20. This Sniper Did in Hundreds of Soviet Soldiers in Just Three Months
Simo Hayha became known as the “White Death” in the course of the Winter War. Every day, he donned white winter camouflage to blend into the snowy landscape, took his rifle and a day’s supply of food and ammunition, and stalked Soviet soldiers in the Finnish wilderness. He picked kill zones along likely enemy routes of advance and selected positions that overlooked them. Hayha then burrowed into the snow, and patiently waited for enemies to enter the deadly grounds. He did not use a scope, because he did not want to risk exposure from sunlight glare. Instead, he relied exclusively on iron sights, which made his 505 kills that much more impressive.
Later, sources from his unit pointed out that “only” 259 of those kills were confirmed. The rest were probable, but unconfirmed. However, even if he had “only” killed 259 enemy personnel, 259 kills would still make Hayha one of the most lethal warriors to have ever walked a battlefield. Especially when one considers just how relatively brief the Winter War was: it began on November 30, 1939, and ended on March 13, 1940. Hayha had thus put paid to at least 259 enemy soldiers, and perhaps as many as 505, in only three and a half months.
