With at least 505 confirmed kills during the Winter War of 1939–40 between Finland and the Soviet Union, Simo Häyhä (1905–2002) has been labelled the deadliest sniper in history. Here, Tapio Saarelainen shares the story of the Finnish sniper and how he achieved his nickname 'White Death'...
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. He remains the deadliest sniper who ever lived.
Early life and youth
Häyhä was born in the Kiiskinen hamlet of the Rautjärvi municipality in the Viipuri Province of southern Finland near the border with Russia.[7] He was the seventh of eight children in a Lutheran family of farmers;[8] his father, Juho Häyhä, was the owner of the Mattila farm while Simo's mother, Katriina (née Vilkko) was a loving and hard-working farmer's wife.[7] He attended school in the village of Miettilä in Kivennapa parish and cultivated his home farm together with his eldest brother. He was a farmer, hunter, and skier prior to his military service.
Häyhä joined the Finnish voluntary militia Civil Guard (Suojeluskunta) at the age of 17. He was successful in shooting competitions in the Viipuri Province; his home was reportedly full of trophies for marksmanship.[9] He was not keen to hog the spotlight, and correspondingly in the group photos of his youth he usually stood at the back, until his later success started to force him to take centre place.[10]
In 1925, at the age of 19, Häyhä began his 15-month compulsory military service in the Bicycle Battalion 2 in Raivola, Viipuri Province. He attended the Non-Commissioned Officer School and served as a conscript officer in the Bicycle Battalion 1 in Terijoki. However, he did not receive formal sniper training until a year before the war in 1938 at a training centre in Utti.[7]
According to Major Tapio Saarelainen—who met Häyhä several times and has written five books about him, including his biography—Häyhä was able to estimate distances with an accuracy of 1 metre (3.3 ft) up to 150 metres (500 ft).[11] Saarelainen notes that during his Civil Guard training, Häyhä once hit a target 16 times from 150 metres away in just 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."[12]
Achievements as a sniper
Häyhä in Kollaa on 17 February 1940, right after being awarded the honorary rifle.[17]
All of Häyhä's kills were accomplished in less than 100 days, an average of five per day at a time of year with very few daylight hours.[18][19][20] His kill count as a sniper was based on his own reporting, with the confirmation of his comrades, and only those who were verified to be dead were counted. No count was taken when several snipers shot at the same target. Men killed with a submachine gun with Häyhä as a group leader were not counted.[21]
Häyhä's division commander Antero Svensson credited him with 219 confirmed kills with a rifle and an equal number of kills by submachine gun, when he awarded Häyhä with an honorary rifle on 17 February 1940.[17][7] On 21 December 1939, Häyhä achieved his highest daily count of 25 kills.[22] In his diary, military chaplain Antti Rantamaa reported 259 confirmed kills made by rifle and an equal number of kills by submachine gun from the beginning of the war until 7 March 1940, one day after Häyhä was severely wounded. Later in his book, Rantamaa credited Häyhä with a total of 542 kills.[7][5]
Some of Häyhä's figures are from a Finnish Army document, counted from the beginning of the war, 30 November 1939:
Häyhä never discussed it publicly, but his own private memoir, discovered in 2017, states a number. He begins by stating that "this is his sin list", and estimates the total number shot by him to be around 500.[6][5]
Finnish historian Risto Marjomaa questions the large number, as confirmation of casualties was difficult due to the absence of the bodies. In his article, published by the National Biography of Finland, Marjomaa credited Häyhä with the total number of "more than two hundred" kills.[25] Complicating matters further is the use of Häyhä's achievements as a tool of propaganda: the Finnish press built a hero's myth around Häyhä at the early stage of the war.[26]
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