The White Death. Let's take a look at the famous Finnish next. During the Winter War Simo Häyhä (I'm sure you love his last name) was a Finnish sniper. In his memoir he claims to have killed about 500 hundred enemy soldiers, other sources give lower numbers. It was naturally difficult to confirm the kills, when he was alone out there, no one could count them. Finnish media also made him quickly a hero and used him in propaganda, which affects the numbers as well. Winter War lasted 105 days and he was injured (and reported mistakenly been dead) a week before the war ended. That would mean several kills a day. Some of the kills were done using the Suomi submachinegun while he was a group leader, some of them were actually sniped using an old rifle, which was in production between 1928-1933.
Winter War was fought during the winter, days were short and it was cold and there were lots of snow. He used to prepare his spots in advance and take the position before sunrise and left after sunset to hide his movement. Lots of clothes, some sugar and bread in the pockets to keep him warm enough. He didn't use telescopic sight, because the lenses could freeze, the sun could make reflection, the shooter should have his head a bit higher and the old style was known to him. He had snow in his mouth, so his breath would not show him off. He used water to freeze the snow to ice in front of his position, so the snow would not "puff" when he made the shot.
Häyhä is generally considered as the most effective sniper in history. As I told, he was injured by an explosive shot a week before the war ended and he was thought to be dead and was added to the "pile of bodies." Later someone noticed the leg moving and he was noticed and sent to hospital. He regained his consciouness in hospital a week later when the war was over. He read from his death in the newspaper and then send a correction. He volunteered to join the Continuation War, but because of his injury he was not accepted to duty and stayed on his farm. He died in 2002 at the age of 96. Shortly before his death he was asked, if he had bad conscience because of what he had done. He answered "I did what was ordered, as good as I could. There would not be Finland, if others would not have done the same."
The Swedish band Sabaton has a song about Häyhä. I previously presented their Winter War song.--- In Other News ---
The temperature is couple of degrees below zero Celcius and should stay like that for a while. Ground is white, but practically there is no snow. We have some entries.
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