After the outbreak of World War II in 1939, as the European battlefield continued to expand, the Soviet Union began to attack Finland. A Finn named Simon Heha enlisted as a sniper and took part in the defense of his country. Simon Hayhabit allegedly killed 505 enemy soldiers, and if this staggering number is true, he is the deadliest sniper in history. If he says second, no one dares to say first.
Today, we're going to take a look at Simon Hayha and his incredibly accurate marksmanship. As Haiha continued to kill enemies on the battlefield, Soviet soldiers became more and more afraid of him. They had to step up patrols of the wilderness, as no one knew if Haiha would hide there and watch them through rifles without scopes, ready to snipe. Thus the Russians gave Haiha the title of "White Death". However, Haiha's Finnish comrades gave him a completely different nickname, and they called him a magic shooter. Magic Shooter is a raw material for making salads, and this nickname is obviously much more affectionate than "White Death". The exact number of snipers, depending on the source, is believed to have killed as many as 542 Soviet soldiers with his rifle.
But no data source has been less than 505, and this number has surpassed the 500 kills of the strongest sniper, the Soviet sniper who ranked second in the rankings, Ivan Sidorenko. Haiha's actual kill count may be higher, and he doesn't just snipe in a certain area, but there are ghosts under his sniper rifle throughout the Finnish battlefield. Haiha also killed hundreds of enemy fighters with submachine guns. If true, then his number would reach about 800, which is a terrible number.
The Winter War, as the name suggests, lasted for one winter, and this winter Casheha killed an average of six enemy soldiers a day. Of course, like our average income, this average is not indicative, in the highest historical record, Haiha reached a record of killing 40 people in a day, and the other two lower data also have a record of killing 25 and 20 people in one day, like a cloud of death.
In this battle he was promoted from corporal to second lieutenant – the fastest rank in Finnish army history. Haiha was able to become such a legendary sniper, not only because of the number of snipers he killed, but also because he was a legendary sniper who never used a scope. His sniper rifle uses the most common mechanical aiming. Such old-fashioned and hard-core equipment, in addition to showing off, there is a more important strategic reason, Haiha believes that the scope can only make the target he is shooting look slightly larger, and the light reflected when the light is illuminated will make him more exposed and become a target for enemy snipers. And that's not all there is to the Haiha hardcore legend, in those days, every Finnish citizen was required to serve for a year, and Haiha completed his service as early as 14 years ago in 1925, and he joined the Finnish National Guard as a reservist, which is roughly similar to our militia, which is all the military training he received. After his unprofessional military career, he lived a life of hunting and farming until the fall of the Soviet Union in 1939, when the young invaded Finland, at which point he responded to the call of the state and returned to the army to participate in the defense of his homeland.
If Haiha's hunting behavior was consistent with his appearance on the battlefield, the deer near his house may have given him a nickname. After his compulsory military service in 1925, Haiha was allowed to purchase the weapons he used in his service according to the rules of the time, so he bought the standard bolt-on rifle and held it for the next 14 years. When Haiha was recalled for duty during the Winter War, he took his old rifle with him and refused to use the more advanced modern optical elements rifle. In the extremely cold temperatures of -20 degrees to -40 degrees, the weapons of haiha comrades frequently malfunctioned, but his bolted rifles remained in optimal condition throughout the winter.
Although Haiha has very little military experience, he has a skill that is close to magic - sharpshooter. During his service, Haeha often competed in National Guard shooting competitions, and his house was filled with trophies. He had a record of hitting 16, 500-foot-away targets with his rifle in a minute, and this marksmanship was truly extraordinary and not something the average person could do.
Haiha and 31 other soldiers were ordered to garrison the area during the Battle of The Ridge, preventing an invasion of 4,000 Soviet troops. Although less than a percent of the soldiers involved in the guard were on the enemy side, they held their positions throughout the winter.
Haiha and his fellow Finns also took advantage of the battle. First, the Soviet Union chose to attack Finland in the winter, the whole of Finland was covered with heavy snow during the winter season, Stalin was facing a political struggle at that time, he intended to eliminate all potential political opponents, which greatly affected the Soviet troops sent to the Finnish battlefield, all from the warmer Caucasus region of Stalin's hometown, they wore thin bright green uniforms, protruding like decorated Christmas trees on a snow-white background. When encountering the Finnish guerrillas, it was really exposed to the eyes of the enemy, and because of the climate, the Soviet army froze to death before the war began. So the Soviet Union suffered a crushing defeat during this Winter War with 400,000 casualties, compared to 66,000 in Finland. Under the premise that the Number and Equipment Of the Soviet Army were much higher than those of Finland this time, such a ratio of losses was absolutely a shame for the Soviet Union.
Most snipers are creeping and shooting, as this reduces the number of targets the enemy is aiming at. Haiha shot in a sitting position because he felt that this position was more suitable for him to shoot at the target. He wasn't too worried about exposing himself to too many targets because he hid himself in a snowdrift no more than 5 feet high and shoved the snow into his mouth to hide the gas he exhaled. In addition, Haiha would wrap snow around the barrel of his rifle and pour ice water so that he would not smoke after firing, exposing his position.
Haiha's title of "White Death" was spread as the war progressed, causing the anger of Soviet commanders, who began to directly order him to be sniped, because they could not get close to Haiha, they began to launch shell attacks on him in the approximate position where he might be, and even used the air force to throw shells at him, but even this did not kill Haiha, or even cause him slightly serious damage. The Soviets directly sent a team of anti-snipers to try to encircle him, but Haiha, as a sniper sniper, easily gave the other side a wave of annihilation. Finally, a Soviet sniper had the good fortune to hit Haiha in the jaw with a "Dam bomb". This bullet quickly disperses a lot of shrapnel after hitting the target, further expanding the damage, so that Haiha almost loses half of his head, and the comrade who rescued him describes that he was almost blurred with blood and flesh at the time, but death seemed reluctant to take his friend. After a week of rescue and multiple surgeries, he finally woke up. Due to the disparity in strength, Finland was ultimately unable to resist the Soviet invasion and made peace with the Soviet Union, and the Winter War ended here. Haiha survived the brutal war and returned to his hometown to continue hunting and farming. The Finnish government gave him a farm in 1961. Haiha began to raise dogs and continued to hunt, winning the championship trophy in competitions organized by the local hunting association for five consecutive years. In 1970, he moved into a small apartment where he spent the rest of his life, dying in 2002 at the age of 96. The legend of this sniper who killed more than 500 people and was seriously injured in World War II lived in the twentieth century after the war.
After the war, a reporter interviewed him and asked him if he felt guilty about the ghost under the gun. He replied that I had only taken on my own responsibilities and done what I was supposed to do, and that fighting a war could not be a pleasant experience, but we went to the battlefield to defend the land. This sounds upright and strong in heart, which may be one of the reasons why he can become such a legendary sniper, or perhaps because he has had such a cruel experience, so he can still calmly walk through his long life.