What kind of soldier can be called the world's recognized king of snipers? And his name also directly frightened 100,000 Soviet troops, what kind of achievements did he have? It is said that he can successfully snipe 542 people in 4 months without a scope, and can also kill 200 enemies with submachine guns.
The King of Snipers
Before talking about the most recognized and powerful sniper in the world, the first thing to emphasize is that netizens who do not have the psychological endurance should not look directly at the photo of Simon Haye, because his face has been seriously disfigured due to his participation in the war and other reasons, so it is not beautiful. But such external conditions do not affect his super high status in the hearts of many sniper fans.
Simon Haye was born in 1905. He was born in a small southwestern town in Finland, and in Simon Haye,there was a strong sense of freedom. Neighbors commented on him, saying that he was a naughty boy who had been wild since childhood.
Simon Haye was born into a family that had been hunting for generations, and this condition was his innate talent that made his sniper ability stand out. Coupled with Simon Hayer's lively personality, he is good at catching all the anomalies around him with curiosity, so he is often able to find the target faster and more accurately.
At the age of 20, Simon Haye decided to enlist in the army. At that time, for political and international strategic reasons, the Winter War broke out between Finland and the Soviet Union. The war broke out during World War 2 and ran from November 1939 to March 12, 1940, mainly in Finland.
Although the result of the war was a Soviet victory, the Finnish fighters inflicted heavy losses on the Red Army. Finland lost more than 100,000 casualties in the war, but the Red Army suffered nearly 400,000 casualties.
Moreover, in terms of troop input, the Soviet Union mobilized 1.2 million troops, but Finland used only 200,000 troops. Due to long historical contradictions, Finland once again regarded the Soviet Union as the only imaginary enemy during World War II, so they wanted to maintain independence and at the same time wanted to avoid war through diplomatic means.
It was not until 1930 that several negotiations between Finland and the Soviet Union failed, which eventually angered the Soviet Union. So the Red Army decided to invade Finland through a million armed forces. Later, the Soviets also created manilla shellings and launched an attack on all of Finland.
Because this military operation was considered an illegal invasion by the international community, even if the Soviet Union lost a huge number of troops in the end, there were not many countries to sympathize with the Soviet Red Army. At the same time, because of his illegal acts of aggression, the International Reputation of the Soviet Union at that time was greatly damaged.
Against this backdrop, Simon's determination to defend his country grew stronger. He was then dispatched by the troops, and his conditions were superior in all respects, so he became a Finnish sniper. During the Winter War, Simon was invincible to the difficult natural conditions.
Because Finland's northern latitudes are high and it was winter, Simon Hayer often had to lie in ambush in forests or other meadows, where temperatures were generally minus 20 to 40 degrees. He was also good at battlefield camouflage, sniper efficiency and high, and instantly became a figure in the hearts of Soviet soldiers at that time.
After the end of the Winter War, official Finnish figures showed that Simon Haye had a total of 505 successful snipers in single-handed combat. But unofficial statistics show that Simon Hayer managed to snipe 542 Soviet fighters in the Winter War.
His grades were also very hard when it came to using submachine guns. He managed to kill 200 Red Army men using only the old-fashioned M-31SMG, a staggering number that had to be evaluated in the light of Finnish environmental conditions.
Finland's Winter War with the Soviet Union
Because of Finland's geographical location, the country has a characteristic that the morning time in winter is very short. This results in finnish nights that are 2/3 shorter than enjoying the sun. With this condition, the Finnish people glorified Simon, saying that he could successfully snipe an enemy army every hour when there was daylight.
In fact, after the end of the First World War, Finland's international status was incomparable with the international status and development momentum of the Soviet Union. That is to say, in the Winter War from 1939 to 1940, the showdown between Finland and the Soviet Union was weak against strong.
And with a careful layout strategy, the Red Army soon blocked all roads in Finland. But unexpectedly, the snowy world has become the paradise of Finnish snipers' dreams. What's going on?
It turns out that Finns have been particularly fond of skiing since childhood. The Winter War was a real war for the Red Army. But due to the weather and the environment, the Finns have completely regarded this as a Winter Olympics.
They can come and go as they please, as long as they are on a sled and snowboard, and they move very fast. So when the Red Army came to their country and blocked all the transportation hubs like the previous war model, it suddenly found that these practices were useless.
Because the weather affected the Soviet army to huddle together for warmth during the night, they lit torches and waited for the sun to rise in the garrison. This is the best time for Finnish snipers to shoot.
Because they came and went quietly and moved freely, when night came, the Red Army was reluctant to carry out high-intensity military operations because of the weather, and the torches exposed the position of the Red Army. This left the Red Army exposed to the light, while the Finnish snipers were in the shadows.
Soon the Red Army became a living target in the eyes of Simon Haye. Often Simon could take three or five snipers and be able to wipe out several small columns and convoys of the Red Army overnight, and the other side did not know where the enemy was located, and Simon Hayer himself was unscathed.
Because of this situation, the Red Army was particularly afraid to camp in the wilderness. If there is really no way, they can only passively accept fate. A Soviet soldier who fought in the Winter War once wrote in his memoirs:
One night they wanted to light a bonfire for warmth because the temperature was too low, but unexpectedly, when the bonfire was lit, his comrades were immediately shot down by Finnish snipers. Fortunately, he escaped to the dark in time to save his life, but he suffered from various diseases due to the low temperature, and left behind sequelae.
Finnish snipers are good at night combat
So how strong were the Finnish snipers of Simon's time? You can use data to directly compare the answers. On average, throughout World War II, warriors needed 25,000 rounds of ammunition to hunt down an enemy.
During the Vietnam War, on average, for every enemy hunt, soldiers spent 200,000 rounds of ammunition. Everyone measures tens of thousands, but during the Winter War, Finnish snipers needed an average of only 1.3 rounds to hunt down an enemy.
To be able to stand out in such a privileged era, Simon Hayer's strength can be regarded as very powerful. He is also known as the best sniper in Finland and the holder of the world's highest hunting record of 542. But in addition to joining the army to defend the country, Simon Hayer, who holds the title of White Death, has many other interests. For example, carving, painting, skiing, hunting, and mountain adventures, he also likes to keep animals at home.
Talking about why Simon Hayer is called the White Death? This is related to the natural environment at that time. Because of the Winter War, soviet and Finnish fighters had to fight in a snow-white environment. The Soviet soldiers' combat uniforms were very bulky tan uniforms, which immediately stood out when compared in the white environment.
In order to prevent exposing targets, both the Soviet Union and Finland put a white coat on the outside of their uniforms so that they could melt with the snow.
Although Simon was mainly using a traditional old-fashioned rifle from the Imperial Russian era, he was able to successfully hunt the enemy at a distance of 700 meters with his professional shooting ability. With this power, the 100,000 Red Army soldiers who were on the move at that time were willing to call Simon Haye the White Death.
So what do the Finnish people call Simon Haye? In the hearts of the Finns, the king of snipers has long since become a "national hero" in the hearts of the people of his homeland. During the Winter War, the most terrifying thing in the hearts of the Red Army was to show its head in the trenches.
Because Finnish snipers were always able to quickly headshot the Red Army in less than a minute. So there were some timid Soviet Red Army fighters who would rather hide in the trenches than come out, but sometimes their high-rise butts betrayed their positions.
What impressed Finnish snipers the most was that there were many timid enemy fighters who preferred to raise their butts high rather than raise their heads. But these snipers were not willing to let the enemy go, and after two bullets hit each other, their butts blossomed.
The Soviets had planned to surround and annihilate Simon
But there is an old Chinese saying that a gun strikes the head bird, and since Simon Haye has been able to make 100,000 Soviet Red Army soldiers feel frightened, how can the Soviet Red Army command not want to pull out this nail in the eye?
In fact, in 1939, the Red Army tried to eliminate him by various methods, such as artillery attacks and mine warfare and air strikes, but it was not expected that Simon Hayer was a blessed Finnish sniper. He was surrounded by the Soviet Red Army, and although he was also injured, he survived tenaciously.
However, in 1940, Simon Hayer was eventually hit in the jaw by a Dam bomb dropped by the Soviet Red Army for his close combat. At that time, Finnish fighters recalled the whole process of Simon Hayer's injury, and also described:
"The whole melee situation was very intense, and Simon Hayer fell to the ground immediately after being hit by the shell, and he was bleeding profusely. Everyone thought that Simon might have left everyone like this, but he didn't expect him to survive. ”
The Finnish attending physician who rescued Simon described what happened to the sniper king at the time, saying that after he was hit in the jaw by a Dam bullet, Simon Haye's entire left head was shot down and up. Fortunately, Simon was not abandoned by his comrades, and the other soldiers quickly pulled Simon back to safety.
But the comrade who rescued Simon Haye said his entire left head was gone. Unexpectedly, Simon Hayer was like a plant, extremely tenacious, and after a few months he returned to normal life. He was immediately promoted from first class to second lieutenant.
His miraculous survival was perhaps one of the proudest and most gratifying events in the hearts of the Finnish people at that time. However, after this battle, Simon Hayer chose to recover and lived a very uneventful life at home with flowers, grass and dogs.
Even if a reporter wanted to interview him and take some pictures of Simon Hayer, people still couldn't see the fierceness in Simon Hayer's eyes. Simon Haye did not survive until 1 April 2002 at the age of 97.
However, regarding Simon's sniper performance ranking, people were surprised to find that in the entire international list of snipers in World War I and World War II, a total of 11 international snipers were remembered forever.
But it is strange that there is only one Finnish sniper, simon Hayer. But with his sniper score of 542 people, he was eternally ranked No. 1. Below him there were 10 consecutive snipers, all from the Soviet Union.
The second place was Ivan Sidorenko of the Soviet Union, whose best sniper performance was to shoot 500 enemy troops. I don't know how long it will be before Simon Hayer's sniper record is broken by others.
But at the same time, I hope that the war will be less and less, so that there will be no other changes in this sniper ranking. So what else do you know about Simon Haye's story? Feel free to leave a message in the comments section to add.