laststandonzombieisland

In the annuals of renowned military sniperdom, many names stand out. Carlos Hathcock, Chris Kyle, John Plaster, Vasily Zaytsev, Simo Hayha, and so forth. Wait, Simo who? Well, pull up a chair and lets talk about that.

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?. In 1925, at age 19, he did his mandatory 350 days of active service in the Finnish army but was otherwise an unremarkable soldier at the time. He remained a member of the Civil Guard (much like the US National Guard) and drilled with his reserve unit until 1939. It was in that year that the 33-year old part time soldier and full time farmer picked up his rifle and went to war to repulse a Soviet invasion of his country.

In November 1939 over 400,000 Soviet Red Army troops invaded tiny Finland, whose own Army of some 80,000 was grossly outnumbered in what was later known as the Winter War. 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 was 500 reasons not to mess with Finland

Read the rest in my column at Guns.com