Simo Hayha- sorry, but I can't add the umlauts over the 'A's- has been referred to as the deadliest sniper in history. I don't know if that is accurate or not but it may well be. In The Winter War, which lasted only a few months he racked up 542 kills in a hundred days. This 190 page book was written in Finnish and translated into English- occasionally not real well- and is available on Abebooks from England. The book goes into Simo's background- farmer, hunter- and how the hunter part played such an important role in his sniping success. Simo has had several books written about him but this apparently is the only one where he was actually interviewed. He spoke little to people but opened up to the author who was a Finnish sniper and head of the sniper training. Some of Simo's skills are described in detail and many are generally.
The importance of that war is pretty much unknown here. It likely contributed to Hitler's defeat in that the Soviet Army showed quite a bit of ineptness and it is noted in the book that it may well have contributed to Hitler's decision to invade Russia.
Additionally there were a fair number of descriptions of actions. Simo was not just a long distance sniper (most ranges of shots were 100-400 meters) and obtained a large number of his numbers using a submachine gun. There is a chapter about the evolution of the Mosin Nagant rifle in Finland which is worth a read if you have an interest in these rifles.
Last edited by g5m; 02/24/19. Reason: more
