A proper baddass!!
20 years ago today in 2002, infamous Finnish sniper Simo Häyhä peacefully passes away.
Known as “The White Death,” Simo was a Finnish sniper during the Winter War of 1939-40 against a communist invasion and is credited with 505 confirmed kills made with an unscoped bolt-action rifle or submachine gun. Born in 1905 Häyhä was a farmer, hunter, sports shooter, and militia member living in Southern Finland near the Russian border. When the war began, the Soviet Union immediately massed its forces hoping to overwhelm the Finnish line and end the war quickly; they had overwhelming numbers as well as massive air, artillery, and tank superiority but lacked experienced leadership due to Stalin’s recent purges of the Officer Corps.
This along with their lack of winter camouflage enabled the Finns to effectively outmaneuver the Soviets throughout the winter of 1939-40, encircling the Red Army units and harassing their supply lines. While defending their primary defensive line called the “Kolaa Front,” the Finns engaged in what they called “motti sieges,” allowing the Soviets to pass their concealed positions and attacking from behind.
Häyhä was not formally trained in optics and preferred to shoot with iron sights. He used a Finnish Sako M28/30 bolt-action rifle chambered in 7.62x54R as well as a Suomi 9mm submachine gun, occasionally moving as close as several meters to his targets. In addition to wearing all-white winter camouflage, he concealed his position by packing snow around his rifle, and put snow in his mouth to conceal his breath. On March 6th 1940 while on patrol in a swamp, Häyhä’s unit attacked a Soviet position at close range. Häyhä was hit in the jaw by an explosive rifle round which immediately knocked him unconscious; according to one source he was left under a pile of bodies until being later discovered and brought by towed sled to a field hospital. He remained unconscious for a week until waking up on March 13th, the same day that the Soviets and Finns declared armistice.
Häyhä’s injury was severe and required 26 surgeries to repair. After the war he moved back to Southern Finland, although the territory he originally grew up on was lost to the Soviets under the terms of the peace treaty. Häyhä spent the rest of his life as a hunter and dog breeder and passed away in 2002 at the age of 96.
When asked about the war he said: “War is not a pleasant experience, but who else would protect this land unless we are willing to do it ourselves?”
[Online References]
(http://nordic.businessinsider.com/the-incredible-life-of…/ )
(https://www.britannica.com/event/Russo-Finnish-War )
[Book References]
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“The White Sniper: Simo Häyhä” by Tapio Saarelainen, 2016.
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“The Winter War: The Russo–Finnish War of 1939–40” by William R. Trotter, 2002
Author: Y T
They really should train them to be a bit tougher considering the nature of their job, i mean all i said was that “a better way for him to make money would be to send his mother to work in a brothel”. Then off he went in an hysterical tirade of abuse before hanging up on me as i laughed back at him.