The Sniper Who Killed 505 Soviet Soldiers

Reading Digg, I came across an article on Wikipedia detailling the role of a Finnish soldier named Simo Häyhä in the Winter War. He is credited with being one of the most successful snipers in history.

A snippet:

During the Winter War (1939–1940) between Finland and the Soviet Union, he began his duty as a sniper against the Red Army. Working in temperatures between −20 to −40 degrees Celsius (−4 to −40 degrees Fahrenheit), and dressed completely in a white camouflage suit, Häyhä was credited with 505 confirmed kills against Soviet soldiers.

The unofficial Finnish frontline figure from the battlefield of Kollaa places the number of Häyhä’s sniper kills at 542. A daily account of the kills at Kollaa was conducted for the Finnish snipers. Häyhä used a Finnish variant, M28, of the Soviet Mosin-Nagant rifle (known as “Pystykorva” rifle), because it suited his small frame (5 ft/1.52 m). He preferred to use iron sights rather than telescopic sights to present a smaller target (the sniper must raise their head higher when using telescopic sights) and aid concealment (sun reflecting off telescopic sight lenses can reveal a sniper’s position). Source: Wikipedia

Personally, I find these sorts of things very interesting, last night I ordered “The World At War” DVD boxset for my step-father, little does he know that it was more of a gift we could both enjoy!