White Death: the Sniper Who Killed 700 Soviets in 100 Days

If you are interested in knowing what rifle he is using in the pictures it is a Mosin Nagant 91-30. This is a very hardy and useful rifle. The Mosin fires a 7.62X54r round. This is a perfect sniper rifle.

Spawncamping fag lol

His K/D ratio is 700/0, huh?..... HAX!!!

He must have had some Steady Aim Pro

Snipers are just cowards. With a good aim, but still cowards.

I hate snipers!

hahahah later russia

"I'm a real Frederick Zoller"

In the winter war with Finland, Russian troops invading the country were issued with exploding bullets, in contravention of the Geneva accords. That's why Simo's head was half blown off.

The defense of Finland against Stalin's aggression was one of the great miracles of military history, the Finns fought heroically and were much assisted by the fact that Soviet forces, although formidably equiped and many, many times larger, were paralysed by Stalinist terror. Soviet Generals would rather send 10,000s of men to certain death that admit a simple error or question a stupid command.

"Killed 700 Soviets in 100 Days"

Meh, Stalin did better.

Wonderful article. Thank you for a fascinating historical essay.

One question: are you sure the man in the second photo is really Häyhä? He doesn't look like the same man as in the other photos.

The first photo is not him. It's a Swedish soldier. The rifle is an 1896 Swedish Mauser. The rest of the photos show the correct Moisin-Nagant rifle.

Snipers are cowards? The Soviets invaded Finland and outnumbered the Finns 100:1. And Fabio would have attacked with only a bayonet? What a dick. If a war breaks out, I hope Fabio and his ilk are on the other side.

Cowards sit at home behind their computer and slander heroes that actually fought.

The first photo is obviously not Häyhä, since the rifle is not a Mosin-Nagant, which is what he used.

Fabricio,

"Snipers are just cowards. With a good aim, but still cowards."

Wrong. On the Eastern Front, for example, snipers on both sides performed their assigned tasks knowing full well that if they were captured they would be executed on the spot...but likely not before being brutally tortured.

Put yourself in their boots, pal, and then try calling them cowards.

"He shot using a standard, bolt-action rifle with non-telescopic sights." Doesn't your first photograph show him WITH a telescope-fitted rifle? No doubt there is an explanation but this sort of apparent contradiction should not happen as it distracts, confuses and inclines one to lose confidence in the veracity of the piece.

There are actually several rifles shown in the article's pictures. The first image of the masked shooter shows him using a Swedish M96 Mauser. The Finns did use some Swedish rifles in the winter war, and they are very accurate bolt action rifles. The second picture showing Hayha with a scoped rifle is of a Soviet 91/30 Mosin-Nagant with an early scope configuration. This was probably captured from the Soviets during the Winter War. The third image of Hayha standing alone in the snow has him holding a Finnish M28 or M28-30 Mosin-Nagant. The article does not correctly distinguish that the Finns, while originally equipped with Tsarist-era Russian Mosin-Nagant rifles, had set about re-designing and improving them in the '20's such that large numbers of Civil Guard and Army soldiers were equipped with the vastly superior M24, M27, M28, M28-30, and M39 model rifles by the start of the Winter War. These Finnish Mosin-Nagants are considered among the most accurate of military bolt action rifles ever made.

The most astonishing thing to me is the report here that he used a submachine gun to claim the lives of 200+ Soviet troops. SMGs are not sniping weapons, usually having effective ranges less than 100 yards. Knowing that he must have been eyeball to eyeball with over 200 enemy soldiers should be convincing evidence of the man's bravery.

Now that's a soldier and a warrior. Once again, practice, practice and practice makes you very very lethal. Thanks for the story.

With the benefit of hindsight, the greatest threat to the personal safety of the average Soviet conscript was his own chain of command. Throw in stubborn tough outdoorsmen like Simo who, despite not being a "professional" soldier really embodied the characteristics of one - well it was not going to end well for the Soviets. Note too the Finns adopted the weapons of the invader - a built in system of re-supply - kill them and take their munitions.

P.S. despite an international mistaken view of americans as fat and lazy, I have plenty of relatives that are Simo's american equivalent. Not people to triffle with.

Terrific article. My wife is part Finn, and she's a better shot than me. Coincidence?

cool story, bro

Mandalf, stay in your bedroom and play games on your computer until you die

it's a very interesting post! I would translate into russia, then insert in my blog, let people in Russia read the truth.
Naturally, i would leave a hyperlink to that site. Wait for new readers from snowy Russia. Only after 7 days.

It was in this war that the biathlon became more than just a sport. We should always keep it in the Winter Olympics.

we are children of greater men

Fabricio, you wrote, "Snipers are just cowards. With a good aim, but still cowards." Consider this: General George Patton of World War II fame is reputed to have said in an address to his troops before leading them off to war, "Your job isn't to die for your country; your job is to make the *other* poor bastard die for *his* country" (or words very close to that.

Soldiers in war aren't, after all, Old West gunfighters who mount met on Main Street at high noon to face off one-on-one, a tradition itself based on the older notion of the duel. In the tradition of the duel, concepts from the Age of Chivalry dominated -- fairness. In warfare, fairness doesn't count, nor, indeed, did it count in warfare during the Age of Chivalry, or not much anyway.

I believe that in this case we have to remember two important points: first, Häyhä was defending his homeland from invaders, and, second, he and his countrymen were outnumbered by as much as 100 to 1 -- not good odds, especially when the invaders not only have superior numbers, but also the corresponding superior firepower. Surely those two points excuse much.

If snipers are cowards, then every soldier is a coward -- ordinary soldiers try to hide in places of concealment, too. So is every naval gunner operating a huge naval gun (or, these days, more likely a missile) from miles offshore and over the horizon -- pounding the enemy troops ashore. So are pilots flying so high as to be invisible and inaudible and who are dropping bombs. For that matter, so is every police officer who tries to hide from the bad guys instead of bravely (and stupidly) swaggering in like Marshall Dillon or Wyatt Earp.

We can go even a step further. So is a family member whose home is the victim of a home invader, a family member who gets a gun and sneaks up behind the home invader(s) and shoots him/them in the back to save his family. I know that many of us, and maybe you, would agree that to call this family member "a coward" is unfair -- but that's where the logic behind your statement ultimately, relentlessly, leads us.

Let me close with a rhetorical question regarding a certain category of Russian snipers during World War II. When Hitler betrayed Russia and was advancing like a juggernaut towards Moscow, a number of Russian women -- women! -- volunteered to remain behind with guns . . . many hidden, sniping at and killing or wounding advancing German soldiers -- cowards, Sir?

Suomi Finland Perkele!!!!!!!
SHOOTING COWARDS COMMUNISTS!!
AVE WHITE DEATH!!!

The man in the second picture is definitely NOT Simo Häyhä.

so all that time spent hunting down this guy by the soviets only to get p4wnd by this deusche, and none of them thought of just nuking Finland?

There's a fine line between heroism and psychopathy. I think this guy is on the psychopathic side.

WOW! I have always admired snipers, though I had never heard of this gentleman, and have always thought that Hathcock was one of the greatest, but this guy puts all others to shame.

A fine hero to the Finnish.

This Sniper a coward, thats a laugh. Spend 24 hours in combat you pussy liberals, if you survive? Then call this warrior a coward.
Over and out.

Californio Says: P.S. despite an international mistaken view of americans as fat
Californio Says: and lazy, I have plenty of relatives that are Simo’s american
Californio Says: equivalent. Not people to triffle with.

That's hardly evidence that the generalization and stereotype is incorrect.

I really appreciate hearing about an excellent sharpshooter. Many people dislike the idea of laying low and picking off enemies from a distance, however, snipers are still needed. In reality, how much people would prefer to do this then be on the front line?

They are definitely not cowards. Because you can do it in video games, doesn't mean you would fight in a real war. MarkJ. I truly respect you. It is nice to know that some people understand.

If recon or snipers didn't exist, the wars would be easily changes as snipers add an advantage of enemy movement and enemy location.
This story especially amazes me because he was using a Mosin Nagant, a beautiful sniper with no sights.
That is truly amazing.

Sniper due wield skill though, contrary to popular belief, they must have a steady hand and knowledge of wind directions and the way it may affect a bullet.

This is truly amazing, and is the reason I am currently trying to become a sniper rifle sharp shooter myself.

Also, I saw somebody mentioned about his rifle fitted with telescopic sights. Possibly that picture was prior to his time in the war, maybe it was taken when he was hunting, it did mention he hunted.

The reason for Häyhä's sizeable (estimated) SMG tally is that especially at the beginning of their campaign the Soviets employed an old-school strategy of trying to overrun the Finnish defenses based solely on their numerical superiority. This turned several battles into outright massacres, as Soviet officers pushed scores of men against Finnish trenches over an open terrain.

The Finns, on the other hand, had way too few machine guns, so the ones they did have were routinely operated by the most capable marksmen like Häyhä.

Häyhä's SMG tally of 200 enemies is a very rough estimate. No one actually had time to count those kills when the Soviets were attacking. If anything, I'd say the estimate is conservative, simply looking at the tactics employed by the Soviets at the time.