The Winter War started two months after the start of WWII. With Soviets joining the war and gaining power as they amass their army and begin to invade countries. Their neighbor and brother Finland was now in their sights and started to send troops to invade Finland in 1939. Finland known to be very cold and rural country gave the small Finnish army many advantages over the Soviet Union. But the ability to shoot from long ranges gave them a supreme advantage and these supreme advantages made marksman to become one man armies. One of these one man army's was Simo Hayha who was also known as "The White Death" who made about 505 confirmed kills with his Mosin-Nagant Russian sniper rifle, but it is said that his kill count is over 700. Which gives him the record of the most confirmed kills with a sniper rifle and the best and deadliest sniper in the world. Also with only his 9mm Suomi KP/-31 machine gun he killed 200 soviets. Simo Hayha was born in 1905 in Rautajarvi, Finland and had a simple life, he farmed and hunted with his family. But then he had to join the the army because of a mandatory year of service in the Finnish Army in 1925 and became a corporal at the end of the year of his service and gained his sniping skills in the marksmanship training were he could shoot a target 500 feet away at a rate of 16 shots per minute. But when the Soviets invaded Finland he was called on again to fight for the Finnish Army and also became a member of the Civil Guard. He was positioned on the Kollaa River with Major General Uiluo Tuompo in charge of the division he was stationed at. The Finnish army was heavily fired upon and were short in number of soldiers so they developed a tactic called "Motti" tactics, which are done by the Finns waiting in the wilderness until the soviets passed them and then they would come out and shoot them from behind. The tactic was perfect for Simo Hayha because he would be able to shoot them without them finding out where he is. He would also wear white camouflage that blended in with the snow, put snow in his mouth so that the heat from his mouth would not escape and make water vapor because that would give away his position, incredibly he used iron sight on the sniper rifle instead of a telescopic sight which would produce glare from the sun shining on the focal lense (giving away his position) and because less of the head is exposed.
Also Simo Hayha had to snipe in -40 to -20 degrees Celsius which would be -40 to -4 degrees Fahrenheit, which is said to be extremely hard to do. But with these tactics and techniques he became a nightmare for the soviets. The Soviets were so scared that they sent whole units of counter snipers, artillery attacks and carpet bombing to kill him. But all failed until one day when a sniper shot a explosive bullet through his jaw and injuring him but incredibly he stood up and picked up his 9mm Suomi sub-machine gun and killed the sniper.He then went into a coma ( he was in a coma for 11 days ) and his fellow soldiers found him and he was treated and survived the shot.But as he was recovering the Winter War ended. After the war he gained many awards and was promoted to second lieutenant from his corporal position which has never happened in Finnish history because he skipped ranks in the military ranking system. He then lived on breeding dogs and hunting moose and died in April 1, 2002 at age 97. He will never be forgotten because he is a true legend of war.
Importance of Winter War for WWII
The Winter War was a part of WWII but it is called the Winter War because it was an offensive by only the Finns against the Soviets. It is also amazing how Finland of 5 million people could defend and sometimes out fight the gigantic Soviet Union. But most of all it slowed them down and it stopped them from going into the Scandinavia. Even though at the end of the Winter War the Soviets gained 22,000 square miles of land but lost 500,000 soldiers in the war, this is what one soviet general said about the land gained "just enough to bury their dead".
Quotes from Simo Hayha
"I only did my duty, and what I was told to do, as well as I could."
Question asked in 1998, why he was so good at sniping he said "Practice".
Importance of Winter War for WWII
The Winter War was a part of WWII but it is called the Winter War because it was an offensive by only the Finns against the Soviets. It is also amazing how Finland of 5 million people could defend and sometimes out fight the gigantic Soviet Union. But most of all it slowed them down and it stopped them from going into the Scandinavia. Even though at the end of the Winter War the Soviets gained 22,000 square miles of land but lost 500,000 soldiers in the war, this is what one soviet general said about the land gained "just enough to bury their dead".
Quotes from Simo Hayha
"I only did my duty, and what I was told to do, as well as I could."
Question asked in 1998, why he was so good at sniping he said "Practice".
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