Happiness Is A Warm Gun
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What can one man with a rifle do?
Well if the man is Simo Hayha and the rifle is a Mosin Nagant M28 the answer is a lot.
My mother was born in Finland and I am ashamed to say until recently I knew of very little about Finnish history.
I recently began reading historical non-fiction about the "Winter War" in which Finland and it's defense force of a mere 160,000 troops, lacking proper numbers of heavy weapons, tanks, artillery, air support, or naval support stopped a Soviet onslaught of over 1.5 million invading troops supported by 3000 tanks and armored cars, and 1000 aircraft.
Simo Hayha a short man (less than 5ft) and farmer by trade. He served his one year mandatory service in the Army prior to the start of hostilities. After his one year obligation he remained in the civil guard (similar to national guard). Even before the war he showed exceptional talent with firearms. In one contest with friends he scored 16 of 16 hits at 150 meters in under a minute. Many people considered him a quiet, thoughtful man, not what one would expect as the world's deadliest sniper.
When hostilities broke out he made a sniper despite no formal sniper training. He was given a Mosin Nagant M28 but no optics because they were in short supply. Here is a sight picture of what Simo saw from his iron sights.
Later as he ranked over a hundred kills with iron sights he was given a scope as a gift which he declined. He explained when shooting with open sights you didn't need to raise so much up as with a scope, and [for a sniper] death often waited a few centimeters above.
He was credited with killing 3 Russian snipers. His first counter sniper kill was on December 21, 1939. A Russian sniper had been killing Finnish officers in the area. He went out alone to stalk the Russian. Near the end of the day the Russian got up to leave and the sun low in the sky glinted off the scope. Simo filed one shot which pierced the Russian snipers skull killing him instantly. Years later the interviewer asked him if what he though of optics. He said they were good, good for being seen.
The Russians called him the "White Death" and used everything from artillery bombardment to counter snipers to stop him with no effect.
Durring the winter war he made over 500 confirmed kills (unofficial field log books put the number at 543) by rifle. His one day record was 25. To put the 500 kills in perspective he only served 100 days and the Finnish winter has very short days with only of only 5-6 hours of daylight. That averages out to one kill per hour during every daylight hour of the war. In addition he killed over 200 more Russians with the M-31 sub-machinegun.
On March 6th 1940 a major Russian offensive broke Finnish lines driving the Fins into a bloody retreat with massive losses. At near point blank ranges he was shot in the face with an explosive rifle round and instantly slipped into a coma. He awoke 7 days later one day after a armistice with the Russians had been signed.
The armistice was brutal on the Fins. Despite holding off a Russian force 10x larger off for 3 months the Finnish army was exhausted, equipment was in short supply and the majority of heavy weapons supplied (covertly) by Sweden and Norway had been destroyed. Finland agreed to give up 10% of its territory, displace 420,000 civilians, and lose its second largest city.
The Russians paid an even higher price. Over the 1.5 million Russians who invaded Finland, over 1 million would never leave. Russia lost 2,300 tanks/armored cars, and over 1000 aircraft. One General said "we gained 22,000 miles of territory, just enough room to bury our dead". Russia inability to dislodge an much smaller force likely led to Hitler decision to attack Russia.
So what can one man with a rifle do? A lot if he is willing to risk everything to defend his homeland.
Well if the man is Simo Hayha and the rifle is a Mosin Nagant M28 the answer is a lot.
My mother was born in Finland and I am ashamed to say until recently I knew of very little about Finnish history.
I recently began reading historical non-fiction about the "Winter War" in which Finland and it's defense force of a mere 160,000 troops, lacking proper numbers of heavy weapons, tanks, artillery, air support, or naval support stopped a Soviet onslaught of over 1.5 million invading troops supported by 3000 tanks and armored cars, and 1000 aircraft.
Simo Hayha a short man (less than 5ft) and farmer by trade. He served his one year mandatory service in the Army prior to the start of hostilities. After his one year obligation he remained in the civil guard (similar to national guard). Even before the war he showed exceptional talent with firearms. In one contest with friends he scored 16 of 16 hits at 150 meters in under a minute. Many people considered him a quiet, thoughtful man, not what one would expect as the world's deadliest sniper.
When hostilities broke out he made a sniper despite no formal sniper training. He was given a Mosin Nagant M28 but no optics because they were in short supply. Here is a sight picture of what Simo saw from his iron sights.
Later as he ranked over a hundred kills with iron sights he was given a scope as a gift which he declined. He explained when shooting with open sights you didn't need to raise so much up as with a scope, and [for a sniper] death often waited a few centimeters above.
He was credited with killing 3 Russian snipers. His first counter sniper kill was on December 21, 1939. A Russian sniper had been killing Finnish officers in the area. He went out alone to stalk the Russian. Near the end of the day the Russian got up to leave and the sun low in the sky glinted off the scope. Simo filed one shot which pierced the Russian snipers skull killing him instantly. Years later the interviewer asked him if what he though of optics. He said they were good, good for being seen.
The Russians called him the "White Death" and used everything from artillery bombardment to counter snipers to stop him with no effect.
Durring the winter war he made over 500 confirmed kills (unofficial field log books put the number at 543) by rifle. His one day record was 25. To put the 500 kills in perspective he only served 100 days and the Finnish winter has very short days with only of only 5-6 hours of daylight. That averages out to one kill per hour during every daylight hour of the war. In addition he killed over 200 more Russians with the M-31 sub-machinegun.
On March 6th 1940 a major Russian offensive broke Finnish lines driving the Fins into a bloody retreat with massive losses. At near point blank ranges he was shot in the face with an explosive rifle round and instantly slipped into a coma. He awoke 7 days later one day after a armistice with the Russians had been signed.
The armistice was brutal on the Fins. Despite holding off a Russian force 10x larger off for 3 months the Finnish army was exhausted, equipment was in short supply and the majority of heavy weapons supplied (covertly) by Sweden and Norway had been destroyed. Finland agreed to give up 10% of its territory, displace 420,000 civilians, and lose its second largest city.
The Russians paid an even higher price. Over the 1.5 million Russians who invaded Finland, over 1 million would never leave. Russia lost 2,300 tanks/armored cars, and over 1000 aircraft. One General said "we gained 22,000 miles of territory, just enough room to bury our dead". Russia inability to dislodge an much smaller force likely led to Hitler decision to attack Russia.
So what can one man with a rifle do? A lot if he is willing to risk everything to defend his homeland.
reading my father's copy of it yesterday.
