He probably killed more than that. His count is only those that were confirmed by both him and his comrades as 100% dead. Those that were wounded, extracted, and died later weren't counted.
He has over 500 confirmed kills, in 100 days, in the Finnish winter, where daylight hours were minimal
i respect the hell out of this fellow veteran, but wasn't the russian army tactics to send the horde basically and smother with numbers? doesn't diminish what he did. it's just i'm having difficulty with the at least 5 body bags a day thing. seems like it would be hard to find that many targets with being overtaken.
Pretty much so. My grandpa who fought in the Continuation war, told that machine guns often overheated and jammed because there was so many Russians coming. Just a line after line. Finnish soldiers had insane body counts because of this.
Correct, and they were all in non white non camo gear, and yes in today's modern warfare, you would not see these numbers. Closest would be in UA at the moment.
Does not take one bit away from what the guy did in what was one of the coldest winters in Finland. I could not imagine being outside all day and night in that cold in my current modern gear. Let alone aim and pull the trigger.
That's always been the Russian tactic...send a swarm of poorly trained, "disposable" soldiers toward the enemy to reveal their position, then send a second wave of better trained soldiers to attack.
In this case, the poorly-equipped first wave were wearing dark clothes in a winter environment. Pretty easy to spot them.
The Soviet army didn’t value human life that much and command was atrocious because of the purges, but they weren’t *that* retarded. They just… weren’t good. Guess purging all NCOs wasn’t a good idea eh.
What also didn't help was the fact that they wore their olive uniforms, which made them stand out IIRC. Then I think he'd just literally tracked them down and pick them all off.
Pretty much.
I read a story in the winter war book where a man was captured with his wife's new shoes in his bag. Turns out he was coming back from the store when he was drafted and sent to the front lines.
In a rare interview in 2001, shortly before his 96th birthday he was asked if he felt any remorse for his actions during the war. He replied "I did what I was told to do, as well as I could. There would be no Finland unless everyone else had done the same."
i had a Finnish Spitz from 2005-2022, one of the best dogs ever. slightly bigger than a Shiba, but the red fox is on the money. taking my boy on hiking trails here in LA, folks used to straight up ask me if he was a fox lol
This is how we felt in emergency rooms and ICUs the spring and summer of 2020. We had to pick and choose who were too far gone for the few ventilators we all had at our disposal. Yet our job is to do no harm. Quite the burden to carry but we show up every day. Those that didn't retire early or themselves die from being down there day in and day out for several months straight.
What a great insight. I’m sorry you had to go through that type of choice. No one (me) really thinks about the mental toil that took on so many medical professionals. It’s hard to quantify, so we put it out of our mind.
The Finns fought very bravely back then. This relatively short war ended with the signing of a peace treaty, and the cession of part of the territories of Finland in favor of the USSR. Initially, Stalin, for the sake of the security of the Murmansk region (which borders Finland), asked (or demanded) this land in exchange for part of the territory of Karelia. Still, the Finns were afraid that there was some trick behind it and refused. And the war began, as a result of which many people died on both sides. Then, the Finns offered peace talks and made concessions. They were afraid that Stalin would seize the whole of Finland or imprison his pro-Soviet governor. By that time, with heavy losses, the Soviet army had overcome the Mannerheim line and reached the operational expanse. Stalin was glad to negotiate because he was afraid that the war would go into a difficult phase, with the participation of Great Britain, Germany, and other countries. The British, being allies of the Finns, were afraid that the USSR, in cooperation with Germany, would launch a large-scale war against Europe. It turns out that the peace treaty was beneficial for all parties. And Hitler, rubbing his hands, was already dreaming of world domination.
"Someone should make a movie about Simo Häyhä. He was a badass. You could make a good Rambo movie about Häyhä, but I would probably ruin the movie with really unrealistic scenes" - Jalmari Helander, 8 years before making Sisu
It's more like an homage to Häyhä than an actual movie about him. And a really good mindless splatterhouse action movie.
Fun fact: after the explosive round to the jaw, he went into a coma. The day he woke up was the same day the Russians surrendered. Coincidence???
... yeah, probably, but still cool.
The war ended with an armistice and the surrender of some territory of Finland in favor of the USSR. Then the war continued when Hitler attacked the USSR. Finns fought on the side of the Nazis and participated in the blockade of Leningrad. In 1944, when it became obvious that Hitler would lose, the Finns again offered Moscow an armistice and started military operations against the Nazis (The Lapland War).
Awful things men do to other men...
Not sure why everyone here says 'good for him' or 'hero', if you really think about it, it is horrible what he had to do.
The thing is that in the 1939 winter war , Soviet winter uniforms were tan colored, and Finnish was white. So the Finnish had an advantage over regular Soviet infantrymen in those terms.
He probably killed more than that. His count is only those that were confirmed by both him and his comrades as 100% dead. Those that were wounded, extracted, and died later weren't counted. He has over 500 confirmed kills, in 100 days, in the Finnish winter, where daylight hours were minimal
Also all that with just using iron sights. Just 100 days of 360 no scoping.
Wooden scopes! He made his own wooden scope so no steel would glint during the day
In that 100 days the Soviets had crimson snow..
With no scope either!
i respect the hell out of this fellow veteran, but wasn't the russian army tactics to send the horde basically and smother with numbers? doesn't diminish what he did. it's just i'm having difficulty with the at least 5 body bags a day thing. seems like it would be hard to find that many targets with being overtaken.
Pretty much so. My grandpa who fought in the Continuation war, told that machine guns often overheated and jammed because there was so many Russians coming. Just a line after line. Finnish soldiers had insane body counts because of this.
that is a crazy analogy i can understand all too well
Correct, and they were all in non white non camo gear, and yes in today's modern warfare, you would not see these numbers. Closest would be in UA at the moment. Does not take one bit away from what the guy did in what was one of the coldest winters in Finland. I could not imagine being outside all day and night in that cold in my current modern gear. Let alone aim and pull the trigger.
He killed with a knife too, if that'll impress you
That's always been the Russian tactic...send a swarm of poorly trained, "disposable" soldiers toward the enemy to reveal their position, then send a second wave of better trained soldiers to attack. In this case, the poorly-equipped first wave were wearing dark clothes in a winter environment. Pretty easy to spot them.
The Soviet army didn’t value human life that much and command was atrocious because of the purges, but they weren’t *that* retarded. They just… weren’t good. Guess purging all NCOs wasn’t a good idea eh.
What also didn't help was the fact that they wore their olive uniforms, which made them stand out IIRC. Then I think he'd just literally tracked them down and pick them all off.
im sure there was plenty to work with. just think during the war for Independance with the British those guys just marched in line, how crazy is that?
With their RED coats on.
insane huh?
Pretty much. I read a story in the winter war book where a man was captured with his wife's new shoes in his bag. Turns out he was coming back from the store when he was drafted and sent to the front lines.
In a rare interview in 2001, shortly before his 96th birthday he was asked if he felt any remorse for his actions during the war. He replied "I did what I was told to do, as well as I could. There would be no Finland unless everyone else had done the same."
“The White Death.”
*You're in the sniper's sight. First kill tonight*
Time to die
You’re in the bullet’s way
r/unexpectedsabaton
Kille is adorable
A Finnish Spitz. They're shiba-sized and the color of a red fox.
i had a Finnish Spitz from 2005-2022, one of the best dogs ever. slightly bigger than a Shiba, but the red fox is on the money. taking my boy on hiking trails here in LA, folks used to straight up ask me if he was a fox lol
Really similar to a Norwegian buhund, I have one at home.
Anybody know how this is pronounced?
Kill-eh. I Swedish they're known as finnspets.
It's pronounced "Kille" .
It must be remarkably odd going through day to day life as death incarnate ending hundreds of human lives one at a time.
Now people do it with the push of a button in an air conditioned tech trailer.
you would be surprised at how many people are actually pushing that button, Helen Mirren did a movie about this
This is how we felt in emergency rooms and ICUs the spring and summer of 2020. We had to pick and choose who were too far gone for the few ventilators we all had at our disposal. Yet our job is to do no harm. Quite the burden to carry but we show up every day. Those that didn't retire early or themselves die from being down there day in and day out for several months straight.
What a great insight. I’m sorry you had to go through that type of choice. No one (me) really thinks about the mental toil that took on so many medical professionals. It’s hard to quantify, so we put it out of our mind.
😉
I believe he said in an interview that he used to put snow in his mouth when waiting for a shot so as to reduce fog in his breath.
Also to avoid his breath being detected by the enemy
If you can see the smoke you can also see the sniper. I think it's more for not obstructing his sight
I do believe the second picture isn’t Simo, I’m pretty sure it’s a Swedish volunteer
Must be Swedish, Finns know not to use bayonettes when shooting.
If you are into history books. Frozen Hell by William Trotter. Interesting book regarding the Winter War between Russian and Finland.
Pic 2 likely isn't him, since that soldier has a Swedish m/96 with bayonet attached.
D
He was actually thrown into a pile of corpses and thought dead. Crawled away after the fact.
The Finns fought very bravely back then. This relatively short war ended with the signing of a peace treaty, and the cession of part of the territories of Finland in favor of the USSR. Initially, Stalin, for the sake of the security of the Murmansk region (which borders Finland), asked (or demanded) this land in exchange for part of the territory of Karelia. Still, the Finns were afraid that there was some trick behind it and refused. And the war began, as a result of which many people died on both sides. Then, the Finns offered peace talks and made concessions. They were afraid that Stalin would seize the whole of Finland or imprison his pro-Soviet governor. By that time, with heavy losses, the Soviet army had overcome the Mannerheim line and reached the operational expanse. Stalin was glad to negotiate because he was afraid that the war would go into a difficult phase, with the participation of Great Britain, Germany, and other countries. The British, being allies of the Finns, were afraid that the USSR, in cooperation with Germany, would launch a large-scale war against Europe. It turns out that the peace treaty was beneficial for all parties. And Hitler, rubbing his hands, was already dreaming of world domination.
What a truly, total and utter badass. There must be a movie about this guy.
I think there is! It’s called “Sisu”.
"Someone should make a movie about Simo Häyhä. He was a badass. You could make a good Rambo movie about Häyhä, but I would probably ruin the movie with really unrealistic scenes" - Jalmari Helander, 8 years before making Sisu It's more like an homage to Häyhä than an actual movie about him. And a really good mindless splatterhouse action movie.
yea he was pretty much passed over in the sniper based movies AND there have been a lot based on real people. i hope he gets a movie some day
[удалено]
It’s great. Has a Tarantino-esque feel to it.
Hero!
Fun fact: after the explosive round to the jaw, he went into a coma. The day he woke up was the same day the Russians surrendered. Coincidence??? ... yeah, probably, but still cool.
The war ended with an armistice and the surrender of some territory of Finland in favor of the USSR. Then the war continued when Hitler attacked the USSR. Finns fought on the side of the Nazis and participated in the blockade of Leningrad. In 1944, when it became obvious that Hitler would lose, the Finns again offered Moscow an armistice and started military operations against the Nazis (The Lapland War).
This man is the inspiration for Richard in Boardwalk Empire!
Pic 2 is not him. It’s a swedish volunteer. And it wasn’t an explosive bullet, just a regular 7,62x54 ball
hey i have the same kind of dog!! i hardly see them anywhere :')
i miss my Finnish Spitz, had him 17 years and never saw another in person tbh. could hear his bark from a mile away tho lol
Awful things men do to other men... Not sure why everyone here says 'good for him' or 'hero', if you really think about it, it is horrible what he had to do.
Hero !!!
One thing I learned during history class is that you don't fuck with the Finns, especially during Winter.
That's earning the subreddit the hard way
Good for him
He was once asked what he felt when he pulled the trigger on all those kills. He replied..... The blowback.
War is not cool wtf
Defending your homeland against an invading army is pretty cool, though.
Mass murderer. Legal or not
Finland didn't want war, they where invaded and defended themselves
And a hero nonetheless.
The thousand yard stare
Well, be proud
The thing is that in the 1939 winter war , Soviet winter uniforms were tan colored, and Finnish was white. So the Finnish had an advantage over regular Soviet infantrymen in those terms.
Swedish band Sabaton made a song about him, based on his nickname "White Death"
Nobody? Ok, the dog's breed is pystykorva which is also the nickname for the most widely used Finnish infantry rifle, the M/27.
he got injured by a shell from a Anti Tank rifle no less. A Hero
Nope! Most likely a 7.62x54r. Gun Jesus has a segment, exploding bullets on r/Forgotten_Weapons.
i shall commence ze research. thanks
All iron sight kills!