Simo Häyhä

He was born on December 17, 1905, in Rautjärvi, Viipuri Province, Finland, Russian Empire in a Lutheran heritage family of farmers as the second youngest among eight children.

By profession he was a farmer and hunter. In 1925, at age 20, he began his military service joining the Finnish voluntary militia White Guard (Suojeluskunta). He was a skilled marksman who thrived in shooting sports taking part in competitions in the Viipuri Province and garnering several trophies that adorned his home.

The Winter War between Finland and the Soviet Union (USSR) that commenced on November 30, 1939, with a Soviet invasion of Finland saw Häyhä serving as a sniper for the Finnish Army.

He fought in the Battle of Kollaa, part of the Soviet-Finnish Winter War, which took place from December 7, 1939, to March 13, 1940, in Karelia, Ladoga, Finland, serving under 6th Company of JR 34. Defying the weather conditions with temperature ranging from −40 °C (−40 °F) to −20 °C (−4 °F), Häyhä dressed up completely in white military camouflage thrived in eliminating as many of the Soviet soldiers as he could.

The Red Army at that time was in a much unorganised state thanks to the ongoing Great Purge or the Great Terror organized by Joseph Stalin, General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. The soldiers of the Soviet Army were not equipped with white camouflage suits for much of the war and thus became more vulnerable targets of the Finnish snipers.

The number of Soviet casualties in the hands of Häyhä that he accomplished in less than hundred days in a time during the year with not much of daylight hours is estimated to be more than five hundred. This makes the average count of kills to more than five a day.

Häyhä himself counted the number of Soviet soldiers killed by him which was affirmed by his comrades. Count of kills was considered only after ascertaining such deaths. Having said so, it was still difficult to verify the count of kills by the deadly sniper as all his targets were on the Soviet side.

He was given a Civil Guard rifle that was an early series SAKO M/28-30 (Sn.35281/Civil Guard district number S60974). Iron sights were given more preference by him instead of telescopic sights as the former allowed the sniper a smaller target for the opponent; are more reliable in icy-cold weather conditions while the telescopic sights tend to become haze in such weather conditions; and is easier to hide while lenses of telescopic sight can reflect sunlight giving an inkling of the position of the sniper.

He also didn’t want to use the Soviet scoped rifle (m/91-30 PE or PEM) as he was not trained in using them.

Many a times he would hide himself by piling dense mounds of snow in front of his position. Such heap of snow also provided padding for his rifle. While sniping he would also put snow in his mouth so that fumes from his breath does not reveal his position to the enemy. In order to moisten the jolt of his weapon Häyhä used to keep gloves between his rifle and the ground.