He is responsible for the death of 700 soldiers, and this is only in the first hundred days of the war.

Although Simo Häyhä did not kill four with one shot, as a British officer recently did, the Finn is known for being the most prolific elite marksman in history.

I tried to do what I was ordered, the best way" This simple phrase was uttered by sniper Simo Häyhä when, already in old age, he was asked how he felt after killing 700 Red Army soldiers (of which 502 to 542 were documented and with his rifle) during the so-called “Winter War”.

If left aside ethical issues, then it must be recognized that this number of killed allowed the Finn, nicknamed “White Death,” to become one of the most successful elite shooters in history. And in just 100 days, during which the tiny army of his country put a check on the giant military vehicle Stalin.

“He was an experienced marksman. At the competition, he took first place by hitting the same tiny target six times within a minute, located at a distance of 150 meters,” the book says. In 1925-1927 (at the age of only 20 and with a height of 1.52 meters), he passed the mandatory military service in the scooter battalion.

Subsequently, he completed courses for junior officers and was promoted to the rank of corporal. Just a few months later he passed his sniper exams. However, he soon quit and returned to his parents’ farm, where he led a measured life. Until the Winter War began.

Ice War

To understand how a Finnish farmer became one of the most prolific snipers in history, you need to go back to 1939, when Hitler and Stalin had just divided up conquered Poland by signing a military treaty. By that time, the Soviet leader had already annexed Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia and was eager to further expand his possessions in Europe.

That is why his eyes turned to Finland, by conquering which it would be possible to provide direct access to the Baltic Sea and move the borders further away from Leningrad, which was too close to a potential enemy.

They don’t take money for demand, the Soviet leader apparently thought, and, wanting to prove himself with best side, invited the Finnish delegation to the Kremlin on October 14, 1939, to convince its members that the most correct thing they could do was to accept the hammer and sickle on their banners. This is what the ambassadors did under “pressure from threats and promises of compensation,” as historian and journalist Jesús Hernández writes in his book “ Short story Second World War" ("Breve historia de la Segunda Guerra Mundial").

The emissaries returned home, and a month later they rejected the USSR's offer. And they logically chose to remain within the same boundaries.

If the Finns took a month to make a decision, Stalin took only a few hours. “Without a declaration of war, the Red Army attacked Finland on November 30, 1939. Unlike the Poles, the Finns retreated behind a strong defensive line to repel the Russians,” Hernandez reports.

On that day, the Seventh Army of the Red Army approached the borders of the new enemy. At the same time, its large armored forces were mobilized, as Chris Bellamy points out in his book The Ultimate War.

Finnish ghosts

Thus began the so-called “Winter War,” which for Stalin’s gigantic army seemed like a military promenade. However, the Red Army encountered an obstacle in the icy expanses of Finland that its inexperienced fighters often could not overcome: the tenacity of the Finns.
“The Finnish resistance was fierce, and the actions Soviet soldiers, despite their overwhelming numbers, in highest degree ineffective. Many of the units deployed were recruited from Central Asia[...] and were ill-equipped and ill-equipped to fight a war in winter conditions,” notes popular historian Martin H. Folly in his Atlas of World War II.

In addition, the Red Army faced the deadly weapons of the "White Death", who, like his Finnish comrades, understood that winter was a potential ally for Finland. "Unpreparedness Soviet army to fight in the winter was partly due to overly optimistic forecasts about the duration of the campaign,” explains Bellamy.

It is not for nothing that Marshal Voronov himself admitted later how difficult it was for his soldiers in these snowy lands and in such low temperatures: “The troops were poorly prepared for operations in the forest and for sub-zero temperatures. […] In the harsh climate of Finland, the mechanisms of semi-automatic weapons failed.”

In addition, the “White Death” and the Finnish army resorted to tactics during the “Winter War” guerrilla warfare. And while the Russians moved their gigantic infantry units along the clogged roads, the defenders of Finland preferred to sit in the forests and attack only at opportune moments. And this was not a bad idea, because for every Finn there were 100 Red Army soldiers.

“Silently moving on skis along narrow forest paths, Finnish troops fell like ghosts on the frightened Russian soldiers and immediately disappeared into the fog. Lacking military equipment, the Finns used their imagination to blow up enemy tanks and came up with Molotov cocktails that would later be known as “Molotov cocktails,” Hernandez writes.

Attack!

When the war began, Häyhä decided to rejoin the Finnish army to fight the invaders. And from that moment on he received the nickname “White Death”. And not only because he instantly killed any Russian at whom he pointed his rifle, but also because he appeared on the battlefield dressed like a real ghost - in a white cape, a white mask that covered almost the entire face, and gloves of the same color. This ghost-like appearance (and body count) made him one of the most feared snipers for Stalin's forces.

Simo loved to shoot very coldy(at 20-40 degrees below zero, as some researchers claim), while he kept snow in his mouth so that the steam from his breath would not give it away. This wasn't the only "trick" he used. Finn, for example, froze the crust in front of the rifle barrel with water so that when fired, the snow would not fly up, indicating its exact location, and, of course, to support the weapon and aim better.

And one more detail, which is given by “The Redwood Stumper 2010: The Newsletter of the Redwood Gun Club”: our hero hated optical sights for two reasons. Firstly, because of the shine of the lenses, which also often gave away the sniper’s location. And secondly, because of the fragility of glass in the cold. Therefore, Häyhä preferred to shoot with an open sight.

All these tricks allowed him to shoot with his sniper rifle 505 enemy soldiers, which is documented. However, as always happens, some researchers, like Robert A. Sadowski, indicate a higher figure - 542 killed. To this number should be added another 200 unconfirmed hits made from the submachine gun that Simo used at short distances (some historians also indicate 300 hits in this case). And what is absolutely incredible is that the Finnish shooter destroyed so many Red Army soldiers in just 100 days, concludes the author of the book “Finland is at War.”

Favorite Weapon

After the end of the war, Häyhä said that he usually went out “hunting” with two guns.

1-Mosin M28 rifle

This rifle has proven itself to be excellent since it was put into service. Russian army at the beginning of the twentieth century. The large volume of production made it possible to supply it to Finland in the 20s. However, here preference was given to a model with a weighted barrel. Finnish snipers usually used the 28/33 model, but Simo preferred the older M28, considering it more reliable and less noticeable due to its small scope.

2-Suomi M-31 SMG

This submachine gun served him for shooting at short distances. It was adopted by the Finnish Army in 1931 as the Suomi KP-Model 1931, or simply KP-31 (Konepistooli, or "automatic pistol" 31). Its production ceased in 1944, but during the “Winter War” this weapon demonstrated its effectiveness. It was this model that served as a model for Soviet designers when creating the famous PPD and PPSh. Their Finnish predecessor was an effective and reliable weapon, but very expensive to produce.

Colla doesn't give up

One of the battles in which our hero inflicted the most significant damage on the enemy was the Battle of Kolla near the Finnish-Soviet border. Since the beginning of the “Winter War,” the USSR mobilized the 56th Infantry Division, transferring it to this area on December 7, 1939, in the hope that its participation could ensure the defeat of most of the Finnish forces.

However, the Finns were not going to allow this. Colonel Teittinen was entrusted with leading the defense, who, in the first weeks of the war, had to repel the onslaught of four enemy divisions with the forces of a single regiment, holed up in hand-dug trenches.

As usual, Soviet tactics were simple - a frontal attack on the Finnish defense line. And it could have been successful, taking into account the numerical superiority of the Red Army, but it failed due to the better knowledge of the area by the defenders. The 34th Infantry Regiment, in which Häyhä served, was sent to the scene of hostilities. Over the course of several weeks, the Finnish sniper killed from 200 to 500 (according to various sources) enemy soldiers.

“At the Battle of Colle, Simo used his old rifle, which he used to shoot in the Civil Guard. He himself did not count the dead; his comrades did. At the beginning of December, there were already 51 Red Army soldiers shot dead in three days,” note the co-authors of the book “Finland is at War.”

These figures were so incredible that the officers did not believe them at first. Colonel Teittinen directed an officer to follow Simo and keep a count of the casualties. “When Häyhä was approaching 200, having survived a particularly powerful duel with an enemy sniper, the officer returned with a report. The shooter was subsequently promoted to sergeant,” they write.

During the Battle of Kolla (where the slogan “They will not pass!” spread among the Finnish defenders), it became clear that despite the superior enemy forces, the Finns were not going to give up an inch of their land.

And they confirmed this in the battle on the “Hill of Death”, which took place during the battle and in which 32 Finnish soldiers repelled the attack of 4 thousand Red Army soldiers, losing only four killed against the backdrop of 400 dead enemy soldiers. Mount Kolla remained standing on Finnish territory.

Fatal shot

In all the following weeks, Soviet riflemen chased Simo, but he was out of reach. Stalin's artillery also turned out to be helpless against him. He seemed invulnerable to bullets. But this opinion was soon refuted - in March 1940, the legendary sniper was wounded. “On March 6, 1940, Häyhä was wounded in the face by an explosive bullet that entered the area upper lip and pierced right through the cheek,” is described in the book “Finland is at War.”

The lower part of his face was disfigured and his jaw was crushed. Fortunately, despite the great loss of blood, his comrades managed to evacuate Simo in an unconscious state to the rear, and he woke up only on March 13th. Some time later, Finland signed a peace treaty with the USSR, ceding part of its territory.

Being national hero, Simo Häyhä was forced to leave his home, since it was now located in territory that had been transferred to the USSR. He had no choice but to go to his parents' farm. It took 10 operations to restore the disfigured part of his face. And yet, Simo lived quietly raising cattle until April 1, 2002, when he left this world.

One shot, one hit - Finn Simo Häyhä is considered one of the best snipers in history. During the Soviet-Finnish war, which began 75 years ago, he shot and killed more than 500 Red Army soldiers.

Simo Häyhä began to prepare long before the first rays of the sun appeared. The Finnish marksman checked cartridge after cartridge before carefully placing them into the magazine. When the store was full, Häyhä checked everything again. One single small mistake could lead to his death. But everything went as planned. It was he who brought death to others.

From the Finnish point of view, Häyhä is a hero. In accordance with the non-aggression pact concluded on August 24, 1939 between Hitler and Stalin, when the dictatorships of Germany and the USSR temporarily became allies, Finland was included in the sphere of interests of the USSR. On November 30, 1939, the Red Army launched an offensive against Finland. The Winter War was short-lived and bloody. Hopelessly outnumbered, the Finns relied on soldiers like Häyhä to stop the Red Army advance. For them, Häyhä became white death. For almost 100 days he shot more people than any sniper before or after him during the war.

Simo Häyhä was going alone. He quietly made his way at night through the snowy territory of Finland. He was wearing a white winter jacket and thick gloves. He only had a rifle, ammunition and some food with him. By the end of 1939, the air temperature dropped to minus 40 degrees, the snow cover was one meter thick. Near the Kollasjoki River in Karelia, Häyhä took up a position at dawn.

Guns kill, fear paralyzes

Two things are important for a sniper - good camouflage and a free field for shooting. And all that remained was to wait until the enemy appeared. Here, on a line along the Kollasjoki River, the Finns had to stop the Red Army, otherwise vast areas of the sparsely populated country would be lost. Finland at that time was slightly larger in size than today's Federal Republic of Germany, but only a little over 3.5 million people lived in it.

Simo Häyhä waited. The sniper's weapon is a fatal shot at a single target and the target's fear of an invisible shooter.

On this day, Häyhä shot and killed the first Soviet soldier. One shot, one hit. During the war, which lasted 105 days, he killed 505 soldiers. Häyhä before today considered the most effective military marksman of all time.

Not surprisingly, fear soon began to grow among Soviet soldiers. No one knew who the bullet would hit next. Unlike on the battlefield, the soldiers could not see who was aiming at them. The snipers fired suddenly and accurately, their shots were fatal. Soon the Red Army soldiers came up with suitable name for the shooter - white death. He was perfectly camouflaged in white clothes, he was practically invisible in the shelter. He made one hole after another in the ranks of the Red Army.

Hunter of animals and people

Simo Häyhä was born on December 17, 1905 into a peasant family. Before the war he worked on the land. But the fact that with the beginning of the war he went to the front was not an accident. Häyhä, a passionate hunter, was also a member of the Finnish national guard and even before the start of the war he won various awards in sniper shooting competitions.

And now his bosses called him every time the situation became difficult and dangerous. He became a real legend among the soldiers. “Try to eliminate this man,” his boss ordered him when a Soviet marksman inflicted fatal wounds on three Finnish military commanders at the beginning of the war. “I will do my best,” said Häyhä.

That day he hid in a fortification far from the Finnish borders. While he was tracking the enemy sniper, he was also waiting for him. Hour after hour, Häyhä waited patiently in the shelter; evening was approaching and it was beginning to get dark. And then Häyhä noticed something in the distance reflecting sunlight- optical sight of a Soviet sniper. Häyhä took aim and hit him in the face.

The Soviet soldier died immediately because he made a mistake that Häyhä avoided. He almost never used optical sights, so as not to give away his position; he always shot with open sights. Two more tricks contributed to his success. He always compacted the snow at the position where he was so that after the shot the snow would not fly away. He also put snow in his mouth so that the steam from his breath would not be visible in the cold. So, opponents could only guess where Häyhä was hiding.

More and more Soviet soldiers became his victims. In one day he destroyed 25 Red Army soldiers. Red Army officers deployed more and more snipers against the Finn. And every time Häyhä fired, they opened fire at the intended position with all means - machine guns, mortars, artillery. Unsuccessfully. Each time he avoided even the slightest injury. “Once more than 50 grenades fell on the area around my fortification, but they did not hit the target,” Häyhä later told his biographer Tapio Saarelainen. “Some of the grenades hit my face with clouds of sand, but it was better than what they wanted to achieve.”

Forever crippled

In 98 of the 105 days of the Soviet-Finnish war, Häyhä was incredibly lucky. The luck ran out on March 6, 1940. During an unprecedented confrontation in the forest, he was wounded in the head. “I only heard a muffled sound and immediately realized that I was wounded,” he later wrote in a letter. He was wounded in the jaw and his teeth were knocked out. Häyhä fell into a coma and only came to his senses on March 13th. It was on the day when the USSR and Finland signed a peace treaty.

Relatively small Finland withstood the huge Soviet Union- but the price was the loss of 7% of the territories. Later, the Finns tried to regain the territory in an even bloodier war with the help of Hitler's Germany. During the new and previous war, the desert country turned into one of the bloodiest fronts of the Second World War.

Estimates of the victims vary. Finland's losses during the winter war amounted to 26 thousand soldiers. Based on the results of two wars - about 84 thousand, including German soldiers. The losses of the Red Army were significantly higher. In total, during the two regional wars along the Finnish-Soviet border, at least 320 thousand Red Army soldiers were killed, perhaps the figure reaches 450 thousand. Stalin underestimated statistics.

According to official data, Finnish sniper Simo Häyhä shot and killed 505 Soviet soldiers. The destruction of another 37 military personnel has not been officially confirmed.

“I did what I was ordered to do, and as well as I could,” Häyhä, who died in 2002, later said. When asked what he felt when he pulled the trigger and killed Russian soldiers, he answered, “Recoil.”

Although Simo Häyhä didn't kill four with one shot, as a British officer recently did, the Finn is known for being the most prolific elite marksman in history

“I tried to do what I was ordered to the best of my ability.” This simple phrase was uttered by sniper Simo Häyhä when, already in old age, he was asked how he felt after killing 700 Red Army soldiers (of which 502 to 542 were documented and with his rifle) during the so-called “Winter War”.

Ethical issues aside, this body count has allowed the Finn, nicknamed “The White Death,” to become one of the most prolific elite marksmen in history. And in just 100 days, during which his country's tiny army put a check on Stalin's gigantic war machine.

Although Simo, with his face disfigured after being wounded, did not kill four with one shot, as a British officer recently did with four militants from the Islamic State (the organization is banned on the territory of the Russian Federation - editor's note), he died in 2002 knowing that he would go down in textbooks history as one of the best snipers in the world.

First steps

Simo Häyhä, the future nightmare of Soviet soldiers, was born in the village of Rautjärvi on December 17, 1905. By at least, so say historians Vesa Nenye, Peter Munter and Toni Wirtanen in their book Finland at War: The Winter War 1939-40. ). Although, depending on the source, the shooter could have been born on a variety of dates.

“Simo was the second to last of eight children. He went to the village school and early began helping his parents on the family farm. Since childhood, I have been interested in skiing, shooting, hunting and playing pesapallo, a type of Finnish baseball,” the authors of the book write. In addition, fate decreed that Simo’s native village was located right next to the border with the Russians, whom he would later destroy by the dozens.

The researchers note in their work that at the age of 17 (a controversial date, there is a widespread belief that at 25) Häyhä joined the ranks of the Finnish Civil Guard (Suojeluskunta), a military formation born from the “White Guard”, which in civilian times fought with the so-called "Red Guard". While in service, our hero spent hours improving his shooting accuracy. This rigorous training combined with his natural talent made him one of the best marksmen in the squad.

“He was an experienced marksman. At the competition, he took first place by hitting the same tiny target six times within a minute, located at a distance of 150 meters,” the book says. In 1925-1927 (at the age of only 20 and with a height of 1.52 meters), he completed his compulsory military service in a scooter battalion.

Ice War

They don’t take money for demand, apparently the Soviet leader thought, and, wanting to show his best side, he invited the Finnish delegation to the Kremlin on October 14, 1939, to convince its members that the most correct thing they could do was to accept hammer and sickle banners. This is what the ambassadors did under “the pressure of threats and the promise of compensation,” as historian and journalist Jesús Hernández writes in his book “A Brief History of the Second World War” (“Breve historia de la Segunda Guerra Mundial”).

The emissaries returned home, and a month later they rejected the USSR's offer. And they logically chose to remain within the same boundaries.

Finnish ghosts

Thus began the so-called “Winter War,” which for Stalin’s gigantic army seemed like a military promenade. However, the Red Army encountered an obstacle in the icy expanses of Finland that its inexperienced fighters often could not overcome: the tenacity of the Finns.
“The Finnish resistance was fierce, and the actions of the Soviet soldiers, despite their overwhelming numbers, were extremely ineffective. Many of the units deployed were recruited from Central Asia […] and were unprepared and undermanned for winter warfare,” notes popular historian Martin H. Folly in his Atlas of World War II.

Context

Finns in the Winter War and the Siege of Leningrad

InoSMI 08/11/2016

Russia and Finland: the border is no longer a wall

Helsingin Sanomat 03/22/2016

Finland dreamed of revenge

Reflex 06/29/2016 In addition, the Red Army was faced with the deadly weapons of the “White Death”, who, like his Finnish comrades, understood that winter was a potential ally for Finland. “The Soviet army's lack of preparation for winter combat was partly due to overly optimistic forecasts for the duration of the campaign,” Bellamy explains.

It is not for nothing that Marshal Voronov himself admitted later how difficult it was for his soldiers in these snowy regions and at such low temperatures: “The troops were poorly prepared for operations in the forest and for sub-zero temperatures. […] In the harsh climate of Finland, the mechanisms of semi-automatic weapons failed.”

In addition, the White Death and the Finnish army resorted to guerrilla warfare tactics during the Winter War. And while the Russians moved their gigantic infantry units along the clogged roads, the defenders of Finland preferred to sit in the forests and attack only at opportune moments. And this was not a bad idea, because for every Finn there were 100 Red Army soldiers.

“Silently moving on skis along narrow forest paths, Finnish troops fell like ghosts on the frightened Russian soldiers and immediately disappeared into the fog. Due to a shortage of military equipment, the Finns resorted to their imagination to blow up enemy tanks and came up with Molotov cocktails, which would later be known as “Molotov cocktails,” Hernandez writes.

Attack!

Simo loved to shoot in severe frosts (at 20-40 degrees below zero, according to some researchers), while he kept snow in his mouth so that the steam from his breath would not give him away. This wasn't the only "trick" he used. Finn, for example, froze the crust in front of the rifle barrel with water so that when fired, the snow would not fly up, indicating its exact location, and, of course, to support the weapon and aim better.

All these tricks allowed him to shoot 505 enemy soldiers with his sniper rifle, which is documented. However, as always happens, some researchers, like Robert A. Sadowski, indicate a higher figure - 542 killed. To this number should be added another 200 unconfirmed hits made from the submachine gun that Simo used at short distances (some historians also indicate 300 hits in this case). And what’s absolutely incredible is that the Finnish marksman destroyed so many Red Army soldiers in just 100 days, concludes the author of the book “Finland is at War.”

Favorite Weapon

After the end of the war, Häyhä said that he usually went out “hunting” with two guns.

1-Mosin M28 rifle

This rifle has proven itself to be excellent since it was adopted by the Russian army at the beginning of the twentieth century. The large volume of production made it possible to supply it to Finland in the 20s. However, here preference was given to a model with a weighted barrel. Finnish snipers usually used the 28/33 model, but Simo preferred the older M28, considering it more reliable and less noticeable due to its small scope.

2-Suomi M-31 SMG

Colla doesn't give up

Fatal shot

In all the following weeks, Soviet riflemen chased Simo, but he was out of reach. Stalin's artillery also turned out to be helpless against him. He seemed invulnerable to bullets. But this opinion was soon refuted - in March 1940, the legendary sniper was wounded. “On March 6, 1940, Häyhä was wounded in the face by an explosive bullet, which entered in the area of the upper lip and pierced right through the cheek,” the book “Finland at War” describes.

Being a national hero, Simo Häyhä was forced to leave his home, since it was now located in territory that had been ceded to the USSR. He had no choice but to go to his parents' farm. It took 10 operations to restore the disfigured part of his face. And yet, Simo lived quietly raising cattle until April 1, 2002, when he left this world.

Simo Häyhä is considered the most effective sniper in history. Surprisingly, the Finnish sniper set his “record” in a few months, and also that he did not use an optical sight.

Little hunter

The future most successful sniper in world history was born in the small village of Rautjärvi in the Vyborg province on December 17, 1905. He was the seventh child out of eight in the family. His shooting abilities were evident from childhood - the Simo family lived by fishing and hunting. At the age of 17, he joined a security detachment and participated in sniper competitions, where he took prizes. Simo was short (1.61), but subsequently it was his short stature that helped him become an effective sniper, allowing him to successfully camouflage himself and evade pursuit unnoticed. In 1925, Simo joined the ranks of the Finnish army, was trained at the non-commissioned officer school, leaving it as a non-commissioned officer of the first bicycle battalion.

Propaganda hero

With the outbreak of the Soviet-Finnish War, Simo was appointed as a sniper. He immediately became one of the most prolific marksmen. In just one day (December 21, 1939) he eliminated 25 soldiers; the count for three December days was 51 people. During the entire short but extremely intense war, the Finnish sniper killed from 550 to 700 soldiers. The exact number of his victims is still disputed, but the high effectiveness of his actions is undeniable. Of course, Simo immediately became a tool of Finnish propaganda. Rumors about the invincible sniper spread beyond the front line. A hunt was announced for Häyhä. Sniper squads, artillery - all forces were thrown into eliminating the well-aimed Finn, but until March 1940 he remained an elusive target. Simo fought in places familiar to himself, knew the terrain like the back of his hand and had excellent instincts. It turned out to be extremely difficult to “get” him.

Tactics and weapons

The ideal weapon for Simo was the Finnish modification of the Mosin rifle M/28 or M28/30. The sniper killed most of the soldiers from it. He also masterfully wielded the Suomi submachine gun and the Lahti Saloranta M-26 assault rifle, with which he eliminated almost 200 opponents. Distinctive feature The Finnish sniper was that he did not use a sniper scope. This was due to the fact that, firstly, the glare from the sight revealed dislocation, and secondly, the glass of the sight tended to freeze. In harsh winter conditions, the sight thus lost its functionality. At his location, Simo rolled the snow crust, sometimes even filling it with water, so that the shot would not scatter the snow, giving away the location of the ambush. In order to avoid detection while hiding in a snowdrift, the Finnish sniper constantly chewed snow. This technique is still successfully used by Spentsaz players - due to the equalization of temperatures, steam does not come out of the shooter’s mouth.

Wound

No matter how elusive a sniper is, sooner or later a bullet will find him. She also found Simo. On March 6, 1940, a Soviet soldier hit a Finnish sniper. The bullet entered the jaw and exited through left cheek. Simo, who lost consciousness, was evacuated to the rear; he came to his senses on the day the war ended. He had to long treatment, the destroyed jaw had to be restored with bone taken from the thigh.

After the war

Simo lived long life. It is significant that he asked to join the army in 1941, but due to an injury he was denied service. Before last days he led a peaceful life, engaged in farming, breeding dogs, went hunting, and taught the basics of sniper skills to the younger generation. Simo did not like to talk about the Winter War. He answered questions about his “glorious” past with restraint, saying that the secret of his effectiveness was training, and he participated in that war because he was doing his duty. The Finnish sniper lived to be 96 years old.

Information about his youth and the large peasant family in which Simo was brought up is well known from open sources, and is not refuted by information from the museum in his homeland, which, by the way, displays not only authentic photographs and documents about awards, but also the legendary sniper weapon - a rifle M/28−30 Spitz (Finnish Pystykorva) number 60974.

Looking ahead, I will say that Hayhä, who was called up for service in Raivola in 1925 as an ordinary soldier of a bicycle battalion and received sniper training, already as a corporal in the Utti fortress in Kouvola, only in 1933, in the hostilities of 1939-1940. against the Red Army he shot from an open sight and did not favor “optics”, since the glass optical sight covered with frost in the frost. At this time, Hayuhya served as a sniper in the town of Kolla, in the 6th company of the 34th infantry regiment of the Finnish army. The sniper also knew that the shine of the lenses from afar could give away his location on the ground. In addition, the use of an optical sight forced the sniper to hold his head several centimeters higher (relative to a rifle without an optical sight), which significantly increased the risk of being hit by an enemy bullet.

From birth, short in stature (152 cm) and thin in build, this Finnish soldier noticeably distinguished himself in the Winter War of 1939-1940, becoming a legend of the Finnish army and receiving the second name “White Death”. On August 28, 1940, the marshal awarded Corporal S. Häyhä the officer rank of “junior lieutenant.” This is an unrivaled case of rapid career in the history of the Finnish army. Simo Häyhä was also awarded military orders, including the silver Coll Cross, the Order of the Cross of Liberty, 1st and 2nd class.

Of course, in addition to his favorite rifle, he had practical skills in handling other small arms, including using the Suomi submachine gun. The secrets of the famous sniper are known everywhere today: he froze the crust in front of the rifle barrel with water so that the snow would not fly up when fired, and also kept the snow in his mouth so that the steam from his breath would not give it away.

According to documents presented in the museum, the greatest distance from which Häyhä hit a live target was 490 meters (see illustration of his position). The sniper’s performance is truly amazing: 505 Red Army soldiers from the beginning of the “Winter War” (November 30, 1939) until he was seriously wounded on March 6, 1940, after which Häyhä was declared unfit for combat service, and despite repeated petitions was not mobilized again in 1941-1944, during the Continuation War.

This issue is not completely clear, since the museum also displays photographic reproductions depicting the famous sniper in his summer officer’s uniform; taking into account the date of the order to assign the first officer rank, such photographs could only be taken after he was wounded and no earlier than the end of August 1940, or even later. Authentic documents from the Finnish military archives would help to figure this out.

And yet, according to eyewitnesses - Finnish soldiers, in just one day, December 21, 1939, Häyhä shot 25 Soviet soldiers from skillfully equipped camouflaged shelters. The sniper’s “achievements” were skillfully used as a propaganda weapon: the press created a myth about the hero at the very beginning of the war; as the newspapers wrote, in the first three days of December, non-commissioned officer S. Hayuhya killed 51 soldiers of the enemy army. It is no longer possible to determine the exact number of those killed: statistics at that time were compiled from the words of the sniper himself and eyewitnesses of the events; in addition, the affected soldiers and officers of the Red Army remained in territory inaccessible to the sniper.

Simo Hayhä lived to be 96 years old and, according to eyewitnesses, he was distinguished by modesty in everyday life, did not boast of his services given to the fatherland, despite his personal acquaintance with the highest bonzes of the government of the Republic of Finland, and did not blame his heroic history. One of the most productive snipers in the world military history and long-lived Simo Häyhä very rarely gave interviews to the media and mentioned the past only when necessary.

Articles and even musical compositions were dedicated to him, and yet today few Russians know that in Mietila, in the homeland of the legendary soldier of the Finnish army and the venerable son of his fatherland, there is a provincial museum in which authentic documents from the war era are stored, clarifying the world knowledge about the personality of Sima Hayuhi. Entrance to this museum, like many Finnish museums, is open at free of charge. The “thick” visitors’ book contains handwritten notes of impressions from outstanding and world-famous people who honor the memory of the victims and heroes of that “unfamous war.”