Simo Hayha, ”The White Death”

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Simo Hayha

Let’s talk about Finland

officially called the Republic of Finland.

The country’s name was said to be found on three runestones.

has about 168,000 lakes and 179,000 islands.

Helsinki is capital

As for weather, In Helsinki, the summers are comfortable and partly cloudy and the winters are long, freezing, snowy, windy, and mostly cloudy. Over the course of the year, the temperature typically varies from 17°F to 71°F and is rarely below -3°F or above 79°F.

Member of the EU

338,455 square kilometres (130,678 sq mi) with a population of 5.5 million people.

Helsinki is capital

According to an American study, an average of 7,000 rifle-caliber shots were required to achieve one combat kill during the First World War. During the Vietnam War this number had increased to more than 25,000. So, for Simo Häyhä’s more than 505 kills, more than 13,550,000 bullets would have been needed in Vietnam.

Simo Was born December 17th, 1905

In the Kiiskinen hamlet of the Rautjärvi, Viipuri Province, In southern Finland.

Not far from the Russian border.

His father, Juho Häyhä, was the owner of the Mattila farm while Simo's mother, Katriina was known as a “loving and hard-working farmer's wife”.

He was the the second youngest of eight children,

Went to school in the village of Miettilä in Kivennapa parish

Working on his family's farm and hunting in the Finnish wilderness made him tough, yet very patient.

Built his own farm along with his eldest brother.

Proficient farmer, hunter, and skier.

At 17, Simo joined the Finnish voluntary Militia Civil Guard, kind of like the National Guard in the US.

Was only 5’ 3”

Was great at marksmanship and won several shooting competitions, having many trophies and awards in his home.

Was a shy guy that wasn’t a big fan of the spotlight

At 19, Simo started a 15 month mandatory military service, called Conscription, in the Bicycle Battalion 2 in Raivola.

He didn’t even start sniper training until he was 20.

Simo was supposedly able to estimate distances up to 150 meters (500 ft) within 1 meter or 3.3 ft. That’s over 1 and a half football fields in length.

An author that wrote about Simo said that he once hit a target 16 times from 150 meters away in only one minute. “This was an unbelievable accomplishment with a bolt action rifle, considering that each cartridge had to be manually fed with a fixed magazine that held together five cartridges.” That’s insane.

Simo went back to his farm until the invasion happened.

THE WAR

The Soviets didn’t trust Germany and wanted a buffer zone.

In the autumn of 1939, the Soviet Union demanded that Finland move their border back 25 kilometers from Leningrad.

The Finnish government refused.

The Soviet Union staged an incident at the border, using it as an excuse to attack Finland.

This started the Winter War.

Stalin sent over 750,000 Russian soldiers to invade Finland. Finland’s army had only 300,000, a few tanks and just over 100 aircraft.

Russia had almost 6000 tanks and over 3000 aircraft.

Stalin thought Finland would be a pushover. He was wrong.

Simo was called up. He pulled out his old gun, joined the Finnish army and entered the Winter War between 1939 and 1940.

This war was between Finland and Russia and the temperatures were between -40 and -4 degrees Fahrenheit.

Simo dressed in all white camo where the Russian troops weren’t given any camo, making them easier targets.

They wore their standard Green greatcoats.

This disorganization was due to Stalin freaking out and killing most of his superior generals, leaving confusion and a lack of leadership.

ON A SIDE NOTE

The Finns were also smart in their tactics, the most notable of which were known as “Motti”-tactics. Since the Soviets would invade by the roads, the Finns would hide out in the surrounding wilderness. They would then let the invaders cross the border, and attack them from behind.

the Finns faced both the 9th and 14th Soviet Armies, and at one point were fighting against as many as 12 divisions - about 160,000 soldiers. Also at one point in the same area, there were only 32 Finns fighting against over 4,000 Soviets

The Russian army supposedly gave him the name “white Death”, but some speculation believes it was propaganda created by Finland. Kind of like the new “Ghost Of Kiev”.

Russian prisoners claimed that “white death” was referring to how cold it gets in the deepest parts of the forests.

The Finnish newspapers used the name and the likeness of an “invisible soldier” to create and proport a hero for the war.

He was also called the “magic shooter”.

Even rumors that captured Russian...