Thread by @marinamaral2

Simo Häyhä, nicknamed "White Death" by the Red Army, was a Finnish sniper.

Using a Finnish-produced M/28-30 rifle and a Suomi KP/-31, he reportedly killed 505 to 542 men during the 1939–40 Winter War, the highest recorded number of sniper kills in any major war.

All of Häyhä's kills were accomplished in fewer than 100 days – an average of just over five per day – at a time of year with very few daylight hours.

During the war, the "White death" was one of the leading themes of Finnish propaganda. The Finnish newspapers frequently featured the invisible Finnish soldier, thus creating a hero of mythical proportions.

He preferred iron sights over telescopic sights, as they enable a sniper to present a smaller target for the enemy (a sniper must raise his head a few centimeters higher when using a telescopic sight), can be relied on even in extreme cold (unlike telescopic sights), and

are easier to conceal (sunlight can reflect off a telescopic sight's lenses and reveal the snipers' position). Häyhä also did not have prior training with scoped rifles, and therefore preferred not to switch to the Soviet scoped rifle (m/91-30 PE or PEM).

Häyhä would frequently pack dense mounds of snow in front of his position to conceal himself, provide padding for his rifle and reduce the characteristic puff of snow stirred up by the muzzle blast.

He was also known to keep snow in his mouth while sniping, to prevent his steamy breaths from giving away his position in the cold air.

In their efforts to kill Häyhä, the Soviets used counter-snipers and artillery strikes, and on 6 March 1940, Häyhä was hit in his lower left jaw by an explosive bullet fired by a Red Army soldier.

He was picked up by fellow soldiers who said "half his face was missing", but he did not die, regaining consciousness on 13 March, the day peace was declared.

Shortly after the war, he was promoted from alikersantti (Corporal) to vänrikki (Second lieutenant).

It took several years for him to recuperate from his wound. The bullet had crushed his jaw and removed most of his left cheek. He made a full recovery and became a successful moose hunter and dog breeder after WWII, and even hunted with the Finnish President Urho Kekkonen.

When asked in 1998 how he had become such a good shooter, he answered, "Practice."

When asked if he regretted killing so many people, he said, "I only did what I was told to do, as well as I could."

Simo Häyhä spent his last years in Ruokolahti, a small municipality located in southeastern Finland, near the Russian border.

He died in a war veterans' nursing home in Hamina in 2002 at the age of 96, and was buried in Ruokolahti.

Collar insignia - 2nd lieutenant