Simo Hayha Sniper

When people think of World War II they normally think about people fighting through forests or big bombs being dropped. Many people forget about the snipers that waited for hours and hours in freezing cold temperatures to get that perfect shot. They had to do all of their fighting alone. There was no one covering their back, if someone spotted them they were done for. Some snipers contributed huge amounts of kills like Simo Hayha, with 524 confirmed kills (Hiskey). To be a sniper you have to be one hundred percent controlled in extremely intense situations. The Soviet Union had many female snipers. They had to deal with all of the troubles of sniping on top of being a woman in the army. Many snipers were not just sniping, they had to pick up

He was a Finnish sniper, who fought against the Soviets. He was born in Rautjarvi, December 17, 1909. Growing up he had four brothers and three sisters. As a young child his main hobby was shooting. There was a Civil Guard shooting range five kilometers away from his home. He was a very intense fox hunter and loved to hunt (White Death). He only sniped in World War II, before this he was a farmer (Hiskey). He was thirty four when the Soviet Union invaded Finland. Before the war he spent his time hunting and farming. He had won many trophies for sharp shooting before the war. He served his one year in the Finnish army. All Finnish men were required to serve one year in the military. He joined the Finnish Civil Guard. Before the war he would drill with the Civil Guard but never experienced real combat. When the war began he left his farm and took his Sako M/28-30 rifle and went to defend his country. He was a part of the Jaeger thirty fourth regiment, stationed along the Kollaa River. The temperatures were freezing and rarely went above zero. Almost all of the time he fought alone. He would go out with his rifle, camouflage, ammunition, and a couple days worth of food (Bellows). The main food he ate while sniping was sugar cubes and bread (White Death). Sometimes he would wait days until he saw any targets. He only used the iron sight of his gun. This meant there was no zoom or anything to help him find enemies. The advantage of this was to use a scope you need to put your head up to look through it, but with an iron sight you could stay totally protected while sniping. His tactic was to stay close to the roads that the Soviets used so he could pick them off as they went by. His main targets were officers. He would not take easy shots if it would scare away a better target, like an officer. The Soviet Union started to realize that it was one sniper that was taking out hundreds of their men. The Soviets sent one of