In any battle the role of the sniper is important
since the sniper existed they've been a crucial part of every battle
that's because they can hang back and take out enemies from afar
but who is the best sniper to ever live currently the us military says
their best sniper was named chris kyle he was the inspiration for american
sniper and took out 160 enemies but recently
the royal marines in the uk said they have the best sniper their
royal marine sniper had taken out 173 enemies however his name
remains classified but all of these contemporary snipers pale in comparison
to the best sniper in history this is simohiha also known as the white
death he was a second lieutenant in the finnish army
he was only active in one battle the winter war this was between the soviet
union and finland it only went on for three months it
began on the 30th of november 1939 and ended on the 13th of march 1940
but in this tiny time period simo took out 542 red army soldiers
but the story of how he did this is amazing and scary
in 1939 joseph stalin sent over half a million men
these were going from russia's western border to invade finland
in total the russian army had 750 000 soldiers
while finland only had 300 000 they also had only a few tanks and only 100
aircraft in contrast the russians had six thousand tanks and
three thousand aircraft you may think that there was no way for finland to win
but they had something that the soviet union didn't
seem oh simo heiha was only five feet tall and was very mild matted and calm
this may make him seem like he's not a great guy for a battle but that's what
actually made him such an amazing sniper he worked on a farm for a long time
and in his village he was known as a great marksman his house was
full of trophies from his skiing and hunting so when soviet troops began
invading his country he knew he had to help
he grabbed his mosin nagant model 2830. this is a very basic sniper rifle with
no telescopic lens he was given all-white camouflage as he
was battling in the snow unlike many troops he preferred to work
alone he would grab himself a day's worth of supplies
this included lots of food and ammunition he would then
trek for miles through the winter forests once he found a spot with good
visibility he would lie and wait he would then sit in the snow for hours
looking for enemy soldiers he would do this in temperatures of
minus 40 degrees he was also incredibly hardcore to make
sure any steam from his breath did not give away his position he
would put snow in his mouth he would often find his targets through
the glint of other sniper lenses before long hey how was enemy number one
for the russian soldiers he had gained a reputation and they
nicknamed him the white death every single soviet soldier was
terrified of the story of a tiny sniper laying in weight in the snow and he also
gained a massive reputation among the finnish people
he was the subject of a lot of finnish propaganda
and he kind of became a legend almost like a spirit who could move through the
snow the soviets were so scared of him they
once tried to bombard the area he was in with mortars
but amazingly he escaped unharmed once they also dropped an artillery shell on
him but all that happened to heihei was his
coat was ripped he was totally fine he said that he saw sniping like hunting
he once told the press i don't feel guilty about anything i only did my duty
and what i was told to do as well as i could
also during the war maps were very scarce this meant semo had to rely on
his memory to find hiding spots on semo's busiest day he took out 25
enemy soldiers that's more than one every hour but in
the last week of the war he had some very bad luck he was wounded by a red
army sniper while he was sniping at them the counter
sniper shot an explosive bullet right into his face but luckily semo was
evacuated in time the explosive round took off much of his
jaw and he had to have 26 surgeries to get it fixed for what he
did he was given many awards after all he was integral in helping the
finnish defeat the soviet union it was a real david and goliath battle
sema was promoted straight from corporal to second lieutenant
amazingly he did all of this in a time when daylight was alone
he only had about 10 to 8 hours of light per day after his sniping career he went
back to hunting and his eyesight was always just as good
he never again sniped at humans and preferred to hunt moose
and he even went on one hunting trip with a former president of finland
simo would often say of his time in battle that if he didn't protect the
land who else would but now it's time to make your voice
heard comment below what you think of the
white death if you want some more amazing videos then check out my second
channel but as always thanks for watching there are some more
videos on screen right now leave a like if you enjoyed and if you
haven't already what are you waiting for subscribe to Top 10s