Simo "Simuna" Häyhä (December 17, 1905 - April 1, 2002), nicknamed "White Death" was a Finnish sniper. Using a Finnish-produced M/28-30 rifle and a Suomi KP/-31, he reportedly killed 505 men during the 1939–40 Winter War, the highest recorded number of sniper kills in any major war. Häyhä estimated in his diary he killed more than five hundred Red Army soldiers in the Winter War (by both sniper rifle and machine/submachine gun). Credited 259 confirmed sniper kills and an equal number of kills by machine/submachine gun were made by Simo Häyhä during the Winter War.
Early Life[]
Häyhä was born on December 17, 1905 in the municipality of Rautjärvi in the Grand Duchy of Finland, in present-day southern Finland near the border with Russia, he was the second youngest of a Lutheran heritage family of farmers of eight children. Before entering combat, Häyhä was a farmer and hunter and in 1922 at the age of 17, he joined the Civil Guard. At the age of 20 in 1925, he joined the Finnish army.
Winter War Service[]
Simo Häyhä proved to be an excellent soldier. He was very good at Skiing. He was capable of shoot a target 16 times in a row a minute at 500 feet away. This was incredible, knowing that the Mosin-Nagant M28/30 is a bolt-action rifle.
On November 30th, 1939, The Soviet Union invaded Finland, starting the "Winter War" or the Russo-Finnish war as known in Russia today. The Finnish army was very outnumbered, but knew the terrain well and had proper snow camouflage, unlike the Soviets. On December 22, 1939, Simo killed 138 soldiers in 22 days, and a month later on January 26, 1940, he killed 199, another month later on February 17, 1940, he killed 219 soldiers. The last month of the war on March 7, 1940, he killed 259 Soviet soldiers before being seriously injured by an explosive bullet shot by a Red Army soldier, his comrades picked him up and he later recovered.
After the war[]
After many years and surgeries, Simo luckily recovered from his injury, he would be awarded the Cross of Liberty and Medal of Liberty, on August 28, 1940, he was promoted from alikersantti to fänrik, which at the time was the highest ranking in the Finnish army. After World War 2 he moved and lived as a farm in the town of Ruokolahti, he would go back to hunting and would also become a dog breeder and even went hunting with then President of Finland, Urho Kekkonen. Simo also never boasted his achievements. In 1998 he was asked how he became such a good sniper, his response was "practice". In 2001 he was asked if he felt remorse for the soldiers he killed, he replied with, "I did what I was supposed to do, as well I could. There would be no Finland unless everyone else had done the same."
Death[]
On April 1, 2002, Simo died from natural causes at the age of 96 at a veterans nursing home in Haminia, he was later buried in his home town of Ruokolahti.