Mr Cs ButtKicker of the Week Simo Hyh

Mr. C’s Butt-Kicker of the Week!

Simo Häyhä Now when you think of Finland, the phrase "military powerhouse" isn't exactly the first thing that pops into your head. Likewise, when you looked at Simo Häyhä, a slight-framed Finnish farmer, you also probably didn't think "total unstoppable tough-guy". Well let's just say that first impressions can be deceiving.

Simo Häyhä Now when you think of Finland, the phrase "military powerhouse" isn't exactly the first thing that pops into your head. Likewise, when you looked at Simo Häyhä, a slight-framed Finnish farmer who didn't stand an inch over five feet tall, you also probably didn't think "total unstoppable tough-guy". Well let's just say that first impressions can be deceiving.

Simo Häyhä Born in the small village of Rautjärvi in what was then part of Imperial Russia (Finland did not become independent until 1918), Simo Hayha was a pretty normal man. He wasn’t very tall or robust, standing just 5′ 3″.

Simo Häyhä Simo was a member of a Finnish organization roughly equivalent to the minutemen of the American Revolution. He had done his state-mandated one-year term in the Finnish Army, reaching the rank of corporal, and was living a peaceful life in a farming village not far from the Russian border, spending his days farming, hunting, and crushing giant logs into sawdust with his bare hands.

Simo Häyhä Simo was a member of a Finnish organization roughly equivalent to the minutemen of the American Revolution. He had done his state-mandated one-year term in the Finnish Army, reaching the rank of corporal, and was living a peaceful life in a farming village not far from the Russian border, spending his days farming, hunting, and crushing giant logs into sawdust with his bare hands.

Simo Häyhä In November 1939 over 400, 000 Soviet Red Army troops invaded tiny Finland, whose own Army of some 80, 000 was grossly outnumbered. Hayha reported to duty and having extensive experience in hunting and target shooting was selected to be a sniper. The rest, as they say, is history.

Simo Häyhä He went out to the wood shed behind his house, grabbed his old-school Russian-made Mosin-Nagant M 28/30 rifle and headed out to take some commies behind a proverbial woodshed of his own.

Simo Häyhä When the Soviets crossed the border into Finland with the expressed purpose of busting Finnish heads, Simo was called up into service. He went out to the wood shed behind his house, grabbed his old-school Russian-made Mosin-Nagant M 28/30 rifle and headed out to take some commies behind a proverbial woodshed of his own.

Simo Häyhä's specialty was his knowledge of the forests, his enduring patience and his impeccable rifle marksmanship. A sniper by trade, he would dress up in allwhite camouflage, sneak through the woods with only a day's worth of food and couple clips of ammunition, and then lie in wait for any Russian stupid enough to wander into his killzone.

Simo Häyhä's specialty was his knowledge of the forests, his enduring patience and his impeccable rifle marksmanship. A sniper by trade, he would dress up in allwhite camouflage, sneak through the woods with only a day's worth of food and couple clips of ammunition, and then lie in wait for any Russian stupid enough to wander into his killzone.

Simo Häyhä His first battle-experience came in the hard- fought Kollaa campaign, where a severely outnumbered Finnish force bore the brunt of a large-scale Russian assault. Temperatures at this time ranged from -20 to -40 degrees Celsius (-4 to -40 F), and the entire forest was covered with several feet of snow.

Simo Häyhä While this played havoc on the inexperienced and under-equipped Russian invaders, the Finns were right at home in it because FINLAND IS COLD ALL THE TIME and they're used to it there.

Simo Häyhä His personal best was twenty-five kills in a single day. That's like an entire baseball team!

Simo Häyhä Throughout the Winter War (as it would come to be known), Simo Häyhä ran around being what experienced HALO players would call a “camper", and scoring enough kill shots to make grown men cry. He would come to be known throughout the Russian Army as "The White Death", and at one point in the war they even went so far as to try and launch a couple of artillery strikes on locations at which they thought he might be hiding!

Simo Häyhä Throughout the Winter War (as it would come to be known), Simo Häyhä ran around being what experienced HALO players would call a “camper", and scoring enough kill shots to make grown men cry. He would come to be known throughout the Russian Army as "The White Death", and at one point in the war they even went so far as to try and launch a couple of artillery strikes on locations at which they thought he might be hiding!

Simo Häyhä Eventually the Finnish High Command decided to give him a special award: a custom-built Sako M 2/28 -30 Sniper Rifle of Headshots +3. He put this to good use, killing everything in his path. On several occasions the Russians sent their own snipers to take him out, but Simo managed to win those duels every time.

Simo Häyhä Eventually the Finnish High Command decided to give him a special award: a custom-built Sako M 2/28 -30 Sniper Rifle of Headshots +3. He put this to good use, killing everything in his path. On several occasions the Russians sent their own snipers to take him out, but Simo managed to win those duels every time.

Simo Häyhä You see, Häyhä not only passed out long-range silent death to anyone with a red star on his hat, but he did it without the aid of a telescopic sight. He preferred to use the rifle's regular iron sights because it allowed him to present a smaller target, and because several of the commie snipers he smoked were given away by a glint of light reflecting off the lenses of their scopes. He obviously didn't want to fall to this fate, so he went old school.

Simo Häyhä Finally, on 2 March 1940, some Soviet sniper got a lucky shot off and popped Simo Häyhä in the jaw with an explosive bullet. Häyhä fell into a coma and was pulled off the field by his comrades. He would finally awake eleven days later, on the same day that the Winter War ended. He would go on to live to the ripe old age of 97.

Simo Häyhä BTW This Soviet sniper did not go home either—as a wounded Simo returned fire and took his would-be assassin out.

Simo Häyhä The Winter War ended as a victory for Finland. The Red Army captured a mere 22, 000 square miles of territory and lost close to one million men, more than forty times the number of Finnish casualties. Simo Häyhä received five medals for valor, including the prestigious Kollaa Cross, and was express-promoted from corporal to second lieutenant.

Simo Häyhä Throughout the war, Häyhä raked in a total of 505 confirmed sniper kills (in some sources he is credited with 542). On top of this, he also mowed down two hundred men with a Suomi 9 mm submachine gun, bringing his total kill count to over 700 men in under 100 days. Nobody in history has ever been credited with more confirmed kills than Simo Häyhä. He was an unlikely war hero who used patience, cunning and precision to defend his country, his home, his people and his freedom from communist totalitarian oppression. He was an unstoppable killing machine the likes of which the world has never known before or since.

Simo Häyhä Finnish WWII weapons of choice: top, Suomi K 31 submachine gun (200 kills by Simo) bottom, Mosin Nagant 28 -30 (500+ kills by Simo).

Simo Häyhä It took several years for Häyhä to recuperate from his wound. The bullet had crushed his jaw and blown off his left cheek. Nonetheless, he made a full recovery. When asked in 1998 how he had become such a good shot, Häyhä answered, "Practice. " When asked if he regretted killing so many people, he said, "I only did my duty, and what I was told to do, as well as I could. "

Simo Häyhä It took several years for Häyhä to recuperate from his wound. The bullet had crushed his jaw and blown off his left cheek. Nonetheless, he made a full recovery. When asked in 1998 how he had become such a good shot, Häyhä answered, "Practice. " When asked if he regretted killing so many people, he said, "I only did my duty, and what I was told to do, as well as I could. "

Simo Häyhä Hayha died quietly at the age of 96 in 2002.