The 5-Foot Short King Who Was the Deadliest Sniper in History

There’s something about a sniper that fascinates people. There’s a reason they’ve been highlighted in more than their fair share of media, from movies to video games. You don’t have to be a military buff or even an action movie fan to admit that the classic “breathe in, breathe out” scene where some crack shot takes out a threat from an obscene distance is inherently cool.

Those same imaginary snipers start to form a stereotype of the eagle-eyed marksman. If you were to try to imagine the deadliest sniper in history, there’s a good chance your mind would produce someone out of sniper central casting: a grizzled man of few words, with camo rubbed into his stubble and probably some signature lucky trinket.

What you’re probably not imagining is a 5-foot flat Finnish farmer with a toothy smile. However, that’s exactly who Simo Hayha, also known as the “White Death,” was. Before 1939, Hayha was nothing more than a farmer in Karelia, who enjoyed shooting as a hobby. By the end of the “Winter War” with the Soviet Union in 1940? Hayha, as a sniper with the 6th Battalion of Infantry Regiment 34, had 505 confirmed kills in under 100 days.

Something else Hayha had seemingly no need for, unlike big-screen and modern snipers? Gear, spotters, a top-of-the-line rifle, pretty much anything that would have made his job easier. He rolled up to fight in a war with his own hunting rifle, the same one he’d been using in his free time, and said, “I’m good.” This includes a detail that sounds entirely embellished, but is God’s honest truth: he never used a scope. Not because they weren’t available, he just felt more accurate using the naked eye and his favorite gun’s old iron sights.

Hayha, with a more humble loadout than most modern deer hunters, would set himself up in snowbanks, wearing all white. There, he’d plop a pair of gloves under the barrel of his weapon to steady it further and wait for a series of Soviet soldiers to choose an extremely unlucky walking path, where they’d be plinked like carnival ducks in short measure. 

It was only after 98 days that he was finally bested, but not permanently — which is impressive in itself, being that snipers usually don’t get to lose two duels. He was spotted by a Soviet soldier who shot him in the jaw, disfiguring but not killing him.

Not an ideal end to a career in war, but far better than the alternative. Hayha became a bit of a recluse after the war, keeping mostly to himself. He eventually died at the age of 96 in 2002. 

You certainly can’t say that he didn’t give life his best shot.