It’s winter 1939,
almost night.
As the crimson horizon spreads across the wild, snow-draped forests,
a column of Soviet soldiers marches across a frozen landscape.
This is the Winter War,
Stalin’s invasion of Finland,
Talvisota as the Finns call it.
As the column makes progress
there’s a flash that comes out of nowhere and a man goes down.
The Russian soldiers freeze.
A cry of “Sniper fire, get down!” is shouted,
and the Russian troops hit the ground and scramble for cover,
while again another shot rings out and yet another man falls to the ground.
A murmur spreads among the hiding Russians:
“Белая смерть” –
The White Death.
All alone in the distance a man clad head to toe in a snow-white coat
hidden from view by the wild landscape and snow pushed up all around him
balances his rifle on his gloves
and patiently waits for another unfortunate soul to enter his sights.
But who is this man that strikes dread into the heart of every Russian soldier in Finland?
Born and raised in the rugged woods of Karelia in Southern Finland
Simo Häyhä – from the start a natural hunter and sharpshooter.
Häyhä recalled his experience growing up as a farmer, hunter, and skier
as a vital part of his skill of being the excellent sniper that he became.
Having been in the Finnish Civil Guard and Finnish Army from the age of seventeen
he cultivated his skill as a marksman
and won shooting contest after contest.
His house was reportedly “full of trophies for marksmanship.”
With the outbreak of war Simo is deployed as part of a garrison
manning the defensive lines on the Finnish-Russian border.
In the early days of the war Simo’s Commanding officer notices Häyhä’s skill with a rifle
and assigns him to work independently as a sniper.
Häyhä’s first action as a sniper was, ironically, a counter-sniping mission.
Simo describes the mission such:
"It happened once that my CO tried to kill an enemy sniper with a scoped rifle.
This Russian had taken up position about 400 meters from us
and was constantly shooting towards our lines.
After a while he sent for me
and showed me approximately where he thought the enemy sniper's position to be.
One of our Lieutenants was with us,
acting as a spotter when the duel began.
At first, I didn’t see a trace of him,
just a small rock where he was supposed to be.
But after careful investigation
we spotted him behind a little hump of snow near that rock.
I took careful aim with my trusty M/28-30
and the very first shot hit the intended target."
The Soviet fear of Simo grew to the point that they were willing to call in artillery to shell the areas
where they believed him to be.
In fact as Simo confirmed,
“the Russians put a lot of effort into trying to kill me.”
After finishing yet another Soviet sniper
they vigorously started shelling Simo's foxhole.
“Fifty shells landed around my foxhole, but in vain."
Simo once described.
Yet for all their efforts
the Soviets never scored more than a scratch or at best a ripped coat on Häyhä.
Simo’s Häyhä's tactics as a sniper are unprecedented for the time.
Unlike his Soviet counterparts Simo doesn’t use scoped sights
preferring iron sights as scopes risk giving off a glare that exposes a sniper's location.
He said he caught many a careless Russian sniper due to the glare of their scopes.
The cold doesn’t bother him either
as he is always prepared with many layers of thick winter clothing.
On a cold December day
Simo wanders into the wild and heads to one of his favourite spots –
a snow-covered tree with low hanging branches that creates the perfect spot overlooking a valley.
With snow in his mouth his breath doesn’t give away his position.
Häyhä pushes up the snow around him constructing a makeshift barrier
and with a daily ration supply he sits and waits for hours.
He waits, waits, and patiently waits
like any good hunter…
until his patience is rewarded
when a group of four Soviet soldiers march into the iron sights of his rifle.
Simo fires and reloads rapidly after each shot,
after four shots four men lay in the snow… never to rise.
Simo goes on to fire his rifle 25 times that day
setting a record for the most kills achieved by a sniper in one day.
Increasing the ever-growing legend of Simo Häyhä as the White Death in the Soviet ranks.
The story of Simo Häyhä as an invisible sniper and his legacy as
“the fear of his foes, a hero at home”
became even more dreaded by not just Soviet soldiers,
but also the Soviet High Command who put a bounty on his head.
There were Soviet snipers who wanted the bounty
going to the hot spots and waiting in ambush for Simo.
One set up his position and waited for hours.
As night fell the sniper thought that Simo must have left
and stood to head back to base.
There's a crack.
But the Russian never hears it and falls in the snow.
By the end of January 1940 Simo would achieve 200 career kills
and for this Simo was awarded by the Finnish government a custom rifle designed for him
although he would continue to use his ever trusted M/28-30 rifle.
Simo continues to rack up kills throughout the war
and achieves the remarkable feat of over 500 sniper kills in 100 days.
In early March he leads a squad of fellow Finns against a superior attacking Red Army force
attempting to penetrate through the forest.
Of the battle Simo recalled:
“I was in the dark forests of Ulismaa.
We were given a mission to counterattack, one of many.
We moved to our starting positions at early dawn.
There was a swamp some 300 meters wide which we crossed without difficulty.
Once over the swamp, we charged against the enemy that was really close to us.
My rifle functioned very well.
We were so close to the enemy that even some were only 2 meters away from me.
The enemy was forced to withdraw,
but some very brave individual soldiers remained behind to cause havoc amongst us.
Suddenly there was a shot maybe only 50 to 100 meters away
and I felt hit…
There’s a whoosh and Simo gets tunnel vision
and then everything goes white for the White Death
and he falls hit in the jaw by an exploding bullet.
After the battle the Finnish soldiers find what they think is Simo’s remains
and place him in a pile with the other fallen.
Then one of the Finns notices a leg twitching among the pile.
Incredibly Simo was alive…
but half his face was gone.
He is in a coma for three days by which time the Winter War is over.
Simo had 26 surgeries to repair his shattered jaw
which was crafted from a piece of bone taken from his hip.
After recovering he would peacefully live the rest of his days
at his new farm in the scenic Finnish countryside
passing away in 2002 at the ripe old age of 96.
Simo left a legacy as the world’s greatest sniper and marksman
while a renowned Finnish hero, the stuff of legend.
When asked about his services in the war Simo said:
“I didn’t feel anything towards the enemy.
I just fired and loaded and continued as long as there were enemies.
I just shot every time I saw one.
I didn’t care if he was a commander or not.
I’m a lucky man, I’ve never had dreams about the war.
I’ve always slept well, during the war too.
I did what I was told to do as well as I could.”
Asked how he became such a good shot he simply said:
“Practice.”
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