White Death: the Sniper Who Killed 700 Soviets in 100 Days

reply to post by highlyoriginal


I believe what messes up people is killing kids, seeing your buddies die in your arms, being tortured, ect... that kind of stuff...

Killing the enemy is like killing to defend yourself... you just don't think about it, you just do it...

Originally posted by alienesque
amazing story...but..excuse my ignorance....i didnt even know russia invaded finland..were the russians not on 'our' side?

Finland first fought against the russians themselves, later they teamed up with the nazis, when the nazi relationship turned sour they left and turned to scorched earth tactics.

en.wikipedia.org...

I'm dismayed by my countries unwillingness to go to war against Russia, though we did send material and volunteers at least(we had some 130-300 nazi volunteers too even though it was prohibited, mostly Waffen SS).

If the great bear should ever attack Finland again trust me I'll be heading there fighting for them like they fought for themselves and all of Scandinavia, thanks to them we're still here.

Originally posted by TV_Nation
Hey ATS, I found this interesting story about Simo Häyhä, a badass Finnish sniper. Hope you enjoy the info it's quite intriguing.


Over 500 of these he shot using a standard, bolt-action rifle with non-telescopic sights.

Damn imagine if he had held a weapon of today's modern warfare combat. He's a beast.

WOW glory glory to the guy that killed 100 people , who gives a # , we shouldnt glorify someone because they got the most kills in a war !

its #in sick

after the intial shock of killing another human , he was only doing this for fun because he was most likely bored in the snow !

Originally posted by sapien82
WOW glory glory to the guy that killed 100 people , who gives a # , we shouldnt glorify someone because they got the most kills in a war !

its #in sick

after the intial shock of killing another human , he was only doing this for fun because he was most likely bored in the snow !

um, yep. He was just having a good time because i'm sure the Soviets weren't really invading Finland but just stopping by to get some groceries or something.

I'm just hoping your post was meant to be as sarcastic as my response.

Well he had to do whatever he had to do to protect his family/friends, remember that in war, all things are fair..

Yeah I also liked the story of Vasili Zaytsev in Enemy At the Gates, especially the "duel" with Koning. Was very interesting for someone who plays a lot of fps computer games .

Very informative thread!
I never knew this stuff!

I did a search on Google for WWII and Finland and it find only for a Soviet invasion of Finland. Nazis never invaded them?
Also on a more conspiratorial angle did the Vatican or the Pope take any particular stance in these events or prior?

[edit on 15-4-2010 by spacebot]

reply to post by alienesque


No the russians actually had an agreement with the germans. The russians invaded the allies, poland big time. And then cried because the US decided to help the brits and the west and not them first.

reply to post by spacebot


Yeah Germany and the USSR sliced up the eastern part of Europe in adherence to the non aggression pact.

[edit on 15-4-2010 by Xemplar]

If someone made a movie about this man, I'd definitely see it.

I can't believe some people still haven't seen Enemy at the Gates! Jude Law, Ed Harris, Ron Perlman, Rachel Wiesz, Bob Hoskins and Joesph Fiennes - it's an all star cast ... and an absolutely great movie. If you liked the story of The White Death, you'll love the story of Vassili Zaitsev.

Originally posted by wrathchild
somebody needs to make a movie about this guy.

nice post.

but he's not Jewish?

reply to post by Vitchilo


What messes you up is actually killing someone.

It doesn't matter if it's a young kid, an adult, a old man... A human is a human, and sniper have very deep emotional problems about the killings.

Most are able to shut that off, and they trace people in training to see if you can handle it, but since snipers use stealth, you usually attack people when they are not even expecting to be attacked, so you are killing people while they are on their daily routine, or in their guarding post just smoking a cigarette.

It's that part that gets you. While being a sniper, you are not being directly threaten by the person you kill. You don't have that urgency to kill that a normal soldier has during a battle. Believe me, you have a lot of time to be "tickled" by your moral compass.

reply to post by sapien82


People aren't glorifying death and killing. Are you forgetting that this was during WWII? A larger threat was upon everyone, the whole world, and some countries weren't lucky enough to stay out of it.

IMO, I don't think he really killed 700 soldiers.

But, even if he killed around 400 or 500, BY HIMSELF, that sends a huge message to the invading army.

"One of OUR guys killed 500 of YOUR guys. Wait until you face our whole army.".

People in this thread aren't praising for death and killing. This is just a story about bravery and immense talent. On any other given moment, his talent would be judged like he was a monster. But on that circumstances, he was/is a hero.

Snipers don't do relevant work. That's not why snipers exist. The number of kills made by snipers isn't that relevant. It doesn't even affect the enemy very much. And even if snipers take out equipment, that doesn't affect the enemy very much either.

But what it actually does, is something beyond "magic" when in a war.

A single sniper can demoralize a whole army, or even a whole country, and do the opposite for the army from where he comes from.

In a normal war, in a battle there would be like 30,000 casualties on both sides, and one of them would win, possibly the "wrong" one.

While this guy, kills "only" 700 soldiers, and can make the soviets terrified of even putting their heads out to pee, and it could even lead to the decision of stopping the invasion. Battles were stopped by snipers.

So, while 700 is a lot on this man conscience... It's not a very high price to pay for peace as a whole country.

That's and amazing kill/death ratio.

This story reminds me of the White Tights who are/were pretty 1337 too accordsing to the stories.

[edit on 15/4/2010 by DGFenrir]

Cool story OP! Sniper stories always intrigue me for some reason. Maybe it's the cat and mouse aspect.

For those of you that have not seen Enemy at the Gates, I highly recommend it. As a matter of fact, I think I will watch it again tonight.

perhaps some of his skills and techniques could be placed in our survival forum?

hmmmmmmmm

Originally posted by Tifozi
reply to post by Vitchilo

 

reply to post by sapien82

 

All of this is very well said Tifozi!

Many times, especially when we are in peace time or engaged in a faraway wars ( or shams of war as we are now ) we forget that war is both a physical battle and a mental battle. From propaganda films and posters placed in deeply researched and planned places, to painting faces with bright colors to scare your enemy, many factors play into the outcome of a armed confrontation. The fact that this man was killing more of "them" then they could of his side dealt a huge mental blow to their side, the effects of which I am sure we will never know the full reach of.

If one man can do that much damage to an army mass en force, what is the real use of "weapons of mass destruction"? Massive weapons that destroy whatever they touch only show a mass .... slovenliness..? to actual human psyche and the role that our minds play in moving our bodies and lives forward along a certain path. You cannot expect to destroy the body and not destroy the psyche. Look at places where revolutions have happened either despite of or right before bloodshed - It doesn't matter either way if the blood came before or after, the human mind thirsts.

It's always reassuring to know that humans, with thought and precise movements, can exact such a toll.

yeah he was a bad man. There were others like him too. Hopefully this doesnt violate any T & C's

www.cracked.com...

I'm not really into people who kill other people. Glorifying violence has been this country's problem for a little too long now. Its about time to embrace the other side...don't you think???

Much love to all...

I just made a spectacle from "Winterwar 70yrs" in stage and yes, this guy was included in the script!

www.talvisotanaytelma.fi

It was national performance - 150 actors, horses, panzers, anti-tank guns... From "Kollaa area" fights and its 36th regiment and its 2nd Batallion, 7th company.

Häyhä really is our national hero

reply to post by EvolvedMinistry


I agree with your exact sentiments, but at the same time during the time that this was in one must at least pay some due to what he has done due to the fact that it was a turbulent time. So I'd say we could move forward and believe we [as a nation and even society] have been. Showcasing the achievements that people have been doing, but of course [as shown even in this instance] some people and events can be overlooked.

Epic Sniper!
I've read the Cracked article.

The other person of interest in that article is the crazy scottish dude that would carry a claymore and bagpipes into battle.

But the White Death there is a badass. Hollywoods best try was probably Shooter. Which is a very entertaining movie IMO.

They also said that artificial sweeteners were safe, WMDs were in Iraq and Anna Nicole married for love.

Awesome!