SIMO TEE

At the dawn of World War II in 1939, Josef Stalin sent over half a million men across Russia’s western border to invade Finland. It was a move that would cost tens of thousands of lives — and began the legend of Simo Häyhä.

During the course of World War II 1939–1940 Winter War against the Soviet Union, which lasted roughly 100 days, Häyhä killed between 500 and 542 Russian soldiers, all with his antiquated rifle. While his comrades were using state-of-the-art telescopic lenses to zoom in on their targets, Häyhä was fighting with an iron sight, which he felt gave him a more precise target.

He also noted that several targets had been tipped off by the glint of light on the newer sniper lenses, and he was determined not to go down that way.

He’d also developed an almost foolproof way of not being sighted. On top of his white camouflage, he would build up snow drifts around his position to further obscure himself. The snow banks also served as padding for his rifle and prevented the force of his gunshots from stirring up a puff of snow that an enemy could use to locate him.

As he lay on the ground in wait, he would hold snow in his mouth to stop his steamy breaths from betraying his position.