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Simo "Simuna" Häyhä was a Finnish sniper who earned the ominous nickname, "The White Death". He's credited as one of the most accurate snipers of all time with a reported 500+ kills under his belt while enlisted. Today we're learning more about the man behind the rifle.
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0:01
When World War II broke out in 1939, the Soviet Union decided to invade Finland while everyone else was preoccupied with the war in Europe
0:09
But a sniper named Simo Heiha came to Finland's defense. Heiha allegedly eliminated a staggering 505 enemy soldiers, which, if accurate, would make him the single deadliest sniper in history
0:22
Today we're looking at the man Simo Heiha and his unbelievable marksmanship
0:27
Alright, let's get sniping. As you might imagine, the invading Soviet soldiers grew to be straight up terrified of Heiha
0:34
Having to patrol the blanched Finnish wilderness with the knowledge that Heiha could be out there waiting to ping them with a spectacular long-distance shot
0:42
earned him the nickname Beljesmert, which is Russian for white death. However, Heiha's fellow Finnish soldiers had a completely different name for him
0:52
They called him Taika Ampuja, magic shooter. While that nickname may have been as accurate as Hey-Ha himself
0:58
we have to admit it is somewhat less intimidating than White Death. Simo's exact sniper count varies depending on the source
1:06
Some suggest he downed as many as 542 Soviet soldiers with his rifle
1:11
but no one claims he eliminated any less than 505. This makes him the most effective sniper in any war
1:17
with Soviet sniper Ivan Sidorenko sitting at a close second with 500 kills
1:22
However, Hey-Ha's count may even be higher. Rather than stay at a comfortable distance behind his sniper rifle for the entire war
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Heiha may have also cut down several hundred enemy combatants with a submachine gun
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If true, that would put his count at approximately 800. Simo, that is a frightening number
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Impressive, sure, but holy cow, you're really good at your job. The Winter War lasted for a single winter, as his name suggests
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which means Heiha was putting in serious work. In order to achieve his staggering record, Heiha was eliminating an average of five to six enemy soldiers every day
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Of course some days were better than others Heiha racked up a terrifying 40 confirmed kills in a single day scoring 25 and 20 on two other record days
2:09
The cloud of perpetual death in which he lived saw him promoted from corporal to second lieutenant
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the biggest rank jump in the history of Finland's military. Heiha did not use a scope to forge his legendary sniper count
2:23
He preferred to use the plain old iron sight on his rifle. Yeah, no scope
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He's just an all-around old-fashioned badass. Beyond being hardcore, there was a strategic reason for this beyond just showing off
2:37
Heiha recognized that Scopes made his enemies an easy target. In addition to making the target slightly bigger, Scopes would glint in the sunlight
2:44
allowing Heiha to spot enemy snipers before they spotted him. At the time, every Finnish citizen was required to do one year of military service
2:53
and Heiha had done his 14 years earlier, back in 1925. That was the extent of his military experience
3:01
He did join the Finnish Civil Guard as reservist, which is essentially the equivalent to the U.S. National Guard
3:07
but he stuck to his civilian life of hunting and farming right up until the Soviets decided to invade in 1939
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at which point he was summoned back to service. If his hunting record was anything like his war record
3:18
we suspect that deer around Heiha's home had a nickname for him too. After he completed his year of mandatory service in 1925
3:26
Heiha was given the option to purchase his service weapon, a standard bolt-action rifle
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He bought the gun and spent the next decade and a half mastering it. When he was called back to duty during the Winter War, Heiha brought his old bolt-action rifle
3:39
turning down a more modern rifle with advanced optics. The extreme cold, which ranged anywhere from minus 20 to minus 40 degrees Fahrenheit
3:47
caused frequent weapon malfunctions among his fellow soldiers. but Heiha's experience with his bolt-action BFF allowed him to keep the gun functional throughout the winter
4:01
While only having minimal military experience Heiha wasn possessed by the Lord of Incredible Aim He developed his skill from being a competitive sharpshooter having grown up a few miles away from the Civil Guard shooting range which held annual contests
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Hay-Haw regularly participated in these competitions, packing his house full of trophies
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Among his accomplishments was the ability to hit a target with his rifle 16 times in
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a minute at a range of 500 feet, a talent best described as supernatural
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Heyha was deployed to the Kola battlefield, where he and 31 other soldiers were tasked with holding off an invading force of 4,000 Soviet troops
4:43
Despite having fewer men on the roster than a college football team, Heyha's group managed to hold their ground for the entire winter
4:51
That's some good goal-line defense right there. He and his fellow Finns had a few other advantages beyond his Angel of Death status as a sniper
5:00
For instance, the Soviet troops all wore bright green uniforms, which made them stand out like decorated Christmas trees against the snowy white landscape
5:07
What also didn't help the Soviets was they lacked officers with any leadership skills
5:12
mainly because Stalin had them all executed when he purged the USSR of any potential political opponents
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And even though the Soviet invasion of Finland was technically successful, they only managed to capture a relatively small amount of border territory
5:25
leaving the rest of the country intact. All told, the Soviets suffered nearly 400,000 casualties during the Winter War
5:33
compared to the 66,000 suffered by Finland. Most snipers shoot while lying flat on their stomachs because it gives enemies a smaller target to aim at
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Heiha fired from a sitting position because he felt the position was better for his aim
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He didn't worry too much about making himself a bigger target, as he was just a biscuit over five feet tall
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and would conceal himself in snow banks and put snow in his mouth to hide his breath
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Additionally, Heiha would pack snow in front of his rifle barrel or pour water on it to freeze it
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so that smoke would not rise from it after he fired and give away his position And in perhaps the biggest departure from sniper etiquette rather than going for the head Heiha aimed for the center mass of his targets
6:18
which is effective in wartime, but won't do him any favors on the Black Ops 4 leaderboards
6:27
Heiha's reputation as the John Wick of Finnish snipers eventually drew the ire of the Soviet commanders
6:33
who finally grew tired of his nonsense and began targeting him directly
6:38
Because getting anywhere near Heiha was out of the question, they began hammering his general location with artillery strikes
6:45
When those didn't work, the Soviets sent teams of counter-snipers to take him out
6:50
but Heiha, being the sniper's sniper, dispatched them with bone-chilling ease. Finally, one Soviet sniper got lucky and blasted Heiha in the jaw with an exploding round
7:01
Despite being described by one friend as having half of his head missing
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Heiha refused to die, and after days of reconstructive surgery, he finally regained consciousness, the day after the Winter War had ended
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Despite getting a portion of his face blown entirely off his dome in a time when medicine was still largely experimental
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Heiha survived World War II and went back to hunting and farming. The Finnish government actually gave him a farm in 1961, presumably both to reward him for his service
7:33
and they probably wanted to stay on his good side. Heiha took up dog breeding and continued hunting, winning the Ro-O-Kalati Hunting Society's Game Cup five years in a row
7:44
In 1970, he moved into a small apartment where he lived out the rest of his days before passing away at age 96 in 2002
7:52
That's right, the deadliest sniper in World War II lived long enough to have witnessed the rise of popularity of NSYNC
8:00
Simo Heya left his quiet farm life in the winter of 1939 to become the most effective sniper in history
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racking up over 500 confirmed kills without even using a scope before returning home to live out the rest of the 20th century in peace