Simo Häyhä: The WHITE DEATH Who Terrorized The Red Army

it's almost night in the winter of 1939 a column of Soviet soldiers marches across a frozen landscape as the Crimson Horizon opens above Untamed snow covered forests this is the winter war or as the fins refer to it talvisota Stalin's invasion of Finland as the column advances a sudden flash occurs causing a soldier to fall the troops from Russia are numb cries of sniper fire get down cause the Russian soldiers to fall to the the ground and take cover as more gunfire erupts causing another Soldier to fall to the ground among the Sheltering Russians a whisper goes around white death a boy stands alone in the distance his rifle balanced in his grip as he waits for another hapless Soldier to come into His line of sight it is completely covered in a white coat of snow and is obscured from view by the Untamed environment and the snow that has accumulated around it however who is this man who fills every Russian soldier in Finland with fear Simo hea was born and nurtured in the Untamed forests of kelia in southern Finland he was an innate Hunter and Marksman heha recounted how his upbringing as a farmer Hunter and skier had shaped his ability to become an exceptional sniper he developed his Marksmanship and won competition after competition while serving in the Finnish Army and civil Guard from the age of 17 it it was said that his home was full of trophies for Marksmanship Simo is stationed as part of a Garrison that guards the defense lines on the Finish Russian border when War breaks out seo's commanding Commander gives heha a solo sniper assignment early in the conflict after observing his proficiency with a weapon ironically haha's first operation as a sniper was to counter snipe Simo says of the operation my co once attempted to use a scoped rifle to kill an opposing sniper this Russian had taken up position some 400 m from us and was firing straight toward our lines non-stop eventually he sent for me and told me roughly where he thought the opposing sniper was one of our lieutenants was there acting as a spotter when the duel began where he was supposed to be all I saw when I initially looked for him was a small rock but looking closely we saw that he was hiding under a small mound of snow near That Rock with great care I aimed my dependable m2830 and my first shot hit its mark because they assumed Simo would be somewhere the Soviets were willing to ask for artillery backup to Shell those SES because they were so terrified of Him in all seriousness Simo claimed that the Russians put a lot of effort into trying to kill me after taking out another Soviet sniper with great success they started to intensively shell Sim's Foxhole my Foxhole was surrounded by 50 shells but in vain Simo described something once still despite their greatest efforts the Soviets could only get a scuff or at most a ripped coat on haha Simo haha uses sniper methods that are unheard of for the period Simo in contrast to his Soviet colleagues prefers to employ iron sights over Scopes because the latter run the risk of glaring and revealing the location of a sniper the Brilliance of their lenses he claimed allowed him to catch many a negligent Russian sniper he is also unaffected by the cold because he always comes prepared with multiple layers of warm gear Simo Ventures out into the Wilderness on a chilly December day and finds one of his favorite locations a snow covered tree with low Ling limbs that makes the ideal vantage point for a Valley View his breath conceals his position even with snow in his mouth with a daily ration Supply haha builds a temporary barrier around himself by pushing up the snow then sits and waits for hours like any decent Hunter he waits and waits until his patience is rewarded when four Soviet soldiers Advance into the iron sights of his rifle Simo fires quickly reloading after every shot four men lie in the snow never to wake Simo continues to fire his gun 25 times that day breaking the previous record for the most sniper kills in a single day adding to the Soviet rank's ever expanding Legend of Simo hea as the white death not only did Soviet soldiers fear Simo hea's reputation as an invisible sniper and the fear of his foes a hero at home but the Soviet High command also placed a bounty on his death making him even more despised certain Soviet Sharpshooters desired that the Bounty travel to the hotpots and wait for Simo in an ambush for hours one person positioned himself and waited the Sharpshooter assumed Simo had left when darkness fell and got up to to return to base a crack appears however the Russian stumbles in the snow and never hears it Simo would continue to use his Dependable m2830 rifle but he would receive a bespoke rifle made for him by The Finnish Government after he reached 200 career kills by the end of January 1940 throughout the conflict Simo keeps upping his kill total and accomplishes the incredible record of almost 500 sniper kills in 100 days he leads a group of fellow fins in early March in an assault on a stronger Red Army Force that is trying to break through the forest SEMA remembered the conflict as taking place in the shadowy forests of ulma one of many missions assigned to us was to Counterattack early in the morning we took our places we easily traversed a wetland that measured about 300 M in width after crossing the marsh we attacked the enemy who was positioned very near to us my rifle worked flawlessly ly some of the enemy were only 2 m away from me because of how close we were to them the enemy was forced to retreat but a few extremely courageous Warriors stuck around to inflict damage on the rest of us I felt like I was hit by a gunshot that was maybe 50 to 100 m away there's a whoosh and Simo experiences tunnel vision before everything turns white in anticipation of the white death and he is struck in the jaw by a bullet that explodes following the fight The Finnish soldiers discover what they believed to be simmo's bones and stack him with the other dead then among the pile one of the fins spots a leg twitching Simo was amazingly still alive but only half of his face was left the winter war ends after 3 days of him being in a coma to rebuild his broken jaw which was made from a fragment of hipbone Simo underwent 26 procedures he would spend the rest of his days in peace at his new Farm in the picturesque Finnish Countryside after his recovery dying in 2002 at the ripe old age of 96 Simo was a legendary Finnish hero who also established a legacy as the best Marksman and sniper in history Simo responded I didn't feel anything towards the enemy when questioned about his involvement in the conflict I just kept shooting as long as there were adversaries every time I spotted one I just fired his status as a commander made no difference to me fortunately I have never experienced War related nightmares even during the War I had a peaceful sleep I followed the instructions as best I could he responded to a question about how he became so good at shooting by saying practice if you haven't already subscribe to the channel and watch more videos from us regards [Music]