimitrov Kerin. Bulgarian revolutionary of Macedonian origin. (October 19 is exactly the 115th anniversary of his birth, which is why “AN” remembered this story.)

Bulgarian? Macedonian? But, excuse me, all the encyclopedias say: the “Marseilles murder” (under this name was included in this incident) was organized by Croatian Ustasha nationalists with the help of Nazi Germany.
That's right. But let's take things in order.

In the powder magazine

It’s not for nothing that the Balkans have long been called “the powder keg of Europe.” Whether life itself among the mountains formed special character traits or centuries-old resistance to the Turks, a certain type of hero was forged in those countries. These kind of passionaries are fearless, merciless, living for the sake of a great struggle for a great goal. Another thing is that the goal changed over time. For many centuries, the best sons of local peoples fought the Ottomans for national liberation. But now the enslavers are expelled. And it turned out that the newly independent Balkan countries have something to share - Bulgarians with Serbs, Serbs with Croats, etc. And the heroes of some nations continued to fight with the heroes of other nations - for lands, for a place in the sun, simply in the order of “blow for blow.”

Historical Macedonia is a piece of land sandwiched between Bulgaria, Greece and Serbia. And for a very long time the local people could not decide - who are we? Bulgarians? Serbs? Are Macedonians a separate people? Macedonians - but as part of Bulgaria? Or independent? Meanwhile, as a result of local wars, the territory of Macedonia was divided. Part went to Bulgaria (which, in general, suited the majority), part to Serbia (at different times called differently). The Serbs became enemies.

VMRO was one of the Macedonian underground organizations. She fought for independence - first with the Turks, then with the Serbs. At the same time, along the way - with other local fighters for independence (but of different beliefs). And within VMRO itself, different currents fought with each other. As a result, the list of national heroes looks strange: Kacharkov killed Sandansky, Panitsa killed Sarafov, Krnicheva killed Panitsa - and so on endlessly.

But something else is important to us now. Firstly, as a result, the Macedonian revolutionaries accumulated unique skills in the terrorist struggle (and here we remember the same “Macedonian shooting”). Secondly: Vancho Mikhailov became the head of VMRO in 1925, having eliminated opponents in the organization itself with bullets and bombs and, in addition, had a personal score to settle with the Serbs - they killed his father and brother. Third: the enemy of my enemy is my friend. In Yugoslavia, the Croats have always been at enmity with the Serbs (let me not get into the reasons and details - we’ll drown). And there was a moment: the Macedonian terrorists who committed an anti-Serbian terrorist attack on Croatian territory were defended in court by local lawyers. In particular, Ante Pavelić, the future leader of the Ustaše. This is how connections were made.

Other people's affairs

But listen! What does the rest of humanity care about these squabbles and national complexes? Other people's business! Since you have such a tradition of cutting each other, cut yourself! But at home. So that others don't suffer! Twenty years before these events, in June 1914, the fiery Serbian high school student Gavrila Princip shot the Austrian Archduke Ferdinand: the half-teenage organization “Mlada Bosna” decided to show someone something - coolness? intransigence? the will to freedom? And the First World War began. Millions of dead, the fate of the planet is upside down.

Serious people

Everything in the world is connected. Bartu was sitting next to Alexander in the car. The French nationalist, an experienced politician, Jean-Louis Barthou feared Hitler, who had come to power in Berlin, and built a European security system - the Little Entente, the Eastern Pact... He was in favor of Franco-Soviet rapprochement: Moscow is our potential ally. He was going to include Yugoslavia in his schemes - that’s why Alexander’s visit was so important for him.

In 1957, the GDR published archival documents about the involvement in the “Marseilles murder” of the then assistant military attaché in Germany, Hans Speidel, a future Wehrmacht and NATO general. They mentioned Vlado the driver, the German name of the operation – “Teutonic Sword”, and the fact that everything was started on Goering’s instructions. Meaning: Bart was the main target. The documents do not seem to raise doubts, and the Ustasha sympathized with Hitler, but... I hope that “AN” will not be suspected of sympathizing with the Nazis? Then the question is: did the Germans need to strain themselves so much? The Ustasha and the Macedonians hated Alexander on their own; they had experience of terrorist attacks. The Germans could, knowing about the conspiracy, not interfere with it - that’s their fault.

But the death of Bartu! Hm... Mikhailov then insisted all his life: Vlado could not kill the minister! We were only interested in the king! And Vlado is a super shooter, here he hit almost point blank. And in 1974 it became clear: Bartu really did not die from Chernozemsky’s bullet. The police then started firing at the terrorist - and caught the minister.

From the heights of time

There is one more question. Vlado, of course, is a scumbag (although for the Macedonians he is a hero, he defeated his worst enemy, songs are written). However, if a person himself went to his death...

But he did not go to his death. Still a professional. At risk, yes, but not to death. There were three more Ustasha fighters there. It was assumed that they would detonate grenades in the crowd, and the “perpetrator” would take advantage of the panic and escape. But they didn't blow it up. Are you scared?

And it turned out as it happened. The shots in Marseille were not Gavrilo Princip’s shots – the international configuration was different. On the other hand, Bartu, a very strong figure, died. If he had remained alive, perhaps all pre-war world politics would have gone differently.

The murder caused outrage around the world. VMRO and the Ustaše abandoned terror tactics. The Ustasha then finally placed their bets on the Nazis, during the war, with the help of the Nazis, they proclaimed the “Independent State of Croatia” - and began the monstrous genocide of Serbs, Jews and Gypsies. The ghost of those terrible times recalled itself in 1991–95, when Croatia’s exit from Yugoslavia turned into a new war.

But those who have been to Croatia today (and there are a lot of our tourists there) say: it’s a sweet, peaceful country. And no scandalous news has been heard from independent Macedonia.

Maybe there really are things that need to be overcome like childhood diseases?

On the move with two pistols

The term “Macedonian shooting” - firing from two pistols (or revolvers) on the move at a moving target - became known thanks to the famous novel by Vladimir Bogomolov “The Moment of Truth (In August '44).”

In May 1985, V. Bogomolov was offended by a phrase in one of the materials of Komsomolskaya Pravda: they say, everything is a fairy tale, this shooting was invented by “one writer”. It was not for nothing that the author of “The Moment of Truth” was famous for his scrupulousness. In a caustic letter to the then editor of the newspaper G. Seleznev, he said that before the release of the novel, at the request of the KGB, he prepared two certificates “indicating the mention of special terms used in the novel in the open Soviet press.” And further (with links to sources): “Shooting in Macedonian style first hit the pages of newspapers in 1934, when in Marseille the Ustasha, adherents of shooting in Macedonian style, (...) shot the Yugoslav King Alexander and French Foreign Minister Barthou. From the mid-30s, it began to be taught to FBI agents in the USA, and to Scotland Yard agents in England. Since 1942, detectives of the Soviet military counterintelligence began to cultivate Macedonian shooting. By 1944, Macedonian shooting was being practiced in at least seven countries.”

The author of the “Russian-Macedonian” version was called Vladimir Bogomolov, who described this type of shooting in the novel “In August forty-four.” But he replied that Macedonian shooting first appeared on the pages of newspapers in 1934, when Yugoslav King Alexander I Karageorgievich and French Foreign Minister Barthou were shot dead in Marseille by Ustashas, ​​adherents of Macedonian shooting. Which is also not a fact. The trained Macedonian (more precisely Bulgarian) terrorist Vlado Chernozemsky, who committed this murder, could well have had special shooting skills, moreover, he actually also had a Walther with him. But he shot point-blank from one Mauser, jumping on the running board of the car in which King Alexander was riding.

The version that the term comes from the tactics of the troops of Philip and Alexander the Great, whose soldiers did everything on the move on the march - ate, urinated, slept, shot, and means everything that is done in motion, on the move, also does not stand up to serious criticism. Although it is quite possible that this method of shooting was given such a beautiful name because of the Macedonian freedom fighters who used two pistols at once during the Balkan Wars of 1912 and 1913.

But this is all speculation. Losing its relevance, if only because “two-handed” shooting has also lost its relevance to a sufficient extent. No, in the movies, and even when someone like Bruce Willis or Keanu Reeves “akimbays” 360 degrees, remaining safe and sound after a hurricane “polival” of twenty bad guys – it’s still great. And in computer games it looks very impressive. But in life, as one Russian author wittily noted on the Internet, “Macedonian shooting is a secret jutsu (that is, a fantastic ninja technique that a person cannot repeat. - Ed.) of short-barreled gunners, giving +15 to the rate of fire, +2 to lethality, +10 to show-off and −20 to accuracy.” In addition, not all types of pistols can be used for “two-handed shooting.” And besides, it takes quite a long time to reload two weapons at once, and inaccuracy when shooting also occurs. In a word, the tactics are still considered outdated. Although it still applies.

However, since the mid-30s in the United States, FBI agents were trained to shoot on the move with two pistols (or revolvers), and in England, agents of the operational departments of Scotland Yard were trained. And since 1942, the detectives of the Soviet military counterintelligence began to cultivate Macedonian shooting. Again, if we remember the 16th–18th centuries, pistols were even sold and worn exclusively in pairs. True, for a different reason: they were single-shot, required a lot of time to reload, and if one misfired they simply fired from the other.

By the way, the belief that the Akimbo shooting fashion came to us from the Wild West is quite controversial. Holding two weapons at the ready, real gangsters-bandits, unlike the movie ones, shot first with their stronger hand, and then, having fired the clip, they threw the second weapon into this hand and continued shooting.

Many viewers remember episodes in which the famous heroine Lara Croft deftly shoots from two pistols, killing her enemies on the spot. This technique makes a colossal impression, which is why it is used so often in adventure films, action films and westerns.

This combat technique is called “Macedonian shooting.” In domestic practice, it was described by Alexey Potapov in his work “Pistol shooting techniques. SMERSH practice." He also spoke about the advantages and disadvantages of the “Macedonian” method.

Only truly skilled shooters can fire from two barrels at once. This method involves the use of two pistols of similar parameters, which are held in outstretched hands. Such a fight requires accuracy and remarkable physical strength. Fire is often conducted in the direction of movement, which imposes even more responsibility on the shooter, but also protects him from enemy attacks.

When shooting in Macedonian style, keep your hands parallel to each other. Sometimes they interlock with their thumbs for better balance and accuracy. The advantage of the method is a double increase in the firepower of one shooter. If your fingers are interlocked, then the recoil from the shot is slightly reduced.

The writer Vladimir Bogomolov, who used this term in his works, refers to the Croatian nationalists Ustasha (1929-1941), whose favorite technique was Macedonian shooting. Later, this method began to be taught to Scotland Yard operatives, FBI agents and, of course, Soviet counterintelligence officers.

As one of the most likely versions of the origin of the term, Bogomolov cites the borrowing of the name from the nationality of the fighters who “invented” the method of shooting with two hands. These were Macedonian freedom fighters from the Balkan Wars.

Shooting from two pistols at once looks very spectacular and is perfect for movies. However, in real life she has a lot of shortcomings. The first is to increase the reload time of weapons. When both barrels run out of ammunition, the shooter has to scramble to get back into the fight.

The second problem is the very low shooting accuracy. Keeping an enemy on two front sights at once is almost impossible. Especially if the shooter is moving. So the brave Lara Croft hardly killed many opponents for all her heroism. Most likely she just scared them thoroughly.

The third fact that feature films lie about is the deliberate simplicity of Macedonian shooting. The viewer is accustomed to the fact that his favorite hero casually grabs 2 huge large-caliber pistols (such as a Magnum or Desert) and accurately fires at an entire army of enemies while running. They fall to the ground like cut grass.

In practice this does not happen. It is quite difficult to manage two barrels at once. Large-caliber pistols and revolvers also have colossal recoil. She would simply knock the fragile Lara off her feet.

Even SMERSH employees

This method was not practiced for long due to its inconvenience. In addition, in the 50s, compact PP submachine guns became widespread, possessing sufficient firepower to replace 2 old-style barrels. Such weapons are more convenient to hide, and they are more useful. Nowadays, shooting in Macedonian style has remained only on the screen. No one has used it in real life for a long time.

During training, try to remember the force tension that arises in the muscles as muscle memory. Translate it into the category of sensations. Such sensations themselves are very vivid and are very well remembered by the so-called “dark muscle memory”. Practice reproducing the coordination position of the trunks relative to each other, bringing the resulting muscle efforts to the remembered bright beacon of previously experienced muscle sensations. Practice doing all this with your eyes closed and, opening your eyes, check visually how you did it. If necessary, “make corrections” and work with muscle memory again.

It doesn’t matter how you shoot - in one gulp at the same time or at random, pressing the triggers one by one. It is important that the coordination efforts that you remember with your muscles during successful training are constantly maintained in your hands and shoulders. Then everything will work out as it should. If you turn your attention to aiming, your hands will open, and each of your two pistols will “jump” on its own. Therefore, remember: in the first training stages, the main attention should be directed to the general grip of the hands, and let the goal be perceived “somewhere and vaguely.” The weapon itself will “reach” this target if you do everything correctly.

To escalate, to put pressure on the psyche, I immediately tickled his ears: I fired a single shot from both revolvers so that the bullets passed close to his head... (V. Bogomolov. “In August of '44”).
How did the Soviet counterintelligence agent do this? Also shooting in the Macedonian style, but slightly spreading the barrels apart from each other. In the same way, in a moving firearm contact, shooting was carried out for the so-called “instant disabling of limbs,” i.e. shooting at the arms and legs simultaneously from two pistols, if necessary, to take the enemy alive. At the same time, the barrels were moved to the sides at the required angle so that during salvo fire, two bullets would simultaneously hit the enemy in both shoulders, in both arms above the elbows, or in both legs at the level “below the pelvis, above the knees.” It is noteworthy that if the shooter took to the right or left and missed with one bullet, then the target was still hit by the second bullet.

When shooting Macedonian style at a moving target, when the shooter stands in one place, the toes of both feet should be placed wider than the shoulders, and the heels should be spread to the sides. The shooter in this position must forcefully press his heels into the ground. Why is that? Accept this position, and it will become clear to you that in such a position it is easier to deploy the enslaved arrow-weapon system to accompany a running target than in the usual and familiar stance with heels in, toes out. In addition, from such a preparation it is easier to make a sharp start-jerk to the side for subsequent lateral movement. Shooting at a running target while standing from one place with at least one pistol, at least two, is carried out with the obligatory leash of the weapon.

This technique doubles the shooter’s firepower and reduces recoil after a shot due to increased mass when the fingers are interlocked.

Encyclopedic YouTube

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✪ Special Forces weapons. Stechkin pistol (APS)

✪ Shooting in Macedonian style - first pass

✪ Combat Pistol Shooting Part 1

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Origin of the term

There are several versions of the origin of the term. Writer Vladimir Bogomolov, when accused of inventing this term, wrote in a letter to the editor-in-chief of the newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda:

... shooting in the Macedonian style first hit the pages of newspapers in 1934, when in Marseille the Yugoslav King Alexander and the French Foreign Minister Barthou were shot dead by the Ustashes, adherents of the Macedonian shooting, with the most careful security of the motorcade. Since the mid-30s, shooting in Macedonian style, that is, shooting on the move from two pistols (or revolvers) at a moving target, began to be taught in the USA to FBI agents, and in England to agents of the operational departments of Scotland Yard. Since 1942, shooting in the Macedonian style began to be cultivated by the detectives of the Soviet military counterintelligence. By 1944, when the novel takes place, Macedonian shooting was practiced in at least seven countries.

It is not possible to verify the authenticity of Bogomolov’s statements. Vlado Chernozemsky, the terrorist who single-handedly committed the Marseilles Murder, was indeed an instructor in terrorist training camps and may have had special shooting skills. However, he carried out the murder mentioned by the writer by shooting point-blank from one Mauser, jumping on the running board of the car in which King Alexander and his entourage were traveling. The terrorist also had a Walther with him, but he did not fire from it. The security of the motorcade was not at all thorough.

There is a version that the term comes from the Macedonian freedom fighters who used two pistols at once during the Balkan and 1913 wars.

Advantages and disadvantages

Many shooting experts [ which?] highlight several advantages and disadvantages of Macedonian shooting. The advantage lies in enhanced firepower. Disadvantages include increased reload time for two weapons at once and low shooting accuracy [ ] . Also, not all types of pistols can be used for “two-handed shooting” (for example, magnum-type revolvers or large-caliber Desert Eagle pistols have too strong recoil to shoot effectively in this way) [ ] .

The “Macedonian” method of shooting for an operative who cannot carry a machine gun with him for the sake of secrecy is difficult to overestimate. It was widespread both among our special services and among the Germans. It was used as long as it was possible to “get hold of” a second pistol. In the 50s, a massive confiscation of non-service weapons began from operational personnel; a second pistol was not provided for arming the operative, and with the departure of the old-timers, the method of firing two pistols with two hands was forgotten. No one else cultivated it either here or in the West - with the advent of small-sized submachine guns, it became unnecessary.